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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-11-26, Page 1CitizenTh e $1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, November 26, 2015 Volume 31 No. 46 FAUXPOP - Pg. 22 Local creative company buys former train station AGRICULTURE - Pg. 15 Bluevale’s Cronins named Outstanding Young Farmers Publications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0 INSIDE THIS WEEK: Presents! What better way to start the Christmas season than by giving gifts? Julie Sawchuk, the celebrity “lighter of the lights” for the Blyth Business Improvement Area (BIA) also drew names for the door prizes at the event on Saturday night at Memorial Hall. Here organizer Averly Kikkert holds the box of names while Julie, with the help of son Oliver, draws the next lucky winner. The evening was a popular one as snow fell in Blyth for one of the first times this winter, playing host to approximately 50 people. The event, held at Memorial Hall, also featured plenty of snacks and a gingerbread cookie-decorating station for the kids. (Denny Scott photo) High cost, staffing barriers to EMS amalgamation Grey looks ahead to 160th anniversary Santa Claus parade Saturday in Brussels After extensive research and number-crunching, the Huron and Perth Emergency Medical Services (EMS) have decided not to merge. Linda Rockwood, Perth County EMS Chief, presented the working group’s report to Huron County Council at its Nov. 18 committee of the whole meeting. She opened bluntly, saying there were no cost benefits to a merger between the two EMS departments. Instead, such a move would result in the hiring of more staff and a higher year-over-year budget, she said. Because of Perth County’s “lean” staffing model, Perth currently employs approximately 160 people across the county, compared to Huron County’s approximately 700 staff members. For that reason, she said, the human resources infrastructure would have to be increased in Perth to accommodate the influx of people. This included a number of different departments, she said, most notably human resources and information technology (historically, she said, emergency services is one of the highest users of both departments in most corporations). From a fleet standpoint, she said, changes would have to be made – likely involving even more staffing – if the two departments were to amalgamate. Huron does all of its mechanic work at Exeter’s Huron Motor Parts, while Perth handles its repairs in-house. Rockwood also noted that amalgamating the two counties would increase the power of the paramedics’ union. She said that while that increase in power isn’t a bad thing from an employee or public relations standpoint, from the counties’ perspective, it could certainly make things more difficult. She added that there could be bigger implications through the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) as well. In terms of implementation, due to a number of factors, including the use of different equipment by the two departments, Rockwood said that it would cost nearly $1 million to implement the amalgamation and it would likely take a number of years. That would be in addition to an estimated increase in fixed costs of $724,000 ($614,000 in labour and $110,000 in overhead) and operational costs of $487,000 ($190,000 in fleet and $297,000 in operations). Rockwood also detailed a few perceptional drawbacks to amalgamating, specifically from Huron County’s point of view. Because Perth would absorb Huron under the proposed amalgamation, not the other way around, Huron County would experience a loss of ownership and control. She said that while the amalgamated department would make every effort to keep ownership split between the two, there would certainly be a perceived loss of control. In addition, there would be more politics involved in the process. She said that councillors could likely relate to how difficult it can be to get everyone around the council table to agree – saying that process would then be doubled, with Perth County Council having to agree on anything do with the joint EMS department, as well as Huron County Council. If the councils were to disagree, the issue of who would trump whom would then arise, which would certainly be a complicating factor. She also said that, geographically speaking, if Perth were to merge with another region, it would likely be Stratford just for geographic convenience. Warden Paul Gowing thanked Rockwood and the rest of the committee for its hard work and extensive research. “This just goes to show that you never know how something’s going to work out until you crunch the numbers,” Gowing said. Huron East Mayor Bernie MacLellan was less enthusiastic The annual Brussels Santa Claus parade will make its way down the village’s main street starting at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 28. The parade, featuring Mr. and Mrs. Claus, will form at the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre at 4:30 p.m. and make its way through the village, running to the north end of town and coming back south on Turnberry Street before returning to and finishing at the community centre with plenty to do and see. After the parade, free skating, face painting and a colouring contest will be held at the community centre as well as a chance for younger parade- goers to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. The theme for this year’s parade is “The Gift of Christmas” and the evening promises to be the perfect start for Christmas in the village. Alvin McLellan and Dianne Diehl, Huron East Councillors for the Grey Ward, want to take the community’s temperature on a potential 160th anniversary celebration for Grey Township in 2016. McLellan and Diehl will be hosting a meeting at the Grey Fire Hall in Ethel on Thursday, Dec. 3, beginning at 7 p.m. The meeting will be an informal discussion to gauge the community’s interest in a celebration, and McLellan and Diehl will be serving as community members, not in a municipal capacity. Discussion about a potential celebration began last month, McLellan said, when the Ethel Community Centre Board held its annual Harvest Supper, and community members began asking if any plans had been made for 2016. In July of 2006, Grey Township celebrated its 150th anniversary with a huge, weekend-long celebration that consisted of a ball tournament, a parade, a dance, a golf tournament and a fire department breakfast, in addition to a number of other meals. It was called “Grey Kicks in 2006.” McLellan, as well as Grey resident Leona Armstrong, co-chaired the anniversary committee in 2006, taking charge of all community events. While McLellan, in discussion with The Citizen, feels that a 160th anniversary celebration certainly won’t be the scale of 2006’s 150th, he feels it’s important to celebrate the township’s history on important dates. In addition, McLellan said, there is always turnover in the community, so there are likely plenty of people living throughout the Grey Ward of Huron East who weren’t around in 2006. McLellan says those residents should be involved in the community’s history too and should be treated to a party whenever the occasion calls for it. The meeting will be held at the Grey Fire Hall, in the west end of Ethel, on Thursday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. For more information, or to get involved, call McLellan at 519-887- 9456, Diehl at 519-887-9442 or the Municipality of Huron East office at 519-527-0160. The Citizen Celebrating 30 Years 1985~2015 By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Continued on page 14