HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-12-17, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2015.
There were four-and-a-half tables
of shoot in play on Friday, Dec. 11 at
the Community Centre. The winners
were: high pink card, Mary
McIntosh; second high pink card,
Mae Ritchie; most shoots pink card,
Betty Thompson; high white card,
Charlie Shaw; second high white
card, Bill Logue and most shoots
white card, Ross Taylor.
The next shoot party is on Friday,
Jan. 8 at 1:30 p.m. Everyone is
welcome.
On Sunday, Dec. 13 the third
Sunday of Advent (Joy) and White
Gift Sunday were celebrated at
Knox United Church. The Sunday
school took part in the children’s
concert that was entitled, “A Candy
Cane at Christmas”.
It was a legend about a candy
maker from Indiana who wanted to
invent a candy that was a witness to
Christ. It was a candy cane. The
candy cane was made of hard candy
because the church is built on a solid
rock and God’s promises are a firm
foundation. It was the shape of a
letter “J” for Jesus.
The candy cane also represents a
staff with which the Good Shepherd
reaches down to the ditches of the
world to lift out the fallen lambs,
who like all sheep, have gone astray.
The candy maker made the cane
white to represent Jesus’ innocence.
Jesus was perfect and without sin.
The large red stripe on the candy
cane is for the blood Jesus shed on
the cross for our sins. In Jesus we
have redemption through his blood.
The flavour of the cane is
peppermint, which is similar to
hyssop. Hyssop is an aromatic plant
from the mint family and it was used
in the Old Testament for purification
and sacrifice.
The children passed out candy
canes to all the children so they
could know and share the story of
the candy cane.
On Thursday, Dec. 24 at 7:30 p.m.
there will be a Christmas Eve
Service at Knox. Everyone is
welcome.
If there is anyone interested in a
confirmation class, please inform
student minister Brian Hymers so
that it can be arranged.
The Knox Three Kings Cantata
raised $416 for the church’s music
program. This wouldn’t have been
possible without the direction of
Ann Clark and the decorating
talents of Nancy Folkard and
Doris Robinson.
Legend of the candy
cane told at church
By Linda
Campbell
Call
357-2188
PEOPLE AROUND
BELGRAVE
NEWS
FROM BELGRAVE
A corny game of Bingo
A game of turkey Bingo at the Belgrave Community Centre turned decidely corny when
Desireh Metzloff and Taylor Van Beek decided to start using kernels to cover up the numbers
called. The game, which offered some fowl prizes, was held by the Belgrave Kinsmen on Dec.
10. (Denny Scott photo)
NH Council set to go paperless
Despite some initial misgivings
from councillors, a single report was
enough to convince North Huron
Council to purchase a new software
for its council agendas as well as
tablet computers on which to display
them.
Council approved the purchase of
eSCRIBE software at $3,250 for a
three-year term to be spread over
2016, 2017, 2018 as well as the
purchase of nine iPad tablets and
nine iPad Pro licences for eScribe
software for the iPads at $50 each.
The iPads, which will cost $439
each, are being purchased through
council’s contingency budget. Along
with the software licences, the two
expenses were listed as optional in a
report from Richard Al, Manager of
Employee and Business Services.
Chief Administrative Officer
Sharon Chambers spoke to council
during its Dec. 7 meeting regarding
the change, saying it would allow
council meetings to be paperless
from the township’s end and help
free up staff time.
According to Al’s report, with an
estimated 55 to 60 meetings per year
and staff spending 6.5 to 8.5 hours
preparing an agenda for each
meeting, currently staff spend 357.5
to 510 hours per year preparing and
printing agendas and council
packages for meetings.
The software would cut that time
in half, according to Al’s report,
saving an estimated 3.7 to 5.2 hours
per week, as well as saving $800 per
year by having digital agendas.
Other savings would be
recognized as well. Chambers, who
has experience with similar
software, said she could approve
documents for agenda while out of
the office, meaning no one would
have to wait until they were back in
the office to make the change.
Two softwares were considered
for the report; eSCRIBE from a
company in Markham and iCompass
from Kamloops, British Columbia.
eSCRIBE was chosen, as it was the
less expensive option.
After discussing the report,
Councillor Trevor Seip said he was
happy to see this kind of change was
coming.
“Will this technology also provide
our online users with the package as
well?” he asked. “So they can access
the agenda and not have to guess at
what we’re talking about?”
Al explained that when an agenda
is created, all documentation will be
accessible through it, though some
information may be behind an
access wall so that only councillors
can access information that isn’t
available to the public.
Chambers said that option was
very helpful because everyone can
be working from the same
information.
Al also explained that there are
modules that can be purchased for
the software if council feels it is
necessary that greatly expand the
program’s base capability.
“There is software that can tag
streaming videos for later views so
that viewers can move to the spot in
the video,” he said. “Viewers can
watch specific sections of council
meeting recordings and move on.”
Councillor Bill Knott asked Al if
deputations could also have their
presentations embedded in the
agenda, to which Al said it could.
“The software also allows
delegations to submit applications
and attach their presentations with
it,” he said.
Knott then asked if any other
municipalities were using the
system, and Al pointed to Perth
County, as well as its lower tier
municipalities.
While Knott asked if staff could
see if other municipalities within
Huron County used it before a
decision was made, Seip didn’t want
to wait, immediately moving to
purchase the software, iPads and
additional licences for a total cost of
$7,651, some of which will be
spread over the three year term.
Council carried Seip’s movement.
In an interview after the meeting
with The Citizen, Chambers
explained that there was no dollar
value attached to the staff savings
that will be realized because those
hours will be distributed to other
projects that are currently in need of
work. She also stated that, if
requested, a paper agenda and
package could still be provided
where necessary.
Seip wants changes highlighted
North Huron Councillor Trevor
Seip wants changes to bylaws and
draft documents to be easily
identifiable for both councillors and
ratepayers.
When talking about some minor
‘housekeeping’ amendments to
North Huron’s terms of reference for
its Occupational Health and Safety
Policy Statement, Seip mentioned he
had no idea what the changes were.
“I think I’ve asked this before but,
as a councillor, it’s sometimes
difficult to approve something when
councillors don’t know how it was
written before,” he said. “I would
like to see information provided on
what the policy was. I can’t really
make a comment to the revisions
unless there are specific changes
people want to tell me about.”
The changes to the document were
explained to Seip by Manager of
Employee and Business Services
Richard Al.
“A lot of this is little housekeeping
items,” he said. “A number of
changes on the document were
passed down from the Ministry of
Labour.”
Al explained that the previous
document was based on a template
provided by the ministry and, during
a review, a ministry official
contacted the township and
suggested the changes. Alongside a
list of locations where staff might be
working throughout the municipality
there were also amendments made to
the committee structure.
Council carried the changes and
Chief Administrative Officer Sharon
Chambers said that staff would look
into making sure that proposed
changes in documents and bylaws
were easier to identify for council.
MUNICIPALITY OF MORRIS-TURNBERRY
2015 - 2016 HOLIDAY HOURS
Thursday, December 24th, 2015 .............Office will close at 12 noon
Friday, December 25th, 2015 ..................Office Closed
Monday, December 28th, 2015 ...............Office Closed
Thursday, December 31, 2015 ................Office will close at 2 pm
Friday, January 1, 2016...........................Office Closed
Municipal Landfill will be open regular hours
(9:00 am - 5:00 pm) on Saturday, December 26, 2015.
Curbside Collection will take place as regularly scheduled
Please have your bin to the curb by 7:00 AM
FREE Christmas Tree drop off at the Municipal Landfill until
Saturday, January 9, 2016.
The Municipal Office will have the following Holiday hours:
SHEAR TALENT
Hair Design & Tanning
Shampoo & Set
$1400 + tax
45 West St., Goderich 519-524-6555
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
#1 And We
Still Try
Harder!
Recent circulation figures show
The Citizen has the
highest circulation in the
northern part of Huron County,
#3 in the entire county.
The Citizen
Proudly
Community-
Owned
Since 1985