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The Citizen, 2014-12-25, Page 41THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2014. PAGE 41. Central Huron Council has upgraded its fire chief position to full-time in an attempt to increase the compliance of the Central Huron Fire Department. At council’s Dec. 15 meeting, council approved a motion that would make the position full-time after initial discussion on the matter took place on Dec. 8 at council’s committee of the whole meeting. Mayor Jim Ginn told councillors that there have been preliminary discussions with another municipality, which he chose not to name, about possibly sharing the costs of a full-time fire chief. He said the council of the unnamed municipality had already met and passed a motion in favour of potentially sharing services. When asked, Ginn said there might be potential to share a new full-time fire chief with “one or more” other municipalities. He said that while he wasn’t pushing council to make an immediate decision on the matter, what he was hearing from members of the fire department was confusion and impatience, wanting council to make a decision so the wheels of leadership in the department can once again begin turning. “They want us to do something,” he said. “The position has been open for some time.” Chief Administrative Officer Peggy Van Mierlo-West said that if Central Huron were to move from a part-time to a full-time fire chief, there would be a slight increase to the fire budget, but that it would really only account for seven-and-a- half hours more per week. The increase, she said, without considering a potential partnership, would be a 2.5 per cent increase to the annual fire budget. Councillor Burkhard Metzger suggested proceeding with the hiring of a new chief without necessarily deciding on a partnership first. He said that the department needed to be in compliance with provincial regulations and that process needed to happen sooner rather than later. Councillor Dan Colquhoun agreed, saying that a report, which cost $3,800, was ordered by the municipality on the fire chief issue and nothing was done as a result. “I agree with [Metzger]. I think we need to hire a full-time fire chief and he has a lot of stuff to straighten out.” Councillor Alison Lobb asked if the municipality was to proceed with the hiring of a new chief, would that then eliminate the possibility of a partnership with a neighbouring municipality down the road, and Ginn said that was a difficult question to answer. A motion to begin the hiring process for a full-time fire chief for the department was then passed. Continued from page 39 common in North America, but that it is more common in Europe. As far as Perth Road 183, Knight says the transmission line will cross the boundary line between Huron East and West Perth four times, resulting in approximately 60 per cent of the line being on Huron East’s side of the boundary. Because the transmission line runs “relatively close” to the travelled portion of the road, Knight said, the impact of installation could be significant. He said that when discussions regarding the transmission line began in September, Northland was not committing to any type of community funding. He told councillors that any funding received should be split with West Perth and that the boundary road agreement would be amended accordingly. The community fund would provide Huron East with approximately $30,000 annually from Perth Road 183 and $20,000 from Rogerville Road, Knight said. Council approved the agreement. It had also been approved by West Perth Council, which met on Dec. 15 and decided to support the agreement. In his report, Knight informed councillors that Northland expected the appeals process to conclude sometime in January and that they hoped to finalize contracts and mobilize for construction in early spring of 2015, if everything goes according to plan. 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