HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-01-03, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 2013.Thompson opens Blyth office, Hudak visits in 2012
Debate continues
over fire agreement
Blyth-based architect John
Rutledge presented his formal plans
for the Brussels Library to Huron
East Council at its Dec. 20, 2011
meeting, and then to the public at the
village’s New Year’s Day Levee.
Rutledge told council at the
meeting that he was happy to be
making the presentation before the
Christmas break. His estimates for
the library had a range of
approximately $300,000 depending
on several variables.
Central Huron Council’s new plan
for waste collection in the
municipality needed just council’s
approval to go forward. For 20 years
Central Huron had steered clear of
providing waste collection for its
residents, but was forced into
making a decision when local
collection provider Waste
Management pulled out of several
municipal routes.
North Huron Council approved
the Blyth BIA’s constitution just in
time for the organization’s inaugural
meeting on Jan. 5.
It was decided that Huron County
would pay for the defence of its
council composition bylaw. The
appeal of the bylaw, being launched
by Huron East and Central Huron
Councils, was set to go to back to
court later in the month in Toronto.
Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa
Thompson officially opened one of
her two constituency offices in Blyth
on the village’s main street. She
introduced Sarah Ross and Janet
Haines, who would be working at
the office.
Alan and Laurie Willits of RR1,
Wingham resumed their Italian
vacation after the cruise ship they
were aboard, the Costa Concordia
ran aground off the island of Giglio.
The couple had reached out back to
Huron County to their daughter Jory
for a credit card to help them along,
as they lost all of their belongings in
the disaster.
The History Channel’s show
Canadian Pickers made a second
stop in Huron County in recent
years, visiting Winthrop-area
resident Ken Anderson of Anderson
Salvage.
Morris-Turnberry Council
announced that it would be setting
up its own municipal fire service.
The plan was to include two fire
halls: one in Belgrave and one on the
outskirts of Wingham.
Mayor Paul Gowing stressed that
the reasoning behind the decision
was for the municipality to have
ownership over its own fire service.
North Huron Reeve Neil Vincent
said he was “in complete shock” at
the decision of Morris-Turnberry
Council, adding that he was
“speechless” as to how to proceed
next.
With the main campus of the newMaitland River Elementary Schoolyet to be built, it was announced that
community students would be split
up. Students in Kindergarten to
Grade 6 would be split between
Wingham and Turnberry Central
Public Schools, while students in
Grades 7 and 8 were scheduled to go
to F.E. Madill Secondary School in
the fall as was originally planned.
Leader of the province’s
Conservative Party Tim Hudak was
in Blyth to officially open Huron-
Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson’s office.
Hudak called Thompson the
“perfect candidate” to help convert
the riding of Huron-Bruce back to a
Conservative stronghold building on
the momentum of Huron-Bruce MP
Ben Lobb taking the riding back
from long-time Liberal MP Paul
Steckle.
Many Huron County councillors
were left stunned when Warden
Bernie MacLellan brought forth a
“surprise” $1.7 million that would
help with upcoming budget
deliberations.
He said that the money had always
been accounted for, just that it was
being rededicated to the general levy
and taken from the Health Unit.
Maurice Wilson, a Grade 6/7
teacher at Grey Central Public
School coached the Wilfrid Laurier
women’s curling team to a gold
medal at the Karuizawa International
Curling Championship held in
Japan. Despite his team being
inexperienced and young, they
triumphed when faced with the
competition.
It was announced that the
Belgrave, Brussels and Blyth School
Fair, despite local school closures,
could continue and even expand to
include schools in the Wingham
area.
Students from the University of
Waterloo made their way to Brussels
to help designate heritage properties,
identify properties of significance to
the community and design a pair of
walking trails that would help people
see more of the village during their
visits.
The students were in Brussels to
conduct research on properties, as
well as talk to residents of the
community to get a feel for it ahead
of preparing a detailed report.North Huron Council presented itsdraft budget to the public and it
included a spending increase of
$120,000, a 2.9 per cent increase,
and a tax increase across all three
wards.
A new streetscape master plan was
presented in Blyth by landscape
architect and project manager Jim
Vafiades of Stantec Consulting.
One of the main points in the
presentation was the inclusion of
“bump-outs”. These would help
slow traffic, increase visibility and
encourage legal parking throughout
the community.
Huron East Council presented the
first draft of its potential budget,
which included a proposed 3.7 per
cent increase.
An overpopulation of deer in the
area was causing headaches for the
OPP. Sixty-five deer collisions had
been reported to the OPP since the
beginning of the year, nearly double
the 35 that had been reported by the
same time the previous year.
Animal control officer Bob Trick
says the mild winter had helped the
deer stay healthy, leading to an
overpopulation of the animal leading
into spring.
A new executive was announced
for the newly-named Belgrave
School Fair. The board included
president Steve Hallahan, first vice-
president Margaret Vincent and
second vice-president Erin Gaunt.
The newly-organized Brussels
Farmers’ Market received a Trillium
grant for over $22,000 over the next
three years. The majority of the grant
would go towards start-up costs,
with the hope that when the three
years are up, the market would then
be self-sufficient.
North Huron Council called a joint
fire meeting after Morris-Turnberry
Council made its “demands”.
Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa
Thompson said she could not
support the “do-nothing” budget that
had been presented by Premier
Dalton McGuinty and the Liberal
Party.
Steve Howe, communications
director for the Avon Maitland
District School Board, said he
wanted to put any rumours to rest
Continued from page 1
suggested payment could be made
with a request for more details for
2013, the deputy mayor remained
unfazed.
“I am not prepared to pay that
balance at this time,” said
Breckenridge. “I don’t think it
should be that big an issue to defer
it.”
Warwick further suggested that
perhaps the mayor was unwilling to
hold off on the payment given North
Huron is prepared to meet with
Morris-Turnberry on the fire-service
agreement.
“This is a council decision,”
replied Gowing, noting his argument
is council already agreed to the
amount in question.
Councillor Jamie McCallum
agreed that North Huron’s request
seems reasonable.
“We are probably paying under
what we probably should be,” said
McCallum. “I feel we’re better off
just to pay it.”
While agreeing the amount in
question wasn’t the problem,
Councillor John Smuck contended it
would make sense to review
recreational centre’s usage data.
“We had this discussion when we
set our budget,” said Councillor
Jamie Heffer.
Ultimately, a motion put forth by
Councillor Dave Baker, to withhold
the allocation pending further
information, was defeated. Smuck’s
motion, agreeing to foot the tab and
ask for more details in 2013, was
approved.
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January
A village visit
Leader of the Conservative Party of Ontario Tim Hudak was in Blyth on Feb. 1 to help Huron-
Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson open her new constituency office. He called Thompson the
“perfect candidate” for the riding. (File photo)
February
March
April
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