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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, January 17, 2013
Volume 29 No. 3
AGRICULTURE - Pg. 11Huron County BeefProducers meet in Brussels GRANTS - Pg. 16 Huron-Bruce MP BenLobb announces grantsSPORTS- Pg. 9Ironmen’s Armstrong breaksleague point recordPublications Mail Agreement No. 4005014 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Council and staff from Morris-
Turnberry and North Huron felt that
they made great strides towards a
resolution of the fire protection issue
that has been paramount at both
councils for well over a year during
a meeting last week.
University of Guelph professor
and former East Wawanosh resident
Wayne Caldwell mediated the
meeting, saying it was an important
stepping stone towards finding a
resolution to the debate that has
separated the two councils for well
over a year.
“This is an intense issue, and it’s
important to find a way forward,”
Caldwell said at the beginning of the
meeting. “However, we will not be
achieving everything tonight, we
will just be moving forward.”
Caldwell isn’t new to mediating
discussions between the two
governments as, in 2005, he
brokered a boundary adjustment
deal between the two bodies. Some
councillors who made those
decisions are still currently serving
in that capacity.
He said that, while he hoped a lot
of progress would happen in the first
meeting, he was sure finding a
resolution would take more than just
the one gathering.
Caldwell endeavoured to focus on
areas of agreement instead of areas
of contention throughout the
meeting by using a “parking lot”
approach, which meant that ideas
that generated debate were “parked”
until a time that all areas of
agreement had been settled on.
To begin the meeting, Caldwell
had each individual at the table
introduce themselves and give either
their first or their most memorable
story regarding fire suppressive
services.
The stories ranged from Morris-
Turnberry Mayor Paul Gowing’s
somber tale of the death of a
classmate’s relative during his youth
to North Huron’s Chief
Administrative Officer Gary Long’s
emotional story about living across
from a volunteer firefighter and
always worrying when his neighbour
is out battling blazes to lighter
stories like North Huron’s East
Wawanosh Ward representative Jim
Campbell who said he always saw
the firefighters working well
together and having fun even in the
face of adversity.
Caldwell then directed the group
to list the items that both
municipalities felt were necessary to
come to any agreement on a fire
suppression solution and started the
list off with quality fire protection
for residents and safety for the
firefighters.
Representatives of both
municipalities had ideas on what
was important to share as a common
ground, however there was a
The wave of disapproval over the
proposed Huron County mandatory
septic inspection program continued
on Jan. 7 when Central Huron
Council turned down the program.
Council’s vote ended tied at four
votes per side, resulting in a
defeated motion. This came on the
same night North Huron refused to
support the program. The two joined
Huron East, Morris-Turnberry,
South Huron and Howick in
opposing the program.
Knowing that the issue has been a
controversial one after the identical
tied, and therefore defeated, vote at
council’s Dec. 20 Committee of the
Whole meeting, Councillor Burk
Metzger drove three hours to be at
the meeting, leaving his family
vacation in Collingwood for the
vote.
Adding to the contention were
over 100 people in attendance, the
vast majority of whom were
opposed to the program, forcing the
meeting to be moved to the
auditorium of the Regional Equine
and Agricultural Centre of Huron
(REACH), rather than the board
room. In addition, at some point
during the meeting, local police
were called and were waiting
outside the building in the event that
the meeting got out of control.
The meeting began under a cloud
of confusion as the motion
concerning approval of the septic
program was drawn out of the
Progress made after first joint fire meeting
Central
Huron
ties vote
on septic
program
No snow? No problem
The weather had cooled, and then warmed, and then cooled once again, but no matter, the students at Hullett Central Public
School were prepared to roll with the punches Mother Nature was throwing. On Monday, from left, Ashley Kuntz, Macey Adams
and Hailey Wain were out having fun despite the dreary, rainy weather. (Denny Scott photo)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 7
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 14