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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, February 14, 2013
Volume 29 No. 7
TRAIL - Pg. 16Morris-Turnberry Councilsplit on trail support PLANNING - Pg. 20 Neil Vincent expressesissues with planning dept.SPORTS - Pg. 8Ironmen knocked out ofplayoffsPublications Mail Agreement No. 4005014 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Despite a lack of unanimous
support, Huron East Council
approved a tender for the renovation
of the Brussels Library at the Feb. 5
council meeting.
Architect John Rutledge presented
the results of the tendering process
which produced three qualified bids,
which was much fewer than what
Rutledge was expecting.
“We got three bids back, which
was a little disappointing
considering that we asked 12
[contractors],” Rutledge told
council. “A lot said they were too
busy, that they didn’t have the time
and some said they are already
booked for the entire year, so
apparently some contractors are
doing quite well.”
Rutledge told council that he,
Chief Administrative Officer Brad
Knight and Chief Building Official
Paul Josling approached the tenders
while considering a number of
factors, not just selecting the lowest
tender because it was the lowest.
However, it was the Metkor Group
of Lucknow, which was chosen, also
which happened to be the lowest bid
at $876,900.
Rutledge said that Metkor’s bid
didn’t come with a start date, but that
it would take between six and nine
months to complete the project. He
guessed that Metkor would begin the
project sometime in March.
Deputy-Mayor Joe Steffler
suggested that perhaps the library
will be ready for the annual Brussels
Fall Fair, but received no responses.
The other two bids received were
from Wayne and Harold Smith
Construction from Seaforth at
$894,300 and Elgin Contractors
from St. Thomas at $1,188,000.
With the bids coming in
significantly higher than even
Rutledge’s “high range” for the
project, which was $721,539, he said
he would have to adjust his estimates
going forward.
“Lately I’ve always been lower
than what’s come back. I think I
have to up my bids,” Rutledge told
councillors. “It doesn’t matter what
you buy, it always costs more.”
Rutledge then compared it to a
shopping trip where nine times out
of 10 it always costs more than
you’ve anticipated.
“It’s very difficult to estimate
these things,” he said.
In addition, Rutledge has also
budgetted $200,000 for
contingencies, professional fees and
inspections, which in all likelihood,
he said, will place the project in the
$1.1 million range by the time it is
completed.
The choice to go with the Metkor
Group, however, was also a strategic
one, Rutledge said.
“Metkor was the lowest, so it was
the one we were most likely to
recommend,” Rutledge said, “but it
will likely also be the easiest to
negotiate with and maybe we can get
the price down a little bit.”
Councillor Bill Siemon had
questions about the $200,000
contingency budget, asking about
Rutledge’s professional fees and if
inspections and monitoring could be
offset by bringing in municipal
Building Supervisor John Hill to do
some of that work, saving the
municipality some money.
Rutledge said that inspections are
mandated by the province indirectly
through the building code and with a
After flirting with the Multi
Municipal Wind Turbine Working
Group for two years, Huron East
Council is now officially a card-
carrying member of “The Group” as
it is being called.
Appearing before council at its
Feb. 5 meeting, Rob Tetu, founding
member of Huron East Against
Turbines (HEAT) and council’s
designated representative with the
turbine working group, told
councillors that there are some
changes on the horizon for the group
that would cost the municipality a
little bit of money.
Tetu told council that membership
into the group would now cost $500
per year. The money would go
towards paying a part-time salaried
secretary. Until recently, the
position had been handled by Arran-
Huron East Council has some
tough decisions to make with this
year’s budget says Mayor Bernie
MacLellan, which could include a
large tax hike, drastic cuts in
services, or both.
At the Feb. 5 council meeting,
Treasurer Paula Michiels presented
the first draft of the municipality’s
budget. Taking into account the
proposed budgets from all municipal
departments, Michiels’ budget
currently includes a shortfall of
approximately $740,000.
This budget included a four per
cent increase to the tax levy, which
was as high as Michiels said she felt
she would go without receiving
word from council.
Chief Administrative Officer Brad
Knight says that the department
budgets currently include everything
the department heads say they need
for the year and have not yet been
subject to council scrutiny.
Councillors quickly began
discussing a higher tax increase in
the neighbourhood of 10 or 12 per
cent. Because of the loss of Ontario
Municipal Partnership Fund
(OMPF) money, council is losing
over $140,000 in provincial funding
and will continue to lose more in the
next few years.
With this reality staring
councillors in the face, several
commented that council wouldn’t be
able to “fix” the budget by “finding”
money in different departments over
the next few years, as a substantial
amount of money would need to be
found.
When discussing a 10 per cent
increase to the tax levy, councillors
said that between seven and eight per
cent of that increase would simply
be covering the money taken from
the municipality’s OMPF total.
Taking that into account, said
Councillor Les Falconer, a 10 per
cent increase would really just be
council keeping up with two per cent
inflation and an increase would have
to be higher than that.
MacLellan said that if the year’s
increase would be only 10 per cent,
council would still have to
drastically cut services that people
have grown accustomed to.
He urged councillors to think
outside of the box on this year’s
budget, saying that the reality of the
Huron East budget this year and in
the next few years is that either taxes
are going to have to go way up, or
services are going to have to be cut.
“We can’t keep ‘finding’ money
that the province is cutting back,”
MacLellan said. “So I think we have
to start looking at the level of service
we’re providing.”
Deputy-Mayor Joe Steffler agreed
with MacLellan, saying that the next
few years are going to be a pay-me-
now or pay-me-later situation.
MacLellan said that the municipal
Library construction could begin in March: Rutledge
Council approves
turbine membership
Taking to the ice
While the sun was shining outside on Sunday, families and friends took to the ice for public
skating including, from left, Cassidy Shannon, Jessica Toll and Allison Toll. This weekend
plenty of area community centres will be open and hosting special events for the Family Day
weekend. (Denny Scott photo)
Huron East facing
large shortfall as
budget talks begin
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 17
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 14
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 14