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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, February 21, 2013
Volume 29 No. 8
TRAIL - Pg. 7County approves traillease in principle VEHICLES - Pg. 20Former employee vehiclesto be auctionedSCOUTS- Pg. 6‘The Citizen’ honours localGuides and ScoutsPublications Mail Agreement No. 4005014 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Last week North Huron and
Morris-Turnberry Councils sat down
for the second in a series of meetings
regarding fire suppression and
protection services and, despite
some skepticism about finding an
agreement from mediator Professor
Wayne Caldwell of the University of
Guelph, both councils will push on
with another meeting yet to be
scheduled.
Nearing the ending of the meeting,
Caldwell had the two councils
complete a secret ballot which saw
councillors weigh their options. Up
to this point, both councils have only
been exploring two options: one
where Morris-Turnberry buys into
the fire service and one where they
lease service from North Huron. A
third check box was also added
stating that, regardless of their
preference, the council member
would just be happy to resolve the
issue and move forward.
Only five of the 12 members of the
two councils checked the final box
and the desire for the leasing and
buying options was nearly identical
with five for the former and six for
the latter.
Caldwell said that, at that point, he
wondered if the councillors felt it
made sense to carry on with the
meetings because about half of the
participants hadn’t indicated that
they were flexible by checking that
answer.
“What this means is that six
people might not be willing to
compromise,” he said. “Is it worth
having another meeting?”
Both councils agreed that another
meeting was necessary and North
Huron Councillor Brock Vodden
said that he believed that the results
of the survey could be misleading.
“That may not be accurate, they
may just not be comfortable with
some of the realities of the contract
that haven’t been worked out yet,”
he said.
Prior to the vote, the council
members split into groups to address
12 major issues, six with each
option, and found that they had
common ground with a lot of the
issues.
Council members found that, with
the investment option for Morris-
Turnberry, they agreed that Morris-
Turnberry’s entirety should be
covered by the fire department as far
as education and prevention goes
and that deals would have to be
struck with neighbouring
municipalities to ensure that the
closest fire department responds to
any given fire. One of those
neighbours, Huron East, provides
fire protection service around the
village of Brussels and council
agreed that should remain.
The groups also found they agreed
that, in the eventuality that a leasing
option is used, capital expenditures
need to be discussed and need to be
a part of the annual cost.
Councillors also agreed, in the
case of a service lease, a contract
should likely be 10 years or more,
Morris-Turnberry’s pricing should
likely be determined through
assessment or another option instead
of a flat rate and fire prevention
services should not be duplicated in
Morris-Turnberry and Blyth.
After some discussion, a role
definition for the fire chief was also
laid out and involved fiscal
Huron East Mayor and former
Huron County Warden Bernard
“Bernie” MacLellan, age 50, from
Bluewater was in court on Feb. 11
to face two charges of assault with a
weapon stemming from an incident
on Dec. 21, 2012.
According to Constable Jamie
Stanley, Media Relations Officer for
the Ontario Provincial Police
(OPP), officers attended a property
on Market Road in Ashfield-
Colborne-Wawanosh Township
where they had been advised an
argument over private property was
happening. When the police arrived,
they found that MacLellan had been
handling a weapon, a rubber mallet,
in a threatening manner. He was not
the owner of the property in
question.
The incident took place just two
weeks after MacLellan’s bid for a
second term as warden fell short.
MacLellan was arrested and was
released and set to appear in court
on Feb. 11. A representative of his
lawyer appeared that day and had
the case held over until March 11.
Stanley explained that, even
though MacLellan didn’t hit anyone
involved in the altercation, the way
he allegedly handled the mallett
resulted in the charges.
“He held an object in a
threatening manner,” Stanley
explained in an interview with The
Citizen. “By that nature, that
constitutes and meets the criteria for
assault with a weapon. Under the
criminal code, the act or gesture is
enough and contact doesn’t have to
be made.”
Area CAOs discuss
planning resources
Councils remain far apart on fire issues
Don’t call them chickens
On Friday North Woods Elementary School held its annual Winter
Carnival on its second try. The first date was spoiled by snowy
weather. The day just happened to be the 100th of the school year,
so students celebrated that milestone by dressing in century-old
clothing, most of which is covered by winter coats and snow pants
at recess. The students played games as part of the carnival,
several of which involved rubber chickens. In one game, Jacob
Roth, left, tries to stop a chicken from entering his net, while in a
second game Wade Machan, right, launches a chicken, seeing
just how far he can throw it. (Denny Scott photos)
Mayor
faces
assault
charges
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
After meeting with all chief
administrative officers from Huron
County’s lower tier municipalities,
Director of Planning and
Development Scott Tousaw said he
was convinced that the department
should “stay the course” and not
make any major changes in the
coming year.
After councillors from several
lower tier municipalities raised
concerns about the lack of service
from the planning department late
last year, Tousaw was instructed to
meet with all nine CAOs and find out
what they thought about the level of
service they were getting from the
planning department.
He said that while the consensus
was that every municipality would
like to see more attention from the
department, they agreed that the
department was heading in the right
direction by hiring a new planner
this year.
The meeting took place in January,
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 10
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 14