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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, May 30, 2013
Volume 29 No. 22
TURBINES - Pg. 11Central Huron declaresitself an ‘unwilling host’BUSINESS - Pg. 22 New Concept opens,employs former MDL staffLETTER- Pg. 6Resident takes issue withproposed bylawPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Expanded renovation budget
approved by North Huron
By-election probable
as Siemon resigns
Animal control bylaw
delayed again by M-T
Forcing the issue
Ian Hulley took charge in the canoe, while Mike Boven did the dirty work on Sunday as the
Londesborough Lions held their annual duck race just east of Londesborough. Lance Lefort of
Toronto took the race’s grand prize of $500 when his duck, number 113, crossed the finish line
first. Owen Deweert took home the lame duck prize, as his duck finished dead last. (Jim Brown
photo)
It will be at least another month
before Morris-Turnberry Council
adopts a new animal control bylaw,
following a sometimes unruly
discussion of the issue at the May 21
meeting of council.
With nine members of the public
in the gallery, council received a
petition, heard a presentation and
tried to control one spectator who
demanded to be heard even though
he hadn’t asked in advance to be put
on the agenda.
In the end, Deputy-Mayor Jason
Breckenridge made a motion, which
passed, to table consideration of the
bylaw until the June 18 meeting of
council. Meanwhile councillors will
have an opportunity to make
suggestions for wording changes
before the bylaw is considered
again.
Council did not take up the
suggestion of Mike Clarke who
presented a petition calling for a
committee of “10-12 self-nominated
individuals” to work on the bylaw.
“The bylaw covers so many
topics, that including members of
the community who have in-depth
With cancer creeping back into his
life, Huron East Winthrop Ward
Councillor Bill Siemon has been
forced to resign his position.
At Huron East Council’s May 21
meeting all councillors were handed
a brief letter from Siemon stating
simply “After some careful thought,
I would like to advise council that
due to health reasons, I will be
resigning from my position as
McKillop Ward Councillor effective
May 21, 2013.”
In addition, Siemon wished
council the best of luck for the rest
of the term.
Council accepted, with regret,
Siemon’s resignation, with
councillors wishing Siemon, his
wife and his family only the best in
the future.
“It is with heavy hearts that we
have to accept this,” Mayor Bernie
MacLellan said, adding that
council’s thoughts and prayers are
with Siemon and his family.
With approximately a year and a
half left in the term, councillors were
then left with a decision about how
to proceed to fill Siemon’s seat.
Chief Administrative Officer Brad
Knight advised council that they
could either appoint someone from
the community, or they could have a
by-election. Whichever way council
chose to proceed, however, it would
have to wait. A decision could not be
made that night, he said.
Council first moved to declare the
seat vacant and then discussed how
they would like to proceed.
Knight told councillors they have
60 days to decide how to proceed.
He added that the situation is not a
rare one. In fact, council has already
had to declare a councillor’s seat
vacant this term, when Brussels
Ward Councillor Joe Seili resigned.
At that time, with over three years
left in the council term, council
chose to hold a by-election to fill the
seat. Only one candidate, Frank
Stretton, came forward, however,
and he was acclaimed to the
position.
MacLellan said that he would like
to see a by-election held, despite the
fact that it is the more expensive of
the two options. As council has
already held a by-election in the
current term, he said he was
concerned about council being
consistent in its actions.
He added that with all of the
tension in McKillop over wind
turbines, he would hate to appear to
not being taking the public’s wishes
into account when appointing a new
councillor.
“I don’t want to sit here and decide
and be accused of not letting the
people decide,” MacLellan said.
Councillor Larry McGrath agreed,
saying that with all that is going on
in McKillop, the residents need a
second voice.
Brussels Councillor David Blaney
said, however, while he didn’t
disagree, the costs associated with a
by-election may discourage
someone from running for the
position. He said running in an
election is a costly process and if a
candidate has to incur those
costs, and then incur them again 15
months later (to run again in 2014),
they may not want to make that
commitment.
Knight said he, and the rest of the
staff, will need some time to round
up further details and prepare a
report for council, which he hopes to
have for council’s next meeting on
Tuesday, June 4.
Once details of the by-election are
released, the position will be open to
anyone from Huron East, but only
McKillop residents will be able to
vote.
North Huron Township Council
decided it is worth investing in the
township’s flagship municipal
building during its May 23 meeting
and went well above the budgeted
cost of repairs to address many
issues at once.
Architect Thor Dingman, who
prepared the original report and
suggested repairs on the building,
and Recreation and Facilities
Manager Pat Newson made a
presentation to council with three
major options as far as restoration of
the current North Huron Township
Hall located in Wingham is
concerned.
While the end price tag,
approximately $368,000, is $68,000
higher than the hard budget and
$118,000 higher than the reserves
that had been earmarked for the
project, councillors was informed by
Dingman that the municipality is
receiving a great value from their
contractor, as the lowest bid was
substantially lower than other ones.
They were also informed by Newson
that going for a lower costing
renovation would leave the building
looking half completed.
The first option was to refinish
half of the front of the building,
separated into north and south
divisions. That project would cost
$269,212 and include half of the
front windows, doors and the bell
towers.
“The pro of this project is we’re on
budget with the finances we have set
aside,” Newson explained. “The
con is that you’re going to
have a building that looks half
done.”
Option two involved scaling down
the work on the front, working on
the facade and the bell tower but not
working on the windows or doors
and would cost $322,568.
The final option, and the one that
council begrudgingly accepted, was
to do everything on the front of the
municipal building including doors,
windows and the bell tower with a
final price tag of approximately
$368,000.
“Option ‘C’ gives you the best
bang for your buck,” Newson said.
“You’ll get the most done for the
money. I recognize that this more
money than what council wants to
spend with phase one.”
Councillor Bernie Bailey
questioned the finances of the
project, as, to him, it appeared that a
budget of $250,000 had been set and
this was all substantially higher than
that.
Newson responded, saying the
township had received a $125,000
grant and had $125,000 in reserves
for the project but that council had,
at a pervious meeting, given the go-
ahead to work with $300,000 as they
had realized it would likely be
higher than what was budgeted.
Councillor James Campbell
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 20
By Keith Roulston
The Citizen
Continued on page 22