The Citizen, 2013-07-11, Page 1CitizenTh
e
$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, July 11, 2013
Volume 29 No. 28
SLEDDING - Pg. 9Siertsemas win big inPennsylvania FESTIVAL - Pg. 19‘Yorkville: The Musical’full of talent at FestivalSPORTS- Pg. 8Brussels’ Sebastian reprisesrole on Team Ontario
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INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Versteeg to run for warden
Parkades approved
with conditions
Learning the fundamentals
Last Friday night the Brussels Tigers of the Huron County Fastball League opened their minds
and shared their baseball knowledge with the village’s Pre-Mite team. The Tigers taught the
Pre-Mites how to hit, field and throw the proper way with the Pre-Mites sticking around to
watch the Tigers trounce the Wroxeter Royals 12-5 later that night. Helping a young player to
fine tune his throwing motion is Gene Johnston. See page 2 for full story. (Vicky Bremner photo)
Huron County Council has
approved the Blyth Business
Improvement Area’s concept of
parkades on the village’s main street,
pending some conditions that may
take a while to meet.
At council’s July 3 meeting, the
issue was up for discussion after
Director of Public Works Dave
Laurie recommended denial of the
BIA’s request, saying the liability
being taken on by the county was too
great.
The proposal is for wooden
structure parkades that would
expand onto Blyth’s main street
sidewalk into parking spots, serving
as patios for some main street
businesses.
The hope is that these structures
will encourage economic
development in the village during
the summer with Blyth Festival
productions on the Memorial Hall
stage.
Laurie also provided council with
a second option, saying, in his
report, that if council chose to go
against his recommendation, there
were three conditions that, if met,
could help to greatly reduce the
county’s liability should the
parkades go ahead.
Laurie’s recommended parkade
conditions are:
• That the County of Huron receive
this information report and share it
with the Municipality of North
Huron to assist both municipalities
to come to an agreement in principle
prior to a formal agreement.
• That the design of the parkades
be updated to a standard that is
compatible with live traffic. Any
updates should be available to the
Public Works Department and the
Municipality of North Huron for
review prior to formalizing any
agreement.
• That if the County of Huron
proceeds with a formal agreement,
that they receive a legal opinion on
the interpretation of the applicable
section of the Municipal Act (and
any other applicable legislation) and
that the formal agreement be drafted
by the County solicitor and reviewed
by the Chief Administrative Officer,
County risk manager and Director of
Public Works prior to execution.
After presenting his report, Laurie
told council members that they had
the final decision as to whether to go
ahead with the parkades or not, but it
was his job to assess risk and advise
council of that risk.
Chief Administrative Officer
Brenda Orchard agreed, saying “it is
staff’s job to make council aware of
liability” but ultimately it is
council’s decision if they want to
open the county up to any liability
that may be present in any given
situation.
Discussion on the parkades began
with several councillors speaking in
favour of the BIA’s initiative.
Laurie told council that while it
was not his intention to disrupt
economic development, he felt the
county was taking on too much
liability with the parkades.
“I’m in favour of economic
development,” Laurie told
councillors. “We have to consider
road safety and we could not see a
way for [the parkades] to be safe.”
He told councillors that an
engineering firm could be brought in
to increase the safety of the
parkades, but if council was to table
the issue, there would be no way the
parkades would be approved for use
in Blyth this summer.
Some councillors, however, felt
the innovation shown by the BIA
outweighed any risk, and felt the
county should approve the project.
“We have to be careful to not stifle
innovation,” said Central Huron
Mayor Jim Ginn, who thought the
concept was a great idea.
“We need to make these as safe as
possible, because we’ve got to find a
way to move ahead.”
Bluewater’s Tyler Hessel agreed,
saying he supported the
fundamentals of the parkades.
“This just makes sense to me,” he
said.
If the parkades weren’t there, said
Howick Mayor Art Versteeg, the
street would be lined with cars
parked in legal parking spots, so
with the parkades, he said, there is
no further encroachment onto the
Howick Reeve Art Versteeg
announced at the July 3 meeting of
Huron County Council that he
would be running for warden in
December.
Versteeg is the first councillor to
make public his intention to seek the
county’s highest political seat.
He says that he feels the county’s
future is bright and he wants to help
lead.
“Over the last years we’ve been
through some difficult issues
together,” he told his fellow
councillors, “but I think we’ve made
some really good decisions. We’re in
a great position as a county to move
forward and do some new things and
I want to be part of that.”
He told councillors he would
appreciate their support when the
secret ballot is held on Dec. 4 later
this year.
Because of council’s eventual
move to a two-year term for the
county’s warden, if the schedule
remains the same, and Versteeg is
elected, he will be the final one-
year-term warden running across
2013 and 2014.
Versteeg told reporters after the
meeting that he had been seriously
considering running for the position
for about a year. He also added that
he was supportive when council
discussed the two-year term of
warden last year.
Versteeg currently works as a cash
crop farmer and says his schedule
will be able to accommodate
the demanding schedule of the
warden.
Coming Soon. 7.28.13
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By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 10