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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, October 3, 2013
Volume 29 No. 39
PARK - Pg. 14North Huron partnerswith university on park FAIR - Pg. 24 Numbers up at BrusselsFall FairFIRE- Pg. 11Local fire departmentshonoured by ‘The Citizen’Publications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
We Day inspires Hullett pupils
Huron East Council
debates service levels
Sold!
Wingham Community Living held a fall dinner and auction at the Brussels, Morris and Grey
Community Centre on Saturday night and received a little star-studded assistance from
Huron-Bruce MP Ben Lobb, who acted as the night’s auctioneer, and Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa
Thompson, who helped to display the night’s auction items. (Vicky Bremner photo)
No clear direction was given to
municipal staff after Huron East
Council held its much-anticipated
level of service meeting on Tuesday,
Sept. 24.
The issue was first raised earlier
this year when councillors felt they
needed to look ahead to the future in
the wake of declining funding from
upper tiers of government and rising
service costs across the board.
Chief Administrative Officer Brad
Knight prefaced the night’s
discussion by outlining the loss of
Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund
(OMPF) money that began this year.
The municipality’s funding dropped
by $134,000 in 2013, which, Knight
told the councillors, meant that even
covering the lost funding with taxes
would result in a three per cent
increase in taxes before any other
issue was discussed.
The amount of money Huron East
had been receiving from the fund is
scheduled to decrease similarly over
at least the next three years.
Knight said the demand for
municipal services is constantly
increasing, so that, coupled with
decreasing upper tier funding, left
Huron East with a tricky future as far
as its cash flow goes.
Knight engaged the councillors in
an exercise that originated with the
staff of the Ministry of Municipal
Affairs, asking councillors why they
wanted to examine the
municipality’s level of service.
The options were: improve
service, meet new or increased
demand for service, maintain
existing service levels in the face of
decreasing revenues, reduce costs,
improve revenues or all of the above.
Knight said that the majority of
answers fell under the “all of the
above” heading. Huron East Mayor
Bernie MacLellan, however, said
that if he was to answer, he would
say that he would be trying to
maintain current service levels in the
face of decreasing revenue.
He said that if Huron East hadn’t
been providing adequate services to
the public, councillors would have
heard about it by now. He said that
in his opinion, the municipality had
been doing a good job of delivering
services to the public, but that it’s
decreasing funding that has been the
problem.
One of the first issues discussed
was current staffing levels at the
municipality’s office.
Councillors asked both Knight and
Treasurer Paula Michiels how many
hours they were putting in, noting all
the nights and weekends the two
employees work.
After Councillor Bob Fisher
suggested that the municipality’s
administration is understaffed,
MacLellan agreed.
“You and I both agree that we’re
short-staffed,” MacLellan said to
Fisher. “It’s very evident.”
MacLellan said that a closed-to-
the-public session, originally
scheduled for that night, but then
subsequently moved to the Oct. 1
session of council, would perhaps go
a long way to addressing some of
those issues, without elaborating
further.
Staffing in other divisions of the
municipality were also discussed,
including costs associated with
Huron East’s three fire departments.
Knight said that while costs have
inflated in the years since
amalgamation, very often the
percentage of the budget being used
had not, meaning that while certain
costs may have increased
substantially over the years, how
much of the budget being allocated,
has not.
For example, Knight pointed out
that the maintenance activities
portion of the transportation services
budget cost the municipality
$514,000 in 2003, but now costs
$923,000. Its percentage of the
transportation services budget was
31 per cent in 2003 and just 36 per
cent of the budget in 2013.
One of those areas was policing
costs. Knight said that while
councillors have been lamenting
rising policing costs, the percentage
of the budget dedicated to policing
costs has actually decreased from
2003 to 2013.
When debating fire costs,
Councillor Larry McGrath returned
Nearly 20 students from Hullett
Central Public School made it
possible for a handful of them to
participate in the We Day event on
Sept. 20 in Toronto.
Sean Whyte, one of the nine
students who travelled with their
teacher Mrs. Van Veen, explained
that the group had to “prove their
chops” before they could make the
trip.
“We had to do some fundraisers
before we could go,” he said. “We
worked with the Easter Seals Penny
Drive last year and did the Vow of
Silence.”
Members of the group also said
that they have an ongoing program
to dig wells in impoverished nations.
The conference was an incredible
experience for everyone involved
according to Whyte.
“There were a lot of people there,”
he said. “There were like 20,000 in
attendance and that was pretty cool.
“They had some really great
speakers and some amazing stories
to tell,” he said.
Speakers at the event included
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne,
Liberian President Ellen Johnson
Siruelas, Colonel Chris Hadfield,
Michael ‘Pinball’ Clemons, Free
The Children co-founders Craig and
Marc Kielburger, inspirational
speaker Chris Tse and youth
speakers Hannah Alper, Vishal Vijay
and Sydney Brouillard-Coyle.
Performers at the event included
singer-songwriter Demi Lovato, the
Jonas Brothers, Imagine Dragons,
Martin Luther King Jr.’s eldest son
Martin Luther King III, Serena
Ryder, the Barenaked Ladies and
Darren Criss and Jacob Artist, cast
members from Glee.
Aside from the speakers and
musical acts, Whyte explained that
the group brought a lot home from
the event including their new idea,
the Scare Away Hunger Campaign.
“Instead of trick or treating, we’ll
be going door to door to show our
“ In 1975 Keith Roulston, James Roy and Anne Chislett founded
The Blyth Centre for the Arts -- saving the beloved building
from an uncertain future. That inspiration has seen Canadian
stories produced for almost 40 years, creating a worldwide
reputation for excellence. Blyth Festival is happy to support
Campaign 14/19 and the renewal of our historic “home”,
Blyth Memorial Community Hall.”
BLYTH FESTIVAL
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 6 Continued on page 24
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen