HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2012-01-05, Page 24PAGE 24. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 2012.Rutledge to bring tender documents to council
Continued from page 1
on the right.
Continuing left from the entrance,
the library continues until the
existing entrance (at the corner of
Turnberry Street and Orchard Line)
would be sealed off and a new adult
corner reading room would be
established in that space.
One concern over the years had
been preserving the integrity of the
corner entrance and Rutledge insists
it will remain. While the doors will
no longer be used, the appearance
will remain as is, with the doors
being converted into windows
serving the corner reading room he’s
proposing.
“There will be no actual entrance
there,” Rutledge said, “but I think it
will look quite fabulous.”
In order to bring the library into
accordance with the county’s
regulations, three washrooms will be
added to the main floor, one men’s
washroom, one women’s washroom
and a third, barrier-free unisex
washroom.
Looking at a pricetag of nearly $1
million, without taking into account
several potentially expensive
variables, several councillors were
hesitant to say the least.
“That’s a huge amount of money,”
said Councillor Bill Siemon. “There
are too many unanswered
questions.”
Siemon was referring to costs
associated with landscaping and the
construction of the parking lot,
which he felt were going to exceed
the quarter-million-dollar mark.
Huron County Librarian Megan
Wark was also at the meeting and
she said she and Rutledge had spent
“quite a bit of time” going over the
different plans Rutledge had
originally proposed, eventually
settling on ‘Proposal 5’ which was
what was being presented to council
on Dec. 20.
With the library currently open 20
hours per week, several councillors
felt over $1 million was too much to
spend for a building open so few
hours.
Wark, however, said that when
extensive renovations are made to
libraries, usage has almost alwaysbeen proven to increase, especiallyin Huron County.In addition to several computer
stations, she said, wireless internet
will also be provided, which should
increase usage throughout the
community.
Councillor Nathan Marshall,
however, couldn’t believe the figures
being thrown around for a building
open just 20 hours a week.
“I am in awe that we’re even
considering this amount of money
for 20 hours a week,” he said.
Mayor Bernie MacLellan,
however, likened a library to a
community centre in terms of actual
usage hours.
Councillor David Blaney then
backed up MacLellan, even going a
step further, saying that because of a
community centre’s seasonal usage,
a library is likely used more because
it is open year-round.
“When you start to do the math, I
think you’ll find the library is open
as much as the arena, maybe even
more,” he said.
MacLellan then went over the
figures saying that Huron East
already has $400,000 earmarked for
the library, in addition to
contributions from Morris-
Turnberry in the amount of $100,000
and $120,000 in fundraising dollars
already raised.“I have a problem with $1.2 or$1.3 million,” said Councillor LesFalconer. “Can we downsize if it
comes in too high?”
Siemon said he felt the
landscaping portion of the project
was very expensive work, more
expensive than most councillors
realized, due to the special kind of
fill that will be required.
Councillor Larry McGrath was
worried about where the remaining
funds were going to come from in
the 2012 budget.
“How will it affect our budget?”
he asked. “We argue over spending
$20,000 in our budget.”
Rutledge said that under the
proposed plan, the building will be
something the people of Brussels
can be proud of for years to
come.
“If we make a nice complex, it
will be used and it will be worth
every penny,” said MacLellan.
Rutledge will now prepare tender
documents for council, but the
documents will be reviewed by
council before tenders are officially
called for by the municipality.
In addition, Rutledge’s drawings
of the library were posted at the New
Year’s Levee at the Brussels, Morris
and Grey Community Centre on Jan.
1 for all to see.
The future is now
Though generated with green grass on the ground instead of ice and snow, the people of the
Brussels community were given an idea of what their library will look like in the near future as
architect John Rutledge presented his floorplans as well as this computer-generated image of
the library after the proposed renovation and expansion. The pictures were presented to
Huron East Council on Dec. 20 and then they were on display at the New Year’s Levee on Jan.
1, kicking off the community’s 140th year. (Photo submitted)
Central Huron Council is awaiting
word from a judge on whether an
appeal will be granted for another
look at Huron County Council’s
composition.
While reporting on the latest turn
of the events at Central Huron’s
Dec. 22 Committee of the Whole
session, Mayor James Ginn reported
the municipality is hoping a stay
will be granted so that the four
councillors removed from the table
last month, including Central
Huron’s Brian Barnim, Huron East’s
Bill Siemon and North Huron’s
David Riach, will be allowed to
return while an appeal is awaited on
Justice Kelly-Anne Gorman’s
decision.
“We have appealed the reduction
on the number of councillors,” says
Ginn. “We expect to hear back from
that after the new year.”
Ginn also said that Huron East is
now on board with the appeal.
Ginn added that Huron County
Council is preparing to further
discuss county council’s
composition, which now stands at
16, at its Jan. 6 strategic planning
session.
“I’m not overly optimistic on the
outcome of that,” says Ginn. “I think
the appeal is going to have to
happen anyway.”
Meanwhile, Councillor Barnim
noted the judge did not say county
council’s composition should be
immediately reduced to 16 in her
ruling. As it stands, Huron County
has a bylaw on the books tying each
municipality’s representation at the
county level to its number of
electors in increments of 4,000 in
accordance with the Municipal
Property Assessment Corporation
statistics (MPAC). Among the issues
of concern being pinpointed by
Central Huron is the veracity of that
data.
By Cheryl Heath
Clinton News-Record
County review
underway: Ginn