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The Citizen, 2012-01-12, Page 1CitizenTh e $1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, January 12, 2012 Volume 28 No. 2 GOOD NEWS - Pg. 10 Local teen makes dress outof newspapers BIA - Pg. 11Blyth BIA holds its first meetingHALL- Pg. 2Moncrieff Hall grantedtwo-year windowPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK: Huron County to pay for composition bylaw defence Collection approved for Central Huron A gang of angels Students enjoyed recess a little bit more than usual as they began getting back into the schedule of a regular school day at Blyth Public School as part of their first day back on Monday. Shown enjoying their afternoon recess and making snow angels are, from left: Chantal VanSchaik, Brittany Walden, Brooklynne Bos, Tiffany Conrad and Jamie-Lee Eckert. (Denny Scott photo) Huron County will provide the funds to defend its composition bylaw, it was decided at the Jan. 4 meeting in Goderich. A strategic planning meeting to discuss the issue of council composition scheduled for Friday was postponed and not immediately rescheduled after a decision as to whether the current appeal would proceed or not was scheduled to come down the same day. Several councillors felt the issue being discussed in one room while the fate of an appeal on the same issue was happening at the same time in another room was unnecessary and counterproductive. “I don’t see a point in the meeting if the appeal is going ahead,” said Goderich Mayor Deb Shewfelt. The decision was a product of a motion written by Morris-Turnberry Mayor Paul Gowing saying that he didn’t feel it should be left to the lower tier municipalities to defend a county bylaw. In addition, Gowing said the county should accept the decision of court, which ruled in favour of the 16-member composition and opposed the appeal currently being launched by Huron East and Central Huron. A recorded vote was called for and Gowing’s motion passed with 10 votes for the motion and six votes against it. Voting against the motion were Ginn, Vincent, MacLellan, Central Huron’s Dave Jewitt and George Robertson and Jim Deitrich of South Huron. Huron County Warden and Huron East Mayor Bernie MacLellan wanted to comment on the situation, but as a point of order, had to vacate the chair’s position to do so. Past warden Neil Vincent took over the chair in order to allow MacLellan to speak. MacLellan said that he feels he didn’t completely understand the ramifications of joining the appeal process when Huron East first did so. He also said that while he had considered bringing in a lawyer to provide a legal opinion for Huron County Council, he wasn’t sure how much good it would do. “No matter what the opinion,” MacLellan said, “I doubt it would be accepted all around the room.” MacLellan was sure of one thing, however, that he was uncomfortable with how much taxpayer money would be spent on the appeal process. “I didn’t want to spend more money on this,” MacLellan said. MacLellan said that Justice Kelly- Anne Gorman’s decision provided a lot of background on the situation, but never actually detailed how many councillors should be serving at the Huron County level, saying that was a conclusion that was jumped to. “Then who made that decision?” asked Ashfield-Colborne- Wawanosh’s Ben Van Diepenbeek. “Why wasn’t it brought back to Huron County Council?” Van Diepenbeek made the point that once the original decision was made, the four members (one each from North Huron, Central Huron, Huron East and South Huron) were informed their seats were no longer valid immediately. “The four guys were let go and then it was brought back,” Van Diepenbeek said. Shewfelt said it was correspondence received from Huron County Chief Administrative Officer Larry Adams that informed councillors as to what the next step would be throughout the entire process. Reports in the media were also pinpointed. Several councillors were under the impression that four councillors would no longer be representing their municipalities at the county level, however, a press release was then distributed, and reported, stating that the number of representatives would remain at 20, despite earlier thoughts. At the time, Shewfelt recalled, he and several other representatives wanted the legal opinion received by Huron County to be reviewed by a judge, but that request was denied. Now, however, Shewfelt said, those representatives that didn’t want the Central Huron and Huron East’s appeal of Justice Kelly-Anne Gorman’s decision on Huron County Council composition had been given the green light and will be heard on Jan. 31. Huron East Mayor Bernie MacLellan reported that a stay had not been issued in a Toronto appeal court on the case, but that the appeal date has been set for later this month. MacLellan said that the law firm handling the appeal on behalf of the two municipalities, Patton Cormier and Associates out of London, has called the scheduling of an appeal in just a matter of weeks “unprecedented”. “They said they’ve never seen an appeal date set so quickly,” MacLellan said in an interview on Friday, shortly after the date was set. In addition to the scheduling, the appeal judge presiding over the case in Toronto has suggested that the four former members of Huron County Council attend all council meetings in the next month in order to keep up to speed, should they be reinstated after the Jan. 31 appeal. MacLellan said the two municipalities had been optimistically expecting an appeal date set within the next 10 months, so a date later this month has given them reason to be optimistic. While MacLellan says he is uncertain of what form the appeal will actually take, he has been told that it’s a three-judge panel that will be hearing the case and that no new evidence can be entered into the case. The cases presented late last year will simply be re-presented to the three-judge panel on Jan. 31 with a decision to follow. The issue was set to be discussed at the Jan. 11 Huron County Council Committee of the Whole meeting. Central Huron is going ahead with its plan for weekly waste and recycling co-collection with the Bluewater Recycling Association (BRA) beginning April 1. The decision was made at council’s Monday night meeting by way of a recorded vote with Councillors Alison Lobb, Marg Anderson and Dan Colquhoun voting against the resolution. The prices have been set and will be distributed to residents through a form in the mail. The concept behind the pricing, which has been set by the municipality based on costs presented by the BRA, is essentially $40 per bag of garbage, per household, per year. A small bin will cost residents $80 per year, holding approximately two bags of garbage with a maximum weight of 120 lbs. A medium bin will cost $160 per year, holding approximately four bags of garbage with a maximum weight of 220 lbs. A large bag will cost $240 per year, holding approximately six bags of garbage with a maximum weight of 320 lbs. The form also explains that if no action is taken by residents who currently have a BRA recycling bin, a small bin will be delivered to them by default. If residents wish to opt out of the program and seek other alternatives, they must contact the municipality by Jan. 31. Residents must also contact the municipality if they wish to take part in the program, but desire a medium or large bin, as a small bin will be delivered to them by default. The cost for taking part in the program will be added as a line item on residents’ tax bill. Before the final decision was made, however, Wayne Smith of Sunrise Sanitation presented to council, saying he was “aggravated” with how the whole process was carried out. Smith said he was given just a few hours’ notice before the last meeting where the issue was discussed and that his service was never seriously considered by council. “My truck is ready, I can start now,” Smith told council at the Monday night meeting. Councillor Brian Barnim told Smith that even if the arrangement By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Continued on page 19 By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Appeal date set for Jan. 31 By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Continued on page 20