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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 2012-02-16, Page 13THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2012. PAGE 13. Lisa Thompson agrees to present school petition County to cover all costsassociated with appeal Huron East donates gear to Bird Cove Westmoreland Street to remain unplowed Dinner and a show The Brussels Mennonite Fellowship held a special Valentine’s Day dinner on Sunday, Feb. 12 featuring the musical stylings of New Hamburg’s Jeff Harden. (Denny Scott photo) Despite lengthy debates over the past six months regarding the composition of Huron County Council, a consensus on funding legal costs has been reached. Goderich’s Deb Shewfelt made a motion at Huron County Council’s Feb. 8 Committee of the Whole meeting that Huron County incur all costs associated with the appeal. Shewfelt’s motion would include all Huron County costs, as well as all costs borne by every lower tier municipality. “It’s the only fair way,” Shewfelt told councillors. Warden Bernie MacLellan said it has taken him some time to warm up to the idea of Shewfelt’s motion, but that he felt it was the only fair way to proceed. “A week ago I wouldn’t have been in favour of this motion,” MacLellan said, “but now I think it’s a good motion for a number of reasons.” MacLellan said it was time for everyone to move on from the appeal once the final decision was handed down, as it had been costing taxpayers too much money. After discussing the appeal with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and the Western Wardens Caucus, MacLellan was happy to inform council that the legal route was indeed the way to approach the situation, despite there being many who had been critical of it. “This was the proper course of action,” MacLellan said. MacLellan said that whatever the decision is, there will likely be some “hurt feelings” but that the county needed to move on after the decision if councillors wanted to be productive. “We need to accept whatever the opinion is,” MacLellan said. “We don’t need to take it back so the taxpayers are paying again.” North Huron’s Neil Vincent said he disagreed with the motion and felt that council had 20 months to get the bylaw right so the issue could be settled once and for all. Shewfelt backed up what MacLellan said, saying he brought the issue up to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and a representative from the Ministry said they “wouldn’t touch it with a 10- foot pole”. South Huron Mayor George Robertson, who seconded Shewfelt’s motion, said it was imperative that this motion pass. “We need to move on,” he said. “We need to set goals for the next term. We tried this before, but it didn’t go.” The motion was then carried by council. Huron East has taken the lead on donating money to the Bird Cove, Newfoundland Fire Department, piggybacking on the fire tanker donation by Central Huron. After first addressing the issue at the Feb. 8 meeting of Huron County Council’s Committee of the Whole, Huron East Deputy-Mayor Joe Steffler brought fundraising for the tanker’s trip to Newfoundland to Huron East Council where it was supported. Steffler suggested that every Huron County municipality, with the exception of Central Huron, as well as Huron County, pay $200 each for a total of $1,800 to be used as gas money for the tanker’s drive to the east coast. The Bird Cover Fire Department, which consists of one truck, 25 volunteer firefighters and just three bunker suits, was discovered by Central Huron Fire Chief Steve Cooke, who felt the department could use a donation just as Central Huron had its new truck delivered. Council passed the motion and was also informed by Huron East Fire Chief Marty Bedard that several items from the Brussels, Grey and Seaforth Fire Departments were also included in the truck. Bedard said several old bunker suits and helmets were donated to the fire department as they no longer had a use in Huron East. One councillor did speak against the motion. Bill Siemon said that if area fire departments were going to begin fundraising for one another that they should start in Northern Ontario where the need is great. “I think this is outside of our jurisdiction,” Siemon said. “I think if we’re going to start boosting fire departments we should start with Northern Ontario.” The motion passed and it is currently in the hands of the lower tier municipalities for approval at their local levels. Continued from page 1 affected. “The PC party is very open, especially our local MPP Lisa Thompson who has agreed to present the petition,” he said. “She will be making sure it’s presentation worthy. “I’ve also approached a member of the NDP party but we’ve received no response yet,” he said. “We hope they participate.” Vodden has found that the petition has been met with three different responses. “The major reaction we get is that people want to support this. They are very eager to help,” he said. “We’re also discovering that some people didn’t know that their kids would be switching schools next year, and I very much hope there aren’t many of them.” The third response is one of skepticism, Vodden said. Some believe it isn’t worth the time to sign the petition. “The only thing I can say to those who ask if it’s worth it is there is no way we know without trying,” he said. “This is unprecedented. Nothing like this has been tried before.” The only analog to the petition is, according to Vodden, a petition signed by many when local hospitals were going to be closed. It had a huge effect on the outcome of those proceedings. “The one guarantee I can give people is that if we don’t do anything, the school will be closed,” he said. “If we get hundreds and hundreds of signatures we will be able to cause those in power to take a second look at things.” Vodden stated that signatures can come from anywhere. People don’t need to be residents of Blyth to participate. He also stated that, after the success of a petition to have the school opened in Wingham by Jim Snyder, Sarachman hopes to have similar success. “Greg is aiming at having at least 221 signatures,” Vodden said. “[Then-MPP] Carol Mitchell received a petition with 220 signatures from Snyder in support of the new school and called it overwhelming, so we’re aiming for that.” Vodden said that Sarachman has been very heavily involved in PASS. Greg has taken great responsibility in organizing the group,” he said. “It’s difficult making decisions with people you haven’t met face-to-face, but Greg is marvelous at keeping all of us in touch.” Vodden said that he has to admit it’s possible this may not work. “This may be a lost cause,” he said. “But we all believe that we would rather try and fail than do nothing. It’s important to get the whole community behind it to give it the best possible chance of success.” The petition is available for signature throughout Blyth at the following locations: • The Blyth Corner Café • Blyth Décor • Pianovations • Blyth Variety • Elliott-Nixon Insurance • Sharon’s Miniatures • The Gift Cupboard • The Village Barber • Scrimgeour’s Food Market • The Blyth Inn Users of sidewalks on Westmoreland Street in Blyth hoping for snow removal may have to wait awhile before North Huron Township starts taking care of it. A letter from Mary Lou and John Stewart, two residents of Westmoreland Street, stated that they believe Westmoreland Street sidewalks from Queen Street to the Bainton Parking Lot should be kept clear “for safety reasons and to alleviate a potential dangerous situation”. The couple state in their letter that the street is one of the heaviest Invites you to attend ourInformation Meeting Time:Tuesday, February 28, 2012 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Location:Wallace Community Centre Kurtzville, ON Lunch provided - RSVP by Feb. 23 Pre-register today by calling: Greg Fritz at 519-440-1061 Brussels Location at 519-887-9933 Kurtzville Location at 519-291-2220 Speakers include: Murray Insley - HDC -Food-Grade Bean Market Review Mike Cowbrough - OMAFRA Weed Specialist - Weed Control in Soybeans Cal Whewell - FC Stone - Grain Market Update Plan to Attend - Call Today By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen BUY? SELL? TRY CLASSIFIED By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen By Denny Scott The Citizen Continued on page 22