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The Citizen, 2012-03-29, Page 1CitizenTh e $1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, March 29, 2012 Volume 28 No. 13 TURBINES - Pg. 15Mayor calls investigationon Huron East Council BUDGET - Pg. 24Four per cent tax increaseproposed in Huron EastSPORTS- Pg. 9Brussels Curling Clubholds year-end banquetPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK: Trillium Grant awarded for Brussels farmers’ market New executive to continue school fair Taxes to rise in M-T Hanging around Dylan Smith and Melyssa Courtney enjoyed the record-breaking warm weather while it lasted over the weekend, spending some time on the playground at Lions Park in Blyth. With the weather now turned back to cold, the coats have certainly come back on in recent days. (Jim Brown photo) The tax rate in Morris-Turnberry will rise 3.5 per cent under a budget adopted by council at its March 20 meeting. The budget means that for a residential property assessed at $200,000 taxes will be $3,071.38, an increase of $103.39. The budget proposes to collect $1,987,911 in taxes in 2012, up from $1,688,999 in 2011, an increase of 17.07 per cent. The actual increase to the tax rate is partially offset by a 3.75 per cent growth in the total assessment. The biggest portion of the growth in spending will go to road and bridge construction which will increase from $714,312 last year to $910,000 in 2012, an increase of 27.4 per cent. The construction budget includes $290,000 for culvert and bridge repairs. Other major road construction projects include $250,000 for reconstruction of Clyde Line; $220,000 for rebuilding North St. in Lower Town Wingham and $150,000 for paving on B-Line. Without the bridge reconstruction work, the roads department plans to spend $70,000 less on road construction this year than last. The municipal tax rate actually increased by 12.9 per cent but was offset by declines of 4.43 in the county rate and 4.33 in the education rate, based on draft budgets. Belgrave water customers will see their monthly rate increase to $57.35 from $54.38, an increase of 5.46 per cent. The budget was approved 4-3 in a recorded vote with Councillors Jamie McCallum and John Smuck, Mayor Paul Gowing and Deputy Mayor Jason Breckenridge in favour, while Councillors David Baker, Jamie Heffer and Neil Warwick were opposed. The Brussels Agricultural Society is partnering with the Municipality of Huron East to bring a farmers’ market to Brussels. The plan is to roll out the market in May and this has all been made possible by an Ontario Trillium Grant announced last week, which was awarded to the Brussels Agricultural Society with $22,400 over the next three years. The majority of the grant will go towards start-up costs associated with this year, but the plan is that after the three years are up, the market will be able to support itself. As stated in a press release from Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson, the grant will go towards creating a sustainable farmers’ market to enhance local access to locally- grown food and increase tourism, which will revitalize the downtown core of Brussels. Huron East Economic Development Officer Jan Hawley says the location has been chosen and the market will be held in the McCutcheon Motors parking lot, across Turnberry Street from the post office. The day of the week the market will be held has yet to be selected. However, Huron East Councillor and Brussels Agricultural Society member David Blaney said the market will not conflict with the Howick farmers’ market, which takes place on Saturdays. In the coming months, Blaney says, the wheels will be put in motion to initiate the market. The grant will go to pay for a part-time market manager who will work closely with a volunteer board to run the market. Blaney says that the person working to manage the market will make all the difference. “It’s a time-consuming job,” Blaney said about the market manager position, “so the bulk of the grant will be going to that.” Blaney says that in addition to the hiring of the market manager, a lot of the funding will go to signage for the first year. Hawley says the market manager will work closely with a volunteer board consisting of producers, members of the Brussels Agricultural Society, a municipal liaison, the Farmers’ Market Ontario Association, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Municipality of Huron East. The volunteer steering committee will consist of Joan Brady, Huron- Perth Farm To Table Opportunities Project Co-ordinator, who will also be a vendor at the market; Dorothy Cumming, vendor and member of the Brussels Agricultural Society; Marie Perrie, producer and member of the Brussels Agricultural Society; Rene Richmond, member of the Brussels Agricultural Society and of the Brussels Build Committee; Ralph Watson, member of the Brussels Build Committee, as well as Hawley and Blaney. Blaney said the members of the Brussels Agricultural Society were pleased when they heard of the grant. “We’ve always wanted a farmers’ market,” Blaney said. “It’s a way of furthering the mandate to help promote agriculture in the It’s official: the Belgrave School Fair will continue this year and hopefully for the forseeable future under the watchful eye of a new school fair committee. Alice McDowell, principal at Blyth Public School and eventually Maitland River Elementary School, explained that, after two meetings, the future for the fair is looking bright. “The school fair committee met on March 20 and it went well,” she said. “The fair will continue with a new executive.” The new executive will include President Steve Hallahan, First Vice- President Margaret Vincent, Second Vice-President Erin Gaunt, Past President Tim Walden and a yet-to- be-named treasurer. “We decided to continue and we have a second meeting on Tuesday [March 27],” she said. “We’re looking for volunteers and to network with past participants and volunteers to help flesh out job descriptions for new volunteers and the new committee.” For the time being the name of the fair will remain the Blyth, Brussels and Belgrave Fall Fair as the committee didn’t feel there was enough time to change it according to McDowell. “Next year we will be reviewing everything,” she said. “The name, the classes in the competition, the goals, everything.” About the only thing that will change this year is the people participating, McDowell said. “All the students who will attend Maitland River Elementary School and F.E. Madill Secondary School’s Grade 7 and 8 wing will be welcome to participate,” she said. “That means students from Wingham and Turnberry Central Public Schools will be welcome this year alongside students from East Wawanosh, Blyth and Brussels.” Whether students from Londesborough’s Hullett Central Public School will be included in the fair from this point on is a discussion that will be part of the 2012-13 fair review. The sentiment from the meeting was that the value from the fair, which is the oldest in Ontario according to McDowell, is that it introduces so many students to rural practices and allows rural students to show their classmates what they do at home and what they are capable of. “The fact that this is a fair where the focus is purely on the students and on what they can do is what makes people want to continue it,” she said. “It’s all about the kids.” The meeting was well attended, according to McDowell, who said that the spread of people they had showed the significance of the event. “We had parents of future students, people who have significant agriculture experience and parents who have children who have long since graduated,” she said. “We have community members representing so many different stages of involvement. It’s great.” By Denny Scott The Citizen By Keith Roulston The Citizen By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Continued on page 12