The Citizen, 2012-05-31, Page 1CitizenTh
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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, May 31, 2012
Volume 28 No. 22
TURBINES - Pg. 13Information meetingcoming to Brussels FESTIVAL - Pg. 23 Stratford Festival opensfor 60th seasonSPORTS- Pg. 8Fastball season beginswith Brussels Tigers winPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Park improvements wait after late response
Higher and higher
Riley Graf, under the watchful eye of several Hullett Central Public School teachers and
students, pushed the boundaries of gravity to take off high into the sky during the school’s May
23 track and field competition. Several track and field meets were held across the area in
several public schools, taking advantage of the warm weather of late May. (Denny Scott photo)
Fire department
surveys delayed
Last year was a good year for the
Blyth Barons Men’s Fastball team;
they had ended the year with a
surplus thanks to previously hosting
year-end tournaments and winning
some tournaments and they wanted
to give back to the community.
Shawn Bromley, one of the
members of the team, explained that
the parks at the Blyth Campground
are in serious need of some
maintenance and upgrades and that
the team had hoped to help with that
cause, unfortunately, by the time the
numbers came back this past April,
there wasn’t much the team could
do.
“We talked last year at our annual
diamond users meeting about
putting dugouts at the Radford
diamond,” he said. “We had money
to fund a bunch of it and North
Huron kind of left it up to us to make
something happen.”
Bromley said that it was a
frustrating feeling knowing that they
would need to take the lead on it.
“We didn’t feel it was our job to
facilitate the upgrade,” he said. “If
we have the money, how much
further should we go to have it put
back in the community?”
Director of Facilties and
Recreation Pat Newson said that,
while she would love to see the work
done at the diamond, it just hasn’t
been in the budget for the past two
years.
“It’s always a challenge for us to
financially figure things out,” she
said. “It’s not my call what gets done
and what has to wait.”
She said that the priorities of the
day are reflected in the decisions
that council makes regarding major
financial issues. This year, as an
example, council decided the
priority was the roof at the Blyth and
District Community Centre since it
was leaking.
“We definitely want to work with
all our users and make sure the
facilities meet their needs, but we’re
limited in what we can do from a
budgetary standpoint,” Newson said.
She said that if council felt the
dugouts were a priority they would
be worked on and that the user
groups could see this as an
opportunity to meet with council and
discuss the issue.
Bromley said that the upgrades
they were looking at this year would
be identical to work done at the
Wingham baseball diamonds at
Riverside Park several years ago.
Those parks, however, according
to Newson, were upgraded when a
previously used park on Josephine
Street was sold.
“The Wingham diamonds were
built with funds provided by the cost
of the other diamond on Josephine
Street and donations from the
community including substantial
funding donated by the Libro Group
who purchased the land the old park
was on,” Newson said.
She stated that those fields were
upgraded completely through
donations with the exception of the
time township staff spent on
logistics.
The fact that a lot of the existing
equipment from the old park on
Josephine Street was able to be
reused and that changed how much
the project would cost if it were
repeated in Blyth leading to the
delay in getting the quote.
The Blyth diamonds consist of one
fenced-in diamond and one missing
the outfield fence, the same as
Wingham, yet it took a year for the
Department of Recreation and
Facilities to get back to the Barons
with prices for a project that,
according to Bromley, was identical.
“We were told this year that it
would cost just shy of $2,700 to put
in the dugouts,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we’re a non-profit
After months of research and
interviews, renowned Canadian
consultant George Cuff has made
over 50 recommendations on how to
improve the County of Huron. If and
how the recommendations will be
implemented is now a decision for
Huron County Council to make.
Three reports were generated as a
result of the investigation. The
executive summary has been made
available to the public, a full,
comprehensive review has been
made available only to councillors
and senior staff members, but may
be made public later in the process.
The personnel report is just for
councillors and will never be
released to the public.
The 54-page executive summary
is now available for members of the
public both in physical form and on
the county’s website.
Cuff and Huron County Warden
Bernie MacLellan held a press
conference and first public
presentation of the report in a
special afternoon session of Huron
County Council on May 23. As
council had concluded its business
by 1 p.m. that day, only MacLellan
remained to speak on behalf of
council at the 3 p.m. meeting.
Cuff provided an overall summary
of the recommendations, reminding
the public and members of the
media that council is not required to
adopt a single one of his
At a special meeting Monday,
Morris-Turnberry Council voted to
change the wording of a
controversial fire service survey and
delay its mailing pending renewed
negotiations with North Huron.
Mayor Paul Gowing told an
overflow audience that he had asked
staff Friday morning to get legal
advice on wording of the survey,
following bitter criticism from the
public at an information meeting on
the proposed Morris-Turnberry fire
service the night before (for
coverage of Thursday’s meeting, see
page 22).
The survey, which was originally
scheduled to be mailed out on
Monday, would have asked
ratepayers if they wanted to
continue with the status quo of
buying fire service from North
Huron or supported Morris-
Turnberry having its own fire
service. Then it added,
controversially, that non-return of
the survey would be considered
support for starting a fire service.
Many at the Thursday meeting
saw this as a way for council to be
able to a argue it had support for
starting a fire service because
unreturned surveys would be seen as
support.
Four ratepayers delivered letters
of protest to the municipal office
Friday. One was from John
Schwartzentruber, who also sought
to speak at Monday’s meeting, after
Mayor Gowing asked for the special
meeting.
Speaking Monday night,
Schwartzentruber thanked council
for calling a special meeting. “It
reassures the integrity of the
democratic system,” he said.
Ratepayers could be forgiven for
thinking the worst after seeing the
question on what he called “the
ballot”.
“To put out a ballot and say if it is
not returned it is consent [for
creating the fire service] is a
travesty,” he said.
Further, he questioned whether
sending out the survey while still
trying to negotiate with North Huron
might be considered bargaining in
bad faith by North Huron.
Pointing out that the last meeting
with North Huron had been
cancelled by North Huron,
Councillor Neil Warwick wondered
“Is he [Schwartzentruber] referring
to negotiations I’m not aware of?”
When Cynthia Moyer, president
of the Huron/Perth Chapter of the
Ontario Landowners Association
also referred to “the ballot” in a
separate presentation, Gowing
interrupted to say it was never a
ballot but “a comment sheet”. The
By Keith Roulston
The Citizen
Continued on page 20
Cuff report raises eyebrows
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 18
Continued on page 20