The Citizen, 2012-05-31, Page 22PAGE 22. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2012.Fire meeting draws negative response from public
A living legend
George Hamilton IV was the special guest of honour at
Saturday night’s barn dance show at the Blyth and District
Community Centre. It was part of the Barn Dance Historical
Society’s 75th anniversary year and the 15th anniversary of
the annual jamboree campout weekend in Blyth. (Jim Brown
photo)
The message came through loudand clear from 350 people attendinga meeting in Wingham, Thursdaynight: “We don’t want a Morris-Turnberry fire service”.The audience sat quietly whileMorris-Turnberry Mayor Paul
Gowing and various municipal
officials explained the reasons
council was proposing a new fire
service, with stations in Belgrave
and Lower Town Wingham but the
applause and cheering started when
members of the public began making
presentations opposing the proposal.
Ten people had registered in
advance to make presentations of up
to 10 minutes each. There were
common themes touched on again
and again in their talks.
Inter-council co-operation
“Our municipality should get
along with North Huron,” said
Wayne Hopper to applause from the
audience. “Egos get in the way of
common sense.”“I believe there has been someanimosity over the years,” saidRoger Somers.“We need to tear down fences, notbuild them,” said Jeff Howson,president of Howson and HowsonLtd. of Blyth.“The consensus seems to be themajority of people in Morris-
Turnberry and North Huron want
their councils to sit down and
hammer out an agreement,” said
John Schwartzentruber.
The opinions came despite
background information from Nancy
Michie, administrator clerk-
treasurer, which showed an
unwillingness from North Huron to
negotiate dating back to the first
quote for fire coverage for Morris-
Turnberry by the new Fire
Department of North Huron after the
dissolution of the Blyth and District
Fire Area Board and the Wingham
Area Fire Board at the end of 2009.
Morris-Turnberry’s total fire costs
went from $125,236 in 2009 (which
included no capital costs that year),to $292,145 (which included capitalreplacement costs for North Huron).The payment to North Huron alonewent from $61,846 to $211,037. Dorothy Kelly, who was mayor atthat time, explained in herpresentation at the meeting, thatfaced with what her council felt wasan unreasonable cost, they chose to
sign an agreement only for two years
and consider other options.
But in another presentation from
the public, Patricia Beer-Bailey,
reading a speech partially written by
her son, North Huron Councillor
Bernie Bailey, it was pointed out that
North Huron had spent hundreds of
thousands to buy out partners like
Morris-Turnberry when the two
fireboards were disbanded.
Michie said the council was again
unhappy with the proposal from
North Huron for 2012 and 2013
when that was received last
September. North Huron’s charge
would rise to $217,522 for 2012,
$223,395 for 2014 and $245,517 in
2016 if council chose to sign a five-
year agreement.
Morris-Turnberry met with North
Huron on Oct. 17, 2011 and were
told North Huron was not willing to
reduce the costs, Michie said.
Morris-Turnberry councillors
broached the subject again on Jan.
23, 2012 during a meeting to discuss
economic development and otherissues. On March 21, Morris-Turnberrysent a letter to North Huronsuggesting the two municipalitiesform a joint fire board as equalpartners. It went on to propose NorthHuron close its Wingham fire stationand relocate to the Lower Town siteof the proposed Morris-Turnberry
fire station with Morris-Turnberry
discontinuing its planned Belgrave
station.
The proposal also called for
Morris-Turnberry to pay for fire
suppression based on current
assessment, less capital costs, which
it estimated would save Morris-
Turnberry $67,484 a year.
In a letter dated May 4, North
Huron rejected the proposals. North
Huron CAO Gary Long noted that a
study undertaken two years ago
showed there is only one per cent
discretionary spending in the North
Huron fire budget and therefore
there was no room to reduce costs.
“We are not going to put ourselves
in a situation where North Huron
residents are subsidizing the cost of
providing fire services to
neighbouring municipalities,” he
said.
During question period, the
council did hear some kind words
when Lower Town resident Doug
Garniss thanked them for holding
the meeting and said he wishedNorth Huron would hold a meetingfor its ratepayers.Also in question period, ChrisPalmer said there seems to be a wallbetween the two municipalities andwondered if an independentmediator might bridge the gap.Gowing said council hadconsidered this possibility but
because of the cost, the mediator’s
decision would need to be binding or
There were six tables of shoot in
play on Friday, May 25 at the
Belgrave Community Centre.
Winners were: high pink card, Marie
Stewart; second high pink card, Bev
Hayden; most shoots pink card,
Louise Hammond; high white card,
Lillian Appleby; second high white
card, Charles Shaw and most shoots
white card, Ron Taylor.
The next shoot party is Friday,
June 22.
At Knox United Church Susan
Smith of Cargill spoke and showed
slides of her visit to Ethiopia, the
Canadian Foodgrains Bank and the
work they are doing there. Lunch
and a social time followed the
service in the church basement.
A special United Church Women’s
Interdenominational evening takes
place at Knox United Church on
Thursday, May 31 at 7:30 p.m.
On Tuesday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m.
the regular UCW meeting is at Pat
Hunking’s in Blyth. The Knox
United Church executive meets on
Thursday, June 7 at 7 p.m. June 8 is
the deadline for the next edition of
the Knox Belgrave newsletter.
The CitizenBlyth
519-523-4792
Brussels
519-887-9114
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UC executive to
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Continued on page 24