The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 2012-08-23, Page 14PAGE 14. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012.M-T keeps current water management in Belgrave Continued from page 6 again. Grief recovery helps us to complete the undelivered communications the pain has left us with. By learning to make small correct choices to work through our losses we can become complete with the relationship that has changed us. Huron Hospice Volunteer Service will be offering a 10-week grief recovery outreach program in your area starting this fall. Please call 519-527-0655 or 519-357-2720 for more information. The date and time of sessions are to be determined. We invite you will give us a call to explore how this program might benefit you on your journey. Huron Hospice Volunteer Service Kathy Procter Manager of Volunteers/Programs At their Aug. 14 meeting, Morris- Turnberry councillors reluctantly agreed not to pursue reducing on- site attendance of managers at the Belgrave water system. Faced with increased management fees for the small water system, councillors earlier this year noticed that Veolia Water Canada had cut back weekend attendance at Belgrave and was monitoring the system remotely. If they could remotely monitor the system on weekends, why not cut back another day such as Wednesday in order to further cut costs, one councillor wondered. That possibility was examined at a meeting July 12 involving Nancy Michie, administrator clerk- treasurer, Gary Pipe, director of public works, John Graham of Veolia Water and Jeremy Taylor, from R. J. Burnside, the municipality’s consulting engineer for the Belgrave system. In her report from the meeting, Michie said both Graham and Taylor had been doubtful of the proposition.Taylor said that the experience of the operator (Veolia) is important and unless there is a significant cost saving, he felt council should follow the recommendation of the operator. In an Aug. 3 e-mail to Michie, Graham said the proposal might save about an hour of the operator’s time since the operator visits Belgrave on weekdays as part of a regular circuit of looking after several other water systems. Even if there was no on-site visit there would still be time required to monitor the system remotely. Pipe told council he recommended they continue having someone on- site five days a week. “Water is very important thing for Belgrave and for the municipality,” he said. “We need to deal with it in a proper way.” But Councillor John Smuck argued that not having someone on site for the whole weekend is more serious than missing one day mid- week. Deputy-mayor Jason Breckinridge agreed. “If they don’t feel comfortable [not attending] on a Wednesday, then I don’t feelcomfortable not having them do it on Saturday and Sunday,” he said. Pipe said that Belgrave had a good computerized system that can be monitored remotely on a weekend. Most smaller water systems have minimum supervision on weekends when people have to be paid time and a half, he said. They leave non- emergency work for weekdays. Councillor Neil Warwick said that council needed to go along with the recommendation of the operator to continue Wednesday on-site visits. But Smuck worried that the councillors would not be doing their due diligence if they didn’t have someone on site on weekends. Pipe replied that if they follow the recommendation of the operator, they are doing due diligence. Michie noted that the municipality’s lawyer had signed off on the Veolia agreement, feeling it properly protected the council. Warwick and Councillor Jamie McCallum made a motion to continue the five-day on-site management. It carried. Similar issues were raised in another item on the agenda. Councillors had asked Michie to look into drinking water liability insurance to cover councillors fromliability for overseeing a water system. In the report of her discussion with BFL Insurance, the municipality’s insurance carrier, Michie said she had been assured that if council acts in good faith and follows the recommendations of its engineer and the system operator, it is doing its due diligence. “If due diligence is served, council is covered under the liability of the municipal policy,” she reported. Meanwhile Pipe reported there had been some water quality issues with the well at the Bluevale Community Centre which resulted in it being posted with a boil water notice. The initial water test on July 16 didn’t have a problem with E-coli but did with total coliform levels. The well was shocked and the level of coliforms was reduced to a miniscule count of one or two in tests July 23, 30, 31 and Aug. 2, Pipe said. However rigid modern water quality standards require a total coliform count of zero to remove a boil-water order. On Aug. 7 Hopper Well Drilling came to investigate what could be causing the problem and pulled the pump and chlorinated the well, Pipe said. Company representatives feltthe problem could be caused by earwigs getting into the well so they replaced the cap on the well to keep the bugs out. Pipe noted there must be three consecutive clean samples before the boil water order can be lifted and he’s currently waiting for the completion of these tests. Recently Mike and Donelda Cottrill celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. Belated anniversary greetings are extended from the community. August birthday were celebrated at the home of Mike and Donelda Cottrill. Mike’s birthday was Aug. 12 and Donelda’s birthday on Aug. 19. Supper guests joining in the celebration were Shawn Cottrill and Katie Pringle, Chris Cottrill and Nicole Bailie of London, Matthew Cottrill and Kathleen Binder of Grey Township, Wallace Bell of Brussels and Irene Lamont of Belgrave. The community extends belated birthday wishes to both of them. On Sunday, Aug. 19 John and Linda Campbell visited with Freda Johnston (former next door neighbour) at South Huron Hospital in Exeter. Belgrave Knox United Bazaar is on Saturday, Sept. 15 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Just a reminder to everyone kindly preparing things for our bazaar that we are still keen to accept any donations for this event. In particular we would appreciate any items for the Lucky Loonie table. If you have any please contact Ruth Gordon at 519-357- 1375. Proceeds go to Foodgrains Project, UCW and Knox United Church. Continued from page 13 committee involving representatives from council and local business champions will help identify the businesses and to add questions that are specifically designed for the local community to the standard questionnaire. Barrill said the aim is to move quickly with interviews with about 40 entrepreneurs conducted within six weeks and a report produced in three months. “I would like to have a public meeting [to discuss the results] on Nov. 4,” he said. The survey would identify challenges the business leaders face in continuing or expanding their business. Their answers will result in the committee choosing five action points and develop an action plan. Council voted to proceed with the business retention plan and to set up an economic development committee. In a separate but related issue, council agreed to join the North Huron Economic Development Committee. “I think it’s important that we get involved with North Huron,” said Deputy-Mayor Jason Breckenridge. The Citiz e n Get Your Message AROUND THE WORLD IMMEDIATELY If you have important papers that need to go somewhere FAST ... use THE CITIZEN’S FAX MACHINE! Our fax machine can contact any other fax machine, in the world, instantly. We offer this service for a cost of $1.00 per printed sheet. Our fax number, is also your number, so use it to receive your messages at $1.00 per sheet. WE CAN RECEIVE 24 HRS. PER DAY! This service is only available in our Blyth office Ph.: 51 9 - 5 2 3 - 4 7 9 2 Fax: 51 9 - 5 2 3 - 9 1 4 0 Ph.: 51 9 - 5 2 3 - 4 7 9 2 Fax: 51 9 - 5 2 3 - 9 1 4 0 By Linda Campbell Call 357-2188 PEOPLE AROUND BELGRAVE NEWS FROM BELGRAVE By Keith Roulston The Citizen Barrill hopes for Nov. 4 public meeting Knox United to hold bazaar in September Program starts soon