The Citizen, 2012-09-06, Page 1CitizenTh
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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, September 6, 2012
Volume 28 No. 35
FAIR - Pg. 16Elementary School Faircoming Sept. 12 FESTIVAL - Pg. 19 Young Company gets visitfrom ‘Farm Show’ castCOUNCIL- Pg. 7Central Huron defersdecision on county bylawPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
HE Council supports bylaw
Council rejects
high tender for
Brussels Library
Terry Fox Run next
Sunday in Brussels
An important performance
Raoul Bhaneja, left, a performer with the Barn Dance show, put his skills to work on Saturday
night at Memorial Hall alongside Blyth Festival Artistic Director Eric Coates, on a special night
for the Festival’s Young Company. The group wrapped up its show, The Farm 2012 on
Saturday night and was greeted by members of the original cast of The Farm Show from 1972.
For a full review of The Farm 2012, see page 19. (Vicky Bremner photo)
Sunday, Sep. 16 will mark the
32nd annual Terry Fox Run held
throughout Canada and, locally, a
run will be held in Brussels starting
at the Brussels Optimist Clubhouse
on Turnberry Street.
The event starts at 10 a.m. and will
run until approximately 2 p.m. with
food and refreshments available
throughout and at the end of the race
according to organizer Doug
McArter.
The event, which was originally
created after Terry Fox attempted his
Marathon of Hope, is an annual
fundraiser that was started by Isadore
Sharp who, after losing a son to
cancer in 1979, contacted Fox while
he was in the hospital and organizerd
the first one in 1981.
The Brussels run this year will be a
memorial run on behalf of not only
Fox but also Bruce Raymond, a
member of the team that works on
the Brussels run who passed away.
“Usually we have a Terry Team
member start the event and Bruce
Huron East Council voted to
support Huron County’s proposed
bylaw that would drop the number of
Huron County councillors to 15.
The issue was dealt with by a
recorded vote, which passed by nine
votes to three.
Several councillors felt the change
wasn’t perfect, but that it was a step
in the right direction. However, with
the bylaw no longer being tied to
population, if Huron County were to
experience population growth,
council representation would not
follow suit.
“So what happens when we open
the Seaforth Brewery,” Councillor
Bob Fisher joked, “and our
population grows? Some smaller
municipalities may have the hammer
and we might never change it.”
Mayor Bernie MacLellan said that
because the current bylaw, which is
tied to population, was drafted and
approved before the current
Municipal Act was put into effect, it
is exempt from the new rules
requiring a triple majority to change
anything. If anything were to change
with a new bylaw, it would have to
go through a triple majority
throughout Huron County.
MacLellan said that his personal
opinion would be to go with the
recommendation from the original
report on governance prepared by
consultant George Cuff, which said
council should be reduced to nine
members, one representative per
municipality.
“I think that’s more than adequate
to do the job,” MacLellan said, “but
this is a step in the right direction.”
Deputy-Mayor Joe Steffler said he
agreed with MacLellan, even though
he would be voting to eliminate
himself from Huron County
Council.
“I realize I’m voting myself out of
a job, but I don’t think we need the
deputy-mayors up there,” he said.
Councillor Bill Siemon, who had
formerly been Huron East’s third
representative on Huron County
Council before the numbers were
reduced late last year, said he
disagreed, feeling that nine
representatives simply isn’t enough
to run the county.
“We’ve survived the last 100 years
with a lot more [representatives],” he
said.
Siemon said if the objective was to
cut costs at the Huron County level,
that perhaps they should be looking
at other departments.
Siemon said there are currently
county officials are being paid to sit
at home, referring to the placement
of former county CAO Larry Adams
and treasurer David Carey on
administrative leave, which isn’t
exactly a cost-saving measure, he
added.
Siemon pointed the finger
Goderich’s way, saying that prior to
amalgamation, Huron East had five
representatives and Goderich had
two. Now, Siemon said, the new
bylaw would reduce Huron East to
just two and Goderich would retain
its original two representatives.
In a recorded vote, Huron East
Council supported the proposed
move to 15 councillors. Voting
against the motion were Steffler,
Fisher and Alvin McLellan.
After a brief discussion about
whether Huron East Council should
deal with the matter in closed session
or not, a tender for the Brussels
Library was turned down at the Aug.
28 meeting of council.
Mayor Bernie MacLellan was
unsure if details of the tender (which
is a public tender) could be made
public, or if details needed to be
discussed in closed session.
MacLellan said the tender was so
high above architect John Rutledge’s
expectations that it was smart to turn
it down.
Before making their decision,
however, councillors wanted to know
just how high the tender was.
After being cleared to discuss the
tender in open session, MacLellan
said the tender was between 20 and
25 per cent higher than the high end
of Rutledge’s original estimated
range.
Rutledge’s original range, as
presented at the Dec. 20, 2011
council meeting, was $693,574 on
the low end and $979,959 on the
high end. At the 2011 meeting,
Rutledge also acknowledged that
there could be up to $250,000 in
additional landscaping and fill
costs.
“I think we put this out to tender at
the wrong time,” MacLellan said.
He suggested council review the
library plans and re-tender the
project in January with work to
commence in the spring of 2013.
The motion put forward, however,
read that the project would be re-
tendered in November of 2012, with
a closing date of January of 2013.
MacLellan said he was a little
disappointed in Rutledge’s reaction
to the news of only one tender being
received.
“[Rutledge] didn’t seem
surprised,” MacLellan said. “I was
disappointed.
“He had an opportunity to update
figures if he knew construction
figures were going to be higher,”
MacLellan said. “It was a large
range, so what’s the use of having a
range?”
In response to frustration over the
potential costs of the library,
Councillor Bill Siemon felt the entire
project needed to be revisited in
order to manage costs and soften a
potential blow to the budget.
“I think we need to go back to the
original entrance,” Siemon said. “We
already have an entrance, why build
a second set of stairs?”
MacLellan said that council still
has the Brussels Library Committee
that can handle suggestions and a
review of the plans, so perhaps the
committee could meet in the coming
months before the project is
scheduled to be re-tendered.
“I think we have to look at this
whole thing and get our costs down,”
Siemon said.
The motion to not accept the
tender due to the fact that it was the
only tender received and that it
exceeded the architect’s estimates
was then voted on and passed by
council.
During the accounts payable
portion of the meeting, Chief
Administrative Officer Brad Knight
updated councillors on where the
municipality stood with its bill to
John Rutledge. As of the accounts
paid at the Aug. 28 meeting, Knight
said that $45,000 had been paid to
Rutledge by the municipality since
he was brought on for the Brussels
Library project.
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 14
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen