The Citizen, 2012-09-06, Page 18PAGE 18. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2012.
Continued from page 7
Barnim told Van Mierlo-West, “but
it doesn’t mean they’re going to get
it.”
If council was to table the motion,
as they did, Stalenhoef said the
municipality would simply be
removed from the triple majority
process. The Huron County triple
majority, which is required to pass a
change in the composition of Huron
County Council, would require a
majority of Huron County council-
lors to vote in favour of the motion,
a majority of the municipalities in
Huron County to vote in favour of
the motion and that the municipali-
ties in favour of the motion would
have to comprise (by way of popula-
tion) a majority of the residents in
Huron County.
“Our say doesn’t count then,”
Stalenhoef told councillors.
Councillor Burk Metzger spoke
up first, saying that he was uncom-
fortable making a decision until he’s
heard where the public stands.
“We’d be making a decision
before a public meeting and that’s an
issue,” he said.
Barnim, however, countered by
saying that while he agrees with
Metzger, that the public meeting
process in this situation is flawed
and needed to be changed to wel-
come real comments from members
of the public.
Barnim, as he is no longer a
Central Huron representative on
Huron County Council, asked to
speak at the Sept. 5 meeting of
Huron County Council. He said he
was accepted as a delegation, but
that he is scheduled to speak after
the issue will have been discussed
and voted on.
“I’m scheduled as a delegation
after the vote. It’s very big of them,”
Barnim said. “They obviously don’t
want any opinions on this.”
Barnim told councillors that he
sent an e-mail to all the members of
Huron County Council asking that
the process be changed (which can
happen by a majority vote of council
members) to allow members of the
public to speak.
“I can’t believe the clerk and CAO
would come up with that as a good
solution,” Barnim said. “It’s very,
very wrong.”
Councillor Alison Lobb agreed,
calling the consultation process on
this issue “very flawed”.
Mayor Jim Ginn said he was plan-
ning on supporting the new bylaw.
The report on governance received
from consultant George Cuff
earlier this year suggested that coun-
cil be comprised of nine representa-
tives, which Ginn thought would
put too large of a workload on coun-
cillors, essentially eliminating any-
one with a full-time job from run-
ning for a position that would
include a Huron County Council
seat.
“We’ve spent $85,000 at the coun-
ty level on this issue, we’ve dis-
cussed it more than any other issue,
at least in my time there, to get to
where?” Ginn asked.
Barnim said that the county has
grown to the point where things have
to be reassessed and governed in a
new way.
“Right now the biggest employer
in the county is the county and the
biggest problem is the employees,”
Barnim said.
He looked back decades ago when
Huron County was responsible for
dozens of services that have since
been downloaded onto the lower
tiers.
The motion was then tabled until
after a public meeting could be
held.
Continued from page 12who very much want to build up thecommunity,” Kipfer said. “Theirvision of themselves is so much larg-er than themselves.”Word had reached Kipfer thatMaple View would be looking for anew pastor in the fall and he spoke tohis family about the position then.He says he prayed on the decisionand decided not to pursue the possi-
bility.
When he was contacted last
spring, Kipfer said he felt he had to
at least be open to considering the
possibility.
Kipfer was contacted by Maple
View’s pastoral search committee
and soon met with committee mem-
bers, the church’s leadership team
and a handful of the congregation’s
elder members before meeting with
the full congregation and having a
chance to preach at the church.
In July, the committee made its
decision and voted to extend a call to
Kipfer, who then accepted the posi-
tion.
While Kipfer said he was excited
to face a new set of challenges with
Maple View, before accepting the
position, he says he was conflicted
about what direction he should take.
“I wasn’t convinced that we were
finished here in Brussels,” Kipfer
said. “I accepted the position know-
ing that it would be very hard to
leave Brussels. “We’ve been here for 11 years. Welove this community and we lovethis church. We knew it would behard to say goodbye.”Kipfer’s interest in the churchbegan in high school, working as asummer student in Millbank. At thetime, he said, he hated public speak-ing, a skill he has warmed up to sig-nificantly over the years.
Kipfer then attended the
University of Waterloo and in the
early 1990s he began working at
L’Arche in Stratford part-time.
He then took a position with the
Mennonite Church Eastern Canada
in Kitchener, before working as a co-
pastor in St. Agatha. He soon took
over the position full-time.
“I was 25 at the time and I was a
bit blown away by the trust shown in
me,” Kipfer said.
Over the next few years he would
takes Masters-level courses and
eventually achieve his Masters of
Divinity in 2005.
In December of 2000, Kipfer left
St. Agatha, taking approximatelyeight months off to study exclusive-ly and then began his time inBrussels in September of 2001.Kipfer says it’s important to him,and whoever ends up coming to theBrussels Mennonite Fellowship afterhim, that he gives the new pastorsome space to do their work, but hehopes to return someday.“I hope to come back. For the first
or second year I need to leave space
and be mindful,” Kipfer said, “but I
hope to keep up friendships in
Brussels.”
Kipfer’s start date at Maple View
was Sept. 1. His final service at
Brussels Mennonite Fellowship was
on Aug. 26 where a farewell ceremo-
ny for Kipfer and his family was
held with members of the church’s
congregation.
‘Hard to say goodbye to Brussels’ says Kipfer
Consultation process
‘flawed’ says council
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Packing up
Brent Kipfer, former pastor at the Brussels Mennonite
Fellowship was in the process of packing his office last
week before he made his way to Maple View Mennonite
Church. Kipfer and his family spent 11 years in Brussels.
(Shawn Loughlin photo)
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