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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, December 6, 2012
Volume 28 No. 48
FIRE - Pg. 28Central Huron wantsmeeting with North Huron COMMITTEE - Pg. 30North Huron votes downfire negotiation tacticBOOK- Pg. 18Life-long resident puts lifestory to paperPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Draft strategic plan presented
Bringing Christmas cheer
The main attraction at Saturday’s annual Santa Claus Parade in Brussels was obviously Santa
Claus and his lovely wife. The pair were the final float to make its way down main street before
heading to the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre where children could visit with
the Clauses and enjoy some free skating, among plenty of other activities. For a full gallery of
pictures from Saturday night, visit The Citizen’s website at www.northhuron.on.ca (Denny Scott
photo)
Brussels Library
awarded grant
Weekend theft
at McGavin’s
The Municipality of Huron East
was awarded $65,900 for the
Brussels Library on Monday as
Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson
announced that eight Trillium grants
had been approved throughout the
riding.
The grant, to be paid out over one
year, will go towards installing an
exterior ramp, power door operators
and a unisex washroom at the
library. The goal of the
improvements is to “improve
accessibility for all community
members, especially those with
mobility limitations”.
In an interview after the
announcement had been made,
Huron East CAO Brad Knight said
the municipality is pleased with the
announcement. The issue was
discussed at the Tuesday night
council meeting, as it had been
placed on the agenda ahead of the
official announcement. Knight said
he was told to stay mum on the
subject until Dec. 3.
One of the priorities of the
Trillium Foundation, Knight said,
has always been accessibility, so
when the application was made in
July, he felt the municipality had a
good chance of having the
application approved.
Knight says the grant won’t do
anything to advance the project as
far as time is concerned, but that this
will just be more “money in the
bank” for the project, which is likely
to go ahead early next year.
While the application was due by
July 1, Knight said another reason
the project had a good chance at
getting approved was because there
was no chance construction was
going to begin before November,
another condition of the grant and
the timing that went along with it.
“I am delighted these projects,
covering a broad range of
community and recreation services
were chosen,” Thompson said in her
Monday press release. “Community
groups throughout Huron and Bruce
are represented in this most recent
round of grants. Congratulations to
those involved in spearheading these
Trillium projects for their leadership
and commitment to their local
communities.”
Seven other grants were approved
throughout Huron and Bruce
Counties. They are $15,000 over one
year to the Bayfield Town Hall
Heritage Society to purchase stage
lighting and sound equipment,
$55,000 over two years to the
Chippewas of Saugeen First Nation
to expand a project to help at-risk
youth in Southampton through a
combination of language and
cultural teaching and horse-related
activities, $49,200 over two years to
the Huron County Food Bank
Distribution Centre to hire someone
to develop the organizational
capacity of the centre, $75,000 over
two years to the Maitland Country
Club to complete capital
improvements to the curling rink and
tennis courts, $60,000 over one year
to the Walkerton Legion to complete
kitchen renovations and improve
public safety, $44,700 over one year
to the Paisley Legion to install a new
high-efficiency furnace and 15 new
windows and $60,000 over one year
to the Town of Saugeen Shores to
replace the bandshell at Fairy Lake
Park.
For more information on the
winners or the criteria to apply for a
grant, visit the Trillium Foundation’s
website at www.
trilliumfoundation.org
North Huron citizens had an
opportunity to help shape the future
of the township through evaluating
the draft strategic plan at three
meetings held last week.
The meetings provided residents
the chance to help direct council in
the process of finalizing their draft
strategic plan.
Chief Administrative Officer Gary
Long explained why the process was
important for residents to take part in
during the first meeting in Blyth.
“The draft plan is important for
council and staff, but it is equally
important for the community to be
involved in the creation process,” he
said. “We need to look at where we
are going and where we need to go
and be aware of challenges we might
run into.”
The challenges, according to
Long, revolve around key issues like
population and tax base.
He explained that to maintain
current services and programs as
well as maintaining and replacing
infrastructure without a large tax
increase, North Huron has to plan
ahead and address which issues are
important. This may be difficult as
the population of North Huron, as of
the last census, had dropped by
between 130 and 150 people. The
change is brought on by urbanization
and Long said that the township
needs to be ready to face that issue.
“There is an increasing trend
toward urbanization,” Long
suggested. “To recognize that and
not do anything about it is
unacceptable.”
Alongside the challenges, Long
also said that the municipality has
assets that needed to be recognized.
Chief among those opportunities and
signs of growth are the quality of life
in North Huron, the current purchase
of two surplus public schools in the
municipality and economic
development as demonstrated by the
transformation of Blyth’s downtown
with new businesses and the
upcoming streetscape.
He also said that existing
permanent opportunities need to be
worked on including the Blyth
Festival and Memorial Hall, the
Blyth Campground and other
municipal opportunities.
One of the largest opportunities,
however, according to Long, is
agriculture. He said that agriculture,
as a business, represents $40 million
annually within North Huron when
taking into account all the spinoffs
for local businesses and residents.
“We need a plan to leverage and
capitalize on agriculture in the area,”
he said.
Growth would depend on
capitalizing on not only agriculture,
but on all the cultural and recreation
options throughout the area and
Long said the municipality needed a
plan to deal with it.
“The strategic plan will
McGavin Farm Equipment Ltd. in
Walton was burglarized on Sunday
evening when a group of
unidentified individuals stole several
pieces of equipment over a period of
three hours according to Brian and
Jeff McGavin.
Brian explained that the thieves
cut through a cable corral holding
equipment before loading a
lawnmower, a snowblower and
a chipper/shredder on to a
trailer, also stolen, and absconding
with it.
The thieves also removed the
trailer hitch they used to take the
equipment from one of the
McGavin’s trucks and attached it to
their own, reportedly, a blue pickup
truck.
“The gate had security for the
corral but I guess the wire didn’t,”
Brian said.
Jeff said that the group apparently
wasn’t under any time constraints
because they stayed for nearly three
hours. The burglary was discovered
on Monday morning when an
employee noticed the damage to the
corral.
The crime has been reported to the
police and the investigation is
ongoing.
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 30