The Citizen, 2012-12-20, Page 48PAGE 48. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012.Planning budgetwill rise: Tousaw
The crash of the cymbals
Students of the Turnberry campus of Maitland River Elementary School like Kaden Huffman
showed off their musical talent during a Christmas café performance held earlier this week.
(Denny Scott photo)
‘Citizen’
returns
Jan. 3
By the time you read this The
Citizen offices will be closed for the
holiday season.
The Brussels office closed on
Monday afternoon, while the Blyth
office closed on Wednesday. Both
offices will reopen on Friday, Dec.
28. The Blyth office will open at 9
a.m. and the Brussels office at 10
a.m.
The will be no issue of The
Citizen published on Thursday, Dec.
27.
Friday, Dec. 28 will also be the
deadline for the Jan. 3 issue of
The Citizen. Any advertising or
editorial copy should be in to The
Citizen’s Brussels office by 2 p.m.
that day or the Blyth office by 4
p.m.
The staff at The Citizen wishes all
of its readers and community
members a safe and happy holiday.
Director of Planning for Huron
County Scott Tousaw presented his
2013 budget to Huron County
Council at the Dec. 12 Committee of
the Whole meeting with an increase
of 4.75 per cent.
Tousaw’s budget, as discussed
at previous meetings, will include
funding for a new planner and
for half of a business development
co-ordinator. The half-salary
of a business development co-
ordinator will go towards Douglas
Barill, whose position had
previously been half-funded by
Rural Economic Development
(RED) funding.
Tousaw told councillors that
despite the integral function that the
Huron County Planning Department
serves, it only accounts for 0.4
per cent of the county’s entire
budget.
Tousaw said that the “sizable”
increase to the budget can be
attributed to four main factors, two
of which council had essentially
authorized and approved. The
factors, Tousaw said, are benefits,
cost of living, the new planner and
the half-salary of a business
development co-ordinator.
Goderich’s Deb Shewfelt was
concerned about the “silo” approach
of economic development in the
county. He suggested that all of the
lower tier municipalities’ CAOs sit
down with Tousaw and members of
the Huron County Planning
Department to discuss a unified
approach to economic development.
“Is there a better model out
there?” Shewfelt asked. “I think that
discussion needs to happen, I really
do. I don’t think we need any
politicians in it either.”
Shewfelt said that if the county
were to shake up its system, perhaps
a little more could get done on the
planning side of things as well. He
said that a lot of time is being spent
on applications that don’t conform
to the official plan or the Provincial
Policy Statement that council just
ends up overturning.
He said that if the department re-
assigned its resources to
applications council was unlikely to
overturn, perhaps more could get
done.
“We’re fighting ourselves and
going against our planners,” he said.
Tousaw explained, as he had at a
previous meeting, that it’s not
planning applications that the
department is falling behind on, it’s
the long-term planning such as five-
years reviews and other long-range
planning projects.
Morris-Turnberry’s Paul Gowing
agreed with Shewfelt, saying that he
would like to see the discussion
between the planning department
and the lower tier CAOs happen,
saying that from Morris-Turnberry’s
perspective, there have been “some
issues”.
Shewfelt said he didn’t care
whether the planning department
met with the CAOs all together at
one time, or individually, but he said
the meeting needed to happen one
way or another.
Huron East’s Joe Steffler,
however, stood behind the budget
increase, saying that the county’s
economic development has to be
bolstered and it has to happen
immediately.
“We have to get out and market
our area,” Steffler said. “We’re doing
a very poor job.”
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen