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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, January 13, 2011
Volume 27 No. 2HOCKEY- Pg. 15Local to play inprospects game COUNCIL - Pg. 18 Morris-TurnberryCouncil learns the ropesTURBINES- Pg. 7Inter-municipal turbinegroup receives discussionPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:C e l e b r a t i n g 25 YearsTheCitizen1985-2010
HBDC receives $1.1 million for loans
Mad movement!
Manny Teichroeb, left, and Adam Martin of Grey Central Public School tackle a hill during recess last week on their crazy carpets.
Children are only able to enjoy the hill through the generous time, and watchful eyes, provided by teachers and parents. There
has been no shortage of snow in recent weeks, so having some fun in the white stuff certainly has become commonplace for
area students. (Denny Scott photo)
Dept.
heads
have big
plans
For the benefit of Huron East’s
new councillors, Grey’s Dianne
Diehl and Seaforth’s Nathan
Marshall, an information session
was held at the Jan. 4 meeting of
council to acclimatize the
councillors with members of
municipal staff.
Presentations were made by
members of the administrative,
treasury, public works, fire,
planning, recreation and economic
development departments.
Heads of these departments were
asked to describe their
responsibilities, list the functions of
their department and share their
vision for the next five years going
forward.
With those presentations, it was
made clear to councillors both new
and old that there is plenty to be
done in Huron East in the next five
years.
Treasurer Brad Knight explained
the projects that are priorities for the
municipality going forward and the
challenges that his department has
faced with the new Public Sector
Accounting Board (PSAB) where
assets have to be itemized and
followed in terms of depreciation.
Abi Corbett from the Brussels,
Morris and Grey Community Centre
was also present, stating that at 30
years old, her centre should receive
some budget consideration going
forward.
She said there have been several
proposals for renovation and
expansion, from as simple as
renovating the change rooms to a
complete overhaul that would see
change rooms added, showers
refurbished, a snack bar added and a
new library factored in somewhere
along the way.
Lissa Berard from the Vanastra
Recreation Centre also spoke,
discussing the need for a united
strategy in Huron East that would
put fitness first. She said that she
hopes to partner with the
municipality and the economic
development department (in a larger
capacity than they are currently
partnered) for a united strategy
throughout the entire municipality,
involving all of Huron East’s three
recreation centres.
Chief Building Official Paul
Josling explained his duties, listing
how many building permits he
The Huron Business Development
Corporation (HBDC) had some
great news to celebrate on Friday –
the Federal Economic Development
Agency for Southern Ontario,
through Huron-Bruce MP Ben Lobb,
announced that more than $1 million
would be made available to the
group to create economic
opportunities throughout Huron
County.
Paul Nichol, economic
development manager for the HBDC
said that the day had been full of
“nothing but good news.”
“This is a lot of money, even for
us,” he said. “We will be lending it
all out between now and the end of
March.”
Last year funding for lending for
business creation and improvement
was cut to the HBDC, and it looked
as if the organization wouldn’t be
able to help businesses, but this
infusion of funds more than makes
up for the time they weren’t able to
lend, according to Nichol.
“We lent out a little more than
$250,000 during 2010,” he said. “We
can now lend four times that. It is
nice to have a lot of money to give
out.”
Nichol explained that finding
organizations to lend money to
wouldn’t be difficult as they had a
backlog of applications from 2010.
“We have an upcoming meeting
[on Jan. 20], and we’ll be able to
start selecting recipients of loans
then,” he said. “Because 2010 was a
time when we couldn’t lend a lot, we
have quite a few business plans
stockpiled.”
Nichol explained that the money
was a surprise, as they had not asked
for it.
“The Federal Development
Agency [for Southern Ontario and
its] minister Gary Goodyear must
have been looking at the files,” he
said, explaining that the HBDC is
one of 37 communities futures
programs in Southern Ontario.
“They must have seen that we had
no money to lend and lots of plans,”
he said.
Approximately 15 to 20
businesses will be helped with the
funds, some new and some
expanding, according to Nichol.
That assistance will create as many
as 100 jobs in Huron County.
The announcement was more than
just funding, according to Nichol, it
also showed that there is a future for
the HBDC.
“Clearly the minister understands
and he knows we’re here and that we
can do good work,” Nichol said. “He
saw that we can put money where
it’s needed.
“They certainly can’t deny the fact
that we’re here and that will pay off
well for us down the road.”
Nichol stated that the HBDC is
still facing operational challenges
with its budget, as the money they
were given is earmarked for
development.
The funding announcement will
have little impact on the proposed
Brussels beef processing plant,
Nichol said, but he received good
news regarding it.
“Typically we don’t loan more
than $150,000 to businesses,” he
said, indicating that the proposed
plant would cost much more than
that. “But I did receive
correspondence from the investment
consortium before Christmas.”
Nichol stated that the group told
him that he might not hear from
them for several months, since they
were going back to China, but that
the news was good.
“They said they were still
interested,” he said. “They would be
back in March, and they were going
to China to deal with questions from
the government there.”
To date the HBDC has provided
more than 200 loans to existing and
startup businesses since its creation
17 years ago. These loans have
totalled nearly $10 million.
Applicants for full-sized loans (up
to $150,000) may need to wait three
to four weeks for approval, while
smaller loans ($35,000 or less) fall
under the corporation’s “Quick
Review” policy, meaning they will
attempt to have a decision on the
proposal within five business days.
Loans are available to start new
businesses, restock inventory,
upgrade equipment, redevelopment
or placement of products and
developing new marketing
strategies.
Loan applicants should contact
Jim Niesen, the Loans Manager at
the HBDC, at 519-527-0305 for
details on the loans and application
process.
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 10