The Citizen, 2011-03-24, Page 11Jim Schneider wants to make sure
Auburn residents have a chance to
make their voices heard.
Schneider, an Auburn resident
who feels the village is not having
its best interests represented by
being split among three
municipalities, is looking to his
neighbours to see how many people
feel similarly.
While the idea for the village to
become whole isn’t a new one for
Schneider, who says he’s been
contemplating it for 30 years, it has
been brought to the forefront
through recent fire negotiations and
by other issues that became apparent
in the years following
amalgamation.
Auburn fire coverage is definitely
an outstanding issue, but it isn’t the
only one, Schneider says.
And while the village has always
sat in three different townships, prior
to amalgamation, the village had a
voice in those municipalities.
“Before we went to
amalgamation, we had trustees who
would represent us at council
meetings,” he said. “If we had
problems, there was a definite line of
communication that had existed and
been used. Now we seem to be
getting very little [support] from the
municipalities.”
With amalgamation, the trustees
for Auburn were dismissed and the
village was under the care of the
three municipalities it bordered on:
Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh
(ACW), Central Huron and North
Huron. Schneider feels that, without
the trustees, problems have
continued to compound.
“The fire plan[s] brought this all to
head, but there were other
problems,” he said, indicating that
the council debates over Auburn
hall, the three different providers for
road maintenance and snow
removal, and the several different
methods of garbage collection
within the village created chaos
where it didn’t need to exist.
“Garbage, for example, is
ridiculous,” Schneider explained.
“We have two different trucks two
days a week, and depending on
which side of the street you live on,
you may need to drive to Belgrave,
Blyth, Londesborough or Clinton to
buy your garbage stickers.”
Schneider then stated that ACW’s
garbage collection stickers could be
bought at the Auburn Co-op, but the
co-op itself isn’t even in ACW
territory, which could cause
confusion.
The Auburn Community Hall,
which sits on Central Huron land,
has been debated at all three
councils. North Huron recently
stopped paying its share of the cost
for the community centre, and,
Schneider believes the decision was
a reaction to Central Huron council’s
decision to no longer put funding
towards Blyth Community Centre,
which is used by Central Huron
residents.
“The councils have been
squabbling over [the hall],”
Schneider said. “It’s just another
example of why the village needs to
be in one municipality, or be dealt
with as a whole and not as part of
three different municipalities.”
ACW council debated paying
North Huron’s share, at the request
of Central Huron, but decided it
wasn’t in their best interest.
“It’s pretty sad to have so many
vehicles coming into this area for
250 people,” he said. “The
municipalities need to alternate or
figure out a solution for the whole
village, and not just deal with
independent sections.”
Schneider, prompted over the
problems with the fire coverage
agreements, went to his local Chief
Administrative Officer (CAO),
Kevin McLlwain of Central Huron
to figure out how best to proceed in
uniting Auburn. At McLlwain’s
direction, Schneider then decided to
go to the Huron County Planning
Department.
Not wanting to proceed with a
plan that isn’t supported by the
community, Schneider, with
assistance from other members of
the village, have begun to circulate a
petition, and will soon be going door
to door to try and determine how
much support there would be for
calling for the townships to have
Auburn united in one municipality.
“The petition isn’t to force anyone
to do anything, it’s just to gauge
support,” he said. “If the idea of
amalgamating Auburn into one area
only has 50 per cent of the village
supporting it, I won’t pursue it,” he
said.
If he finds the support he hopes
for, Schneider will be approaching
CAOs McLlwain, Gary Long from
North Huron and Mark Becker from
ACW to attempt to proceed with the
plan, in the meantime, petitions can
be found throughout the village,
including at the Auburn post
office.
THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2011. PAGE 11.
If you have been by the Auburn
Hall in the last couple of days, you
may have noticed that the funding
gauge on the front of the hall has
been changed. The Playground
Committee has now raised $8,000
through fundraising efforts as well
as private donations. There is still a
long road to travel to reach the
$40,000 needed to purchase and
install new playground equipment
but the committee is dedicated to
making sure that this goal is
reached.
To shed some light on the
confusion caused last week, the
proposed date of April 6 that
appeared in this article for the
Auburn Playground Committee
meeting was incorrect. The meeting
will likely be held during the second
week of April. The meeting date will
be confirmed and posted shortly.
The date for the summer event
was also a proposed date – nothing
has been confirmed yet as the event
is in the early planning stages. The
committee hopes to put together
another successful community event
this summer, but will need more
volunteers from the community to
pull it off. The committee will be
looking for donated items for the
silent auction portion. If anyone has
items that they wish to donate,
please contact a member of the
committee to advise.
It may be of interest to residents to
attend a public open house on
Friday, March 25 from 9 a.m. to 4
p.m. at the Knights of Columbus
Hall in Goderich. The purpose of the
open house is to review the county’s
new draft, Transportation Demand
Manage-ment Plan. A survey for the
residents of Huron County was
available on the county’s website.
The information gathered from the
survey assisted in developing the
draft plant.
If you have news that you would
like to see in this column, please
contact Koreen Moss at 519-526-
1060 or e-mail: kandkmoss@
sympatico.ca The deadline for news
is Sunday evening – Monday
morning at the latest, as this column
is submitted on Mondays at 2 p.m.
On holiday weekends, new must be
submitted by Friday afternoon.
Auburn residents hope petitionwill help their voices to be heard
All out of sea green
Ethan Scrimgeour gets some painting done during “Ahoy
Maties”, a March Break event held on March 16 by the
Huron Chapel Evangelical Missionary Church in Auburn.
The event, which was for children ages four through 12,
featured educational games and crafts and snacks that all
shared a nautical theme. (Denny Scott photo)
“Where the owners are in the store and appreciate your business.”
209 Drummond St., Blyth ~ 519-523-4551 ~ Open 7 days a week
’til Saturday, March 26 at Scrimgeour’s Food Market
Be sure to check our weekly Foodtown Flyer
Fresh Ontario Pork
Boneless Pork
Loin Chops
$3 99
Lean
Ground
Beef
Can. Grade “AA”
Beef
Blade Steaks
Country Meats
1/2 or Whole
Black Forest Ham
lb.
$2 49
lb.
$2 99
lb.
$3 99
lb.
$1 49
Ital Pasta 798 ml
Canned
Tomatoes
680 ml
Primo Spaghetti
Sauce
pkg.
99 ¢
tin
“Your one stop store for groceries, produce, meat, beer, liquor, wine and propane exchange”
Store Hours: Mon. - Wed. 8 am - 7 pm; Thurs. & Fri. 8 am - 8 pm; Sat. 8 am - 6 pm; Sun. 12 noon - 5 pm
99 ¢
tin
2 Roll
White Swan
Paper Towels 69 ¢
Ital Pasta 900 g
Pasta
Made from Durum Semolina
supplied by
Howson & Howson, Blyth
Did you know at Scrimgeour’s
we cut our meat instore?
* If you have a special event coming up
talk to Paul or Don. We can look
after your “meat” needs.
* Special occasion cakes available.
Talk to Leoni or Sandy.
* Soup bar and storemade sandwiches
available daily.
Local Suppliers Include:
Robinson’s “New Crop” Maple Syrup – RR 2 Auburn
School Safe Soy Butter (tastes like peanut butter)
– Hilton Soy Foods, Staffa
J.R. Fear Honey – Wingham
Pitt Produce – Walkerton
Hayter Turkey Products – Dashwood
Metzger Meats – Hensall
Tasty Nu Bakery – Zurich
By Koreen
Moss
519-526-1060
kandkmoss@
sympatico.ca
PEOPLE AROUND
AUBURN
NEWS
FROM AUBURN
By Denny Scott
The Citizen