HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-04-14, Page 32Continued from page 27
student.
Councillors Bernie Bailey and
Ray Hallahan both had questions
regarding grass-cutting practices
throughout the township.
Bailey wondered why the full-
time employees couldn’t handle the
grass-cutting job.
“What are the full-time employees
doing that stop them from cutting
the grass?” Bailey asked.
It was then explained to council
that, throughout the summer, tree
maintenance, drainage, street
maintenance, snow damage repair
and continuing general maintenance
would keep the township’s full-time
staff busy, and that keeping the grass
maintained throughout the township
was a full-time job in itself.
Hallahan questioned the expense
of cutting the grass in the
campground at Blyth, stating that he
believed he had read it cost $33,000
to maintain it.
It was explained by staff that it
actually cost $13,000 for cutting the
campground grass, which he felt was
expensive.
“It’s a lot of money,” he said.
Newson stated that it was a lot of
money, but it was for a large area of
land.
“It’s a lot of grass,” she said.
“There’s 42 acres there that needs to
be cared for.”
Blyth Councillor Brock Vodden
stated that, regardless of future
decisions with grass-cutting policy,
the two students were the best
solution now.
Council passed a motion to
hire these two students with
councillors Hallahan and Bailey
dissenting.
Hallahan and Bailey voiced
similar concerns for hiring a
horticultural student for 16 weeks to
start environmental programs, help
care for gardens owned by the
township but maintained by
volunteers and cut trees that need to
be cared for.
It would be a trial program as
North Huron has never had a student
to take care of these kinds of
issues.
Council agreed to hire this student
and review the results of the
program prior to 2012 budget
deliberations.
Students will also be hired to run
daycamps in Wingham throughout
the summer.
These changes did not affect the
3.5 per cent increase in operating
costs outlined in the budget that is
set to be presented on April 18 at
6:30 p.m. in council chambers in
Wingham.
North Huron councillors and staff
were ready to put off negotiations
with Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh
(ACW) Township Council and staff
regarding fire protection in Auburn
and the surrounding area because of
public comments made by Lucknow
(and ACW) Fire Chief Peter Steer,
members of the gallery and ACW
council members.
The comments, reported in the
March 30 issue of The Lucknow
Sentinel,led North Huron
representatives to believe that ACW
was not really interested in
negotiations that would be fair for
both municipal bodies.
North Huron Chief Administrative
Officer Gary Long stated that the
comments from Steer, in relation to
the price of coverage and Steer’s
statement that he would oppose
expansion of what used to becovered by the Blyth FireDepartment before amalgamation,indicated that a meeting would be
“ill-advised at [the time the e-mail
was sent]”.
Long stated that other quotes in
the story by former West Wawanosh
Reeve Bob Hallam also lead to
North Huron staff and councillors
feeling that a meeting would not be
productive.
Hallam stated that North Huron
seemed to be trying to “blackmail”
ACW and that, when Blyth had its
own fire department, there was great
co-operation. He went on to say that
there is something wrong with the
way negotiations have gone so far
and that “maybe [The North Huron
Fire Department] is trying to create
an empire”.
ACW councillors stated that,
while what was reported was
accurate, it wasn’t necessarily
reflective of what they had in mind.Councillor Barry Millian statedthat the issue needs to be settledregardless of how fire protection
goes.
“We need to clear this up,” he said.
“If I were sitting on the other side of
this and someone suggested 25 per
cent of what we estimated coverage
to cost, I’d say no to setting up a
meeting as well.”
Millian was referring to Steer’s
comments that $6,000 to $7,000 is
what he would charge if asking to
cover an area the size of what
North Huron has suggested in
previous negotiations, versus the
approximate $23,000 that North
Huron presented in its most recent
offer to ACW.
While ACW councillors have
agreed to a meeting with North
Huron, which is set for April 14,
it remains to be seen whether a
deal can be brokered in between the
two municipalities.Prior to the majority of ACWcouncil members stating they wouldbe open to the idea of meeting with
North Huron, a motion was defeated
that would see North Huron cover an
area ACW had defined for the price
previously defined by North Huron.
Councillor Doug Miller felt that
spending more time discussing the
option wasn’t the answer, and put
forward a motion that would see The
North Huron Fire Department
service respond to calls as far north
as both sides of Glenn’s Hill Road
and as far west as both sides of St.
Augustine Line, which was one of
the options put forward by Steer at
ACW’s previous meeting.
The motion split council, with
three voting for the motion and four
voting against it.
Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek, who
stated that he would like to give the
current agreement time to settle and
be tested properly, said he was notadverse to meeting with NorthHuron to determine whether or notan arrangement could be made.
“I think the agreement we have is
working fine,” he said. “There was a
fire in Auburn in the last week and a
half, and the agreement we have
with Central Huron worked
perfectly. They responded, put the
fire out and there was no issue.”
Several councillors in ACW,
including newcomer Roger Watt
believe that, if they are going to
negotiate with North Huron to have
the closest fire department respond,
they need to deal with the entire
municipality.
“I like the idea of the closest
department always responding,” he
said. “But we have sections where
that isn’t true throughout the
municipality. If we’re going to do
this we need to do it for the whole
municipality.”
PAGE 32. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011.
Huron East turbine bylaw defeated by tied vote
North Huron proposes 3.5 per cent levy increase
Fire coverage talks jeopardized by comments
Continued from page 27
a major variance and that a
municipality can’t go against the
Green Energy Act, that it was as
simple as that.
McKillop Councillor Bill Siemon,
however, cited other municipalities
that have passed a similar bylaw and
said that none of them are facing
legal action at the moment.
Newcomer Dianne Diehl said that
she couldn’t support a bylaw that
will have no effect on the future of
the municipality.
“In my heart, I can’t vote for
something that can’t be enforced and
that’s basically illegal,” she said.
“It’s short and sweet, but these are
my feelings.”
McKillop Councillor Andy
Flowers said that he couldn’t vote
for the bylaw because he had to keep
all of Huron East’s residents in
mind.
“My job, my obligation is to
represent the concerns of the people,
as long as it’s not detrimental to my
ward and my municipality,” he said.
“This could not be enforced.”
After Flowers’ comments, there
was discussion about further
investigation into a bylaw that
encompassed a municipality’s right
to protect its citizens, a clause in the
Municipal Act and a motion to table
the bylaw was made. It was
defeated, however, as several
councillors stated that the issue had
dragged on long enough and it was
finally time to deal with it.
Seven councillors voted against
the tabling, while only three
councillors voted for it.
Seili said that while he doesn’t
always agree with the upper tiers of
government, when Huron East
decided to participate in a solar
panel project with several of its
buildings, the municipality became a
part of the Green Energy Act, and
that picking and choosing which
aspects of the act council felt
was enforceable was no longer an
option.
“If I thought we could win this
battle, I would do everything I
could,” Seili said. “But it’s a no-win
situation.”
A recorded vote was then called
with Councillors Nathan Marshall,
Larry McGrath, Alvin McLellan,
Siemon and Fisher voting for the
bylaw and Councillors Les Falconer,
Flowers, Diehl and Seili, as well as
Deputy-Mayor Joe Steffler voting
against, resulting in a tie vote and a
defeated motion.
A subsequent motion was then
made to request that Stewart look
into the Municipal Act further to
investigate what kind of bylaw could
be drafted to encompass the
municipality’s right to protect its
citizens under the Municipal Act.
The motion was carried.
A play of import
Vimy, a play about the experiences of four soldiers who fought at Vimy Ridge in 1917, is being
sponsored by the Blyth Legion and Blyth Legion Ladies Auxiliary for its run at the Blyth
Festival this season. Presenting the $6,000 cheque for production sponsorship to Artistic
Director Eric Coates is Legion President Andy Lubbers and Ladies Auxiliary President Sandra
Elliott. (Denny Scott photo)
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By Denny ScottThe Citizen