HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-05-19, Page 12PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2011.
Sandra Thompson, Huron County
Accessibility Co-ordinator
presented her annual report to Huron
County Council at its May 4
meeting.
Thompson outlined the focus of
the 2011 accessibility plan for
Huron County, which essentially
includes a continuation of the good
things the county has been doing in
recent years.
Thompson said that the committee
will continue to work with local
businesses to help them become
more accessible and to assist with
training for Huron County staff to
bring them in line with accessibility
regulations.
There are aspects of the plan that
will be difficult, Thompson said,
both now and going forward, since
the committee is just an advisory
body, and that it cannot dictate
policies.
Thompson said that once the
committee begins to dictate policies
to organizations or businesses, the
committee then becomes liable if
something should go wrong with a
plan they advised on. For the future,
she said, the committee will remain
in its advisory capacity.
One of the key components in the
coming year will be improving
telephone accessibility for those
who are deaf and/or hard of hearing.
Too often, Thompson said,
thoughts on accessibility are tied
to those in wheelchairs and the
blind, and the deaf often get
forgotten.
The focus on further telephone
accessibility will help to promote
the concept of assisting with the
deaf as well when planning
throughout the county.
Thompson said that she is proud
to say that the Huron County
Accessibility Plan is in compliance
with the upper-tier standards, but
that Huron County will have to
continue to better itself in
preparation for the 2015
accessibility deadline and then the
2025 deadline where all businesses
and public buildings will have to be
accessible.
This has been a concern in the
community, said Ashfield-Colborne-
Wawanosh Reeve Ben Van
Diepenbeek, who said that many of
the area’s churches are worried
about accessibility. He said that
because the buildings are so old and
the churches don’t have large,
steady incomes, the costs associated
with extensive renovations to make
the church accessible could be a
huge cause for concern.
Thompson said that she wasn’t
sure what was going to happen
going forward, but that churches like
that won’t have to worry at the
current time.
She did say, however, that if
renovations are planned for over
$50,000 to a building that is
currently not accessible, there is an
obligation to attempt to incorporate
accessibility to those renovation
plans.
County-provided vehicles
weighed against mileage
compensation for senior
management team (SMT) members
was a hot topic once again at the
May 11 Committee of the Whole
meeting.
Huron East’s Bernie MacLellan
voted to raise the issue once again
thinking that changes to the county
policies had to be made to help
lower the potential for abuse of the
system.
MacLellan suggested giving SMT
members a choice in that they could
choose to take a county-provided
vehicle, have their work mileage
paid for and have up to $1,000 of
personal-use fuel provided for by the
county. If the member should chooseto keep his own vehicle, however,
mileage would be paid, but a $200
allowance would be paid to the
member every month.
There would be, however, tax
implications if this new system were
to be adopted. If mileage only is
paid, it remains untaxed, but if
mileage is paid alongside an
allowance, both are now eligible to
be taxed, meaning that SMT
members would have to pay a high
percentage of the compensation
back to the government.
One councillor described this
concept as an employee “paying to
work” for Huron County.
Some councillors were extremely
against this approach, however,
wondering why council was even
becoming involved in such an
issue. Goderich’s John Grace felt that
the issue should wait until the
next round of negotiations and
that changing the agreement
during the contract’s term is
unethical.
“I don’t understand why we are
even going down this road,” Grace
said. “I am not in support of this
approach to management.”
MacLellan, however, countered by
saying that the new policy wouldn’t
penalize employees, just restrict
usage so that abuse would be next to
impossible.
“SMT members were polled and
they are in favour of this,”
MacLellan said. “We’re not
penalizing them. This just puts some
protection in place so that there
won’t be abuse of the system.”
Grace disagreed, however, sayingthat such a policy is penalizing
employees and that the passing of it
would be done in bad faith.
“I don’t like the whole
philosophy,” Grace said. “We don’t
go backwards and start reinventing
the wheel.
“If that’s the way you’re going to
treat your staff, I would have to think
about approaching the county as a
potential staff member. I really
question the motivation behind this.”The motion to offer the new policy
to SMT members was passed with a
vote of 10 votes in favour of the new
policy and seven votes against the
new policy. The motion presents
SMT members with MacLellan’s
two new options, as well as a third
option to keep the current
arrangement, which is the members’
right under their employment
agreement.
Accessibility plan adopted
Management compensation debated by council
Higher and higher
Jamie Lee Eckert shed the bonds of gravity and nearly
entered orbit during Blyth Public School’s recent track and
field competition. Eckert and classmates jumped, threw,
spin and ran away the day on May 11 trying to reach the
next level of competition. (Denny Scott photo)
He’s going for speed
Andrew Falconer was one of several Blyth Public School
students running the track at the Blyth Community Centre
on May 11 for the school’s track and field competition. (Denny
Scott photo)
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By Shawn LoughlinThe Citizen
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen