The Citizen, 2011-05-26, Page 1CitizenTh
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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, May 26, 2011
Volume 27 No. 21
AIRSTREAM - Pg. 10Group makes annual tripto Blyth once again TURBINES - Pg. 20 Group wants meetingfacilitated by councilSPORTS- Pg. 8Blyth Barons continue theirwinning ways Publications Mail Agreement No. 4005014 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Huron East Council is donating
$500 to volunteers at Grey Central
Public School for improvements to
the school’s Environmental Learning
Grounds.
The decision to donate, however,
did not come without its
controversy, as many councillors
still had a bad taste in their mouths
from the Accommodation Review
Committee (ARC) process that
effectively slated Brussels Public
School for closure.
Volunteers Susan Alexander and
Monique Baan were accompanied
by three Grey Central students who
had taken on the project of
rejuvenating the grounds’
amphitheatre, amphitheatre steps
and fire pit at the May 17 meeting of
Huron East Council.
Initially the project was budgetted
for between $900 and $1,400, but
costs have gone up slightly since, to
between $1,500 and $1,600.
Students Nikki Van Brugge,
Brianna Byerlay and Samantha
Subject gave a presentation to
council detailing what the money
would be used for and why it would
help students at the school.
The students explained that when
the project was first proposed, that
they applied for a Speak Up grant
and received $1,000. The funds the
volunteers were requesting from
council would cover the remainder
of the project’s expenses.
These improvements would help
make the grounds more enjoyable
for the students and more beautiful
for the community, the students said.
They said that these improvements
would bring the grounds to a state
very close to completion, although
they did acknowledge that there
could be improvements that would
be required years down the road.
Alexander was asked if she had
approached the Avon Maitland
District School Board for any
funding, since the board technically
owns the property. Alexander said
that she and several other volunteers
had approached the board in
September of 2010 and that they had
been told that the board had no
money to contribute to the project.
Alexander, who has been involved
with the Environmental Learning
Grounds for years, said that as far as
she knew, the school board had not
contributed in years, if at all.
Everything that has been done at
the grounds, she said, has been done
by students, teachers and parent and
community volunteers.
Councillor Bill Siemon spoke
against the motion to donate $500 to
the project, saying that if it’s the
school board’s property, that the
school board should be paying for its
upkeep.
“I think this would be setting a
precedent,” Siemon said. “That’s
what [the school board] collects
taxes for.”
Siemon said that while he admired
the initiative the students had taken
and their willingness to improve
their community, he felt that the
school board should be paying for its
own property.
Brussels Councillor Joe Seili
echoed Siemon’s statements, saying
that if this project was happening on
any other property than a school, not
only would he vote that the
municipality should donate, but he
would personally donate. Because
the property is owned by the school
board, he said, he had to say no.
“Because this would be going onto
school board property, I have to say
no,” Seili said.
Grey Councillor Alvin McLellan
said that if there were objections to
the amount that was being requested,
that perhaps councillors could
donate in principle to the project,
and pay after the work had been
done and the municipality was
presented with a bill. This, however,
was shot down by councillors who
felt that the donation motion on the
floor was the one they should be
voting on.
After the motion to donate the
$500 had been passed, Councillor
Larry McGrath told Alexander she
should prepare a request for further
funding and present it to every one
of the board’s trustees. He also said
that for the board to refuse a
donation to its own property for the
modest amount of $500 was “pretty
low” of the school board.
The Blyth Festival is one of six
finalists for the 2011 Premier’s
Award for Excellence in the Arts for
Best Arts Organization.
The winner will be announced on
June 9 at a ceremony in Toronto. In
addition to receiving this “lifetime
achievement award” the winner will
also be awarded $50,000 for its
contribution to the community and
the province’s art scene.
The Blyth Festival has already had
$2,000 donated as a result of being
one of the nominees, but Artistic
Director Eric Coates says that he still
has his eyes on the prize.
“We’re definitely grateful [for the
$2,000 nomination donation], but
you still want to win for sure,”
Coates says.
Coates will be travelling to
Toronto for the awards ceremony
with Festival General Manager Deb
Sholdice, Chair of the Festival Board
of Directors Wendy Hoernig and
possibly several artists associated
with the Festival.
The nominees were officially
announced to the public last week,
but Coates says he and his crew have
known for weeks, but were told that
they had to keep the news under
wraps.
After receiving news of the
Festival’s nomination, a film crew
was sent up to Blyth to take some
footage of the daily workings of the
Festival that will be screened on June
9 at the awards ceremony.
Coates says the award
acknowledges an arts festival’s
commitment to excellence in the art
world. The award is not specifically
for performing arts.
“I was really happy to hear that we
had been nominated for this award,”
Coates said. “At a time when rural
communities are feeling very
alienated from some of the larger
power centres, this recognition is
nice.”
Coates says the judging panel is
largely represented by bigger city
centres, so for a small, rural theatre,
that produces work that focuses on
rural communities, it’s pretty special.
The Premier’s Awards for
Excellence in the Arts were created
in 2006 by the Government of
Ontario and the awards aimed to
highlight artistic contributions to the
province over a significant period of
time.
Council supports Learning Grounds project
Bailey pitches hiring freeze
Festival up for
Premier’s Award
Catching big air
Jump Rope For Heart at East Wawanosh Public School on May 19 could be a solo endeavour,
or it could be a group effort when raising money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. There
were singles, pairs and even this foursome giving jumping rope a try and doing a pretty good
job of it, all for a good cause. From left: Alicia Ireland, Sidney Beard, Emily Rodger and
Katherine Coultes. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
North Huron Councillor Bernie
Bailey made no attempt to hide how
he felt about the most recent
township budget, thinking it was too
much of an increase, and wants to
start cutting next year’s budget as
soon as possible.
Bailey made a motion during the
May 2 and May 16 council meetings
to place a freeze on all hiring of
municipal staff unless the hiring was
approved by council.
During the first meeting, his
motion only applied to full and part
time jobs that would be created or
re-staffed, and not apply to any
contractors that would need to be
hired in a pinch, such as specialized
equipment operators.
During the May 16 meeting Bailey
cut the restrictions saying it applied
to all new hirees.
“We don’t need to be creating new
positions,” Bailey stated. “And if
someone resigns, I think we should
be able to assess whether we need
them or not.”
Bailey said that due to
amalgamation there may be a
redundancy of services in township
staffing.
Councillor Ray Hallahan agreed
with the idea, stating that he thought
that people may not need to be
replaced.
A second motion was moved
during the May 2 meeting to table
Bailey’s motion until a later date, but
failed, and Bailey’s motion failed as
well, with only he and Hallahan
voting to approve it on both
occasions.
The May 16 vote was identical
with Hallahan and Bailey supporting
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 19