The Citizen, 2011-11-24, Page 28At least one Huron East councillor
is fed up with the situation in
Moncrieff and wants to revisit the
situation surrounding the Moncrieff
Hall.
Councillor Larry McGrath asked
to have the situation brought back at
a future meeting despite legal
concerns surrounding the hall for
years. McGrath brought the issue up
at council’s Nov. 15 meeting and a
report will be coming to council
from staff in the near future.
McGrath stated that Huron East
taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay
nearly $850 a year to “give water
away”.
McGrath was referring to a well
that is shared by the Moncrieff Hall
and a neighbouring residence, which
is an issue that has been raised at
council meetings several times
before.
“The hall is supplying this
residence with water,” McGrath
said, “and it’s costing Huron East a
ton of money.”
McGrath discussed the water
testing that has to go on and the
costs being increased due to the
testing, but that the water is still
being provided to the hall’s
neighbouring residence at no cost.
“Now we pay more because
insurance costs went up,” he said.
“Then maybe we should shut the
well off.”
McGrath said that it isn’t fair that
the occupants of the residence don’t
pay for water while everyone else in
the municipality does.
He then said that perhaps Grey
Ward Councillors Alvin McLellan
and Dianne Diehl could bring
information back to council after his
idea is floated to the Moncrieff Hall
Board at its next meeting.
McLellan agreed that the situation
should be addressed and then
perhaps brought from the hall board
to the Huron East Administration
Committee before coming back to
council for a formal
recommendation.
“It should be dealt with,”
McLellan said.
McLellan also said that the
Moncrieff ball park could also be
discussed at the same time.
After the issue is debated by the
hall board, it will be brought to the
administration committee, where it
will be discussed as part of a public
meeting, prior to returning to
council for a final decision.
“It’s a chunk of property that just
eats away at taxpayers’ pockets,”
McGrath said.
After a discussion that got too big
for a regular council meeting earlier
this year, Huron East Council went
into overtime last Saturday, holding
a special strategic planning meeting
in Seaforth.
The initial discussion several
months ago centred around the
municipality’s potential
implementation of a procedural
bylaw, but quickly grew into a
review of Huron East’s strategic
planning and the future of the
municipality.
Council had held a similar
meeting in February where several
topics, including the Brussels
Library, the Vanastra Recreation
Centre, the municipality’s economic
development strategy and the need
for a facilities manager, among other
things, were explored.
The Feb. 19 agenda was used as a
foundation for the meeting with
Clerk-Administrator Brad Knight
revisiting each topic from that
meeting and addressing what kind
of progress had been made in the
nine months since.
As council had received a
presentation from architect John
Rutledge earlier that week outlining
preliminary plans for the Brussels
Library, not much had to be said on
the library.
Rutledge said he would have
formal plans to council by the end of
the year, which fell in line with
Mayor Bernie MacLellan’s plans to
put tenders out on the project by
January.
The topic that dominated the
conversation was the future of the
Vanastra Recreation Centre, an issue
that council has been flirting with
for years.
At a previous meeting of council,
Councillor Les Falconer said the
centre was currently in a position to
make renovations if authorized by
council. However, there had been
some discussion about possibly
building a new centre, so
renovations would be pointless if the
building was going to be replaced in
two or three years.
Lissa Berrard from the centre was
on hand to discuss its needs, which
included new flooring and new
doors.
Berrard made the case for the
Vanastra Recreation Centre,
knowing that council has been
considering a potential partnership
with Vanastra’s close neighbour
Central Huron on a pool addition to
the newly-built Central Huron
Community Complex.
A special guest to the meeting was
Central Huron Mayor Jim Ginn who
said he was enthusiastic about the
idea of partnering up with Huron
East on a new pool at the complex.
Ginn said Central Huron was
given a tight deadline because of
grant requirements and adding a
pool to the complex after initial
plans had been made simply wasn’t
feasible. Ginn said with a
partnership with Huron East, a pool
could be added to the complex that
opened just weeks ago.
Not all councillors were sold
Morris-Turnberry staff will
provide a report on the financial
ramifications of using large bin,
automated pickup of recycleables
and garbage for the January meeting
of council.
In preliminary discussions at the
Nov. 15 meeting, councillors were
split on the wisdom of switching to
using large bins on wheels which
can be picked up by the
garbage/recycling truck with no one
having to physically empty the bin
into the truck as happens now.
Councillors had heard a
presentation at their April 19
meeting from Francis Veilleux,
president of the Bluewater
Recycling Association, on the
system and asked staff to bring the
issue back to the table later in the
year.
Going to the bins would eliminate
the use of garbage bag tags with the
annual cost, about $96.75 per
household for weekly pickup in
urban areas and bi-weekly in rural
areas, to be included on the tax bills.
That idea upset Councillor John
Smuck who argued it went against
the idea of users paying for the
service. Now, by having to buy more
tags, people who put out more
garbage pay more than their
neighbours who hardly put out any
garbage, he said. If the whole bill is
picked up taxes, the municipality’s
Mennonite population which hardly
uses recycling or garbage service at
all, is going to be helping pay for
people who will save because they
no longer need to buy bag tags, he
argued.
But Mayor Paul Gowing said that
all taxpayers are already having to
pay a share of the $40,000 shortfall
in waste management costs, despite
the use of bag tags.
Smuck, however, insisted that if
someone wants to use the curbside
system they should have to play
more.
“In Turnberry, 50 per cent (of
residents) don’t use recycling,”
Smuck said – while Councillor
Jamie Heffer nodded agreement.
But Councillor Neil Warwick
disagreed. “I think we should get on
with it. It’s (automated pick-up) is
coming whether we want it or not.
We should get in while we can get
funding.”
In April, Veilleux had explained
there were health and safety
concerns with all the bending and
lifting and 45 workers a year across
the continent lose their lives in
accidents while doing Blue Box
pick-ups.
Gary Pipe, director of public
works, told councillors at their Nov.
Quilting
Several Women’s Institute organizations descended on the Auburn Community Hall on
Monday, Nov. 21 to quilt together to provide warmth and comfort to the people of Goderich.
Shown are, from left, Barb Strang and Elsie Schuler from a Teeswater-area W.I. and Helen
Nicholson and Myrtle Kerr of the Dungannon WI. Kerr is the most senior member of the
Dungannon WI at 92 years young and hails from Goderich. (Denny Scott photo)
PAGE 28. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011.Council to revisitcontroversial issue
Vanastra centre discussed at
strategic planning meeting
Curbside pickup report coming
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