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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-12-01, Page 1CitizenTh e $1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, December 1, 2011 Volume 27 No. 47 WASTE - Pg. 10North Huron to move toclear garbage bags PARTIES - Pg. 15Fire Marshal clarifiesbarn party regulationsPARADE- Pg. 6-7Annual Santa ClausParade held in BrusselsPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK: Local wards lose councillors after court decision Central Huron seeks waste alternative The jolly man himself Santa Claus didn’t disappoint during his annual parade in Brussels on Nov. 26. He Ho-Ho- Ho’ed and waved his way through the village, starting at and ending at the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre (BMGCC). After the parade, he took some time to listen to wish lists at the BMGCC before getting back on his sleigh and heading to the North Pole to prepare for his big night. For more pictures and videos from the event, visit The Citizen’s website at www.northhuron.on.ca (Denny Scott photo) Effective immediately Huron County Council is four bodies lighter as the result of a decision by Superior Court Justice Kelly-Anne Gorman. Gorman sided with the Municipalities of Ashfield- Colborne-Wawanosh, Bluewater, Goderich, Howick and Morris- Turnberry and validated a bylaw stating that seats at the Huron County Council table would be tied to population. The bylaw stated that every municipality in Huron County would be given one seat automatically and then given an additional seat for every 4,000 constituents in that municipality. Therefore highly-populated areas such as Central Huron and Huron East would be represented by three councillors while a municipality like Morris-Turnberry would simply be represented by its mayor alone at Huron County Council. According to Huron County Chief Administrative Officer Larry Adams, Gorman’s decision, officially made on Nov. 18, was made effective as of the passing of the decision, meaning four council seats would be seating empty at the Nov. 30 meeting, the final meeting under current Huron County Warden Neil Vincent. In addition to the decision to shrink council by four members, Gorman also ruled that Bylaw 1 of 2011 is invalid. That bylaw is the striking committee bylaw appointing councillors to different committees of council. There is expected to be little fallout from the second decision however, as the striking process is due to take place again after the new warden is officially elected. Glen Carey of Goderich represented the winning side, while the Huron County solicitor represented the losing side of Central Huron, Huron East, North Huron and South Huron, as well as Huron County itself. Many heads of council attended the Nov. 9 hearing at the Huron County Museum in Goderich to hear the arguments made by both lawyers. The common sentiment among those councils losing one representative is disappointment and a little confusion. “I really didn’t see a reason to go through this process,” said Central Huron Mayor Jim Ginn. “I don’t know what the county gets out of getting rid of these councillors.” Ginn said he couldn’t remember a situation where members of a single municipality, or a group of municipalities, voted in tandem with each other or one another in an organized effort. He said as far as he was concerned councillors always voted with their minds, not with their alliances, and voted for what was best for Huron County. “Council had been running very smoothly,” Ginn said, “and I think Children in Auburn and the surrounding area have a new place to call their home-away-from-home: a set of new playground equipment at the Auburn Community Park. The equipment, which was officially opened in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Nov. 26, was fought for by a small group of dedicated volunteers called the Auburn Playground Committee which is lead by Koreen Moss and Juanita Hamp. While the equipment has been built and installed in Auburn for some time, a representative from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, which donated to the completion of the project, needed to be present to recognize the day. Peggy Menzies, from the Trillium foundation, said that the organization was happy to get involved. “We’re really pleased to help provide this equipment to the community,” she said. “This was a great opportunity for the foundation Waste Management has confirmed it will be pulling its services out of all Central Huron routes, leaving Central Huron Council with a dilemma on its hands. After a preliminary report from Councillor Burkhard Metzger at the Nov. 7 meeting of saying he had heard from a ratepayer that Waste Management was pulling out of the municipality, those comments were confirmed by Chief Administrative Officer Kevin McLlwain at council’s Nov. 24 Committee of the Whole meeting. McLlwain said he had received verbal confirmation from someone at Waste Management that what had been discussed at the Nov. 7 meeting was true and that the company would soon be pulling its services out of Central Huron. As a municipality that hasn’t provided waste management to its residents for decades, council members now have to move fast to provide residents with an option in 2012. McLlwain says the actual termination date has yet to be confirmed, but so far what he has heard is that it could be as early as the end of the year. This decision by Waste Management will leave hundreds of homes without a curbside waste option. As a result, council brought in Francis Veilleux, the president of the Bluewater Recycling Association (BRA), to make a presentation on the cost and feasibility of waste and recycling co-collection throughout all of Central Huron. There are several different options to consider, Veilleux said. Council would have to decide if they’d like to have garbage and recycling collected once a week in Central Huron, once every two weeks, or have garbage collected every week while recycling is collected once every two weeks. In addition, each homeowner would have to decide what size of bin they would want and the cost would be assigned accordingly. Veilleux suggested that council implement a user-pay system to deal with waste management meaning that the municipality would not subsidize waste costs whatsoever for its residents. Costs could be imposed, Veilleux said, on a three- point scale, for instance, $80 per year for a small bin, $120 per year for a medium-sized bin and $160 per year for a large bin. Costs to ratepayers, however, would be completely up to council Veilleux said and his numbers were merely suggestions. Veilleux said the cost to the municipality would be $28.30 per household per year if both garbage and recycling were to be collected every two weeks, $51.42 per household per year if garbage was collected weekly and recycling was collected bi-weekly and $58.33 per household per year if both garbage and recycling were to be picked up weekly. Those costs, however, would not include tipping fees to be paid by the municipality and those would vary depending on the amount of waste and recycling that is generated throughout Central Huron. An average estimate for waste By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Continued on page 22 By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Ribbon cut in Auburn Continued on page 22 By Denny Scott The Citizen Continued on page 30