HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-12-01, Page 22PAGE 22. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2011.
Mayors respond to changes
Central Huron hearsfrom BRA president
Friends of the Shed
The Musical Friends of Shed 3 made a generous donation to the Goderich and Area Disaster
Relief Fund during the annual meeting of the Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association
on Nov. 23. The group donated $1,085.65 to the fund, which helps those who were devastated
by the F3 tornado that touched down in Goderich on August 21. Shown are back row, from left;
Glen Hodgins, Marvin Scott, Joe Freeman, Morjorie Love, Gwen O’Rourke and Don
Nicholson. Middle row, from left: Glen Deichert, Marlene Deichert, Alan Murray, Ann Duskocy
and Jim Love. Front row, from left: Annie Pritchard, Gladys Van Egmond, Ken Dunn and Jack
Youngson. (Denny Scott photo)
Continued from page 1would be 200 kilograms perhousehold per year, Veilleux said,which would add an additional $16-$17 per year, which would bring theaverage cost up to between $60 and$70 per year.
Veilleux said in a user-pay system,
it is best to be clear and honest with
the ratepayers, letting them know the
cost they have to pay and that waste
management and recycling are not
free services.
On the municipal side of things,
Veilleux said the accounting for
waste management would be dealt
with as simply another line item on
the municipal budget.
From there the BRA would send a
master list detailing every person
who is involved in the program
and the size of the bin they have to
the municipality and they would
charge residents based on that
list.
Veilleux also said that residents
could opt out of the program if they
wished and they could change the
size of the bins they would have at
any time. He also said the BRA
would own the bins, so if there was
ever a repair issue with one of the
bins, the BRA would replace the bin
without issue.
Under the proposed co-collection
system, residents would have one
garbage wheelie bin (with a size
based on the decision of the resident)
for waste. The resident would be
able to put the garbage directly into
the bin with no need for garbagebags.Councillors asked how the overallcost would be affected if only 50 percent of the municipality opted toparticipate in the program andVeilleux said that it wouldn’t.
However, he added, in many of the
other 24 municipalities the BRA
services, they typically see a less-
than-one-per-cent rate of non-
participation.
As far as the routes are concerned,
Veilleux said he would have to
investigate them further, but in the
case of Clinton, for example, it may
make more sense for a truck to
collect all of the waste and come
back for the recycling, but that
would be a decision that would have
to be made after further research.
“Sometimes it’s just better to do it
that way,” Veilleux said.
In addition to Veilleux, Wayne
Smith of Sunrise Sanitation, an
independent company operating in
Clinton, spoke to council saying that
while he currently doesn’t have the
capacity to service the entire
municipality, it wouldn’t take much
for him to expand and that he is
willing to do it.
No formal action was taken, but
councillors have acknowledged that
they will have to move fast to ensure
a plan is in place for 2012.
Council’s next meeting will be on
Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. at the Regional
Equine and Agricultural Centre of
Huron (REACH) in Clinton.
Continued from page 1
this stirs up council for the rest of the
term.”
Ginn also had some concerns
about the 2010 voter list provided by
the Municipal Property Assessment
Corporation (MPAC) on which the
county’s population numbers are
based.
Ginn said it was proven that
MPAC’s numbers were incorrect
when Central Huron conducted its
municipal election in October, 2010,
so to base the number of
representatives at Huron County
Council on inaccurate numbers
didn’t make sense to him.
“If MPAC’s numbers are not
accurate, then we’re basing the
numbers at county council on
information we know is incorrect,”
Ginn said. “I don’t think that’s the
right thing to do.”
Ginn also had a problem with the
thousands of taxpayer dollars spent
on the process to reach what he
considered to be an unjustified
means.
“If in the end, the goal is
justifiable, I have no problem
spending the money,” Ginn said,
“but with this I can’t identify what
the end justification is.”
If it’s the wage of the councillors,
Ginn said, he couldn’t see it making
that much of a difference.
“Is it the wages? Maybe $40,000
or $50,000 in a $100 million
budget?” Ginn asked. “That’s pretty
small potatoes. And the shame of it
is that those guys were pretty
effective councillors.”
Huron East Mayor Bernie
MacLellan was similarly surprised,
saying that all of the consultation he
had been through indicated that
council acted as it was instructed to.
MacLellan mentioned that there
had been some discussion about
launching an appeal, but no formal
decision had been made.
He agreed with Ginn, saying he
was hard-pressed to remember a
time where those four councillors
made a concerted effort to swing a
vote one way or another.
“Seldom was there a very close
decision,” MacLellan said. “County
council usually votes in a landslide
one way or the other. I’m not
convinced they had any kind of
effect.”
MacLellan says that as far as
Huron East’s representation and
discussion at the Huron County
Council level, he doesn’t think it will
make much of a difference, but he
still feels the scale of representation
is unbalanced in its current form.
MacLellan had pitched a
“representation by population”
method years ago that he felt would
provide a more accurate formula, but
it was promptly turned down.
MacLellan explains the system as
a councillor’s vote, coupled with a
computerized mathematical formula
that would weight that councillor’s
decision based on the population
share that councillor’s municipality
holds within Huron County.
“It didn’t fly,” he said. “A lot of
councillors felt it wasn’t in the best
interests of their municipality.”
In fairness, MacLellan said, under
his proposed formula, Huron East
would have lost some of its
representation, going from three
votes down to approximately two
and a half, but that doesn’t change
the fact, he said, that it would be a
true form of representation by
population.
Huron County Warden and North
Huron Reeve Neil Vincent says
when he first heard the news, he was
a little disappointed.
While Vincent’s term as a warden
is quickly coming to an end, he
knows Huron County Council will
make its way through this change,
but he feels the fight isn’t quite over.
“We will get through this as a
county,” Vincent said. “But my fear
is the fallout from it and instead of
councillors acting as county
councillors, we’ll see councillors
acting on behalf of their own
municipalities.
“It’s a very real possibility and
county council could be fractured
and turn into an us-versus-them
situation.”
Vincent also hinted at the
possibility of an appeal, but said he
didn’t have anything official to
report. He was concerned, however,
that if an appeal was launched, that
the decision wouldn’t change despite
the appeal.
“If the appeal holds up the council
process,” Vincent said, referring to
the election of a new warden that
will take place later this month, “that
would be a real detriment.”
From a North Huron perspective,
however, Vincent said that with the
number of township representatives
reduced to just himself, Deputy-
Reeve David Riach won’t have a
chance to vote against Vincent,
negating his vote, he joked.
“I’m not up or down because of it,”
Vincent said.
Vincent, however, also had issues
with MPAC’s numbers saying that if
MPAC can’t guarantee its numbers,
Huron County shouldn’t be counting
on them for accurate voters list
figures.
Goderich Mayor Deb Shewfelt,
however, was singing a different
tune, saying that he felt “common
sense prevailed” with Gorman’s
ruling.
“The bylaw was good enough in
2000,” Shewfelt said.
Shewfelt also said that Huron
County is being run by too many
bodies as it is and that Bruce County,
a larger area with a bigger budget, is
being run by nine representatives,
rather than the 16 that will be
representing Huron County going
forward.
“It’s time to shave off some
points,” Shewfelt said. “You start
with the small things and you
eventually get to the bigger things.”
Shewfelt said he felt council
should be respecting the decision
made by previous councils and
holding true to representation by
population.
Many Huron County Council
representatives, however, felt the
issue would be hotly debated at the
Nov. 30 meeting of council.
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