HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2010-01-14, Page 18PAGE 18. THE CITIZEN,THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2010.
The Jan. 7 meeting of Morris-
Turnberry council was adjourned
when it became apparent that the
meeting had not been properly
advertised.
Councillor Mark Beaven raised an
objection because the meeting had
been moved from its normal Tuesday
date but, because of confusion
caused by the holiday schedule, had
not been advertised in local newspa-
pers as required by
the municipality’s procedural
bylaw. “If notice wasn’t given
this isn’t an official meeting,” he
said.
His position raised the ire of
Mayor Dorothy Kelly who said the
meeting date was posted on the
municipality’s website on
Wednesday Jan. 5. Beaven objected
that didn’t meet the requirements of
the bylaw and left the meeting.
Despite Beaven’s decision to
leave, councillor Bill Thompson said
he felt council should carry on with
the meeting.
But councillor Paul Gowing dis-
agreed. “If we have a procedural
bylaw we can’t just ignore it,” he
said.
Administrator clerk-treasurer
Nancy Michie did considerable
research to see if notice had been
given of the meeting. A resolution
had been passed at a November
meeting to change the date of
the January meeting because the
holidays would mean there
wasn’t enough time for staff to
have everything ready in time for
the normal Tuesday meeting date
of Jan. 5. That date had been
included in minutes of the meeting
which were posted on the
website.
The meeting date had been includ-
ed in the “notice of meetings” sec-
tion of the website.
However, the requirement in the
procedural bylaw is that the meeting
must be advertised in local newspa-
pers.
“Under a lot of (municipalities’)
procedural bylaws it wouldn’t mat-
ter,” said Michie, but she admitted,
“It’s published informally but not
formally.”
Under the circumstances, with
Beaven having challenged the legiti-
macy of the meeting, councillors
agreed not to hold the meeting.
Instead all of January’s business will
be done at the next regular meeting,
Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m.
***
At the Dec. 14 meeting, council
approved the bylaw to enter into an
agreement with North Huron for
fire service to portions of the
municipality for a two-year period
at a cost of $205,307 per year.
Council also appointed John
Black, the North Huron fire chief
as chief for that portion of
the municipality. Drafts of the fire
service agreements for Huron
East and Township of Howick
for the eastern and northeastern
parts of Morris-Turnberry had
been approved at the Dec. 7
meeting.
Huron and Perth United Ways finalize merger
Morris-Turnberry meeting adjourned after objection
By Brittany Nigh
After a relaxing break for the holi-
days, everyone at St. Anne’s
Secondary School was back into the
swing of things last week.
As final exams creep up, students
and teachers alike rush to complete
everything before report cards are
due.
The focus wasn’t all on academics
last week though, as the boys and
girls hockey teams had tournaments,
and the boys basketball and girls vol-
leyball teams were facing league
play.The swim team is also prepar-
ing for Huron-Perth finals this
week and is sure to defend many of
their titles. Regardless, St. Anne’s
athletes weren’t the only ones
movin’ and shakin’ last week as
semi-formal was hosted on Friday
night.
Student cabinet hosted the annual
dance which brought over 400 stu-
dents to their feet for a night of danc-
ing and fun. Soirée a Paris (A Night
in Paris) fulfilled everyone’s expec-
tations of an awesome night.
The next sudent cabinet hosted
event Tatoosday is sure to spark
some interest around the school.
Tuesday, Jan. 12, students can pay
$2 to wear their yellow and blue
civvies, and receive a tattoo from the
Alzheimer’s Society. All proceeds
raised will be donated to the
Alzheimer’s Society.
The upcoming weeks are sure to
be busy at St. Anne’s so stay-tuned
for news and events. You can also
check out our updated website at
http://sacss.hpcdsb.edu.on.ca .
404 Queen St.,
Blyth
519-523-4792
541 Turnberry St.,
Brussels
519-887-9114 The Citizen
THE CANADIAN
HOUSEWIFE: An
Affectionate History
This illustrated book tells
the history of housewives
from the earliest settle-
ments in Acadia, through
settlement of the country
and two World Wars to
the 1950s to show their
essential contribution.
$29.95
HORSE CRAZY
1001 fun facts, craft projects,
games, activities and know how for
horse-loving kids in this nearly-400-
page book. Author Jessie Haas
provides practical information on all
things equine. Designed for kids 8
and up. $22.95
PONY PLAY GAMES AND PUZ-
ZLES
This book features 100 mazes, pic-
ture puzzles, jokes, riddles and fun-
packed activities and games. More
than 140 pages of fun designed for
kids aged 6-10. $13.50
THE PALLISER TRIANGLE
This gorgeously photographed hardcover
book tells the story of the famous western
grassland area from the ice ages through
to modern ranches. $59.95
ONTARIO’S SECRET LAND-
SCAPES:
Ron Brown highlights 50 unusu-
al places to visit around Ontario
from Thornbury’s Mystery
Mound to Kitchener’s Pioneer
Tower and Castle Kilbride at
Baden. 166 pages of stories and
photos. $19.95
HORSES AND FRIENDS
POSTER BOOK
This large-format book
has 30 colour photo-
graphs that can be pulled
out for use as posters,
featuring horses and barn-
yard friends, from cats
and dogs to goats and
sheep to birds. $13.95
THE FAMILY BUTTERFLY
BOOK
Love butterflies? This book’s for
you. How to attract butterflies to
your garden, make butterfly
boxes and cages, identify 40
favourite North American
species, even build your own
butterfly farm. $22.95
See our great selection of books at....
The merger between the Huronand Perth United Way was officialJan. 1 and representatives were pres-
ent at the Jan. 6 meeting of
Huron County council to offer infor-
mation on what the change will
mean.
Executive director Ellen Balmain
also provided some background,
saying that after falling short of the
goals for both 2007 and 2008, plus
accepting the resignation of two
executive directors, Huron’s board
approached its Perth counterpart
with the idea of working
together. “We were shocked and surprised,”said Balmain, but knew that theyneeded to take some kind of action.”By the fall of this year an agree-ment had been reached. It was decid-
ed not to dissolve the Huron United
Way, said Balmain, to maintain its
charitable number.
“We are maintaining separate bank
accounts for Huron so we can accu-
mulate the donations and allocate
them appropriately in Huron,” said
Balmain.
The original Huron database
remains on the computers.
The merged board now has 20
directors, though Balmain expects to
see a balance of 15 Huron and Perthrepresentatives in the future afterattrition and resignations. Allocation committees are beingformed in Huron and Balmain saidthey are recruiting for volunteers.
“We are always looking for more
and love the help. Anyone interested
is encouraged to contact us.”
Balmain said last year there were
almost 20 of these committees
in Perth while Huron only had
two.
Having stablized over the past
decade, Balmain said the goal now is
to expand the services that United
Way can offer.
She also spoke of the 211 system
that is being funded by a Trilliumgrant. This allows people to callanonymously to ask for support andinformation, something that Balmainsays can be difficult in a small com-munity.
“This assures that people can get
that first link before the situation hits
the boiling point. We guide and
encourage people to reach out before
a real crisis develops and they can
get the help their family needs.”
Still in the fledgling stage the 211
program will have a “soft launch”
for a few months, said Balmain,
before it’s completely ready to
go.
Stressing the importance of United
Way having data that’s up to dateBalmain said the Huron records havebeen increased from 300-1,600 overthe past few months.”The office for the local UnitedWay is now located in Stratford.
However, Balmain stressed that this
in no way is a loss of service for
Huron residents. “I want you to
know this was a friendly merger. It’s
irrelevant where we are located if we
are doing a good job of raising
money in Huron so more can be allo-
cated in Huron.”
“We are going to make sure it’s
more about supporting the commu-
nity and distributing the services to
those in need.”
By Bonnie GroppThe Citizen
By Keith Roulston
The Citizen
Huron East is looking at a loss of
what equates to eight per cent of its
current general tax levy due to a
decrease in the amount of Ontario
Municipal Partnership Fund
(OMPF) funding the municipality
will receive in 2010.
The funding the municipality will
receive is down $153,500 from the
amount it received in 2009, resulting
in $3,001,400 coming Huron East’s
way in 2010.
Huron East, however, is still
receiving $873,300 more than the
next closest municipality, Central
Huron, which actually received a
bump of $61,800 in its OMPF fund-
ing for 2010. This does not include
Huron County, which stands to
receive $4,889,100 in 2010, which is
down $287,200 from 2009.
Treasurer Brad Knight says that
while the decrease might be slightly
disappointing at first glance, Huron
East has been treated quite well by
this grant program, he said, main-
taining a “one-time special assis-
tance” figure from 2005 to 2009,
which could have been cut off by the
province at any time.
In 2005, the province brought
OMPF funding in to replace the
Community Reinvestment Fund
with the provision that no munici-
pality would receive less funding
than they had under the original
grant program. In 2004, Huron East
received $2,702,000 in funding.
In 2005, the province calculated
the 2005 funding based on the 2004
numbers including taxation, result-
ing in $3,154,900 for that year.
After receiving the news, council
was issued a report that the province
had incorrectly calculated this num-
ber. In fact, if calculated correctly,
Huron East should have received
less than its original $2.7 million.
The province continued to main-
tain this “one-time assistance” for
the next five years, with the overage
equalling $1,988,700 from 2005 to
2009.
St. Anne’s back in the
swing as exams approach
HE loses OMPF funding
Eagle’s Pride
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen