The Citizen, 2010-04-15, Page 7THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 2010. PAGE 7.County council votes to double coyote bountyHuron County council has votedto increase the compensation for akill of a nuisance coyote from $50
per coyote to $100 at its April 7
meeting.
A motion was passed by
councillors to double the
compensation rate at council’s
April 7 meeting, despite a motion
awaiting approval in the report
from Huron County council’s
committee of the whole meeting
last month that called for the
compensation rates to stay as they
were.
Council heard from several
speakers on the topic, including
Beverly Stevenson, senior fish and
wildlife specialist for the Ministry
of Natural Resources, Bob Trick,
Huron County’s animal control
officer and Chris LaForest, Bruce
County’s director of planning and
development.
LaForest said that Bruce County
had raised the compensation for
hunters for this year in order to
examine if and how it would
change the County’s coyote
population.
However, he said, while the jury
is still out on whether it has made a
difference or not, Bruce County
council budgeted $10,000 for
coyote compensation for 2010 and
this year has already paid out
$25,000.
“This started as a problem for
beef and sheep farmers,” LaForest
said. “Farmers were too busy tohunt themselves. This wassupposed to be about the farmers,not about the hunter.”Councillor Bernie MacLellanagreed, saying that he was on thefence about the issue, but that it
could have been due to his
ignorance of hunting practices and
expenses.
“Do we have a responsibility to
help the farmers in this? Yes,” he
said. “But I don’t want to turn this
from a compensation to help a
farmer take care of his farm into a
profitable venture for hunters out
there.”
“We need to be cautious about
this, but we do have an obligation
to help out.”
Several councillors, after hearing
the several reports from the guest
speakers, felt council should wait
until they were more informed.
A motion had been made by
council to authorize Huron County
staff to join forces with Bruce and
Grey County staffs in possibly
coming up with a uniform solution
to the problem that would make the
compensation amount to the same
throughout the three counties. As
chief administrative officer Larry
Adams said, “I don’t think a coyote
knows whether it’s in Huron
County or if it’s in Bruce or Grey
County.”
However, the motion was made
to increase the amount of
compensation that a hunter would
receive and several councillors
voted against the motion because
they felt they should wait until thereport had been prepared andpresented to council.However, Stevenson’spresentation said that coyotes arecompensatory animals and that inmany places where there was an
increase in hunting, they
soon found they had more coyotes
on their hands than when they
started.
Councillor Joe Seili spoke
in favour of the increase, saying
that coyotes are definitely
becoming a problem in Huron
County.
“Yes they’re nice to look at, but
that’s about as far as it goes,” he
said. “In Huron County, we’re
supposed to be looking out for
agriculture and we’re spending
more in administration on these
things than the hunter gets for
killing the thing.”
Seili said that even with the
increase in compensation that it
still probably won’t cover the costs
to the hunters and that the
compensation going to
farmers who have had their animals
killed should be raised as well,
because he felt those numbers
didn’t quite add up to full value
either.
Councillor Deb Shewfelt said
that he would like to see the motion
move forward and he said he didn’t
even want to wait for the report to
come in, saying that too much
administration can delay a decision
like this for too long.
“We haven’t got the guts to make
a decision,” he said. “Let’s get onwith it.”The decision to raise thecompensation level, also resultedin the repeal of the recommendation made by the committee of the whole
for council to leave the
compensation rates at the same
level.
In an attempt to delay the
proceedings until the staff report
was received, a motion was made
to table the decision to raise the
compensation until the report was
presented to council, which was
defeated.
Several councillors said that the
compensation amount could
always be readjusted and movedback down after the report has beenreceived, but that council was justmoving the amount up in themeantime.Seili asked that a timeline be put on the report so that
it gets to council in a timely
fashion.
He mentioned another motion
that he felt had not been given its
fair amount of attention and said he
didn’t want to see anything slipped
through council.
“We’re not sitting on this,”
Adams said. “But if you think this
will get lost in the shuffle, I assure
you sir, your staff would not do
that.”
By Shawn LoughlinThe Citizen
After a presentation from an
angry dog-owner at March 16’s
Huron East council meeting, the
municipality has now lowered its
dog-licensing rates.
Huron East’s dog tag rates will
now reflect those of other
municipalities more closely,
where before the change, which
occurred at the April 6 meeting, the
municipality’s rates were more
than double the cost in some areas
for the same amount of dogs.
Under the new rates the cost to
have a second dog (neutered male or
spayed female) registered with the
municipality will be $30, as
opposed to $75. The cost for a third
dog, and additional dogs from there,
will now be $40 per dog, as opposed
to $75.
The loss of income to the
municipality, as estimated by clerk-
administrator Jack McLachlan, will
be just over $2,000 annually.
“This report suggests that our dog
tag prices be lowered,” McLachlan
said. “When owners have over one
dog, we seem to be slightly
excessive in that area.”
Deputy-mayor Bernie MacLellan,
who says he feels that the
municipality has “nickel-and-
dimed” itself to death, said that the
lowering of these costs would be
another example of not taking in
enough revenue to perform a
service.
“We’re not going to have enough
to break even,” he said.
Because of the discussion at the
March 16 meeting, several
councillors felt that the rates were
being paid by the wrong people.
Because of the administration costs
and euthanasia costs associated with
dogs and cats in the municipality,
the argument was made that the
people buying the dog tags weren’t
the ones who were driving up the
costs.
“The legal people shouldn’t be
responsible for the illegal people,”
said councillor Les Falconer,
likening it to a double-charge for
dog-owners.
MacLellan, however, likened it to
snowmobilers using the trails in the
winter, saying that “if you’re part of
that club there are responsibilities
that come with that”.
Doing the math before the motion
was passed, Falconer deduced that
to own three dogs in Huron East on
April 5, it would cost the owner
$165, where as of April 7, it would
cost the same owner $85 for those
same three dogs.
The motion was carried on the
strength of six votes in favour
of the motion and four votes
against.
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Huron East matches other municipalities’ dog fees
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
St. Anne’s writes Gr.
10 literacy test, preps
for rugby season
After a beautiful Easter weekend,
students and teachers were back to
the grind last week at St. Anne’s
Catholic Secondary School,
especially the Grade 10 students
who wrote their literacy test on
April 8.
After weeks of preparation and
studying, students were provided
with breakfast and then spent the
majority of the morning reading
and writing.
Also last week many students
were writing, but not for a test.
The Writer’s Guild came
together to share creative ideas and
practise their writing skills.
The group is always open for
new members, experienced
or not.
The long-awaited rugby season
will also commence in the next few
weeks, so stay tuned for game
times.
For a complete schedule visit the
school website at http://sacss.
hpcdsb.edu.on.ca
~ Brittany Nigh