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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 2010-04-15, Page 15THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 2010. PAGE 15.Huron County councillor andformer warden John Bezaire hadsome harsh words for Huron County council regarding its involvement in the squabble between several lower tiers over their fire coverage at the April 7 meeting. Central Huron reeve Bezaire asked if Huron County council would like to make its official position known on the fire coverage issue, despite the fact that fire coverage has historically been handled by the lower tier municipalities. “This is a situation that could gravely and seriously affect the fire protection services for a large number of people,” Bezaire said. “As the leaders of leaders, would Huron County council be willing to take a position on this matter and show someleadership?”In order to discuss such a motion,a previously-discussed motionwould have to be brought back to thefloor, which would require a majority vote, which Bezaire did not receive. Bezaire said that while it was his best of intentions that sought to bring this motion forward, he didn’t expect there to be a change in the way of thinking by Huron County councillors. “We have had this situation before in a different area and Huron County has turned down the chance to be a leader before,” he said. “I’m not expecting an epiphany here and I have a feeling these comments will simply fall on deaf ears.” Councillor Joe Seili, speaking from the Municipality of Huron East said that he was not willing to turn over the operation of fire serviceover to Huron County. He said thisbecause of the treatment he feltHuron East received whenambulance service was turned overto Huron County. “Speaking from the under- serviced area in the county from an ambulance perspective, I’m not willing to turn over fire services to the county,” he said. “We’ve had the ambulance in Seaforth taken away from us.” Councillor Deb Shewfelt didn’t speak to the motion one way or another, he simply said that fire coverage is a lower tier issue and that Huron County council shouldn’t even be discussing it. Bezaire and North Huron’s Murray Scott were the only councillors to vote in favour of Huron County council taking a stand on the fire coverage issue of the lower tier municipalities. North Huron councillors are concerned for the safety of neighbouring Central Huron residents after fire coverage negotiations with that council have broken down. Previously covered by the Blyth Fire Department under the Blyth and Area Fire Board agreement, Central Huron claims the northern part of the township has been covered by the Clinton fire department since January. However, the chief of the newly formed North Huron Fire Department John Black says his department has continued to respond to calls out of the Blyth station because no agreement has been reached with Central Huron after the Blyth Area board dissolution Dec. 31. In a letter from Central Huron CAO Kevin McLlwain dated March 31, he stated that since Central Huron has been covering the area themselves out of Clinton they will not be paying charges to North Huron from January to April. However, Black said his firefighters have responded to four calls in Central Huron this year, and have never run into Central Huron firefighters on-scene. On April 6, McLlwain sent another letter to North Huron stating a need to come up with an interim agreement so North Huron can respond to calls in Central Huron until they can get their 911 polygons changed so that calls can be rerouted to their dispatch and responded to by the Clinton station. North Huron councillors are worried that is too far and the response times will be too slow for the northerly residents of Central Huron. “I think it’s very dangerous when politics plays into emergency services,” said Coun. Archie MacGowan. The response time from Clinton to south of Blyth could be up to 15 minutes longer compared to a dispatch from the Blyth station. “It’s a perilous road they've started on. It should be the one that’s called is the closest. I don’t know what they’re thinking... these are people’s lives here," MacGowan said. And while North Huron has agreed to extend coverage into the area out of moral obligation to the residents, (pending approval from the Office of the Fire Marshal) they refused to come up with an interim agreement which was requested by Central Huron council several weeks ago. “If they’re covering it, they're covering it. Why do we need an agreement?” said MacGowan. He said North Huron has been more than willing to negotiate the cost and level of service, and the two townships have been in talks since January when the Blyth and Area Fire Board was dissolved. North Huron’s proposal would have Central Huron paying $105,000 per year to cover the area previously covered by the former Blyth Board agreement. Continued from page 1 appraisal has businesses in the protected band paying 27 cents per $100,000 of business worth, businesses in the semi-protected band paying 37 cents per $100,000 of business worth, and businesses in the non-protected band paying 75 cents per $100,000 of business worth. Businesses in the affected areas could be looking at a nearly 50 per cent increase. Elliott stated that he has attended meetings in Central Huron to try and convince the council to re-evaluate their plan. “I spoke to Clinton’s council in February,” he said. “And as I left, I felt I had provided them with knowledge about the fire insurance grid that they were not aware of, but I think it fell on deaf ears.” The bylaw to finalize plans for ACW’s fire coverage is slated to come back to council in the near future. ACW meets on the first and third Tuesdays of every month at 7:30 p.m., with their next meeting held on April 21. The choice of the coverage area for the Seaforth Area Fire Board came under fire by Huron East councillors at their April 6 meeting, with board members not choosing the option that would allocate the Seaforth Fire Department with the least amount of area to cover. Of the three options, the board chose the option that would cover the most ground, however, this did not sit well with some councillors, who felt that Huron East taxpayers would be paying for Central Huron fire coverage. Huron East fire chief Marty Bedard called the option that the board voted to accept the “lesser of two evils”. Bill Siemon, however, felt that taxpayer costs would be wasted in an area that isn’t in Huron East. “This shouldn’t put a strain on our taxpayers because [Central Huron] can’t get along with North Huron,” he said. The motion was passed to accept the recommendation of the fire board, however, after the motion was passed, there was confusion as to which motion councillors actually voted on. “This is the lesser of two evils for Central Huron,” said deputy-mayor Bernie MacLellan. “They shouldn’t expect us to pay for this out of our own pockets.” Bedard said that the agreement between the fire departments has been that no money has changed hands in the coverage exchange over the last several years. “We’re just paying for [Central Huron’s] fire coverage instead of them paying North Huron,” Siemon said. MacLellan and several other councillors, including Les Falconer, said they were under the impression that Huron East would be compensated for calls in the “extended” coverage area that had just been approved by council. Bedard explained that while no money changes hands, some of Central Huron is covered by Huron East while some of Huron East is covered by Central Huron. However, as Siemon asked, in exchange for the extended coverage Central Huron was asking for, no more of Huron East was to be covered by Central Huron fire services. MacLellan asked for the motion to be rescinded and discussed further at the next council meeting, which was his only form of recourse against the motion, which had already been passed. That vote was unanimous and the issue will be discussed at the April 20 meeting. Huron County stays out of fire coverage issue Huron East council confused over costs North Huron councillors concerned about safety Insurance issue falls on deaf ears: Elliott Belgrave 519-357-2711 BELGRAVE CO-OP Auburn 519-526-7262 AUBURN CO-OP Order yours today by calling your local Huron Bay Co-operative Order by Pick up April 20 May 18 May 11 June 8 White Rock mixed . . . . . . 96¢ White Rock pullets . . . . . 94¢ White Rock males . . . . $1.05 Chick Days Are Here Again! Get Your All Natural Vegetable Protein Chick Feed Here! 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