HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2010-08-26, Page 1CitizenTh
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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, August 26, 2010
Volume 26 No. 33REVIEW- Pg. 19Stratford’s ‘The Tempest’appeals to all the senses LANDFILL - Pg. 20NH residents concernedabout potential changesFESTIVAL- Pg. 18Blyth Festival Young Companyworks on ‘Alligator Tears’Publications Mail Agreement No. 4005014 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Councillor Brock Vodden is
throwing his hat in the political ring
with his announcement that he will
be filing his running papers for The
Municipality of North Huron
council sometime this week.
In an e-mail to The Citizen,
Vodden stated that he will be
running for the position of Blyth
Ward Councillor because he feels
that Blyth’s future is one to look
forward to.
“I am more optimistic about
Blyth’s future than I have ever
been,” Vodden said. “Despite the
impending loss of our school, Blyth
has once again shown its resilience
by coming up with fresh ideas, and
the realization that we can build
upon assets that we already
possess.”
Vodden goes on to state that
he believes the next few years
will include many economic
development projects that will
benefit all of North Huron.
Vodden’s vision is for an
improved Blyth as part of an
improved North Huron and
improved co-ordination and
communication of local businesses
are a way to achieve that.
“Many local businesses are keen
on establishing a Business
Improvement Area (BIA),” Vodden
said. “That is a very positive move.
We hope that Wingham businesses
will come together for better
coordination and mutual support [as
well].”
North Huron has, since Vodden
became a councillor, helped to
establish funds for the expansion of
the Emergency Services Training
Centre and the proposed addition of
annual events to the Blyth
Campground, resulting in increased
tourism dollars.
“In addition to [these
advancements] I will be pushing for
the engagement of a consulting firm
to look at our campground and
Memorial Hall in order to help us
come up with a comprehensive
strategy for making full use of these
unique assets in a manner that
provides the greatest sustainable
benefit,” Vodden said.
Using existing assets to their full,
sustainable potential is also an
important matter for Vodden, who
states that the Centre for the Arts
needs to be utilized in the off-
season.
“I will be a strong supporter for
the Blyth Centre for the Arts
becoming a place for artists from all
media to work, learn, develop ideas,
experiment, create and collaborate.
This will occur outside of th summer
festival season when our amazing
facilities are not in full use,” Vodden
said. “I expect that we will earn the
nickname ‘Banff East’.”
Vodden went on to speak of the
school property, and how its future
uses need to be considered.
“It is difficult to think about the
dead space that will occur in our
midst when the door of Blyth Public
School closes forever,” he said. “But
think about it we must. I am sure
that Wingham and East Wawanosh
residents feel the same way about
Councillors from Ashfield-
Colborne-Wawanosh Township have
found a potentially inexpensive
alternative to Huron County’s
proposed mandatory septic
inspection program.
Based on information originally
brought forward by council-hopeful
and Ashfield resident Roger Watt,
council conversed with Tiny
Township, which is located near
Georgian Bay.
Tiny Township enforces a
mandatory septic inspection that has
had a drastic effect on systems and
on the beaches of the area, and, at
$80 per inspection, they charge less
than a third of what of Huron
County is planning to charge.
Representatives from ACW,
including Watt, went and toured the
township before coming back to
report their findings to the entirety of
ACW council. Aside from
documents provided to council, Watt
provided correspondence that
summarized the group’s findings.
Councillor Barry Millian was
impressed.
“I went there thinking that there
would be problems or that there
would be holes in the system, but
there weren’t,” he said.
The price reduction, according to
Watt, is primarily due to the practice
of delegation. Instead of paying an
engineer to work throughout their
testing season, an engineer is paid to
train two students from related fields
who work as co-op students.
“[A trained engineer] does the
initial training and the students then
write the two provincial tests to
obtain certification as septic
inspectors,” Watt explains in his
correspondence. “The students are
paid $16 per hour, plus $0.49 per
kilometre.”
The removal of the engineer keeps
the costs of the program down,
according to Watt, Councillor
Marilyn Miltenburg and Millian,
who constituted the group that
travelled to Tiny Township.
If there is a follow-up required,
then the engineer is brought back in,
but all follow-up costs are charged to
the landowner.
Tiny Township is a mostly-
lakefront community, according to
Watt’s report, and has no sewer
systems. The township has 9,000
septic systems, and, during the
township’s first round of testing,
approximately 3,000 required
replacement of the septic tank and
septic bed.
The effect of the program and the
replacements is easy to notice
though, according to Watt.
“Before [Tiny Township] started
the program, they routinely had 10
to 20 times per year in which they
had to close the beaches because of
high levels of pollutants,” Watt
wrote. “Now, [the closures happen]
less than twice a year. They haven’t
had any in 2010.”
Watt states that this indicates the
success of the program as the
lessened downtime for the beach
proves that septic systems are
contributing far less to lakeshore
pollution.
Tiny Township also reported that,
since the program’s inception, they
see few reports of water quality
problems in dug wells.
Like the $320-plus program being
proposed by the Huron County
Health Unit, a pump-out is required
and is considered an additional cost.
In Tiny Township, however, the
pump-out is done by one of three
approved waste haulers, who will
provide the landowner with a
inspection check list to be provided
to the inspectors.
Council decided that the
information should be brought to the
Huron County Health Unit to
evaluate the options available and
present the information before
taking it to Huron County Council.
Councillor Carl Sloetjes stated
that he wished to make a motion to
remove ACW’s “support in
principle” of the Huron County
Health Unit’s proposed plan until
they could get an answer as to the
differences in price and whether
Tiny Township’s model could be
used by the county.
Sloetjes also said that, if this was
like a building or service that the
township or the county tendered out,
there would be no question about
which program they would choose.
“If we brought this to tender, we
would see that two companies are
offering the same service, but one is
offering the service for a third of the
price,” he said. “We would go with
the Tiny Township model if that
were the case.”
Miltenburg stated that she thinks
ACW to bring septic alternative to Health Unit
Vodden to run
in North Huron
Where you guys heading?
A little conversation in Auburn at the village’s car and bike show on Saturday had Matthew
Kerr, left, and Jacob Bjerg, right, chatting with Emma Kerr before the trio hit the road. The
event raised money for the Auburn Playground Committee. (Vicky Bremner photo)
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 3
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 15