HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-03-12, Page 22PAGE 22. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2009.
At its March 3 meeting, Huron
East council received a report from
treasurer Brad Knight regarding
councillors’ remunerations for
2008.
For all 12 councillors, the total
cost came in at just under $100,000
at $98,608.15, over $5,000 less than
the 2007 total, something rare with
today’s municipalities, said
Knight.
This was Huron East’s lowest total
since 2004 and it was still lower
than the total cost of council in
2000.
***
This year’s Huron County
Municipal Officers’ Association’s
annual meeting will be held in
Wroxeter on April 17.
***
Council carried a motion to
continue to use the Huron County
weed inspector as the municipality’s
weed inspector as it had last year.
***
The recommendation of public
works co-ordinator Barry Mills to
accept the tender of Theo
Vandenberk Construction Inc. for
the replacement of the culvert on
Division Line for $167,628.30 was
carried.
***
Council approved $707,228.51 in
accounts payable.
The issue of North Huron’s kennel
bylaw was back for discussion at
council’s March 2 meeting.
Eric Hopf had attended the Jan. 19
council meeting to express his
concerns with recent changes to the
bylaw. Under the new regulations
Hopf, who owns dogs that he uses to
hunt coyotes would be limited to
four dogs, or would need to meet the
guidelines for a kennel. His feeling
was that the rules should be different
for working dogs.
With the bylaw having been made
to address industry standards,
councillors were unsure how they
could assist Hopf while still
maintaining the intent of the bylaw.
They suggested Hopf consider what
might be done to “square the circle”
and would be open to further
discussion.
At the recent meeting councillor
James Campbell said he had been
contacted by Hopf inquiring if
council had come to any decision.
“The offer was made that we
would be open-minded should he
come forward with wording that
would address his concerns and
didn’t punch holes in the bylaw,”
said councillor Greg McClinchey.
Without that the bylaw would stay
as it was.
Councillor Alma Conn said that
since Hopf’s visit, “the subsequent
word on the street is that council is
doing deals. I am saying that as far
as council is concerned the standards
will be raised not lowered. I believe
the bylaw is in place until it’s
challenged.”
Huron East to improve Brussels arena
North Huron revisits animal control bylaw
Blyth to hold Me To We event later this month
In the spirit of last year’s
conference that saw thousands
gather in Toronto, Blyth is holding
its own Me To We event at Memorial
Hall on March 27.
The event aims to highlight the
talents and interests of area youth, to
encourage optimistic ways of
improving the world and to provide
an evening of entertainment for
youth.
Last year’s event on Oct. 17
brought thousands of youths from all
over North America to the Ricoh
Coliseum on Toronto’s
Canadian National Exhibition
grounds for the National Me To We
Day.
The Blyth event is sponsored by
Free The Children and has a number
of speakers and acts lined up.
The initiatives that will be featured
are the Go Project, which is an
inner-city exposure event in Toronto
for high school youth; Bikes For
Humanity, Free The Children,
Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos,
which means Our Little
Brothers and Sisters, which is
an orphanage in the
Dominican Republic and AIDS in
Africa.
There will also be performances
by Deny The Threat, Heather Norris,
Marcella Poels, Shaunessy Sinnett’s
Dance Troop and Three Young
Women, a trio featuring voice as
well as harp and dance.
The event will be emceed by
CKNX DJ Drew Stafani and is
supported by the United Church of
Canada.
All proceeds from the event will
be divided up amongst the charities
that are being highlighted for the
event.
Tickets are $10, general
admission, and are available at
the Blyth Festival Theatre,
Deep Waters Music in Mitchell,
Clinton United Church and Ernie
King Music in Goderich and
Wingham.
For more information, contact
Kathy Douglas at 519-523-4380
or e-mail her at
kathymdouglas@hotmail.com or
visit the website at,
www.freethechildren.com/
metoweday
Huron East council has passed amotion to ready its recreation centresfor needed improvements in
response to a letter from Huron-
Bruce MP Ben Lobb regarding
possible funding.
The motion states that the
municipality will proceed to get an
engineering report complete for
the expansion of the Brussels,
Morris and Grey Community Centre
and the Seaforth and District
Community Centre for addi-
tional dressing-rooms and other
improvements.
“When Ben Lobb comes back here
with a big cheque, we want to be
ready,” said councillor Joe Steffler.“We should ready all three of ourrecreation centres. It’s Huron East, not Brussels, Vanastra andSeaforth.”After discussion, however, the
Vanastra Recreation Centre was
dropped from the discussion because
it isn’t quite ready for the
engineering phase.
Lobb sent a letter to all councils
within Huron-Bruce saying that
“Canada’s Economic Action Plan
offers a number of opportunities for
communities, including the new
Recreational Infrastructure Canada
program.”
The program, Lobb said, will help
communities across Canada build or
renew recreational facilities with
$500 million being set aside and thegovernment being willing to provideup to 50 per cent of the cost of theseprojects.Councillor Bill Siemon wasunsure about the proposal at first,
saying that Huron East has an
abundance of road and bridge needs
that should perhaps be
addressed before its recreation
centres.
In response to Steffler’s motion,
however, was the fact that each of
the municipality’s recreation centres
has its own board to make its
recommendations.
Steffler, was persistent, however,
saying “It’s not fair to them. Start a
new account, I really don’t care. It’s
all the municipality’s money,
it’s just a matter of which pocket you want to take it out of.”Siemon persisted, saying heunderstands the letter specificallyreferred to recreation, but that he
was concerned about the
municipality’s infrastructure above
all else.
“I’m more concerned with having
decent infrastructure in this
municipality, Joe. You might not be
concerned about where the money
comes from, but I am,” he said. “We
should get our infrastructure taken
care of first.”
Mayor Joe Seili agreed with both
sides, saying that both are valid
projects and that’s exactly what the
municipality needs when funding
like this comes up.“You have to have projects,” hesaid. “You have to have a list, sowhen they give you 30 days to apply,you have some of each kind ofproject. You have to have a library of
stuff ready to go.”
There were also other provisions
that needed to be discussed.
Councillor Les Falconer
addressed the fact that the
municipality of Central Huron
would have to be consulted in
the case of the Vanastra
Recreation Centre and councillor
Frank Stretton stated the same
is true for the municipality of
Morris-Turnberry with the Brussels,
Morris and Grey Community
Centre.
Looking for local heroes
There are so many people out there who do
so much to improve their community.
Now you have a chance to say thanks.
Nominate that special person for the 24th
Annual Citizen Citizenship Awards.
Each year a committee chooses an outstanding citizen from each of the Blyth and area
and Brussels and area communities to receive an award for contribution to the
community. If you know someone you think should be honoured, please fill in the ballot
and send it in. You may attach a longer explanation of why you think your nominee
should win, if you like. If you have nominated someone before and he or she didn't win,
please feel free to try again.
I nominate
as Citizen of the year for
I feel she/he deserves this award because
Nomination Deadline April 30, 2009.
Name and phone number of nominator
❑❑Blyth
& area ❑❑Brussels
& area
By Shawn LoughlinThe Citizen
By Bonnie Gropp
The Citizen
HE sees
council
pay-outs
decrease