The Citizen, 1991-10-30, Page 1Special section |Election Sports
Students at local
schools design
ads for local businesses
Brussels, Morris
Grey candidates
talk about the issues
Bulls alone in first
as Barons upset
by Grand Valley
See page 15 See page 30 See page 27
Citizen
Vol. 7 No. 43
The North Huron Landfill, tax questions
dominate Grey meeting
Wednesday, October 30, 1991 60 cents
Blyth looks at more tourism
Blyth should be looking to find
more ways to get tourists to leave
more of their money behind in the
village, village councillors said at
their Oct. 22 meeting.
about whether to advertise in the
Stratford Festival Visitors Guide
(and what to advertise). Council
About 30 Grey township resi
dents showed up at the Cranbrook
hall Monday night to hear candi
dates for council and board of edu
cation state their policies.
Challengers Charlie Thomas, for
reeve, and Fred Uhler for deputy
reeve caused the most stir as they
staked out positions. Mr. Thomas
said he had nothing against incum
bent Leona Armstrong, reminding
the audience that it was he who
"We should find a way to get
something out of their pocket while
they’re here," said Councillor Dave
Lee in suggesting the village might
want to look at marketing the
camping facilities at the fair
grounds. "Are we to the point
where we could be advertising the
campgrounds?" he wondered. He
said that 100 campers a year at $5 a
night would mean something when
the facilities are already there and
maintenance work like grass cut
ting has to be done.
Reeve Albert Wasson said that it
would take some organization to
put the campground in use on a
regular basis instead of for special
events like the dog show and
Thresher Reunion. Someone has to
be present to direct campers and
help them set up, he said. "Hope
fully we could work with the arena
board or the tourist booth."
Council also looked at other
ways to improve tourist service in
the village. "It would be wonderful
to have somebody to greet people
on tour buses," Mrs. Grubb said.
The greeters could tell people
where to go and what to see while
in the village, she said.
"In my opinion that's a lot more
effective than a tourist booth,"
Reeve Wasson said.
Councillor Lee suggested per
haps a portable tourist booth could
be used so people could greet tour
buses and also have a tourist booth
on main street that would go to the
tourists, not wait for them to come
to the tourist booth.
Councillors got excited about the
possibilities for increased tourism.
"It's all part of something pretty
large," said Councillor Steven
Sparling in urging the village to
promote itself more. "Maybe it's
something too large for council.
Maybe we need a free-standing
committee".
Mrs. Grubb said that council can
only go so far and then the business
community has to take over. People
keep wondering why there isn't a
motel in the village, she said.
Councillor Sparling felt that if
there was a demand, someone
would step forward and fill it.
Council, he said, should act as a
catalyst for looking at what can be
done, not trying to re-invent the
wheel.
The discussion was brought
about by the council's consideration
agreed to go ahead with the adver
tisement and to discuss more
tourism options later.
Plenty of vampires
With Halloween not until Thursday night, Blyth had an early invasion of vampires Saturday
night when the Blyth Optimists held a Fright Night at Blyth Public School. Small, medium and
large vampires were present including (front to back) Mike Walsh, Jared Cardiff and Alan
Young.
first got her involved in township
politics, but he said he felt that after
people had served in an office for a
number of years they should step
down. He said he agreed with the
Citizens Coalition that there should
be limits to the number of terms
politicians should serve to ensure
new blood.
He said it's also important that
the reeve of a township represent
the people of the township, not the
interests of the county as can hap
pen when a reeve has served too
long on county council and been
warden.
He said the four Grey candidate
sites for a county landfill site were
an example of what's good for the
county not always being good for
the township. "If I'm elected I will
oppose the landfill sites. I realize
we may be forced to take it but I
will fight for the best compensation
(if that happens)." A landfill site in
the township would be a permanent
loss to the township, he said. The
land will never again be used for
agriculture or building lots. Not
only the farmers who would lose
their land to a landfill, but the
whole township must be compen
sated, the former reeve said. The
county should have to give a per
centage of the tipping fees at the
dump to the township and the
county mill rate should be reduced
for township properties.
He hit out at the use of profes
sional consultants, saying that these
days at the municipal level, almost
nothing is done without the help of
a lawyer, engineer or consultant.
"Councillors should do their best to
resolve issues without using a con
sultant," he said.
Reeve Leona Armstrong said that
after being reeve for 10 years she
felt "I can still help make a differ
ence to the people of Grey." She
recalled hearing Murray Elston,
Leader of the Opposition in Ontario
urge people this summer to seek re
election because of the important
changes that will be coming in the
next few years.
She said that if the county's
Waste Management Masterplan
determines that the best safe site ("I
emphasize safe”) is in Grey town
ship, "I will do my utmost to make
sure everybody is treated fairly."
She said that in a 1988 study,
Grey had the third lowest taxes in
the county and the township has
continued to hold local spending to
20-23 per cent of the mill rate.
She said she has been pushing
the county to find the money to
rebuild the Cunningham Bridge (on
Cty. Rd. 16) at a cost of $690,000.
Mr. Uhler, saying there isn't a
single full-time farmer on the pre
sent council, said he felt he had a
viewpoint to express on behalf of
farmers. He also struck out at some
council spending in the past three
years. The former councillor said
that taxes went up significantly this
year because of the purchase of the
Walton landfill site but that council
knew it was going to have to pur
chase the site three years ago (a
claim later disputed) and should
Continued on page 37