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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1993-03-10, Page 11Imagine you had a sales staff calling on 2000 homes a week That's what you get when you advertise in The Citizen. Every week your message, whether a tiny classified, or a full page ad, goes to more than 2000 homes in North Huron . . . and unlike many salespeople, we're welcomed inside. What's more, we're often asked to stick around for a whole week. If you're not taking advantage of this opportunity to tell people about your business call today. Put your sales staff to work for you. Call: Jeannette McNeil or Julie Mitchell: 523-4792 or 887-9114 THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 1993. PAGE 11. County delays decision on voting changes A vote on changing the represen- tation on Huron County council has been delayed after heated debate at the March 4 meeting of council. Brian McBumey, reeve of Turn- berry made a motion to defer debate on the issue. He argued that the decision could be made at a later date and the debating time was needed for the presentation of the 1993 budget. His motion cut off debate on what had been a lengthy, some- times emotional debate that divided councillors into those who felt there should be a more fair repre- sentation by population and those who felt councillors were there to represent their municipality, not the individual residents. The debate was over a proposal that would mean that all municipal- ities would have one representative at county council, and only those with more than 5000 electors (resi- dents and property owners), would get a second representative. It means that after the next municipal Continued from page 1 But Bob Hallam, reeve of West Wawanosh argued that accepting the increase would punish the tax- payers. Two normally controversial areas were left untouched by budget cuts. Road rebates to urban municipali- ties for the roads they support but which don't have direct use of, were left at the same level after being cut a year ago. The council also left intact the total $73,250 Councillors vote 23-8 in favour Continued from page 1 to be few calls for actual fires, he said, but "do you really expect the fire department to answer calls for nothing?" It was also pointed out that Huronlea will pay no taxes to sup- port the fire protection (although there will be taxes on the apartment part of the project), but Lionel Wilder, reeve of Hay township, said that although his township receives no taxes from the Bluewa- ter Rest Home outside Zurich, it still pays for all fire calls free. In a show-of-hands vote, Warden Tom Tomes declared the agreement rejected, but a request that the vote be recorded was immediately made. Leona Armstrong, reeve of Grey begged councillors not to turn down the agreement, noting that residents are scheduled to be moved into the home in April but the building can't be occupied until the agreement is in place. Bruce Machan, reeve of Wing- ham and past head of the Seniors and Social Services Committee said that he argued long and hard for the Wingham location in the first place, but he couldn't remember any indi- cation that the fire service would be free, any more than the water and sewer service would be free. Howard Armstrong, reeve of Stanley and another past head of the same committee, said he was on the committee when the original decision was made and he doesn't recall any promise the fire service would be free. Pat Down, reeve of Usborne, asked councillors to trust commit- tee members that they were making a good deal. "We have to move ahead." When the recorded vote was taken the count was 23-8 to support the agreement. elections Goderich would be the only municipality with a deputy reeve on county council. Currently, Goderich, Goderich Twp., Hay, Stanley, Stephen, and Exeter all have deputy reeves. The move would cut the number of council- lors to 27 from 32. The changes are being proposed because after the next election sev- eral other municipalities are likely to be eligible to send a second rep- resentative to county council and there are concerns council will be so large it will be unworkable. The county changed the limit for a sec- ond representative in the 1970s to reduce the number of people on council because it was felt the sys- tem had become too cumbersome. The proposal being debated by councillors was the one chosen by the executive committee from a number of options for change con- tained in the Huron County Study. That study was undertaken after pressure from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs for reform of which was spent on grants to vari- ous groups in the county but will look at just who gets the money before May 1. Groups that haven't been funded in the past will have a chance to argue that they need the money more than some groups that have traditionally been getting it. county structures. The original gov- ernment proposal was that bound- aries should be changed so that the minimum municipal population in the county would be 4000. In undertaking its own study, Huron hoped to short-circuit the provincial pressure. The Huron Study recom- mended no voting changes. The Study didn't solve the prob- lem of voting representation, how- ever, and Bill Mickle, reeve of Exeter, felt the proposal from the executive committee was unfair. By cutting Exeter's representation from two to one, he suggested, half the voters in his town were being disenfranchised. It had been almost unanimous to turn down changing boundaries to set up the 4000-pop- ulation municipalities, he said, but now the alternative was hurting municipalities that currently have two votes but soon will have only one. One of the criteria of the study was that there shouldn't be a varia- tion of more than 25 per cent in the number of electors and the number Several councillors put in plugs for their favourite projects with Goderich Reeve John Doherty arguing for the $17,500 grant to the Goderich airport and Bill Camochan of Tuckersmith arguing for the Vanastra pool. But Reeve Hallam said he repre- of votes a municipality had, he said. This proposal would leave a variation of 69 per cent between the largest municipality with one vote and the smallest, he said. "I cannot support (this) option and would strongly recommend that it be rejected." But others argued that council- lors represented their municipality. Reeve McBurney said when coun- cillors are elected large property owners don't get more votes than small ones. Robert Fisher, reeve of Zurich said he supported dropping the number of council members to 27 but he felt that an option to give more than one vote to members from larger municipalities should have been accepted. Tom Cunningham, reeve of Hul- lett Township argued that he repre- sented the corporation of the township of Hullett when he voted. With the multiple-vote proposal, he said, Goderich could, with a few other larger municipalities, outvote sented workers and farmers who have already taken cuts. "I really feel we might as well bite the bullet right now. I feel these grants might as well be abandoned right now." Despite the protests, however, the budget was eventually passed in a recorded vote by a 12-7 margin. all the small municipalities put together. The multiple vote sce- nario is also difficult to deal with when votes are taken, he said. As a former warden he said "I certainly wouldn't want to sit in the chair and have to count the votes." Reeve Cunningham, however, proposed a compromise, an amend- ment lowering the threshold for a second voting member to 4000 from 5000 electors. This wouldn't mean more municipalities would have a second member after the next election but would leave the door open for Goderich Township and Stephen Township in the near future. Warden Tom Tomes then turned over the chair to Grant Stirling of Goderich Township so that he could propose an amendment to the amendment, dropping the number of electors further to 3500. He wor- ried that if the number of council- lors drop too low there may not be enough to keep the committee sys- tem effective. While the meeting bogged down in points of order Reeve McBurney made his motion to defer the whole issue to the council's session in late April. The motion was carried. 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