The Citizen, 2019-01-31, Page 20PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2019.
The North Huron Museum’s
future may be more precarious than
the previous council indicated.
While the last council had
supported moving the museum in
principle, when it came time to
discuss the dollars and cents of the
project during a budget meeting last
week, the current council balked at
the potential expenses.
Regardless of the decision, North
Huron taxpayers are looking at costs
between $70,000 and $250,000 over
the next several years to deal with
the issue.
“I wish we were in a better
financial situation to [address this],
but we’re not,” Reeve Bernie Bailey
said. “This is one of those tough
decisions, and, no matter how we cut
it, someone is going to be angry at
us.”
Bailey pointed out that moving the
museum to the former Wingham
train station wasn’t as cut and dry as
just moving it, because the new site,
even being offered for free, would
still require North Huron to either
store or deaccession much of its
12,000 item collection. At 9,000
square feet of display space, it offers
one-third of the space of the existing
museum.
“Everyone needs to really think
about this,” he said.
Bailey went on to say that he
would like council to sit down with
the former Friends of the Museum
group and Doug Kuyvenhoven, who
is donating the train station to
discuss the issue further.
Council also noted that, to make
the museum a success, further
increases will be necessary to
provide programming and staffing at
the site.
Councillor Chris Palmer said that
this might be a “wishlist thing” that
council couldn’t afford.
“We have other priorities,” he said.
“I know, if we don’t jump, we’ll lose
the building.”
Councillor Ric McBurney agreed,
saying as much as he would like to
see a museum and visitor location, it
was too steep a price tag.
Deputy-Reeve Trevor Seip said
that, while he was torn on the issue,
he didn’t like the fact that the
municipality had to plan for 20
years, as Kuyvenhoven’s donation
stipulated. The site will be given to
the township if they operate a
museum/tourism kiosk for 20 years.
If council stops the initiative at any
time, the building defaults to
Kuyvenhoven.
Bailey said it was rare for a
municipality to operate a museum,
and that’s because it boils down to
finances. He also said that other
organizations, like the Howson Dam
Committee, may seek financial input
from council if the municipality
spends money on the museum in the
years to come.
Finally, Bailey said the only
solution he could think of was to sell
the current building and use those
finances to fund the new museum.
Staff was directed to prepare a report
on the plans of the Barn Dance
Historical Society, which owns
artifacts in the museum in addition
to the 12,000 the municipality owns,
as well as how the municipality
could fund the project.
Palmer said that was fine, but
there are roads to pave in East
Wawanosh and snowplows to fix and
that is the mandate of council, and
the municipality was struggling to
meet those requirements, let alone
providing upgraded tourism
opportunities.
NH Museum funding
on ice with council
A matter of tradition
Unlike its loosey-goosey Irish cousin St. Patrick’s Day, Robbie Burns Day follows some strict
traditions to celebrate the famous poet and all things Scottish, one of which is the treatment of
the famous haggis. First, there is the piping in of the haggis, which came courtesy of Brussels
Legion President Jamie Mitchell, then there is the recitation of “Address to a Haggis”. At the
Huron Residential Hospice Robbie Burns supper at the Brussels Four Winds Barn, it was Cliff
Coultes, centre, who did the honours, complete with the ceremony to cut the haggis, a highlight
of any Robbie Burns evening. Coultes sat at the head table alongside honoured guests Huron
East Councillor Zoey Onn, left, Huron-Bruce federal Liberal candidate Allan Thompson,
second from right, and Daryl Ball from the hospice, right. (Nick Vinnicombe photo)
Facing off
The Blyth Brussels PeeWee Local League Crusaders took
on the Huron-Bruce Blizzard on Saturday afternoon at the
Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre. The locals
were able to come away with a decisive win, scoring 10
goals and keeping their opponents off the scoreboard for
the shutout victory. (Nick Vinnicombe photo)
The Citizen
413 Queen St.,
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519-523-4792
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Brussels
519-887-9114
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