The Citizen, 2019-08-22, Page 3THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2019. PAGE 3.
NH cleaning contract approved
Update adoption now up to municipalities
Old school preparation
The annual reunion of the Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association is all about showing
the way things used to be, so it only makes sense that to prepare for the live threshing
demonstrations, volunteers would harvest raw materials the way farmers used to. Above, Bill
McClure took to a McCormick Deering Binder, pulled by Edgar Daer and his 1952 Massey
Harris 30 through a local field to harvest grain for the demonstration. (Denny Scott photo)
After two unsuccessful bids to
secure detailed cleaning services for
the North Huron town hall, day care
and Huron County Library Branch
in Wingham, North Huron has
brought back its previous cleaning
provider under a new contract.
Earlier this year, staff suggested
requesting proposals for cleaning of
the sites as, the task had previously
been completed by a company that
didn’t have a list of required duties.
To remedy that, staff, at council’s
direction, sought proposals under a
specific list of duties. However, as
Director of Public Services and
Facilities Sean McGhee explained,
that initiative didn’t produce the
intended results.
“It didn’t go well,” McGhee said.
“We had to throw one bid out and the
other two were much, much higher
than expected.”
After that, council instructed staff
to have the service completed in-
house by hiring staff to do the job.
After advertising for the positions
and interviewing, staff decided that
the best course of action would be to
try and request proposals from
private companies again.
The second attempt at proposals
was more fruitful, McGhee said, as it
elicited more “reasonable”
responses.
“We had two bidders,” he said.
“One at $92,000 [annually] and the
current service provider at $31,020
[annually].”
McGhee said there were no bid
irregularities in Weiler’s Cleaning
and Restoration Services, the lowest
bid, and the new contract clearly
outlines the job and responsibilities.
Council approved signing the
contract which will see Weiler’s
handle the three sites for a three-year
period.
Continued from page 1
Huron Mayor Jim Ginn defended the
update, saying that while there have
been concerns and questions for a
number of years on the update, he
felt there has been a deliberate
attempt by some groups to spread
misinformation. He said he had
discussed the update directly with
some of these people, correcting the
misinformation, only to hear them
back to spreading the
misinformation after the
conversation.
In addition to the special interest
groups in play, he felt the concerns
were coming from a relatively small
number of people. Most landowners,
he said, will be welcoming of
updated mapping of their properties.
All the updated mapping will show,
he said, is what is actually on a farm
and that accuracy should be
welcomed.
Huron East Mayor Bernie
MacLellan said that while he agreed
with Watt that the county should be
the approval authority on the update
and not the municipalities, he
wanted to see the update approved.
In response, Van Amersfoort said
that while the update will be
accepted or not at the lower-tier
level, ultimately, Huron County
Council will decide to ratify each
council’s decision. She did
acknowledge, however, that
historically significant weight has
been given to the decision of a
lower-tier council, so if that council
approves something, Huron County
Council would be more apt to
approve it as well.
Bluewater Deputy-Mayor Jim
Fergusson saw it rather simply,
saying the update is merely a
reference document for the lower-
tier municipalities.
Van Amersfoort agreed, saying it
was her work on the Bluewater
official plan update that spurred on
the process. She saw many
inaccuracies in the mapping during
the update and sought to correct
them. The updates, she said, have
gone both ways, both identifying
and removing natural environment
features on properties.
Central Huron Deputy-Mayor
Dave Jewitt said he too was
supportive of the update, but wanted
to ensure that property owners had
recourse if they felt something had
been incorrectly identified on their
land. Van Amersfoort said there is
significant consultation and property
visits if an error is alleged to have
been documented so it can be
corrected.
Ginn said that he had been through
two or three updates in his time as a
councillor and then a mayor and he’s
seen positive results. He used a
neighbouring property as an
example, saying a man had planted a
number of trees around his house –
so much so that from the air, it
would look like a woodlot with the
house barely visible.
If those site visits weren’t
conducted, Ginn said, the man’s
development options would be
limited, but due to accurate
mapping, the property was zoned
properly and the man was spared
headaches in the future.
“To me, accurate mapping is so
essential. It’s the right thing to do in
my mind,” Ginn said, adding that the
update doesn’t concern him at all.
Morris-Turnberry Mayor Jamie
Heffer said it was important to note
that out of the three lower-tier
municipalities (Morris-Turnberry,
Bluewater and Howick) that have
been subject to the update, two
chose to turn it down. That, he said,
should send a message to the rest of
council.
Van Amersfoort acknowledged
Heffer’s comments, saying that one
of the municipalities didn’t yet have
access to the updated mapping at the
time of its official plan update, but
that it was a fair point.
In conclusion, Ginn said that
bringing the update to this point had
been a long process with a number
of changes and differences of
opinion along the way. The changes
that have been made, however, many
of them tied to wording in the
document, have been steps in the
right direction.
However, he said, he was
confident that it would be impossible
to make good decisions with poor
mapping, which is why he felt the
update was so essential.
Howick Reeve Doug Harding,
whose municipality did adopt the
then-Natural Heritage Plan, wanted
his township’s approach to be
consistent with the new approach
being taken by the county, complete
with the new language being used.
He said he felt as though Howick
was the “guinea pig” for the whole
experiment and now the township is
left “out on the edge” with the past
wording, while it has been updated
and improved in the interim.
Van Amersfoort said it wasn’t a
problem. Since the update was
adopted by way of a bylaw passed
by Howick Council, it would just
take the passing of another bylaw to
adopt updated language, as nothing
in the actual planning materials
would change.
Harding said he really felt that the
use of the word “natural heritage”
was triggering for some and that the
new language is much clearer and
easier for people to understand.
Council neglected to call for a
recorded vote on the update and
adopted it in principle. It will now be
rolled out to lower-tier
municipalities as their five-year
official plan reviews come due after
being officially ratified at the Sept. 4
meeting of Huron County Council,
confirming all decisions made at the
Aug. 14 meeting.
WANTED
CONSIGNMENTS FOR
2ND ANNUAL
AUCTION SALE
Thresher’s Campground - 86 Blyth Rd., Blyth
ANTIQUE CARS
ANTIQUE TRACTORS
FARM EQUIPMENT
TOOLS, ETC.
Please no household items.
Accepting consignments
Friday September 6, 2019
8:00 am to 8:00 pm
TERMS: CASH OR CHEQUE WITH PROPER ID
Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association
not responsible for accidents, injury or loss of purchases.
AUCTIONEERS:
BILL HORST & BRIAN RINTOUL
Contact: Joe Hallahan 519-523-9668
Edgar Daer 519-523-9232
Doug McCann 519-524-6575
Kevin Whitworth 519-441-3132
Consignments
Welcome!
AUCTION SALE STARTS AT 10:00 A.M.
ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2019
The transforming power of the Spirit!
(J. C. Ryle, “The Lord’s Garden”)
“To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his saints.” Romans 1:7
Believers are separated from the world by the effectual working of the Holy Spirit. The
Spirit calls them out from the world, and separates them as effectually as if a wall were
built between them and it. He puts in them...
new hearts,
new minds,
new tastes,
new desires,
new sorrows,
new joys,
new wishes,
new pleasures,
new longings.
He give them...
new eyes,
new ears,
new affections,
new opinions.
He makes them new creatures. They are born again—and with a new birth they begin
a new existence. Mighty indeed is the transforming power of the Spirit!
A Grace Gem
Submitted by: Immanuel United Reformed Church,
Listowel, ON 519-291-1956
By Denny Scott
The Citizen