HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1994-05-04, Page 1Community |Sports |Entertainment
London couple brings
Blyth Spirit
to main street
Brussels Bulls honour
their own at annual
awards night
Miracle Worker gets
standing ovation at
London’s Grand Theatre
See page 3 See page 10,11 See page 23
The North Huron
itizen County ed. taxes
increase by 6.09%
Vol. 10 No. 18 Wednesday, May 4, 1994 600 GST included
The final figures are in for the
1994 budget for the Huron County
Board of Education having been
approved at the Monday meeting.
From the elementary panel, the
board was able to cut approximate
ly $200,000 in spending from the
1993 actual totals while increasing
revenues by $430,000.
The increase in revenue comes
from the use of reserves to temper
the tax increase needed to cover
costs.
In the secondary panel, there was
a reduction of expenditures from
1993, by almost $204,000 and an
increase in revenue by $200,000
from reserves.
Even with the cuts and the use of
reserve funds, the board found it
necessary to increase the education
taxes levied on the property owner
by 6.09 per cent.
The rise in taxes was due in large
part, to provincial changes to the
standard mill rate, revised equaliza
tion assessment and rate of assess
ment for property.
Director of Education Paul Car
roll says the transfer payments
from the province to the HCBE
were reduced by a total of $3.7 mil
lion.
Norm Pickell, trustee for
Goderich said, "All the people
working in our school system
should be commended for the work
put into reducing expenditures to a
level lower than those in 1991. We
have been as frugal as possible
without penalizing the students."
The budget was passed unani
mously.
County voting
structure
to change
Signs of spring
The kindergarten students at Hullett Central PS told guests
at the school's spring Concert, "All About Spring". From left
are: Terry Radford, Andrea Sturzenegger, Megan Disher,
Sarah Van Santen, Jesse Howitt and Erika Andrews who
played the role of "the one little duck with the feather on his
back", who "ruled the others with his quack, quack quack."
Despite an emotional attempt to
get councillors to rethink the issue,
Huron County council Thursday
proceeded with passing a bylaw
that will reduce the number of
council members following this
11 candidate sites named for landfill
autumn's election and give repre
sentatives of some municipalities
more than one vote.
Council voted to adopt Section
When the envelopes were opened
and the documents naming the 11
possible locations for a landfill site
for Huron County were known, the
most surprised person in the Huron
County Council chambers on
Thursday was Warden Allen Gib
son. The Ashfield Township reeve
found out three of his farms were
included among the candidate sites.
The warden admitted after the
meeting that it was difficult to con
centrate on the rest of the meeting.
As the meeting ended he received a
message from his wife to call
home. She, as had owners of prop
erties in the other 10 sites across
northern Huron, had received a
copy of the documents delivered by
a county employee that morning.
Ten of the 11 sites are clustered
in three groups: three in Ashfield
Township west of Lucknow, three
in West Wawanosh near St. Augus
tine, and four in Colbome Town
ship, just across the Maitland River
from Aubum. There is also a single
site in McKillop Township.
The West Wawanosh sites are all
on Concession 7. One site compris
es 106.7 acres on Lots 19 and 20;
another, 79.5 acres on Lots 20 and
21 and the final site, 63.3 acres on
Lots 22 and 23.
The Colbome sites include: an
81.3 acre site on Lots 11 and 12,
Concession 8; a 68.5 acre site on
Lots 7 and 8, Concession 6; a 151
acre site on Lots 11, 12 and 13,
Concession 6; a 98.5 acre site on
Lots 9 and 10, Concession 4.
The McKillop site is on Conces
sion 4, just north-east of Seaforth,
and covers 103.2 acres on Part Lots
21, 22, 23 and 24.
Craig Metzger, project co-ordina
tor for the Huron County Waste
Management Master Plan, said the
next step will be to provide more
information to property owners
through a series of public meetings,
and to negotiate with the landown
ers so that testing can begin to
determine if any of the sites is suit
able. The county has been at this
stage once before, when six poten
tial sites were selected, but all were
later rejected because of environ
mental concerns.
Asked by Howard Armstrong,
reeve of Stanley Township if he
could guarantee that one of the sites
would meet the criteria, John Bray,
of Gore and Storrie, the consulting
firm that chose the sites said he
couldn't guarantee anything without
even being able to get on the prop
erty. Looking at the soil types
being used in the new selection
process, however, he said "I would
say that within this group of candi
date sites there is a very good
chance that we will find a suitable
site."
Getting on the land to have a first
hand look is the next high priority,
officials said. "We will be negotiat
ing with landowners to get on t he
land for testing," Mr. Metzger said.
New fire hall a step closer
Brussels is a step closer to having
a new fire hall after village council
Monday night approved hiring an
engineer and making a formal
application for funding under the
federal-provincial infrastructure
program.
The fire hall will be located on
the north side of Cypress St.
between Tumberry and Princess
Streets. The building will be about
80 by 46 feet with provision for
three bays for trucks, a training
Only a few of the sites that look
best from a physical inspection will
be subject to expensive drilling and
soil testing. Asked what would
happen if a landowner refused to
agree to the testing, Mr. Metzger
said that there are legal methods of
expropriating access to the property
for testing. Until a properly has
been inspected and, if necessary
tested, it cannot be eliminated from
the list of potential sites, he said.
A series of meetings will be held
in the areas affected so property
Continued on page 6
room and washrooms. There will
be room to extend the building to
add two more bays in the future.
The land is currently zoned for
future development, Clerk-Treasur
er Donna White told council, so
will have to be rezoned for institu
tional use.
Council approved hiring Mait
land Engineering to draw up plans
al a cost of $3,000. Council also
approved making the application
for funding.
28 of the Municipal Act which will
mean that only reeves will sit at the
county level. The section also pro
vides for reeves of larger munici
palities to have multiple votes, up
to four for the Town of Goderich.
Villages like Blyth and Brussels
will still have only one vote.
Section 28 was adopted because
to continue with the current system
would mean that several other
municipalities would be sending
deputy reeves to council after the
next election because of an increase
in the number of qualified electors.
Council had adopted a motion last
fall to ask for a private members
bill to be passed in the Ontario leg
islature to allow one representative
with one vote from each municipal
ity in the county, but Ed Phillip,
Minister of Municipal Affairs, had
indicated the bill would not be
allowed to go forward after several
municipalities including Goderich,
Exeter, Howick and Wingham had
launched protests.
Bob Hallam, Reeve of West
Wawanosh, protested that the
council shouldn't give in to the
provincial government on the issue.
"All our actions before have been
Continued on page 6