HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2019-10-24, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2019.
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Brussels Santa
Claus Parade
Don’t Drink
& Drive
Town Hall Public Meeting
Reeve Bailey and Council invite constituents of the
Township of North Huron to a Town Hall public
meeting to provide their comments and input to
Council. The details are as follows:
7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Date: Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Location: Blyth Memorial Hall
431 Queen Street, Blyth
Police pension shortfall costs NH over $50,000
The disbandment of the Wingham
Police Service continues to cost
North Huron after the recent
discovery of a pension shortfall.
During Monday night’s council
meeting, Deputy-Reeve Trevor Seip,
the chair of the Police Services
Board for North Huron, explained
that, as part of the agreement with
the Wingham Police Association,
North Huron is still laible for any
pension shortfall resulting from the
municipality disbanding the service.
Seip said that it has taken time for
these issues to come to light, but
said that two officers have
discovered a shortfall in their
pension payments since the
disbandment, requiring North Huron
to pay $51,220 plus Canada Pension
Plan and Employment Insurance
deduction costs to the officers.
Seip explained that the money, for
tax reasons, couldn’t be transferred
directly into the affected officers’
pensions. Seip did say that there was
no shortfall for other members of the
former police service.
While staff had originally
suggested having the affected
officers sign a document stating
North Huron had fulfilled their end
of the collective agreement between
the police association and the
township, Seip instead said the
township should ask the association
to sign a final release form, clearing
the municipality of any further
indemnity in relation to the
association.
The affected officers will also
need to sign tax forms indicating that
the municipality was providing this
money without an income tax
deduction.
While Seip admitted that the
association had stopped functioning
after the disbandment of the
Wingham Police Service, he said
that, as far as the municipality and
the Police Services Board were
concerned, it still existed until these
documents were signed.
He also went on to say, when
questioned by councillor Chris
Palmer about dealing with a
“phantom organization”, that this
was a necessary situation.
Seip said he was upfront about the
fact that the municipality wouldn’t
realize the full cost of disbanding the
service until months after February
of this year, when the OPP took
over.
Palmer was frustrated by the
situation, saying flat-out he found it
“disgusting.” He said he hopes this is
the last time the municipality has to
deal with the organization.
Council approved the payment,
opting to take the money from the
Westario Power dividends, a
traditionally Wingham-focused
financial stream for the municipality,
to reflect the area-rated nature of the
former Wingham Police Service.
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
North Huron Township
Councillors had to swallow a bitter
pill and approve the purchase of a
$387,500 Caterpillar landfill
compactor to replace a Bomag unit
that failed catastrophically earlier
this year.
Director of Public Works Sean
McGhee knew he wasn’t pitching a
popular move, but said that council’s
best bet was to buy a used machine
and balance price versus the hours
on a unit.
The unit, a 2014 816F Caterpillar,
is being purchased from Marcel
Equipment of London, whom
McGhee espoused as being one of
the few places from which he would
feel comfortable buying used
equipment.
“The units are completely
inspected, tested and [guaranteed]
for eight months,” he said. “The
fluids are drained, the filters checked
and the engine is tuned.”
He said that, once he had decided
he would recommend a refurbished
unit, he had options. A high-hour
unit could be bought for $300,000,
while low-hour units would run
$500,000.
“There is quite a range depending
on comfort level,” he said.
McGhee explained that he was
advising not getting a Bomag unit
because, as the municipality had
learning, the German-made unit
used a hydrostatic engine.
“When they start to fail, it
cascades,” he said, adding that the
parts can be harder to source than
the North American-made
Caterpillar units.
The model he suggested, which
council did eventually approve
purchasing, has less than 6,000
hours on it, which he said was
impressive. Marcel Equipment had
also offered to buy the
now-inoperable Bomag unit and
move it.
With all finances accounted for,
McGhee said the municipality
would be able to put $113,900 down
against the Caterpillar unit, bringing
the amount to be borrowed down to
$285,355.39.
McGhee suggested amortizing the
purchase over 10 years, paying
approximately $32,500 annually for
the purchase and “borrowing” the
money from municipal reserves.
After the purchase is paid off, he
suggested continuing to pay those
funds into a reserve for the
Caterpillar’s replacement unit.
While no one on council was
happy about the development,
several commended McGhee on
finding a unit that they estimated to
get many years of service out of after
paying it off.
Deputy-Reeve Trevor Seip said he
would like to see the $50,000 that is
currently annually donated to the
Wingham Hospital Foundation for
the major renovations at the site
switched to this project once the
municipality’s commitment was
paid off to pay off the unit faster, but
said that was a discussion for a later
date.
Council approved the purchase of
the unit.
37 years
Now in its 37th year, the Londesborough and District Lions Club has been serving up its old-
tyme breakfast to the community for over a generation. Continuing the tradition, Kittie
MacGregor, left, and Dorothy Bogie, were among those working on Sunday morning at
Londesborough Community Hall. (Sandy Bergsma photo)
NH to buy $390,000 compactor
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Harvest dinner
Blyth United Church hosted its annual fall supper on
Saturday, welcoming dozens of hungry diners to the church,
all in an effort to raise funds for the church. (Sandy Bergsma
photo)
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