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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2001-05-30, Page 1Nr)RTH HURON PUBLISHING COMPANY INC Inside this week Pg. 12 Blyth track athlete off to OFSAA Brussels woman Pg. 20 gets Barndance honour Blyth woman bakes Pg. 2 L for book sale Z3 Designer enjoys Pg Zi . a unique opportunity Province's support Pg. 24 of private schools angers trustees Taste testers When the owners of the soon-to-be-opened Seasons Restaurant in Blyth went looking last Thursday for someone to sample the first batch of soft ice cream to be produced by the newly- installed machine, the kindergarten class at Blyth Public School were the lucky recipients of the call. Lauren Cronin, left. and Aleisha Dale found a nearby seat where they could sit to enjoy their afternoon treat. e Citizen 1101.11011111111Ming the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Wednesday, May 30, 2001 Volume 17 No. 22 Huron East taxes may jump plenty By Mark Nonkes Citizen staff . Residents of Huron East may be in for a huge jump in property taxes, especially in the rural areas. A proposed budget plan by Deputy-Mayor Bernie MacLellan could see a 20 percent increase in property taxes for McKillop Ward, an 18 per cent-increase for Grey, and .an eight per cent hike for Brussels. Seaforth could see a three per cent tax hike while Tuckersmith could be hit with an 11 per cent hike. The property tax increase is due to the amount of CRF (Community Re- investment Fund) dollars an area gets from the provincial government. Huron East council has been struggling with a method -of sharing the funds between the wards, looking at both equity and a balance of tax hikes. Voicing his frustration over the proposed eight per cent hike in Brussels taxes, Councillor Greg Wilson said the village has lost two of its municipal workers and the office. "We have nothing to show for it. It's not fair," Wilson said. However, this summer 40 per cent of council's road budget is being spent in Brussels, MacLellan pointed out. (Should Brussels not take an eight per cent hit, Grey's could jump as much as 40 per cent, due to the distribution of the CRF funding.) With the proposed tax hike farmers and rural land owners would be the hardest hit due to an increase in assessments. The tax hike that has been suggested could see urban residents pick up some of the tax load to decrease the burden on rural residents. MacLellan said he is still unsure if his suggested splitting of the tax bill is legal, but the administration is investigating. At the meeting Charlie Regele, president of OFA, said farmers are Continued on page 9 By Stew Slater Special to The Citizen The journey towards the next round of potential school closures began last week for the Avon Maitland District School Board, and officials are confident they've learned from the difficulties encountered during previous years. 'Several reporters attended a media briefing at the board's Seaforth- based offices on Wednesday, May 23, hosted by Director of Education Lorne Rachlis, board of trustees chair Wendy Anderson, and Bill Gerth, the education superintendent in charge of implementing the board's so- called Student Accommodation Review Process. Gerth explained that last November's trustee election brought Stratford's Meg Westley and Exeter's Randy Wagler onto the board. Both trustees offered advice gleaned from previous service on community- based committees participating in earlier attempts to tackle the board's troubles with declining enrolment and rising empty student spaces. The superintendent also explained how the Accommodation Review Process was altered in response to the successful legal challenge of a February, 2000 decision to close Seaforth District High School. A judge in that case ruled the Seaforth community had not been provided input equal to that provided to certain other communities. Gerth noted that trustees now have two more potential opportunities to cut short the accommodation review process, either with respect to the process in general or with respect to specific schools. He called these the "further study" and "under review" steps. He also said the revised accommodation review policy formalizes input from the community in two specific locations. The first is the Community Accommodation Study Committees (CASCs), the format and number of which were approved by trustees in early May. Of the four CASCs, the first to meet was the Central/West group, which held its inaugural meeting later on the evening of May 23 in Clinton. Meetings for the other CASCs occurred throughout the following week. At the media briefing, Gerth distributed a proposed agenda for the inaugural CASC meetings, but emphasized these would be introductory meetings to explain the groups' terms of reference and present the enrolment projections faced by the board. He expressed hope that, before the committees return a report to the board by a deadline of Sept. 30, 2001, they will examine the weaknesses and strengths which need to be addressed in their areas during any consideration of transferring students from school to school. Voting CASC members include one representative of each school council within the study area, as well as one representative from each municipal council within the study area. Gerth said municipal representatives could "bring forward input on the impact of the school to the community," as well as take information back to their municipal councils from the, study groups. Anderson cautioned, however, that the CASC reports will comprise just 75 Cents (70c + 5c G$T) a portion of the information brought to trustees as they travel a path which could potentially lead to school closure votes by February of 2002. Indeed, the formal role of the CASCs concludes relatively early in the accommodation review process — even before a decision is made on which, if any, schools will be studied for closure. There is additional chance for input, however, from school councils from those schools identified for further study. And, according to Gerth, the inclusion of school councils as the second formalized opportunity for public input suits the board's philosophy just fine. "School councils are made up of community representatives, and we believe they're a good vehicle for community input," Gerth said. "We've always believed that the school councils should have the greatest degree of input in terms of what the board decides, and that's been why this has been formalized in this policy." N. Huron gets tough on `skaters' By Bonnie Gropp Citizen staff When an easy solution can't be found, sometimes people have to get tough. At a special meeting May 17, North Huron council passed a bylaw prohibiting skateboarding on the sidewalks, streets and parking lot in Blyth. If caught breaking the bylaw, a person can be fined under the Provincial Offenses Act up to $250. The move came after concerns were raised by individuals about the youths skateboarding in front of Memorial Hall and the problems this caused with regards to safety issues and damage. It has been a long-time problem that harks back to the former Blyth council, which attempted to find ways to deal with the situation but were unsuccessful. When the issue came up at a North Huron council meeting last month, Clerk-Administrator John Stewart was asked to investigate how Goderich, which had a similar problem, handled it. "(Goderich) indicated that the best way for us to deal with it was passing a bylaw," said Stewart in a phone interview last week. "Our hope is that the first time the enforcement officer speaks to them, they pack up and the problem will be gone." While the easiest way to catch them is if the enforcement officer actually sees them, Stewart said people can call in a complaint. "However, if push comes to shove they have to be preparec to be a witness in court." School bd. confident its learned from mistakes