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The North HuronCitizen North Huron plan
gets county okay
Huron County council, Thursday,
approved the amalgamation plan for
the Twp. of North Huron, including
Blyth, East Wawanosh and
Wingham.
After much delay over difficulties
with the future of the Wingham
Police Force, agreement was finally
reached on Wednesday with the
county's strategic planning
committee to allow approval of the
plan.
“We have been able to clarify the
police issue wording," said Gary
Davidson, director of Planning and
Development. “I think we have
finally got that in place.”
The unanimous acceptance of the
North Huron plan means the amalga
mation process in Huron is com
plete, with seven reorganized munic
ipalities replacing 24 previous
municipalities. Two municipalities,
Howick Twp. and the Town of
Goderich have decided not to take
part in amalgamation.
Grey Twp. Reeve Robin Dunbar,
who chaired the presentation of the
strategic planning report to council
congratulated all councils involved
for their work. "This is the most sig
nificant work we’ve done this term,”
he said. "Now we can all move on to
our next step which is to try to make
the restructured municipalities
work.”
North Huron will have a popula
tion of 5,022, with 4,088 electors
(eligible voters). That will give the
municipality two representatives on
county council after November’s
elections, down from the three who
presently represent the three munici
palities.
The new East Huron municipality,
representing Brussels, Grey,
McKillop, Seaforth and
Tuckersmith, will have a population
of 9,849 with 7,696 electors. With
one representative for each 4,000
electors that means this large area
will also have just two representa
tives on county council, down from
five currently.
Morris and Tumberry, with a pop
ulation of 3,510 and 2,931 electors
will have one representative.
Howick, with a 3,546 population and
2.772 electors will also have one
representative. West Wawanosh,
Colborne and Ashfield with a popu
lation of 5,319 but 6,062 electors
(due to the cottage population), will
have two councillors.
Hullett Twp., in partnership with
Clinton and Goderich Twp., wilt
have two representatives, based on a
population of 7,528 and 7,658 elec
tors.
In total, there will be 18 members
of the restructured council, down
from 26.
Taxpayers pay price
of policing conflict
Enjoying the wonderful winter weather
Hullett Central Public School students, like Laura Snell, took full advantage of the sunshine
and cold temperatures Friday to get outdoors and have fun in the snow. Teams consisting of
students from all grades participated in events such as hockey, soccer, tug-of-war and an
obstacle course during the school’s winter carnival.
Health care staff want choice
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen staff
It is a question of human rights, of
having the freedom to make a
choice. And for that Linda Loder of
Blyth is ready to fight.
An RPN at Braemar in Wingham
and Huroniea, Home for the Aged, in
Brussels, Loder is opposing a public
health directive recommending nurs
ing home staff have a flu vaccina
tion. To refuse means that in the
event of a flu outbreak at the seniors’
homes, the unvaccinated employees
cannot come to work.
"That loss of employment is a con
cern for some of these people. They
can't afford the time off work.”
For this reason Loder feels the
directive is coercive. "I know of
nurses who said yes to the shot only
because they need the income. The
Canadian Medical Law says that any
tactics using fear or coercion are
considered unethical and viewed as
battery.”
Health Unit officials see it another
way, however. Marlene Price, com
munity health manager with the
Huron County Health Unit said peo
ple making the choice to not be vac
cinated have to weigh it against the
facility’s concern for the safety of its
residents.
The majority of those who refuse
the vaccine are doing so because
they question not just its efficacy but
its risk. “I'd rather not put something
into my body that I feel’s not safe or
effective,” said Loder.
Deb Trollope, a health care aid at
Braemar and Huroniea, like Loder,
also fears the cure may be worse
than the disease, believing not just
that the vaccine compromises the
immune system, but that there are
risks from side effects.
“I feel I'm healthy enough to fight
illness. I don’t want to jeopardize
that. Amantadine (an anti-viral drug
used in place of the vaccine or to
prevent the spread of influenza) has
horrendous side effects. Risking
damage to the liver just to avoid the
flu seems ridiculous,” said Trollope.
"Before I put some junk in my
body, I should be able to weigh it out
and ask if it's worth the cost,” said
Betty Graber, an RN at Braemar.
Health Inspector Laura Farrell
agrees there are risks with
Amantadine. “It is much better to get
the vaccine.”
However, she said, she has never
seen any indication that the vaccine
will weaken the immune system.
“Actually, experts 1 have spoken
with say it actually boosts it.”
Yet. it is less about the what it does
than what happens when you don’t
that is frustrating opponents.
"This is the first year vaccination
of all staff has been encouraged, but
though it’s not mandatory, there
were those who felt they had no
other option but to be vaccinated
Continued on page 27
Failure to come to an agreement
on a county-wide policing contract
has cost county taxpayers $1 million
in the past year and could cost an
equal amount in the coming year,
Huron County Warden Carol
Mitchell warned council Thursday
Mitchell spoke as councillors
debated repealing a bylaw passed
last March which authorized the
county to take over policing so that a
county-wide policing contract could
be signed with the Ontario
Provincial Police. Under that con
tract, municipalities would have
saved $872,779 over the cost of the
OPP billing the individual munici
palities.
But the bylaw was in trouble
almost from the beginning.
Provincial authorities claimed the
county’s plan to delegate authority
tor policing the Town of Wingham to
the town's police force was illegal.
This created two police forces with
in one municipality, the province
said.
Wingham, claiming it was caught
in the middle, took the county to
court, asking a judge to rule if the
county’s bylaw was valid and, if so,
to have the county pick up the costs
ot policing and the costs of disband
ing the Wingham force.
The Town of Goderich joined the
court action. Goderich officials had
always claimed county-wide polic
ing must be paid for based on assess
ment across the entire county. Just
because rural municipalities didn’t
use police services as much should
n’t mean they got a special reduced
rate, Goderich said.
The county’s decision to repeal the
bylaw arose from that ongoing
police case. The county, Davidson
explained, has asked the judge to
rule on the legality of the county
using a system that based costs on
the level of police service provided
rather than on assessment. The judge
ruled he would not rule on that issue
until the entire case is heard.
The problem for the county.
Davidson said, is that the judge
could rule the county's bylaw is
valid but rule that a payment system,
based on assessment must be used.
When local municipalities agreed to
the county-wide policing plan, they
had understood payment would be
by service level. Had it been by
assessment, many might not have
agreed in the first place, Davidson
said, therefore legal advice was that
the county’s bylaw should be
appealed and the whole process
started over.
There would be big winners and
big losers if police costing was based
simply on assessment, Davidson
said. Goderich would be the biggest
winner with an overall saving of 33
per cent from its current contract
with the OPP. Under a county-wide
contract based on level of service,
Goderich would save $142,000. If
Continued on page 30