HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2004-04-01, Page 1ESTABLISHED 187/ e Citizen
Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Volume 20 No. 13
Thursday, April 1, 2004
$1 (93c + 7c GST)
Inside this week
Pg. 2
Pg. 6
Pg. 8
Pg. 9
Pg. 18
Time to
spring
forward
You're going
to rise and shine
an hour earlier
this, Sunday as
we spring ahead
for Daylight _
Saving Time.
Don't forget to turn your clocks
ahead before going to bed on
Saturday, April 3.
The main purpose of Daylight
Saving Time, which arrives
officially at 2 a.m. April 4, is to
make better use of daylight,
providing more light in the
evenings and thereby saving
energy.
Hall gets
grant
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen editor
The efforts to improve St. Helens
Hall got some assistance recently
with some Trillium funding from the
province.
Huron-Bruce MPP Carol Mitchell
was on hand to present the money on
Friday night.
The $16,200 is being used to make
the entrance and washrooms
wheelchair accessible, as well as for
metal roofing, new soffit and fascia.
JoAnn Todd said St. Helens is
meeting the criteria to match the
grant with volunteer labour. "With
the exception of the work that must
be contracted everything is being
done by volunteers."
The committee to restore the
building is intent on preserving its
heritage as well as keeping it as the
centre of the tiny community.
"A lot of work has been done, but
a" lot needs to be done. This grant is
going to go a long way to that," said
Todd.
By Elyse DeBruyn
Citizen staff
The Grey Twp. Fire Department
introduced its new custom-designed
pumper to local residents during an
open house last weekend.
Grey Twp. Fire Chief Calvin
Semple, said the new pumper was
built by Bob Wilson from B & B
Engine in Huron Park.
"This is the first truck he built and
we decided to go with him because
he is local and if the business takes
off, it will be great for the local
area," said Semple.
He said Huron East council was
looking for tenders and aside from
being a local business, Wilson
presented the lowest bid,
"We wanted to give the man a
chance to get his feet wet," he said.
Marty Bedard, fire chief and
emergency management co-
ordinator for Huron East said the
new pumper costs $2-14,000, which
is paid for by the Municipality of
Huron East.
Semple said the old 1974 pumper
needed a complete body job and
Huron East council wanted to invest
money into fire protection for the
municipality.
He said the municipality has two
other fire departments, but council
started with the Grey fire
department because it has_tbe oldest
pumper and it is their only one.
He said the pumper was
purchased at a good price because of
all the special features included in
the cost.
The new pumper has more cabinet
space so more equipment can be
brought along on a rescue. This
extra space provides , more room
inside the pumper,so it can act as a
rescue van since the fire department
doesn't have one.
Semple said the pumper truck also
has a module nozzle top mounted on
the roof. He explained that the
nozzle gives firefighters the ability
to stand back a few .100 feet,
controlling it by a remote control.
"With the remote we can point the
nozzle over a roof to put out a fire or
change it to a straight stream spray
to put it out," said Semple.
He said this is a big benefit in
town because the fire hydrants will
be used more.
As it is a custom-designed truck,
Semple along with the firefighters,
were able to tell Wilson how deep
they wanted the cabinets to be built
and the shape of the tank that carries
the water.
Semple said the water tank design
allows room for the ladder and
portable water tank to fit right in and
nothing will be hanging on the
outside of the truck.
He said the old pumper still works
and they will keep it around for a
little while •longer, just to be sure
that the new one works properly.
"After that I don't really know
what we will do with it. I guess
council will make that decision,"
said Semple.
He said he thinks the new pumper
is "good for the taxpayers and
hopefully it will do its job."
Rising
costs
affect
budget
By Sarah Mann
Special to The Citizen
The budget process for the Twp.
of North Huron has been in full
force since Feb. 18 and although it's
still in draft form the increase so far
is at 10.8 per cent.
Treasurer Donna White says the
municipality is affected by the same
increases as the average person.
"Our insurance went up 9.96 per
cent and we're anticipating hydro
rates to go up around 10 per cent,"
White said in an interview Friday
afternoon.
Something else the municipality is
dealing with this year is recent
government legislation like new
water requirements and emergency
planning which adds cost info the
budget.
"Now again with new regulations
and some of the things that have
happened elsewhere we are required
to have an emergency operation
centre set up with a generator, and
those types of things in the event the
power.goes out like last August with
the blackout or that ice storm a few
years (Zack. We're all supposed to be
working towards a functional
emergency operation centre," said
White.
Another thing that has a bearing
on the tax bill is that it is made up of
three components: the county
portion, municipal portion and
education portion.
"We are simply the collectors for
the county and the school board
portion. We have no real input into
their increases - except for the
county portion, our reeve and
deputy reeve sit on county council
so therefore they have impact on the
county budget and the county
budget is looking at a large increase
as well this year," said White.
"We've had no word on what the
education rates are going to be this
year but it's been rumoured they'
won't be available until May."
Although the budget could be
acceptable and ready to be formally
adopted by council the bills won't
be mailed out until the school board
has its portion ready.
"We could be ready with our
budget within the next week or so
but we might not get the information
from the school boards until May so
we can't send our bills out."
Part of the budget process for
North Huron includes area rating,
which means the cost of certain
services are allocated back to that
particular ward.
"For example, policing, street-
lighting, recycling, sanitation and'
the debt at the Wescast complex are
area rated just to Wingham people.
For Blyth, the cost of policing
(which is OPP) the streetlighting,
recycling and the Blyth-Hujlett
landfill sight are allocated jusie*o
Continued on page 3
A close encounter
One of Randy's 'friends' enjoys a tote-a-tete with an attendee enjoying the entertainment at
the Brussels Curling Club's 40th anniversary celebration at the BMG Community Centre on
Saturday night. Over 250 attended the special event, which included dinner, reminiscing,
guest speakers, entertainment and a dance. (Vicky Bremner photo)
New pumper for Grey Dept.
Oddfellows donate
to arena, skaters
Optimists set for
big barbecue
Bantam Girls play
for C title
Blyth Industrial
league champs
Food Share kicks
off April drive