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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