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Goderich Signal Star, 2011-10-05, Page 13)(fetich Signal -Star • Wednesday, October 5, 2011 urthouse Park readied for big concert tate of emergency in flace for two more weeks kes ti Signal -Star • extend the state of emergency to Fri- day, Oct. 14 as it provides insurance coverage for volunteer workers as the Mennonite Disaster Service and the Hub community group continues to volunteer its set vices within the . community. state of emergency in the town "I think it's important that we -keep e.t it h will remain in place for the state of emergency on two weeks two weeks its volunteer groups down the line,' he said after consulting tie to play a pivotal role in the with department managers and other 1; cleanup .anup process. service providers at the meeting. "If We fleeting of the Emergency Con- take it off and something happens then )1 w Friday morning, mayor Deb we have a problem .it said it would be prudent to Much of the cleanup around town is learanes Salell )`�% off Potted Plant Material Includes perennials, grasses, vines, shrubs, cedars & 40% off wire basket trees More heads on our we6ntet JI? L) \" L 1,A 1)S( `.1 PIIV (T 519-529-7 247 Luck:ru u' On. . tittt.tu�. 1itroll an scaf)tng.cci pen: Mon -Fri brio ;5prtt Sat Sam -';Inn now or never to rrirua8 upyour yari Miryeari "Research advances continue to grow" ogi the tk Rip IL't.he IkNCtkIf! R'?k 4.. My.. ;• *rim* 1bt :iF+iw IrWri v t r 1.8EE.939.3333 www.cancer.ca DR CHANGE IN HURON BRUCE OTE LISA THOMPSON bring change keep Walkerton Jail and Rural Schools from closing clean up waste and scandals in Government remove HST from Home Energy Bills improve Health Care and Education :jive Municipalities control over Nlustrial Wind Turbines ompson4huronbruce.ca 519.923.9113 DNTARIOVPC in hand and works and parks crews have been busy preparing Courthouse Park for the Out of the Storm concert on Saturday, Oct. 8. A number of top notch bands, musicians and singers will take to the stage in the park during the 12 hour event. "We've been busy with stump• removal in town and spent three days filling in holes in Court- house Park and sodding an area there for the concert,' town. works manager Clip Wilson told the meeting. "We have also repaired about three-quarters of the damaged sidewalks after stumps ere removed and holes filled in," The hydro service has been restored wherever possible Tim Martin reported adding that a crew w from London I Iydro would be released today after finishing up a job on Suncoast Drive. 'We're going to continue to find things and probably for two years we will find stuff,' he said. "We've gone as far as we can go right now:' The building department is quite busy and Chief Building Official Jim Spence reported that applications tor building and demolition permits continue to flow into the department. Ile indicated that permits have been issued for business and residential projects and that many more are in the process. think it's important that we keep the state of emergency ontwo weeks down the line. If we take it off and something happens then we have a problem." Deb Shewfelt In response .to a question from the mayor as to whether or not engineering was required on site for the demolition of larger properties, Spence said that "in the case of a building like Chisholms, you would need an engineer on site because of the. potential to intipact ether build- ings around it." The court administration sys- tem has now located in a trailer on the north side of Courthouse Park. The service is open to the public and the grounds have been cleaned to allow for traffic. With up to 20 acres of trees felled by the storm behind the Maitland .Cemetery., parks superintendent. Martin Quinn said that a logging company was called in to give an assessment of cleaning up the damaged area. "I will come to council with some recommendations and -suggestions,' he said.. "We need expert loggers to assess the site and create a fire break. There is fire risk there." online goderichsignalstarcom Get all of your news, sports and more. Serving Goderich and surrounding area Council opts on the side of caution for downtown consultant Gerard Creces Godench Signal -Star Time for reflection is never time wasted. Councilor Jim Donnelly made the staternent Monday, September 26 after a motion by Deputy -Mayor. John Gr,i potentially giving pbwet it) ,itt to administration to hire a con- sultant as soon as possible for the reconstruction of Goderich's downtown. The motion was made follow- ing a presentation from Town Planner Denise VanAmersfoort, asking that the rebuild advisory steering committee start the request for proposal (RFP) process for a consultant for the rebuilding of public spaces. While a typical RFP process would take 60-9O days, the. committee was hoping tohave something together in the next four weeks. Public input, gath- ered at the Sept. 24 visioning session at GDCI, would serve as the .criteria for the recon- struction requirements: "Community input would set the desirablesfor the consult- ant: she said. at think this is something we needand hear- ing from the community, some- thing they want as well." Grace made the motion to fast track the process to three weeks in order to get things underway, however the motion was withdrawn after much dis- cussion by council. "People want to see action," said Parks liaison Michele Hansen. "But we need to respect the open, democratic process." Mayor Deb Shewfelt said he was under the impression that a planner had already been retained for the project, and the RFP was mere formality. His understanding, he told council, was that there was already a price quoted for one of the best planners in the province. VanAmersfoort noted that initially after the storm there were many people spoken to but no commitments were made. It was decided, she said, to speak to the public first. Town Solicitor Greg Stewart, also a member of the steering committee, said there are just too many details lacking to be able to hire a planner at this stage. "If we called a planner this afternoon and retained them, we wouldn't know what we would even tell them," he said. "If you're going to get a planner and set a significant dollar amount, he's going to need some information." Stewart said the RFP process is the most responsible and fastest way to get things going, adding that acting too quickly now could come hack to haunt council. VanAmersfoort noted not only would the town need time to prepare their own requests, but those applying would need time to prepare their plans as well. Council decided to go with the process proposed by the steering committee, though Shewfelt said the length of the process all but rules out any work being done in the 2011 calendar year.