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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGoderich Signal Star, 2011-11-30, Page 6there were 16. o a, ruling handed down by orman, an Ontario Superior -e, Huron County's Council n for the remainder of the rink to 16 from the previous ng. 'sign came at the heels of an five county municipalities - 1 uewater, Monis T urnberry, nd Ashfield Colborne that argued four munici- orth Huron, Central Huron, n and Huron East - main- esentatlon though they did requisite populations to lus- ts in accordance to a 1999 t based representation to g, which means the four es in quesdon lose the seats 'on effective immediately, surprise to Central Huron es Ginn who will see his Brian ftarnim, end an active ty representative. o first heard the news care of ►. Larry Adams via e-mail late d, says f is his hope that the bylaw that brought about e controversy could be ave difficulty understanding ... I have difficulty under - the municipalities brought the first place, says Ginn. "1 inted that they pursued it ... I ould've withdrawn it before judge." he is also surprised by the of the ruling. t any change would require " says Ginn, who says a key, bout the decision is what it e last 12 months of bylaws e current council. valid?" asks Ginn, adding s a possibility that some of ontroversial" rulings could d depending on the votes council. Earlier this year, rnim began asking for tes on each motion for the t he stopped making the r a few votes. s the voters' lists, as kept by al Property Assessment Cor - AC), continue to be a bone n as Central Huron contin- tain that the municipality's stands at least the 8,000 nec- tifyathirdrepatthecounty FOSTER FAMILIES NEEDED FOR CHILDREN & YOUTH ren from Your Common alien Call the Hrres-Perth hildren's Aid Society rth County: Vy Wailer at 1-5290 or 1800.668-5094 County: Deanie Jardine at 4-7356 or 1-800-265-5198 level according to the 1999 bylaw that was upheld by the justice's ruling. It is because of that con- tention, adds Ginn, that he would prefer to see county council's representation based on assessment rather than population. "To me, I think we scrap the 1999 bylaw .,. I think there is lots of options ... base it on assessment rather than voters' list." Ginn argues the county would be better served if the representation was weighted like it is as the Ausable Bay- field Conservation Authority, where he serves as board chairman. "It's the people paying the taxes that need to be represented," says Ginn. "I can't see it working on population." On the subject of losing a rep, Ginn says the change is unfortunate given Barnim has been an .active and interested member of council. "I do think Coun. Barnim was a very good county councillor .., it's a little dis- appointing when you see some councillors sitting there and not saying anything." In a prepared statement, Barnim said an overhaul to county council seems necessary. "I will continue to advocate for the ratepayers of this county. I believe the composi- tion of county council and how they are elected could use an overhaul. I will be advocating for a Regional Council where as in the next municipal election the bal- lot could include County Council representation that would be completely separate of the lower tier municipal election although held in con- junction with the lower -tier election." Goderich Mayor Deb Shew- felt says the ruling was an obvious one. "I'm not surprised," he says. "If it (the 1999 bylaw) worked since 1998, I find it strange that in the election of 2011 it doesn't work." Shewfelt is an outspoken advocate for a smaller county council. He notes that Bruce County, which has both a big- ger budget and larger assess- anent, manages to perform its duties well with eight people at the table. He adds that the matter is now resolved and notes that while some of the impacted councillors took the appeal personally; the purpose of it was to ensure that the issue was dealt with justly. Ashfield Colborne Wawanosh Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek says an appeal to a judge seemed necessary after the four municipalities at issue voted down a request to send the question on the validity of Bylaw 28 at a county council session ear- lier this year "In my opinion, the judge's decision was final," says Van Diepenbeek, saying that in the case of Central Huron, as an example, he wouldn't have been opposed to a third seat if the voter's list count was off by a dozen or so people "but it's out 800 in Central Huron so it's a huge discrepancy." Van Diepenbeek adds the munici- pality would have seen the con- firmed voter's list before the election and if there were a problem, it should have been identi- fied then. Other council- lors that are set to lose their seats at the county level are Bill Siemon of Huron East, Dave Riach of North Huron and David Frayne of South Huron. Statistics Can- ada conducted a Census earlier this year. Population counts from that project are slated to be released on Feb. 8, 2012. WOMEN'S REGULAR AND PLUS SIZE CLOTHING STORE JUl �Ui? tLQoi wMh tj "9- vAtlij f 811rat Choose yours from our INDOOR selection Trees are unwrapped See what you are getting Varlou:: species of FIR trees aysilablg, Inimum needle dropping Large selection of Giftware available • Great Cars. Greet Rete 519-524-1795 2km East of Goderich Hwy #8 519-440-0362 LET'S MAKE CANCER HISTORY..