Huron Expositor, 2005-03-16, Page 88 - THE HURON EXPOSITOR, March 16. 2005
Huron County ambulance praised at recent county council meeting
By.Tim Cumming
Signal -Star Editor
Is Huron County's
ambulance service a little too
good?
The Huron County
ambulance service was
praised at the March 3
meeting of Huron County
Council for reduced response
times.
It was also questioned for
providing more service than
funded by the province.
When the provincial
government of former
Progressive Conservative
Premier Mike Harris got
Ontario out' of the land
ambulance business — and
gave the costs and
responsibility to the county
level of government — the
province was supposed to
fund half of the county's cost
to run the service.
Ontario is now funding
less than one third of the cost
of Huron County's land
ambulance service.
Coun. Rob Morley (South
Huron) praised the
ambulance service as "a
great program" with the
introduction of advanced
life-support (ALS) programs
and said it's a model for rural
ambulance services.
He also posed a question
asking if the province's low
percentage support of
Huron's service reflects the
fact the county is doing more
than is required.
Manager of Land
Ambulance Operations
David Lew said it's not
certain if the county ever
received a full 50 per cent of
funding from the province.
"The issue is do we wait
until the government decides
they'll provide us with the
funding or do we move
ahead with what's best for
our citizens?" Lew said.
He referred specifically to
the rural Advanced Care
Paramedic (ACP) program.
"There's a huge benefit
reaped by the citizens for
having that in place," he
said.
Coun. John Bezaire
(Central Huron) said "we
can't have our cake and eat it
too" when it comes to county
spending: either services
have to be cut or the county
tax levy has to go up.
"Are we driving a Cadillac
but we don't have the budget
for it?" he asked, in
reference to county
ambulance service.
Clean water project
Huron County Council
should not remove the Clean
Water Project from its
budgeted spending at this
time, said Ben Van
Diepenbeek (Ashfield-
Colborne-Wawanosh).
"I think it should stay in,"
he said. "It's a good project
and comes within the 18 per
cent (increase) of what we
agreed ... at least leave it in
for discussion purposes if
nothing else ... it's too early
to pull it now."
The Huron Clean Water
Project 2005 would provide
money to clean up water
courses and the cost would
be evenly shared between the
county and the applicant.
Coun. Rob Morley (South
Huron) said the program
could put the county "in the
grant -giving business."
"We're going down a
really treacherous road when
we start giving grants," he
said.
Coun. Paul Klopp
(Bluewater) said the county
should show some leadership
and include the program,
subject to budget approval.
Coun. Rosemary
Rognvaldson (Howick) said
the county has to give the
public some incentive to buy
in.
"If we're going to get
some buy -in from the public
to support clean water we
have to have some incentives
for them to do so," she said.
The motion carried.
The county approved
$45,400 to be budgeted for
the first phase of the Huron
County reinspection
program.
The county also
recommended $280,000 of
reserves to be allocated for
the septic system
replacement loan program.
The original proposed
budget for the Huron County
Clean Water project was
about $555,000, more than
half of that coming from the
county.
Submitted photo
Primary Public Speakers
Grades 1-3 public speaking competitors in the Zone competition in Seaforth on March 5
included in the back row: Braedi Dwyer, Taylor Groenestege, Michael Beierling, Katherine
Mabb Zone C-1 Youth Education Chairman, Lydia McPherson, Sarah Kwajafa, Alexander
Pagan, Shirley Chalmers Zone C-1 Commander and Drew Thompson and in the front row,
Alexandra Aitken, third place, Dona -Maria Knight Dube, second place, Brody Tenpas, first
place, Shannon Pitre and Sarah MacGregor.
Susan Hundertmark photo
Grades 7-9 Public Speakers
Grades 7-9 competitors in the Zone C-1 public speaking competition at the Seaforth Legion
on March 5 included in the front row from left, Katherine Mabb, Zone C-1 Youth Education
Chair, Laura Walker, of Colborne Central School, Leanne Hoffman, of Exeter Public School,
second place winner Carolyn Murray, of St. Columban School and Alex Cardno, of Seaforth
Public School. In the back row from left are third place winner Tyson Sjaarda, of Clinton
Christian School, Zach Miller, of Ripley Huron Community School, Brianne Wheeler, of
Brussels Public School, Devan Ballagh, of Hillcrest Public School in Teeswater and Amanda
Welsh, of St. Boniface School. In the back row are Jennifer Lise, of Howick Central School,
first place winner Jessica Sparling, of Blyth Public School, Erin Gilchrist, of Lucknow Public
School and Shirley Chalmers, Zone C-1 Commander. (Susan Hundertmark photo)
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