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Huron Expositor, 2017-01-11, Page 1414 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, January 11, 2017 /pll JON... distance?1-800-265-3438 1 1 ATTENTION READERS Take advantage of our pricing for HAPPY NOTES Includes; Birthdays, Anniversaries Weddings, Engagements, Graduations etc. HAPPY BIRTHDAY 1 (Name Person) (Date) Love Mom & Dad only $23.80 H.S.T.Plus Actual Size: Pre -Payment is Required Just bring in your photo & write-up and we'll do the rest. Other Sizes & Prices available upon request. EThe uron 8 Main Street sitor Seaforth, ON (519) 527-0240 nancy.degans @ sunmed ia.ca s _._.orthhuronexpositor.com Central Huron takes a wait-and- see approach to 2017 while Huron prepares to tackle high speed Internet Darryl Coote Postmedia Network Following a challenging though positive year for Cen- tral Huron, its mayor, Jim Ginn, expects 2017 to be used to assess what options the town has going forward. "2017 will be probably a stand -pat year," Ginn said following a regular county council meeting Jan. 4. For 2016, financially, Cen- tral Huron has met all of its obligations and council has already dealt with the "worst part of our budgets," specifi- cally having policing costs fully priced in and the end- ing of cuts to Ontario Munic- ipal Partnership Fund grants that will offer the lower -tier government stable funding. "I think going forward it will be a little easier," he said. "Our grants for infrastruc- ture are increasing and will increase in the next few years." He said that when they finish paying off the debt for the solar panels, that, too, will free up cash. "I think the toughest budgets are behind us. Now, so going forward, we hope to be able to either reduce taxes or do more paving projects and provide more services to residents," he said. Whether Central Huron reduces taxes or paves streets will be a decision needed to be made by coun- cil, he said. This new year, he said, will be an exciting one as the municipality is planning a big celebration to usher in Canada's 150th anniversary on the weekend following July 1. Also, there are "big plans," he said, to rejuvenate Clin- ton's downtown park. Central Huron mayor and Huron County warden Jim Ginn. "Big plans for the renova- tion of the park in downtown Clinton with a splash pad, skateboarding park and pavillion put up. So we look forward to doing some improvements to the main street, and, also, we're hop- ing to get out to the rural areas as well, the hamlets, and do some improvements there, too," he said. Ginn said he doesn't expect too many challenges in 2017, though he hopes for a light winter so their snow - removal budget is kept at a minimum. As warden of Iluron County, Ginn said he is look- ing to bring high speed inter - net to the region, which he stated as one of his objec- tives when he became war- den late last year. "Internet access is the big one for me. I think it's abso- lutely critical that we get high speed Internet to all our residents so we'll be working hard on that one. That has got to be my number one hope that we succeed with," he said. He "hopes" council makes the decisions necessary in 2017 to move forward to bring internet cables to Huron, though he doesn't expect them to start burying them for at least a few years. He is looking for the county to put together a con- crete plan for bringing this service to the area. "Getting the cable in the ground is another story, but we need a plan on how we're going to move forward with it. We need to get the fund- ing in place and then we'll have to go out and hire com- panies to install that," he said. Similar to installing hydro or natural gas, high speed Internet is a utility that is dif- ficult to implement in rural communities, but it needs to be done. " We need to get it there in a five-year time span and I think it's essentially eco- nomically as well if we're going to attract small busi- nesses. And I said before, we have a wonderful lifestyle here ... that people could come here and set up home business if we had those Internet connections," he said. "It was fully engulfed when we arrived," says Huron East Fire Chief Shaun Gregory Huron Expositor The Huron East Fire Department was called in January 8 to a blaze in Seaforth on Goderich Street. Marty Bedard, Fire Chief for Huron East said upon arriving to the scene, a detached garage behind a house was completely "engulfed" in flames. He's not quite sure when the call was responded to, however he told the Expos- itor it only took his crew an hour to put out the flames and that no other fire branches had to be called in. "The house is fine, (hut) the garage is totally lost," stated Bedard in a phone conversation the day of the fire at approximately 4:40 p.m. Still on the scene at the time, which was at 107 Goderich St., Bedard said they were currently putting out the hot spots.