HomeMy WebLinkAboutLakeshore Advance, 2012-08-08, Page 26CountyWednesday,August 17,
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prepares for judiciinquiry
(Meryl Heath Committee Struck
QM Agency Iluron County is a step closer
to reviewing how best to dole
Huron County Councillors out grants through the increas-
are seeking to have an inquiry ingly popular Huron Heritage
..� their home turf. Fund.
Jut that move did not conte At the recommendation of
without some debate at the cultural services director
county's Aug. 10 committee -of- Meighan Wark, councillors
the -whole session. agreed to appoint two council -
In addressing the upcoming lors, Bernie MacLellan (Huron
inquiry into county council's East) and John Grace (South
composition, County CAO Huron), to a new committee
Larry Adams reports that while that will be entrusted to set out
the review was originally set for the criteria for applications to
Aug. 24, only a half hour could the $20,000 fund.
be allocated to both the five At issue is what types of
municipalities seeking the projects and organizations are
action and the four municipal'- an acceptable fit for the fund,
ties defending it. notes Coun. Bill Siemon (Huron
As it stands, says Adams, the East), who says he would prefer
next available Huron County to see grants allocated to
date for the inquiry is in "bricks and mortar" style
November, though the county projects. He would also like to
could see a faster resolution by see the project's funding level
agreeing to have the inquiry in increase.
another venue outside the Meanwhile, Coun. George
county's borders. Robertson (South Huron)
That proved to be an idea that expressed concern about what
some councillors favoured. the creation of a new commit -
"Let's get it over with," urged tee would mean to the county's
Coun, Deb Shewfelt bottom line.
(Goderich). "Who would be volunteer -
Others, however, were not so ing?" he asked. "Are we going to
sure. pay someone $3,000 to allocate
"It's a Huron County prob. $20,000?"
lem, it should be fixed in Iluron "'this is not a big expense by
County," argues Dave Frayne any means," argued Maclellan
(South Huron). In defence of the motion. lie
Meanwhile, Coun. Bernie also suggested that the commit -
MacLellan (Huron East) says tee, which is designed to meet
November is soon enough and twice a year, meet on days
that proved to be a sentiment already designated for county
shared by the rest of county council or committee sessions,
council. which proved to be a sugges-
The issue stems back to an tion that Robertson supported.
earlier county decision to allow
four municipalities — Huron In His Honour
East, Central Huron, South County council chambers fell
Huron and North Huron — to silent for a moment in honour
keep an extra representative at of the late Ken Oke, a former
the county table though Mimic- county warden and the former
'pal Property Assessment Cor- mayor of South Huron, at the
poration (MPAC) statistics sug- Aug, 10 committee -of -the -
gest they did not have the whole session.
populations required to do so. Oke, who died at the age of
A 1999 Huron County bylaw set 63, is remembered as an amica-
t'ules for representation ble leader with a fine sense of
_Jone councillor per 4,000 humour.
population and, as such, South
Huron, Central Huron and Rapid Response In Remembrance
Huron East were set to lose EMS Chief Dave Lew reports Coun. Bill Rowson (Bluewa-
their third representative while all is well with the county's ter) is encouraging his coun-
North Huron should have lost newly introduced Rapid terparts to take time out to
its second voice at the county Response Units. thank Emergency Services per -
level. However, after some Lew says since the service sonnet in memory of the pend -
municipalities contested the began on July 22, there have ing 10th anniversary of the ter-
MPAC statistics and other conn- been 19 calls responded to rorist-driven attacks along the
plaints were lodged, county with a less than two -minute eastern seaboard of the United
administrators consulted legal response time on many of States on Sept. 11.
counsel, which suggested that thein. "We always need to remind
proper procedure was not fol- Lew also reports the depart- our councils and our munici-
lowed and that the county ment recently entered into panties to remember the EMS
council's composition should contracts with Centre Huron, workers and say 'thank you' to
not change for this term. the North Huron Fire Service them," says Dowson.
and a private landowner to
place crews at the Central
Iluron and Blyth fire halls and
at a property at the intersec-
tion of Highways 21 and 84.
The Howick library is also
being used as a post.
Up in the Air
At least one Iluron County
Councillor wants to know what
will happen in the event of a
medical emergency in mid-air.
Coun. Bernie MacLellan
(Iluron East) broached the
topic at a recent committee -of -
the -whole session, where he
wondered what would happen
if wind -energy employee was in
distress while working in a cell.
EMS Chief Dave Lew reports
that upon investigating the
matter by consulting with area
fire chief and wind companies,
the short answer seems to be
that it is up to the wind com-
panies to get the employee
down to the ground before
emergency services personnel
could begin administering
treatment.
"EMS or fire departments do
not do high-level rescue," says
Lew.
MacLellan says given that the
county will soon be home to
more than 1,000 turbines, it
seems unreasonable that there
is not a better plan in place.
Indeed, says Maclellan, if a
wind company employee were
to suffer a heart attack and have
to wait for treatment until he or
she is on the ground, it would
be "a black eye" for the county.
While Maclellan suggests
one step in the right direction is
to require all wind leaseholders
to have appropriate insurance
in the event of such an emer-
gency, Lew says he will check
into the matter further as he
has been told by at least one
wind company source that
there is an emergency plan in
place.
"They do have a plan ... I
have yet to see the plan," says
Lew.
Giving Thanks
Two of Huron County's summer stu-
dents came out to give thanks for the
opportunity and to outline their sum-
mer's worth of activities at the August
committee -of -the -whole session.
Halley Arts, who joined the museum
staff care of a Young Canada Works
grant, is a second year student at the
University of Guelph, where she
majors in history. Hailey, who hails
from Iluron East, has been working on
a number of museum projects, includ-
ing creating a display for a tribute to
those who served at Juno Beach dur-
ing the Second World War.
Malley, who also had the opportu-
nity to write an article about the last
hanging at the Goderich jail, says the
work experience has "changed my
life."
Vanessa Wilts, a Central Huron Sec-
ondary School student who, thanks to
a grant, worked part time at the
museum before the school year ended
and now has full-time hours, says she
first joined the summer staff in 2009.
She, too, has found it to he an invalu-
able experience.
Vanessa says though she has been a
long-time history buff, "1 soon cause
to realize there is a lot of history 1
wasn't aware of."
Among Vanessa's duties has been
an ongoing role as a prisoner at the
Goderich jail for one of the museum's
popular tour series.
"It was a really great experience and
a lot of fun to participate in," she says.
Map It
At the suggestion of Coun. Deb
Shewfelt (Goderich), Coun. Tyler Hes-
se) (Bluewater) will be the county
council's representative on a soon-to-
be created Cultural Recreation Map-
ping Steering Committee that will cre-
ate an inventory of the county's
cultural attributes, sites and
resources.
New to Schools
EMS Chief Dave Lew reports ail of
the county's schools are now outfitted
with defibrillators thanks to a recent
12-debrillator donation care of the
'kart and Stroke Foundation.
Lew notes that defibrillators located
in schools set for closure will be reas-
signed once the sites close.
In 'Their Honour
'the County of Iluron will be among
the area organizations flying flags,
Aug. 15-21, to thank troops for their
role in the Afghanistan mission.
NORTH AMERICA'S FIRST FULL-DAY KINDERGARTEN
SAVES PARENTS UP TO $6500 IN CHILD CARE.
Source: Ministry of Education, 2011.
Marr Van lost h, Mi!
www,mariavanbonmel.onmpp.ca 1 mvanbommel.mpp.co®Iiberal.ola.org 1 1-800-265-3916