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Home My WebLink AboutClinton News Record, 2015-06-10, Page 3Wednesday, June 10, 2015 • News Record 3 The waiting game continues for Clinton skate park Laura Broadley younger age groups is frus- Clinton News Record tratingforparents. The committee is a group Clinton youth will have to of parents, youth and com- wait for a skate park. munity supporters who are Central Huron Council trying to build ramps, rails heard from the Clinton and pipes on a concrete skate park committee on slab already on municipal June 1 but said more time property. was needed to make rec- Known as Clinton Com- ommendations and come munity Park, the Park Lane up with a plan that included location could be a place for the whole area. youth to skateboard, roller The committee was look- blade, scooter and ride their ing for Council's approval of bikes. Freeman-Bechard the skate park plan so it can said those activities are tak- start fundraising and apply- ing place in locations that ing for grants. aren't appropriate like side - Committee member walks, one-way streets and Kara Freeman-Bechard parking lots. said there was a need for In 2002 the Optimist Club youth in the area to have and community volunteers something to do. The lack of raised money to put in the facilities geared towards the cement slab, which was around $24,000. Equipment was then donated to Central Huron by the municipality of North Perth but was deemed unsafe by the health and safety committee. Depending on grants and donations the committee is looking to install equip- ment made from coated steel and high-density poly- ethylene. Concrete equip- ment would last longer but come at a much larger cost, said Freeman-Bechard. Councillor Metzger said there were several con- crete suppliers in the com- munity and that a poten- tial partnership could be made. Metzger said he sup- ports the idea of a skate Laura Broadley Clinton News Record The cement slab was installed in 2002 with fundraising money from the Optimist Club and community volunteers. Its Park Lane location is where the skate park committee hopes to build new equipment. park because money and time is spent on the arenas for hockey and figure skat- ing when that doesn't nec- essarily have relevance to a lot of youth in the area. The committee's tar- geted age group is 10 to 20 -year-olds, which Dep- uty Mayor Jewitt said needs to change. This is an opportunity to reconfigure the whole area, including a park area for younger children, he explained. Mayor Ginn said that while he appreciated the initiative more planning needed to go into using the whole area and incor- porating as many local businesses as possible. Huron County selects new SWEA representative Marco Vigliotti Postmedia Network Huron County council has selected a new representative to sit on the board of a regional economic develop- ment organization that has been slammed by its critics as ineffective and rudderless. South Huron Mayor Mau- reen Cole will represent the county on the board of the Southwestem EconomicAlli- ance after she was chosen by council at its June 3 meeting to succeed current represent- ative John Grace, a former county councillor. Cole immediately assumed the role once the motion passed. Huron East Mayor Bernie MacLellan originally intro- duced the motion at last month's meeting after expressing reservations about having a representative who wasn't an elected offi- cial and therefore could not be held accountable to tax- payers in the county. I really like the idea of us now sending a member of county council," he said as the motion to install Cole was debated. MacLellan said he felt more comfortable having a new county representative that would bring a fresh per- spective to the organization as opposed to Grace who has been intimately involved in SWEAs ongoing reconfigura- tion plans. Although uncertain about what the future holds for the group as it continues to weigh how it can better serve the various municipal governments in the region it counts as members, he said the selection of Cole ensures council will have a more reli- able flow of information about SWEA prior to Decem- ber where the decision on whether to renew the coun- ty's membership for 2016 will be debated. "This way we'll have an opportunity to get informa- tion brought back to us and a fresh set of eyes that had not been involved in it before," MacLellan told his council counterparts. The mayor had suggested back in May that Cole serve as the SWEA representative because her municipality is the nearest geographically to Oxford County where the group's upcoming annual meeting will be held this month. Now former representative Grace, who was not in attendance at the June meet- ing, had previously told council that SWEA is weigh- ing a sweeping reconfigura- tion plan that would trans- form the membership of its board from mainly elected officials to members of the private sector and academia. Under the proposal, the board would be reduced from its current level of 21 to either seven or nine mem- bers, with perhaps only one representative being an elected official, he said. "We recognize the private sector has to play a large role in regional economic devel- opment, so we're asking the private sector to step up and play that role," Grace explained to council back in May. He also stated that the group would consider ter- minating itself if its mem- bership, composed of 15 counties or single tier municipalities and seven separated cities across southwestern Ontario, was not impressed with the proposed changes, saying SWEA "cannot exist the way we've existed the last year." "We will put something forward. If the membership doesn't like it, we're more than happy to wrap it up," Grace added. Several Huron County council members have criti- cized the roughly nine-year old economic development organization for lacking clear direction as it hurls towards another significant shake-up. Goderich Mayor Kevin Morrison said last month that SWEA would "probably implode" in the near future and accused its board of "drawing at straws" after repeatedly failing to plot a clear path forward. "They're a mess," he said at the time. ATTENTION ADVERTISERS! DEADLINES Our Weekly Deadlines are as follows: ADVERTISING & EDITORIAL Friday @ 2:00 pm Views Record 53 Albert St. S, Clinton PH: 519-482-3443 www.clintonnewsrecord.com OFFICE HOURS: Mon. - Fri. 9am - 5pm CLOSED TUESDAYS li After a two week hiatus, live harness racing returns to Clinton Raceway this Sunday June 14 at 1:30pm. The remainder of the season proves to be exciting, and has a little something in store for racing fans of all ages. This Sunday we welcome any, and all Fanshawe College Alumni to attend, and see what new programs are being offered in Clinton and surrounding area. Guests also have a chance to win two tickets to see Shania Twain live in London on Saturday June 20. Father's Day is just around the corner, why not bring Dad out to the track to celebrate with a fundraiser for Seaforth Public Schools new playground equipment? A BBQ, silent auction, bake sale and 50/50 draw are all happening on Sunday June 21. The month of June rounds up with the Kin Pace Eliminations and a fundraiser for the Mitchell Optimist Club on Sunday June 28. Can't wait to see you trackside this summer at Clinton Raceway, live race post time 1:30pm all summer long. Be sure to stay up to date with all happenings by visiting www. clintonraceway.com H�RSEARACING SUNDAY JUNE 14 FANSHAWE COLLEGE ALUMNI 4,611111A =ciiirr= CHANCE TO WIN 2 SHANIA TWAIN TICKETS Clinton Raceway Presents\\lei PER® SHOW every live race day in the 2015 season! 147 Beech St. 519.482.1678 clintonraceway.com