Huron Expositor, 2016-07-06, Page 13Wednesday, July 6, 2016 • Huron Expositor 13
Amalgamation of municipalities a possibility
Shaun Gregory
Huron Expositor
Local municipalities in the
region have put together a
presentation regarding shared
services. It's believed this was
the first time all of the coun-
cils have united together to
discuss such matters. How-
ever, no matter what the con-
versation entailed, here and
there amalgamation is the
direction some felt this project
might possibly advance to,
perhaps in the far or the near
future.
Established on January 1,
2001, Huron East became
one municipality, a restruc-
turing arranged by the Min-
istry of Municipal Affairs. A
provincial government
department that, "helps
ensure the land use planning
system protects what is valu-
able while enabling and
managing growth," accord-
ing to their website. A
request, the town of Seaforth
had been brainstorming well
before the initial merging.
Seaforth Coun. Bob Fisher
expressed to the group of
about fifty people in the Libro
Hall at the Central Huron
Community Complex June 28
that government officials are
playing substantial influ-
ences when it comes to deci-
sion making, the same hap-
pened in the early 2000's. He
considers the shared services
to be running on the same
path as the integration some
15 years ago.
"It always seems that
things start out smoothly, but
then bureaucracy creeps in
and staff increases. I look at
the county, it seems the nine
years, I>ve been Councillor,
the bureaucracy has grown
and grown," said Fisher.
"And they have 9 commu-
nities to look after, instead of
26.'
The meeting discussed by
the municipality of North
Huron and Morris -Turn -
berry representatives was
not something Huron East>s
Brad Knight admitted to
being keen on.
"We did go through a fairly
major restructuring in 2001,
I don>t think some of the
things being proposed are
really all that unique to us."
The OPP admitted that
their costs would most likely
consistently climb annually
last April at a Huron East
meeting. The former OPP
charge of $1,314,510 has
spiked to $1,505,862 this year,
which works out to be a 14.5
per cent modification. Along
with that, the Mayor of Huron
East, Bernie MacLellan is
sure the shortage of funding
by the provincial government
will also continue.
"I was talking to our treas-
urer and even made the com-
ment to our CAO, I believe he
was already aware of it. We
are now told that transitional
funding is going to start being
removed. So we are antici-
pating another $300,000 hit
from the province for the next
three years," explained
MacLellan after the Shared
Services meeting.
"We are going to have one
or two choices here, we
either are going to go to sin-
gle tier just to pay the bills or
we are going to soon be put-
ting people out of their prop-
erties because they can>t
afford the increase:'
According to Tyler Hessel,
the Mayor of Bluewater there is
a "huge opportunity," for all the
municipalities in Huron
County to consider in
Huron East Mayor says he does not
regret meeting with fellow ratepayers
Shaun Gregory
Huron Expositor
Depending on the munici-
pality, the head honcho goes
by many different names like
the warden, chair, or reeve. In
Huron East, the council's
leader goes by Mayor and his
legal name is Bernie MacLel-
lan, a man who admits to tak-
ing his role genuinely, espe-
cially when it comes to
representing the ratepayers.
Recently, the Expositor cov-
ered a story where a few coun-
cil members felt MacLellan's
decision to attend a Brussels
meeting, where residents
voiced their concerns towards
property standards was out of
line because they knew noth-
ing about the event. More
frankly, they were frustrated
that he attended the meeting
without fellow members of
the legislative body present. A
choice he said if he had the
chance to go back in time and
change the outcome, he
would replicate it exactly as
before, by making an
appearance.
"I think that's democracy
going down the drain, if your
council is upset with the
public having access to the
mayor," stated MacLellan
June 27 during a phone con-
versation. "I think it's com-
pletely appropriate for the
mayor to get called on for
something the municipality
is responsible for."
"I had no idea there was
going to be that many people
there, doesn't matter if there
was going to be two or 22, I
have an obligation to the
ratepayers to show up when
they have a concern about
how things are being han-
dled in the municipality:'
After the meeting, which
Shaun Gregory
was put together by former
Huron East Mayor Joe Seili,
residents thanked him for the
support, because according
to MacLellan, "they didn't
feel they had representation."
In concordance with
MacLellan's previous state-
ments, he's made it clear
numerous times, "if the rate-
payers feel they need to
bring something to the
mayor, I'm going to meet
with them."
"If I ever decide that it's
not my job, then I don't
deserve to be mayor," he said
relating to meeting with rate-
payers of Huron East.
conjugation.
"I think amalgamation is
definitely in the future and
likely in the near future, I>m
not sure how it will work.
That is going to take a lot of
planning because at the end
of the day, my personal
opinion is lines have to be
redrawn" stated Hessel. "We
made a lot of mistakes and
they were costly, what we are
doing today is completely
different from what we did in
2000 and 2001.
"Whether it>s single tier or
a couple (of) different tiers,
who knows. But I think what
it really does do, it gives us
the opportunity to say hey
look, we can>t do it on our
own anymore. It's getting too
expensive."
North Huron>s Reeve Neil
Vincent told the Expositor
it>s possible amalgamation
may happen in the next four
to eight years.
ea orthhuronex s ositor.co
Shaun Gregory
Tyler Hessel, the
Mayor of Bluewater
spoke to local
municipalities June
28 in Clinton during
a Shared Services
meeting. Like
other politicians
in Huron County,
Hessel believes
amalgamation will
possibly happen in
the future.
The Mayor of
Huron East, Bernie
MacLellan, spoke
about his concerns
pertaining to shared
services in Clinton.
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