The Citizen, 2016-03-10, Page 1INSIDE
THIS WEEK:
SPORTS - Pg. 8
Four local teams eye
provincial championships
FARM - Pg. 12
Agricultural anomaly
born at Blyth -area farm
AWARD - Pg. 15
Local business honoured
with national award
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Volume 32 No. 10
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Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, March 10, 2016
A little help
The thing about cold days and hot chocolate is that holding a hot drink with cold hands can be
a little difficult. Fortunately for Ryker Dewitt, right, Educational Assistant Alisha Seitz was on
hand to help him out. Dewitt, along with his fellow North Woods Elementary School peers,
enjoyed hot chocolate as part of the school's outdoor activity day last Friday. The event saw
students snowshoe and ride crazy carpets before coming to the school for a quick warm-up
drink by way of hot chocolate. (Denny Scott photo)
Optimists to host spring auction
Next Saturday, the Brussels
Optimist Club will be hosting its
annual spring dinner and auction,
which this year will benefit the
Sunshine Foundation of Canada.
The Sunshine Foundation of
Canada, similar to its U.S.-based
Make -A -Wish Foundation
counterpart, grants wishes for
terminally ill and disabled children.
Over the years, this is the club's
17th annual spring dinner and
auction, the event has raised funds
for a number of charities and causes,
including the United Way and the
Ronald McDonald House to name a
few.
The dinner is one of the club's two
big fundraising events of the year.
Kevin Deitner of the club says the
event began years ago when the
Optimists were looking for another
way to raise money in the village.
After first contacting the Make -A -
Wish Foundation in that first year,
they were informed that it took
between $5,000 and $7,000 to grant
a child a "wish". The club raised
twice that amount. So, Deitner said,
it was a strong start for the event that
only continued to grow in the years
following.
One of the club's most successful
dinners, hosted just two years ago,
raised money for the Ronald
McDonald House. Thanks to
tremendous support from the
community, Deitner said, over
$35,000 was raised.
A source of pride for the club has
been its insistence on keeping the
money raised at Optimist Club
events in Huron County. The first
year of the dinner, members were
attempting to grant a "wish" to a
Huron County child and that
tradition has continued in the years
since.
This year's event will begin at 5
p.m. with the opening of the silent
auction, followed by an all -you -can -
eat dinner and a live auction. The
evening will also feature the club's
popular women's draw, which has
featured purses in the past, but has
been changed to scarves or candles
in recent years, as well as a 50/50
draw.
Tickets to the event are $25 and
can be purchased from Deitner at
519-887-6502, or through any
Optimist Club member. The club is
also still on the hunt for silent or live
auction items, so if you wish to
contribute to the club's event, please
contact Deitner as soon as possible.
Budget discussions
focus on recreation
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Round two of Huron East budget
discussions largely focused on the
municipality's recreation centres and
their hundreds of thousands of
dollars in losses identified by one
councillor.
At Huron East Council's March 1
meeting, Tuckersmith Councillor
Ray Chartrand, frustrated with year -
over -year deficits created at Huron
East's two arenas and the Vanastra
Recreation Centre, the main
attraction of which is a pool, broke
the centres' budgets down to basic
figures and what he found, he said,
was shocking.
Taxpayers are being asked for
$656,514 to help fund the
municipality's three recreation
centres, Chartrand said. This is an
increase from $502,189 in 2015 due
to the addition of special levies
provided to the two arenas (Brussels
and Seaforth) aimed at reducing the
centres' growing deficits and
increases to the base levy to reflect
ever-increasing hydro costs.
The one-year levy increase for
Huron East recreation centres is over
$150,000. Such a dramatic increase,
he said, should be communicated to
the municipality's ratepayers, so
they know the true cost of recreation
in a small community.
Chartrand prepared the report, he
said, because of all the "noise"
during budget deliberations. The
many line items provided to
councillors can sometimes be
confusing, so he boiled Huron East's
recreation figures down to how
much money is spent and how much
money is made.
With area recreation centres not
bringing in enough revenue to pay
for half of their budgets, Chartrand
said it's time to take a hard look at
the recreation system in Huron East,
as ratepayers are on the hook for the
New monument may
come to HC museum
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
A group from the Goderich
Branch of the Legion is working to
bring vehicle used by Canadian
soldiers to Huron County as a
monument.
Paul Thorne, President of the
Goderich Legion, spoke to Huron
County Council at its March 2
meeting about the plan to transport a
Canadian Light Armoured
Vehicle (LAV HI) used by Canadian
troops in Afghanistan to
Goderich for placement in front
of the Huron County Museum.
The total cost of the project will
range between $40,000 and $50,000
Thorne told council, with the Legion
hoping Huron County could donate
a number of in-kind services, such
as engineering.
The machine will have to be
transported to Goderich from
London, Thorne said, for which the
Legion will be responsible.
Thorne has proposed the corner of
Trafalgar and North Streets as a
potential site for the vehicle, set
upon a rocky terrain, similar to that
Continued on page 10
balance of those budgets.
Chartrand, who spent a significant
amount of time presenting his
findings to council, said that while
he had compiled the "shocking"
figures, he didn't necessarily have a
solution.
Several councillors agreed, saying
that while they found the losses
troubling, they didn't know how to
fix it.
One place to start, council
decided, is to potentially raise ice
rental fees by $15 per hour at both
the Brussels and Seaforth arenas.
While the decision is not yet final,
council directed staff to prepare a
report on the potential increase and
further review recreation rates
throughout Huron East.
Mayor Bernie MacLellan told
councillors that he would follow up
that decision with subsequent
discussions with representatives
from Central Huron and Bluewater
Councils, all of whom are facing
similar challenges with their
recreation centres, to make a united
effort so the municipalities' rental
fees will be in line with one another.
As for the rest of the Huron East
budget, few changes were proposed
to the second draft.
Treasurer Paula Michiels has been
directed by council to prepare a third
draft of the budget that includes a
20.18 per cent increase to the
municipal tax levy, which, combined
with the three per cent increase to
the Huron County budget and a
proposed one per cent increase to the
education budgets, would result in
an overall tax levy increase in Huron
East of 9.7 per cent.
Discussion surrounding the
elimination of a new backhoe for the
public works department, a decision
made when the first draft of the
budget was presented last month, is
still very open-ended.
Public Works Director Barry
Continued on page 10