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The Citizen, 2016-09-29, Page 1INSIDE THIS WEEK: BRUSSELS - Pg. 7 Second Brussels meeting could be in the works FALL FAIR - Pg. 11 Brussels Fall Fair impresses community FESTIVAL - Pg. 19 Blyth Festival ramps up its seat sale during renovations Publications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON NOG 1H0 4Citiz Volume 32 No. 38 n WELCOME TO BLYT'H I ESTABLISHED 1877 $1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, September 29, 2016 The passing of the... dirt In an International Plowing Match (IPM) version of the passing of the torch, dirt was brought from this year's match in Harriston in Wellington County to Brussels and Huron County, near the site of next year's match in Walton. This was part of a special ceremony that saw IPM 2017 Secretary Lynne Godkin, top, run from one site to the other, accompanied by dozens in an antique tractor parade. Soil from the Harriston match was combined with soil from the farm of Jack Ryan, just south of Walton, where the tented city will be placed. A tree was then placed in the soil, which will be planted at Ryan's farm. Doing the honours were some of Ryan's grandchildren, from left: John, Owen, Mackinley and Adam Ryan. (Vicky Bremner photo) Brussels barn project green -lit By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Bryan Morton's ambitious barn project in Brussels has passed the site plan control stage and has been given the go-ahead by Huron East Council. At council's Sept. 20 meeting, which was held at the Brussels Library, Morton's development was up for a discussion after months of work by Huron East and Huron County Planning and Development staff on the complicated project. Morton's plan to relocate a Grey Ward barn to Orchard Lane in Brussels will provide the Brussels Farmers' Market with a permanent, year-round home and house a bakery, restaurant and event space for the village. The process began several years ago, but is only now getting approval and is now close to officially moving forward. The L-shaped barn will front onto Orchard Lane (and have an Orchard Lane address) and run adjacent to Elizabeth Street behind the Brussels Library. The `L' will then protrude east towards the main street, but have a courtyard and parking lot in the space between the building and Turnberry Street. The occupancy load for the building has been set at 200, which is directly linked to the amount of parking available for the building. Should more parking be added in the future, says Chief Administrative Officer Brad Knight, the occupancy limit can be raised. Because of the nature of the building, Knight said, if both floors are in use, there will be a split occupancy load, meaning that a maximum of 128 people will be permitted in the upstairs banquet hall at the same time as 60 people Continued on page 20 County stands by ACP discontinuation By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Huron County Council has declined to revisit the controversial decision to eliminate the advanced - care paramedic (ACP) program that supporters have called life-saving. The issue was up for debate again at council's Sept. 21 committee of the whole meeting after Central Huron Deputy -Mayor Dave Jewitt had prepared a notice of motion to raise the issue from the floor two weeks earlier. While Jewitt said he personally stood by council's decision made earlier this year, Central Huron Council wished for the issue to be revisited and reconsidered, so he was doing his duty by bringing the issue to the county level. In preparation for the motion to be raised from the floor, Acting Chief of Emergency Services Jeff Horseman filed an extensive report with council detailing the skills and abilities of ACPs in comparison to their primary-care paramedic (PCP) counterparts and how often they're used per year. The report also took head-on claims from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), quoting claims from the union and pointing out inaccuracies in a number of cases. Several councillors complimented Horseman on his report, which they said was thorough and informative, containing plenty of facts that would be of use to members of the public. Prior to the discussion, council held a lengthy closed -to -the -public session with solicitor Greg Stewart where the topic of conversation was whether or not council could legally reconsider the decision. Upon reconvening after the session, Chief Administrative Officer Brenda Orchard said that council could legally reconsider the motion. Goderich Mayor Kevin Morrison said that while he believes in the ACP program and continues to support it, he felt council shouldn't revisit a decision that has already been made, so he would not be supporting the motion to reconsider the decision. Goderich Deputy -Mayor Jim Donnelly said he felt the benefit from the program was "infrequent and uncertain" and that it should be eliminated He noted that a number of medical procedures and medications available only to ACPs had barely been used in 2015, saying that some things had been used once or not at all by the county's 14 ACPs in 2015. He did add that for the first vote, he voted to end the program by attrition, saying he felt it was the "best we could do" but stood by the decision to end the program. Huron East Mayor Bernie MacLellan, who made the motion to end the program immediately in July, said he stood by his decision and didn't feel council needed to reconsider it because no new information had been presented. He did say, however, that council should have the legal right to revisit decisions at any time, as long as proper procedure is followed. Both Warden Paul Gowing and Central Huron Mayor Jim Ginn spoke about the vast amount of information on the subject made available to councillors. Ginn said that due to legal reasons, councillors could not get into the specifics of much of that information, but he assured the dozens in the audience that there was plenty of information that pointed to the elimination of the program being a good decision. Gowing also addressed the criticism that the decision was made quickly. He said that in no way has this been a knee-jerk reaction, saying that discussion surrounding the potential elimination of the program has been going on since 2008. Several councillors were still in favour of the program and wanted to see it continue and even expand in Huron County. They were, however, outnumbered. "I'm still in favour of expanding the program," said Ashfield- Colborne-Wawanosh Deputy -Reeve Roger Watt. Bluewater Mayor Tyler Hessel said he felt the program should be expanded because, in his opinion, the Canadian healthcare system is in trouble and life-saving services like the ACP program will become more necessary in the coming years as healthcare services are clawed even further back. The motion to revisit the ACP decision was defeated by council, with only Councillors Jewitt, Watt and Hessel voting in favour of the motion. Holiday for `Citizen' The offices of The Citizen will be closed on Monday, Oct. 10 to allow staff members to celebrate Thanksgiving with their families. The deadline for the Oct. 13 issue of The Citizen will therefore be moved up to Friday, Oct. 7 at 2 p.m. in Brussels and at 4 p.m. in Blyth. The Citizen wishes all of its readers, supporters and community members a safe and happy Thanksgiving weekend.