The Citizen, 2015-01-22, Page 20PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2015.
Continued from page 1
budget is expected to decrease by
0.27 per cent and the Homes for the
Aged budget is expected to go down
by 0.22 per cent. Blumhagen said
that the only reason the Homes for
the Aged budget is expected to
decrease is because an annual
$201,000 transfer to reserves for
home improvements won’t be made
in 2015, as per staff decision.
Huron East Mayor Bernie
MacLellan said he was very
concerned about the proposed
increase in the emergency services
budget.
Blumhagen told council that the
increase is largely due to the switch-
over that has to occur from rapid
response vehicles back to
ambulances, as well as a sharp
increase in sick time from
paramedics.
MacLellan said he was under the
impression that sick time would go
down when changes were made after
a consultant’s report made several
recommendations within the
department.
The big change, MacLellan said,
was changing from 24-hour shifts to
12-hour shifts. The idea, he said,
was that previously if a paramedic
called in sick for a shift, he or she
was then essentially having to miss
three days of work (three eight-hour
shifts). If a paramedic called in sick
for a 12-hour shift, it would then be
half that.
He said he hoped the increase in
sick time being used wasn’t
“retaliation” for the change from 24-
hour shifts to 12-hour shifts.
Chief Administrative Officer
Brenda Orchard said she couldn’t
comment as to the reasons behind
the increase, only that staff was in
the process of looking into it.
Blumhagen also cautioned council
regarding several grant requests that
were not yet included in his budget
presentation, since council has yet to
rule on them. If they are added into
the budget, he said, either taxes will
have to rise or services will have to
be cut.
Council has yet to decide on a
grant application that would pay the
Huron County Food Bank
Distribution Centre $60,000 per year
for the next four years, a request
from the Coalition for Huron Injury
Prevention (CHIP) for $5,000 in
2015, a request from the United Way
Perth-Huron’s Social Research and
Planning Council for $20,000 per
year for the next three years,
$135,000 annually from the
Southwest Integrated Fibre
Technology (SWIFT) initiative and a
request from Blyth’s Emergency
Services Training Centre for
$284,000 over the next three years.
He said there is currently
$100,000 in the budget for
unforeseen costs that could be
utilized for some grant requests, but
that money will only go so far.
All department heads were
scheduled to make presentations on
their departmental budgets at Huron
County Council’s Jan. 21 committee
of the whole meeting. After those
presentations, council will begin
official budget deliberations.
As promised, Huron East Mayor
Bernie MacLellan raised concerns
from him and his council regarding a
request for proposals (RFP) for a
new ambulance station in Seaforth at
the county level last week.
At Huron County Council’s Jan.
14 committee of the whole meeting,
MacLellan said he was disheartened
at the RFP process the county was
following, saying that he had
received a lot of negative feedback
from prospective contractors.
At Huron East Council’s Jan. 6
meeting, MacLellan vowed to raise
the issue at the next day’s Huron
County Council meeting, which was
cancelled due to weather, and
rescheduled for Jan. 14. He was
concerned with a number of aspects
of the RFP, including that Huron
East had not been notified of its
posting and why it was a design-
build proposal when just a few years
ago a new station had been built in
Wingham and its plans could be
replicated for the Seaforth and
Clinton stations.
Chief Administrative Officer
Brenda Orchard told MacLellan that
it was an oversight that the RFP
document had not been sent to
Huron East staff. However, as to the
wording of the document, Orchard
said it was left purposefully open to
interpretation.
MacLellan told council that the
RFP seemed very “loosey-goosey”
and was objected to by contractors,
at least to him, as being a very
unprofessional document.
“I’m not sure how to proceed, but
we have a problem,” MacLellan said.
Huron East Deputy-Mayor Joe
Steffler agreed with MacLellan,
even going so far as to suggest that
the RFP should be pulled and the
process should start over again from
scratch.
He said that if a contractor didn’t
already own a building and a good
sized lot, it would be hard for him to
submit a bid on the project, leaving
out many local contractors.
MacLellan was also concerned
that two ambulance stations were
being built to replace one, but that
both would be bigger than the one
they were replacing, though each is
only expected to handle half of the
workload.
No direct action was taken as a
result of the concerns of MacLellan
and Steffler. Staff will wait for bids
to come in and then assess if they are
happy with what they have or if they
want to extend the deadline or re-
tender the project altogether.
RFP questioned
County living wage
will be calculated
Continued from page 19
that one of the upcoming projects for
the Social Research and Planning
Council is to calculate a “living
wage” for Huron County, which
would take all of those factors into
account and find a wage that would
be considered liveable, taking into
account all of Huron County’s
factors.
To conclude, Clark said that when
asked in 2011/2012, over 90 per cent
of Huron and Perth residents said
they were either satisfied or very
satisfied with life in general, which
is consistent with the provincial
average.
Huron East Mayor Bernie
MacLellan said he liked the report,
but then asked what kind of action
would be coming out of it.
Erb said that because the study is
so sprawling and subjective, the only
way to create action from it would
be to bring residents in on the
process and ask them what they
thought of the results of the study
and what should be done.
He said a forum is in the process
of being planned for sometime
within the next few months and
some recommendations should
come from that event.
The full report, as well other
United Way Perth-Huron reports, is
available at perthhuron.unitedway.ca
Council to decide on numerous budget requests
Snow big deal
With snow now on the ground and ready to be played in and played with, students were
anxious to be outside at recess at Hullett Central Public School in Londesborough this month,
including, from left: Hannah Govier, Heidi Badley and Ava Ansley who thought that snow
angels were the best way to spend their time outside. (Denny Scott photo)
Brussels ~ 519-887-9114Blyth ~ 519-523-4792
The Citizen
Stop by and see these and other books at...
Cool Reads
BLYTH THROUGH THE LENS
Blyth historian Brock Vodden tells Blyth’s
story in photographs, many of them rarely
seen – from the fairs, railways, town
bands, sports teams, church activities,
landmark buildings to remarkable
personalities. $50.00
YESTERDAY: The Search
Continues
Huron County author David
Turner returns with volume 2
of his tales about growing up
in rural Ontario with stories of
one room schools, bicycles,
party lines, gravel roads,
steam threshers, and black
and white TV. $22.50
IN SEARCH OF YESTERDAY
David Turner, whose stories
have appeared in The Rural
Voice and other periodicals,
provides a collection of stories
about growing up in rural
southern Ontario in the second
half of the 20th century. $22.50
MILES FOR MEMORIES
At age 74 retired Perth County
farmer Jeff Timmermans
bicycled 8248 km across
Canada over four months to
raise awareness of Alzheimers
which had struck down his wife
Toni. He recalls that journey
and their life together in this
book. $20.00
JACK OF ALL TRADES AND
MASTER OF NONE
Farmer, mechanic, merch-ant,
construction worker and musician,
Robert D. McClinchey has lived a
fascinating Huron County life. In words
and photos he and his grandson Greg
tell the story.
Soft cover $13.95 Hard cover $23.95
EGGS & POULTRY MADE AT
HOME
Tips on choosing and breeding
chickens, ducks, geese and
turkeys, house small flocks, hatch
chicks, gather and use the eggs
and process the adult birds plus
recipes on how to make the most
of the eggs and meat. $19.95