The Citizen, 2015-02-19, Page 22PAGE 22. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015.
SWIFT, food bank donations questioned by council
With over $500,000 in grants
requested by local groups and
businesses in 2015, Huron County
Council is going to have to make
some tough decisions in the coming
weeks.
Treasurer Michael Blumhagen
was scheduled to return to council at
its Feb. 11 committee of the whole
meeting with a budget containing
enough money for all proposed
grants, as well as a two per cent tax
levy increase. However, at council’s
Feb. 4 meeting, councillors felt there
simply wasn’t enough money to go
around in terms of grants.
The Huron County Food Bank
Distribution Centre has asked for
$60,000 per year for the next four
years, the Coalition for Huron Injury
Prevention (CHIP) in the amount of
$5,000, $20,000 to the United Way
Huron Perth Social Research and
Planning Council, $135,711 for the
first of five years of the Southwest
Integrated Fibre Technology
(SWIFT) initiative and $284,600
over the next three years from the
Emergency Services Training Centre
in Blyth. There is also a request from
the HealthKick Huron program
pending for 2016 and a shift of $1
million from the county’s general
reserve to a reserve dedicated to the
newly-formed Economic
Development Board.
The total amount of grant money
requested is $505,311, not including
the inter-reserve transfer of $1
million for the Economic
Development Board and the
HealthKick Huron request, since the
requested amount is not yet known.
Chief Administrative Officer
Brenda Orchard said SWIFT still has
to return to council with a business
plan, adding that there are “a lot of
unanswered questions” pertaining to
the initiative, so that would be a
grant request that doesn’t have to
necessarily see money dedicated to it
right away.
North Huron Reeve Neil Vincent
agreed with Orchard, but went even
further, saying that SWIFT has no
intention of providing high quality
fibre optic internet to the “last mile”
in Huron County and there needed to
be a “vast change of attitude” before
council should think about funding
the project, rather than putting its
money in the hands of local
providers.
“I can’t make a decision until I
have a lot more information,”
Vincent said. “It’s a floating target.
They have no idea what the budget
is, they have no idea what the action
plan is.”
Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh
Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek said he
agreed with many of the causes, but
not necessarily for the amounts
being requested. The Huron County
Food Bank Distribution Centre, for
example, he said is a worthwhile
cause, but not for the $60,000 being
requested, especially after a county
staff report revealed that nearly half
of that amount would go towards
paying wages, rather than buying
food.
He also said the Emergency
Services Training Centre was a
cause worth helping, but not for the
nearly $300,000 being requested.
Huron East Deputy-Mayor Joe
Steffler said he agreed with Vincent
on the SWIFT project, that it
shouldn’t be funded at all, but that
county funds should be instead
directed to local providers.
He disagreed on the food bank
grant, however. Steffler has been
involved with the distribution centre
for a number of years and feels it’s a
worthy cause that deserves at least
$60,000 per year, one dollar for
every resident in Huron County.
Central Huron Deputy-Mayor
Dave Jewitt came at the issue from a
different angle, saying that with
Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund
(OMPF) money expected to
continue to decrease, the county
needs to commission an
organizational review for the years
ahead.
“We’re going to have to make
some very difficult decisions,
because that money is going to be
gone in a few years,” he said.
Sweets for a good cause
As part of celebrating Valentine’s Day, St. Anne’s Catholic Secondary School’s Me to We group
hosted a bake sale in the school’s cafeteria on Friday. The sale featured plenty of sweets and
heart-shaped delights and raised nearly $500. The group is trying to raise $10,000 this school
year to help create a clean water facility and health care clinic for a rural community in Ghana
and have raised $5,000 so far. Shown at the bake sale are, from left: Laurie Burdan, Principal
Jodi Kuran, Kate Smith, Kristen Winters, Brooke Middegaal and Elle Doherty. (Denny Scott photo)
Pay for strategy undecided
Morris-Turnberry and North
Huron Councils will be meeting
early in March to discuss the
Wingham and Area Land Strategy.
The meeting, which could be held
either March 5 or 12 at the North
Huron Wescast Community
Complex, will be moderated by
Huron County Planning and
Development Department head
Scott Tousaw and focus on
negotiations between the two
municipalities.
One of the outstanding issues that
was brought up by members of the
planning department at previous
meetings is the cross-border
servicing policy recently
implemented by North Huron which
stipulates that Morris-Turnberry
pay, wherever services are provided,
30 per cent of the taxes collected on
serviced properties.
At council’s Feb. 3 meeting,
however, M-T staff assured council
there were still further issues to
discuss.
Each municipality owes 25 per
cent of the total cost of the land
strategy, which includes making a
land inventory as well as performing
tests and studies on the land so it’s
ready for purchase and development
as industrial land. The final 50 per
cent is being covered through a
Rural Economic Development grant
from the provincial government that
needs to be used by September after
the municipalities received an
extension from the original March
deadline.
“One item that we have to discuss
is how the net costs are going to be
paid,” Administrator/Clerk-
Treasurer Nancy Michie explained.
“Discussions were left last year with
North Huron staff suggesting that
their 25 per cent be paid from
general revenue. Morris-Turnberry
council wished to charge this cost to
the property owners.”
Michie explained that when staff
of the two municipalities met, they
felt that all the landowners, be they
in North Huron or Morris-
Turnberry, should be treated the
same.
Deputy-Mayor Jamie Heffer said
that he felt Morris-Turnberry needed
to stick with the original plan of
charging landowners.
Councillor John Smuck agreed
and said that, if they changed their
minds now, it wouldn’t be fair to the
ratepayers.
Mayor Paul Gowing agreed and,
after bringing some of the newer
council members up to speed on the
realities of the situation, council
agreed to have the issue added to the
agenda of the meeting as councillors
all agreed participants of the study
should be treated the same
regardless of which municipality
they were from.
Looking for local heroes
There are so many people out there who do
so much to improve their community.
Now you have a chance to say thanks.
Nominate that special person for the 30th
Annual Citizen Citizenship Awards.
Each year a committee chooses an outstanding citizen from each of the Blyth and area
and Brussels and area communities to receive an award for contribution to the
community. If you know someone you think should be honoured, please fill in the ballot
and send it in. You may attach a longer explanation of why you think your nominee
should win, if you like. If you have nominated someone before and he or she didn't win,
please feel free to try again.
I nominate
as Citizen of the year for
I feel she/he deserves this award because
Nomination Deadline April 30, 2015.
Name and phone number of nominator
❑Blyth
& area ❑Brussels
& area