The Citizen, 2015-02-19, Page 24PAGE 24. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015.
Ec. Dev. Board to review several requests
Hot eats on a cold day
Sunday was one for the books as frigid temperatures set
records all over southwestern Ontario from London to
Toronto. In Belgrave, however, it was still very cold, but not
cold enough to keep people away from the Belgrave
Community Centre for its Family Day weekend activities.
Above, Kierstynn Procter spent some time sliding down
snow hills and roasting marshmallows outside, while inside
the centre, Chris Michie of the Belgrave Kinsmen, below,
was busy keeping breakfast warm for dozens of diners.
(Jasmine deBoer photo)
Continued from page 1
brought into the county on a full-
time basis, which was something
that concerned him.
He said that while the county was
seeking to invest in education, he felt
the ESTC was not a good
investment.
Central Huron Mayor Jim Ginn
said he disagreed with MacLellan,
saying he came to the meeting
prepared to support the request, but
after Blumhagen’s presentation, felt
the Economic Development Board
was the right landing spot for the
request.
Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh
Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek said
he wasn’t even in favour of
sending the request to the board,
saying he wasn’t in favour
of the grant whatsoever.
North Huron Reeve Neil Vincent,
however, stood up for the centre,
saying it was in the process of
creating all kinds of economic
development, whether it be meals in
local restaurants, people staying at
the Blyth Campground, or family
day trips to lakeshore destinations
like Goderich, Bayfield and Grand
Bend.
Council approved Blumhagen’s
recommendation and has sent the
grant request to the Economic
Development Board.
Blumhagen also advised council
that he had recently received a figure
from the HealthKick Huron
program, which will be asking for
funding for 2016 and beyond. While
a figure had yet to be finalized,
Blumhagen said the program, which
has received funding from the
county for the past four years, will
be seeking another $261,000 (a
three-year continuation of the
$87,000 per year the program
received between 2012 and 2015).
He also suggested that
HealthKick’s request be forwarded
to the Economic Development
Board as well.
The recommendation for the
request from the Southwest
Integrated Fibre Technology
(SWIFT) initiative was to “stand
pat” Blumhagen said, as there were
still a number of factors that had yet
to be settled, including the delivery
of the program’s business plan. That
request was in the amount of
$135,000 for 2015, with requests to
continue for the following four
years.
Blumhagen suggested that the
$60,000 request from the Huron
County Food Bank Distribution
Centre and the $5,000 from the
Coalition for Huron Injury
Prevention (CHIP) could be funded
from the county’s “unforeseen
expenses” account, which has a
current balance of $100,000.
He also said the $20,000 requested
from the United Way Social
Research and Planning Council
could come from that fund, but that
$10,000 of it could, perhaps, come
by way of the Community
Homelessness Prevention Initiative
(CHPI).
Finally, he advised council that the
$1 million reserve for the Economic
Development Board could be re-
allocated to the board’s newly-
established reserve, transferred from
the county’s general reserve.
The rest of the budget was
presented with a two per cent tax
levy increase, as requested by
council, with council’s requested
reduction in the proposed tax levy
increase to be covered from reserves.
Orchard said that while
councillors saw Blumhagen’s budget
with a two per cent increase, staff
saw it as a zero increase budget after
losing two per cent of the budget to
cuts in the Ontario Municipal
Partnership Fund (OMPF).
Van Diepenbeek said he was
concerned with the county’s reserve
levels, saying that the budget
shouldn’t be funded from the
county’s reserves. It was not a
sustainable way to balance the
budget, he said.
Orchard, however, said that with
all the funding cuts and department
increases, if further cuts are
requested by council, the only place
left to cut would be county staff.
Council did not pass the budget,
but asked for updated reserve levels
for the next budget meeting, which
was set for Wednesday, Feb. 18.
Continued from page 19
insurance ($1,000) and ATV safety
($200).
Armstrong said that the coalition
was asking for $5,000 for the year,
saying that money could be
leveraged to create even more
money for the group and its efforts,
breaking down the proposed 2015
budget as $7,200 from community
support, $6,800 from Ministry of
Transportation grants, $5,000
from Huron County and $1,000
from other grant sources for a
total of $20,000.
Council deferred the request until
further budget deliberations could
take place and a staff report could be
prepared, keeping with its
procedural bylaw.
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Council defers grant