The Citizen, 2015-06-25, Page 1CitizenTh
e
$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, June 25, 2015
Volume 31 No. 25
ART - Pg. 23
Festival Gallery founders
honoured with exhibit
SPORTS - Pg. 7
Australian fastball team
plays a pair in Brussels
Publications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0
INSIDE
THIS WEEK:
for community fathers or a barbecue at Huronlea Home for the
Aged, there were plenty of opportunities to celebrate dad over the
weekend. Here, Mike Taverner and his daughter Taylin relax by
the pond, while Taylin plays with a worm (known that day as bait).
(Vicky Bremner photo)
Fishing with dad
A Father’s Day tradition in Blyth, Radford’s Pond welcomed
dozens of fathers with their sons and daughters on Sunday
to fish and spend time together. The occasion was also
marked various other ways throughout the community,
whether it was Lions Clubs’ breakfasts, firefighters cooking
Service
review
coming
G2G opponents confront various councils
Various groups of farmers and
adjacent landowners recently
expressed their displeasure over the
proposed Goderich to Guelph Rail
Trail, which is set to open next
week.
Landowners had their say at
Central Huron, Huron East,
Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh and
Morris-Turnberry Council meetings
last week, as well as North Huron,
which was reported in last week’s
issue of The Citizen. They all
referred back to the same letter,
which detailed a number of concerns
ranging from trespassing to
biosecurity risks for adjacent farms.
Larry Plaetzer spoke on behalf of
the group on June 15 at Central
Huron Council’s meeting, while
Neil Mitchell represented the group
on June 16, speaking to Huron East
Council.
At Central Huron’s meeting,
Councillor Alex Westerhout was
concerned about the prospect of
contamination of crops. Plaetzer said
that some farmers along the trail
with specific and detailed contracts
could suffer catastrophic
consequences if their crop was
contaminated.
If someone along the trail was to
discard a glass bottle in one such
field and it were to go unnoticed
during the harvest, Plaetzer said, it
would jeopardize the entire crop and
contract, putting the farmer’s very
livelihood at risk.
He also cited the possibility of
seed contamination, saying that if
the wrong seeds were to find their
way to the wrong field, farmers
would face dire consequences.
These are risks, he said, that area
farmers simply don’t want to take
for the sake of a trail.
Central Huron Mayor Jim Ginn
agreed with landowners in the room
who were critical of the lack of
communication between G2G Inc.,
the company spearheading the trail
project, and adjacent landowners.
Ginn said he was surprised when
the organization announced the trail
would be opening July 1, adding that
he felt those involved “didn’t do
themselves any favours” by making
the announcement, seemingly before
a number of important consultation
steps had been taken.
The landowners’ group said there
had only been two pieces of
correspondence they’ve received
regarding the trail and both have
come from the Huron County
Planning Department, one of which
came after the announcement of the
trail’s opening.
The lack of communication and
meaningful consultation, the group
said, shows G2G Inc. to be an
unreliable and untrustworthy partner
in their opinion.
The group implored Ginn and
council to keep the landowners’
issues in mind when asked to vote on
anything pertaining to the trail, and
Ginn said he would.
He told those in attendance that he
has vowed to keep an open mind to
all information, but that he can’t
decide anything until he’s received
all the available information, and
that has yet to happen.
At Huron East’s June 16 meeting,
Neil Mitchell expressed a number of
concerns to council that were
outlined at the Central Huron
meeting of one night earlier.
Mitchell, however, has a lease on
the portion of the trail that runs
through his Morris-Turnberry farm,
saying that it is set to expire in 2016.
Huron East Mayor Bernie
MacLellan told the landowners in
attendance that while he
sympathized with them and agreed
with many of their points, there is
very little Huron East Council can
do to raise them or stop the trail.
MacLellan called G2G Inc. a
“rogue group” that has been
operating on its own, not consulting
with Huron County Council very
much and not at all with various
lower-tier municipal councils.
Because of the provincial
involvement in the former rail bed
land, Councillor Larry McGrath
suggested that perhaps the
landowners’ concerns would be an
Huron East Council is leaning
towards hiring a consultant to
investigate service delivery and the
viability of programs throughout the
municipality.
Based on a resolution put forward
by Mayor Bernie MacLellan at
council’s June 16 meeting, council
discussed the issue at length,
acknowledging that with such a
proposal and the suggestion that a
consultant be engaged, certain costs
would be inevitable.
MacLellan suggested that for a
third-party consultant to be brought
in for such an extensive review,
council would have to be willing to
spend at least $50,000, likely more.
The conversation took on a new
level of urgency, however, when
Councillor Ray Chartrand raised the
issue of a progress report on area
community centres that provided a
disturbing forecast for the year.
After years of the centres
accumulating deficits, Treasurer
Paula Michiels had initiated a
program where area community
centres provide progress reports
over the course of the year. With
large deficits popping up at the end
of the years for the last several years,
regular reports would ensure that
gains and losses could be monitored
more closely, rather than surprising
council and staff at year’s end.
Five months into 2015, he said,
the Seaforth centre already had a
deficit of $41,552, while the
Brussels centre has an end-of-May
deficit of $17,136. According to
their budgets, Chartrand said, the
centres were expected to end 2015
with $17,000 and $6,300 deficits,
respectively. He pointed out that
both centres are far ahead of
schedule in terms of losing money.
Michiels agreed, saying that these
types of reports are exactly why she
instituted more frequent reporting,
which is new for 2015.
Projecting forward, Chartrand
said, the municipality could be
facing a further deficit of well over
$100,000 for which the municipality
hadn’t budgetted.
He said council has to start taking
a hard line with its community
centres in an effort to keep them on
budget – and that there has to be
consequences if budgets aren’t kept.
Councillor Larry McGrath said
that the accumulating deficits are
part of a bigger issue.
With most of the centres’ expenses
tied up in overhead, in reality the
municipality should be charging
The Citizen
Celebrating 30 Years
1985~2015
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 12Continued on page 18