The Citizen, 2015-10-01, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015.
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Mayor, councillor preach
mutual respect at table
Huron East Mayor Bernie
MacLellan and Councillor John
Lowe are preaching mutual
respect around the council table
after the previous meeting’s
“interruption”.
MacLellan spoke about the
Sept. 8 discussion when, at the
Sept. 22 meeting, minutes from
the meeting were up for approval.
The “interruption”, as MacLellan
called it, took place when several
councillors told MacLellan they
no longer trusted him due to a
series of incidents (see the Sept.
17 issue of The Citizen for the full
story). It also involved finger-
pointing and accusations of
circumventing proper procedure,
both by MacLellan and by Chief
Administrative Officer Brad
Knight.
MacLellan, on Sept. 22, called
the events of the previous meeting
unfortunate and said that
councillors need to respect one
another when in open session. He
referenced the municipality’s
procedural bylaw, saying that
council needs to abide by it and
respect their fellow councillors.
Lowe added to the comment,
saying that respect should also
extend to closed-to-the-public
sessions, as well as open sessions.
MacLellan agreed.
MacLellan also voiced some
concerns with how the matter was
reported by local media outlets
and how those reports were
handled by councillors.
He said that while local reports
of the meeting weren’t factually
inaccurate, councillors made
accusations that were unfounded
and harmful, which reporters
failed to fact-check, in his
opinion.
He also questioned the conduct
of councillors on social media
regarding perceived “support” of a
story that portrayed council as
being in disarray and what that
“support” may look like to the
general public who came across it.
The mayor said that while he
isn’t on Facebook, it came to his
attention that one councillor
“liked” The Citizen’s story about
councillors’ distrust in the mayor
when it was posted and he felt
that conduct was unbecoming of
an elected official.
“I hope councillors aren’t
finding it entertaining that we’re
having problems,” MacLellan
said, adding that he would hope
councillors wouldn’t be happy
when things aren’t going well
around the council table.
Lowe, the councillor who liked
the post on The Citizen’s page,
defended himself, saying that his
actions were more about
supporting The Citizen and
validating its online readership
efforts, rather than appearing to
be pleased with a rift amongst
councillors and their mayor.
He also said that a “like” on
Facebook isn’t necessarily
endorsing the content of the story
in question, adding that
controlling a councillor’s choices
on social media wasn’t something
the mayor should control.
“Telling us what to like and
what not to like is beyond your
role as mayor,” Lowe told
MacLellan.
Practice makes perfect
Maitland River Elementary School students took part
in special bus evacuation exercises last Thursday. The
exercise included both students who attend school via
a bus and local students for their trips away from the
school. Shown are Tyra Sutton, left, and Amelia Fehr,
right helping Lukas Carter off the bus. Next in line to
evacuate the bus is Zander Mercer. (Denny Scott photo)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
HE gets ‘C’ infrastructure grade
Huron East has been given a
‘C’ in terms of its asset
management, based on a report
prepared by Treasurer Paula
Michiels.
Michiels presented the report to
council at its Sept. 22 meeting,
telling councillors that the
municipality’s path to
sustainability reaches across eight
asset categories.
The categories are: road
network, bridges and culverts,
water infrastructure, sanitary
sewer infrastructure, storm sewer
infrastructure, buildings,
machinery and equipment and
vehicles. Each category was
compared against a series of
questions, asking what the
municipality owns in each
category, what is it worth and
what condition it’s in, etc.
Michiels told councillors that
taxes would have to be raised
significantly, and reserves would
have to be increased substantially
for the municipality to reach its
goal of being sustainable.
Huron East’s road network was
given a grade of D+. Michiels
said that based on annual
contribution levels, the road
network has a shortfall of over
$600,000. To become sustainable,
Michiels calculated that nearly
$1.5 million would have to be
contributed annually.
Seventy per cent of the
municipality’s roads, however,
are estimated to be between fair
and excellent condition, leaving
30 per cent of Huron East roads
in poor or critical condition.
Similarly, the municipality is
having trouble keeping up with
bridge and culvert needs. That
category received a grade of D,
citing a shortfall of over $400,000
and an estimated annual
requirement of nearly $700,000
to reach sustainability.
Huron East’s water
infrastructure received a B, its
sanitary sewer infrastructure
received a C+, its storm sewer
infrastructure received a B, its
buildings received a D+, its
machinery and equipment
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 22