The Citizen, 2013-03-14, Page 1CitizenTh
e
$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, March 14, 2013
Volume 29 No. 11
MVCA - Pg. 20Conservation Authorityholds annual meeting FESTIVAL - Pg. 23 Festival originalimpresses in OttawaRACING- Pg. 14Clinton Raceway inks newpartnershipPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
County approves 2013 budget
New contractor for
Brussels Library
Survey presented in
Morris-Turnberry
With a little help from her friend
Chelsea Hoggart (riding high) certainly knows how to get around the playground at Hullett
Central Public School. Hoggart’s friend Morgan Howson must just be waiting for her turn to get
a free ride last week while there was still snow on the ground. (Olivia Allen photo)
Douglas Barill from Huron
County economic development
presented Morris-Turnberry’s
business retention and expansion
study to the public on March 6,
after it had been originally
presented to council in early
February.
Barill told the over 20 people in
attendance at the Wingham Golf and
Curling Club that while there is still
some work to be done, Morris-
Turnberry has plenty to be proud of.
At the beginning of the
presentation Morris-Turnberry
Mayor Paul Gowing said the
municipality was the second-last in
Huron County to complete the
survey (Ashfield-Colborne-
Wawanosh will be the last) but that
he and his fellow councillors were
happy they did it.
“It was a small amount of money
and a big bang for your buck,”
Gowing told the crowd. “This is the
best thing you can do with a limited
Huron County Council passed its
2013 budget with a lower-than-
expected tax rate increase of 2.47 per
cent.
The budget passed at council’s
March 6 meeting after several
budget presentations. Going into the
budget process it had been accepted
by several councillors that the tax
rate increase would be at least three
per cent.
Huron East Mayor Bernie
MacLellan pleaded for a higher
increase, saying that while 2.5 per
cent was being considered, the
increase should be bumped up to
three per cent.
“I think we should go up that extra
half. It’s not bad to have reserves,”
MacLellan told councillors. “I think
that’s a realistic number that we can
live with as long as we don’t spend
unwisely.”
MacLellan’s thoughts, however,
were not echoed by many and the
increase was eventually marked at
2.47 per cent. The increase equates
to an increase of $9.39 on $100,000
of assessment, said Deputy-
Treasurer Nancy Rennick.
Attention then shifted to what
should be done with the existing
surplus of $295,000.
Goderich Mayor Deb Shewfelt
had said at previous meetings that a
surplus is simply extra money taken
from taxpayers and that it wasn’t
right that council didn’t infuse it
back into the general levy to
decrease a potential tax increase.
Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh
Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek spoke
first, saying that he felt $50,000
should be contributed to the Huron
Clean Water Project, something that
had already been discussed.
Van Diepenbeek said that Huron
County has been well recognized
across the country for its work with
water quality and Lake Huron and it
would be a shame for that work to
not continue.
The contribution to the Huron
Clean Water Project was approved
by council.
Bluewater’s Tyler Hessel then
suggested that $10,000 from the
surplus be put towards economic
development. He said that
subtracting grants from the
economic development budget, this
year’s contribution is $90,000. He
said the additional $10,000 would
serve to top it up to an even
$100,000 which would be only fair.
The total amount in the economic
development budget would then be
$160,000, with a $60,000 grant
included.
Hessel said that even with further
contributions to the Huron Clean
Water Project and the Huron
Economic Development Partnership
$235,000 would still be going into
the tax stabilization reserve, $35,000
more than was anticipated a year
ago.
Hessel’s suggestion was also
approved, along with the budget and
a contribution to the tax stabilization
reserve of $235,000.
Huron East Council is proceeding
with construction on the Brussels
Library, but after a lengthy closed-
to-the-public session on March 5,
the project will go forward with a
new contractor.
When council reconvened in open
session on March 5, Mayor Bernie
MacLellan read out a motion stating
that the municipality would rescind a
motion made on Feb. 5 offering the
Brussels Library project to the
Metkor Group of Lucknow as
“bonding requirements” for the
project had not been met.
The project will now go to Wayne
and Harold Smith Construction of
Seaforth, whose original bid of
$894,300 came up less than $20,000
short of Metkor’s original bid of
$876,900. The issue was dealt with
in closed session, according to the
meeting’s agenda, due to litigation
or potential litigation related to the
issue.
After the meeting, MacLellan
explained what exactly went wrong
with Metkor’s bid, stating that it was
a confusing situation that he had
never gone through before.
Bonding requirements, he
explained are related essentially to
an insurance policy for the project.
“If the company were to go
bankrupt in the middle of the
project,” MacLellan said, “the
municipality would be covered.”
MacLellan explained using an
example from another local project
where the company had completed
60 per cent of the project, but then
folded. The bonding provided by the
company then enabled the
municipality to have the project
completed by a different company at
no additional cost.
He explained that contractors are
required to submit a certified cheque
for the total amount of the tender
that the municipality would hold
until the project is completed, as
well as other insurance
requirements.
MacLellan said that no one at the
municipality knew that Metkor’s bid
was incomplete until it was brought
to their attention after the tender had
been accepted.
“We looked into it from a legal
standpoint and it did not meet
policies,” MacLellan said. The
municipality was notified about the
issue by one of the project’s other
applicants, MacLellan said.
MacLellan assured councillors
and members of the local media,
however, that this change in
contractors would not alter the
outlook for the project. If anything,
he said, in Smith Construction’s
original bid, the company said it
could start earlier than Metkor.
Despite being notified a month later
than anticipated, the project will
likely still begin by the beginning of
April.
MacLellan also said that there
won’t be substantial cost
implications either, as Smith’s tender
is less than two per cent higher than
Metkor’s.
As far as past experience with
Smith Construction, MacLellan
said. “We have worked with
them before and we’ve been happy
with their work. I’m not upset at
all.”
Architect John Rutledge, in an
interview after the March 5 meeting,
said he was aware of the situation
and that he was also happy to be
working with Smith Construction.
He said that both tenders, from a
work standpoint, were really quite
similar in his eyes and that there
would be no drop-off in quality of
work in his mind.
Smith Construction was to be
notified of the developments shortly
after the March 5 meeting and work
would begin shortly thereafter.
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 24