The Citizen, 2012-11-15, Page 1CitizenTh
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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, November 15, 2012
Volume 28 No. 45
AWARD - Pg. 15Blyth-area girl winsfarm writing award FESTIVAL - Pg. 23 Festival season bringscritical success, deficitFIRE- Pg. 7Surveys reveal oppositionto M-T fire departmentPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Safety measures to
be implemented at
Huron County level
Elliotts, Sparlings
buy school building
Waste screening process begins
We will remember them
Remembrance Day ceremonies were held throughout the community on Sunday both
remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country and honouring those still
fighting abroad and stationed at home. Ceremonies were held at Memorial Hall in Blyth,
pictured above, at the Cenotaph outside of the Brussels Legion and at Huronlea Home for the
Aged in Brussels. A gallery featuring dozens of images from all three services can be found
on The Citizen’s website at www.northhuron.on.ca (Jim Brown photo)
Huron County councillors had
some decisions to make at their Nov.
7 meeting, faced with a bevy of
recommendations on how to proceed
with future members of the senior
management team.
Council was presented with a
letter of recommendation from
Marcus and Associates and Hoare-
Dalton detailing 13 pages of
recommendations on how to proceed
with county-issued credit cards,
county-owned vehicles and expense
reports for councillors and members
of the senior management team.
Goderich’s John Grace started the
discussion saying that the committee
that has been struck to review
applications for the county’s CAO
job should have this added to its
agenda.
He said the committee could make
some “solid” recommendations that
council could either adopt, or not
adopt.
He said that while there were
plenty of good recommendations in
the letter, there were some that
would need to be changed before
they could be adopted.
South Huron’s George Robertson
disagreed with the timeline, saying
that he hadn’t had the time to review
the recommendations being made
and that the discussion should return
for the Committee of the Whole
meeting on Nov. 14. That
recommendation, however, was
turned down as interim CAO
Heather Adams said that day’s
agenda was full.
Adams elaborated, saying that
some of the recommendations being
made are tied heavily into policy,
meaning that significant discussion
would have to take place before
implementation.
Goderich Mayor Deb Shewfelt,
however, said the report was simple
and that it came down to two serious
recommendations and one less-
serious recommendation.
“We’ve got three decisions to
make and we should make them
now,” Shewfelt said.
“We need to call the [credit] cards
in except for one. We need to get rid
of the cars and we need to go back
on some of the other policies that
have to be changed,”
Shewfelt said he could feel the
public pressure on this topic, as it
has been dealt with in closed session,
frustrating a lot of taxpayers in
Huron County.
“I think people are tired of
waiting,” he said.
Warden Bernie MacLellan came
down somewhere in the middle,
saying that the issue needed to be
dealt with promptly, but that council
couldn’t feel rushed, resulting in
rash decision making.
“I realize that it’s awkward to ask
for a report on a report,” MacLellan
said in response to Grace’s
suggestion of a report from the CAO
hiring committee.
Central Huron’s Dave Jewitt said
he wasn’t comfortable making a
decision yet. He said references were
made to certain policies that he
wasn’t familiar with. He said he tried
to look the policies up on the county
website, but that it is “atrocious”
when it comes to looking up
For the next two to three months
the Nuclear Waste Management
Organization (NWMO) will be
conducting its initial screening
process to establish if Central Huron
is an appropriate site for its future
facility.
Representatives from the
organization addressed Central
Huron Council at its Nov. 5 meeting
and outlined what the next steps
would be and what council should
expect in the future.
Dr. Ben Belfadhel, director of
geosciences, outlined the process,
saying that the initial screening
process will take approximately two
to three months and the NWMO
hopes to have it completed by the
end of the year.
The next stage, should Central
Huron be eligible after the initial
screening phase, will be a feasibility
study that could take over two years
to complete.
After the feasibility study, there
would then be a detailed phase that
could take as long as five years to
complete.
During that five-year period,
Belfadhel explained, the “heavy
lifting” is done. It will be during this
time that holes are drilled,
environmental studies are completed
and a safety assessment is done.
All in all, he said, the process
could take between seven and 10
years to complete. At that point, if
the community is still a candidate,
the NWMO will have whittled its list
down to two communities and
representatives would be looking for
the community itself (not council) to
express interest in the site, wanting it
to be housed in their community.
During the evaluation process,
Belfadhel says the community has to
pass all of the tests and meet all of
the company’s criteria. He said there
needs to be enough land to
accommodate the site and it needs to
be away from parts of the
community that need to be
preserved, such as provincial parks
or heritage properties.
The site would have to have no
groundwater resources and no
known economical resources (such
as minerals, oil or gas).
The site will have to be one
kilometre square at ground level and
then be 1.5 kilometres by 2.5
kilometres underground where the
actual storage facility will be
housed. The facility will be 500
metres below the ground.
Along the way Belfadhel said the
NWMO will be working with the
Ministry of the Environment to
obtain water records and look at the
depth of area wells as they’ll be
researching deep hydrogeology.
They’ll also be working with the
Ministry of Natural Resources.
After the initial screening process
is complete (the NWMO hopes this
will be before the end of the year)
On Nov. 12 the 237 King Street
Corporation announced it has
purchased the former Blyth Public
School.
The school is located in the centre
of the village on a 3.2 acre parcel
and this transaction represents one of
the largest land transfers in the
history of Blyth.
The new owners have already
received several inquiries regarding
re-purposing of the 19,000 square
foot school, ranging from
educational to commercial uses; 237
King Street will not consider any
proposals to convert the existing
building to any residential
application.
Concurrently, 237 is working with
consultants from Stantec, London,
and Huron County Planning and
Development, Goderich, to consider
a variety of responsible appropriate
plans for the property, including
demolition of the school and
construction of detached and
condominium homes.
“The owners are committed to
helping make ‘something good’ out
of a bad situation (closure of Blyth
Public School),” says Jeff Elliott.
“We look forward to sharing
more information as details are
available.”
The 237 King Street Corporation
is owned by Blyth stakeholders,
Steven Sparling, David Sparling,
Rick Elliott and Jeff Elliott.
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 11
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 6