The Citizen, 2010-12-09, Page 1CitizenTh
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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, December 9, 2010
Volume 26 No. 48
COUNCILS - Pg. 17Remunerations for localcouncils broken down TRAILS - Pg. 24 Snowmobile trails notopen despite heavy snowBIA - Pg. 13Blyth one step closer to forming BIAPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:C e l e b r a t i n g 25 YearsTheCitizen1985-2010
County Council to
maintain its size
Blyth’s Riach voted deputy-reeve
False alarm shines
light on confusion
Santa speaks!
Andon Piper of Grey Central Public School dons the belly that shakes like jelly and a snow-
white beard to play the role of the big man himself; Santa Claus. Accompanied here by Lauren
Silcock, right, and Bennett Smith, left, Santa was part of the school’s Christmas concert dress
rehearsal held on Dec. 6. Silcock read out parts of Christmas as they were represented in
Christmas cards while classmates like Piper acted them out. Other performances of the night
included the Kindergarten class reworking several songs to reflect the season and an
explanation of how the original Christmas tree came to be in a very wild way from the Grade
2 class. (Denny Scott photo)
An alarm malfunction has helped
to illustrate some of the issues the
people of Auburn have been
concerned about since last summer
in regards to fire coverage, says Jim
Schneider, who has been fighting
over the issue since last summer.
“I just think it’s sad when they’re
playing with people’s lives like this,”
Schneider said.
Schneider has been heavily
involved with fire coverage
discussions with multiple municipal
councils, fire departments and even
the Huron County Planning
Department. But it was on Nov. 28
when he saw the flaws in the system
first hand. He says he knew it was
bad, but he didn’t think it was as bad
as it’s turned out to be.
While Schneider and his wife
were away on the Sunday morning,
the couple’s security system ex-
perienced a glitch and was tripped.
When the alarm began to sound,
the company is instructed to call the
house and if there is no answer, they
are to call 911.
What followed was the exact
reasoning, Schneider says, that
brought him to the Huron County
Planning Department about
restructuring the village of Auburn
so it sits in just one municipality, as
opposed to three.
“Three different fire departments
were contacted before one even hit
the road,” he said.
The first call went to Kincardine,
Schneider says, in an attempt to
dispatch the Lucknow Fire
Department. After being notified
that Schneider’s home was not the
jurisdiction of the Lucknow Fire
Department, the call was re-routed
to Stratford, who attempted to
dispatch the Central Huron Fire
Department, who are also not the
responding fire department to
Schneider’s part of the village. After
re-routing the call once more, the
call was sent to Stratford, who
dispatched the Blyth division of the
North Huron Fire Department, who
then made their way to the
Schneiders’ home.
To be honest, Schneider says, he
has no idea why the dispatch process
was so confusing. Because of the
agreements and the uncertainty as to
who should be responding, he said,
it has just furthered his resolve as to
why a clear-cut and definitive
agreement needs to be reached for
fire coverage for all of Auburn.
He and others have been saying
this since last summer. All they want
is for every resident of Auburn,
regardless of where they live, to have
the same level of fire coverage,
where the closest fire department
responds and they have access to
medical first response services.
Dorothy says that she’s just happy
David Riach walked into this
term’s inaugural council meeting on
Dec. 6 in North Huron as a
councillor, but left as a Deputy
Mayor, giving a voice at Huron
County Council to the Blyth Ward
representative.
Riach, who was appointed to
council in 2009, was one of three
candidates for the Blyth Ward in the
recent municipal election, and was
the only seconded nomination that
was accepted at the meeting.
Councillor Alma Conn was
nominated by Councillor Brock
Vodden of Blyth Ward, but declined
the nomination, and Vodden
nominated himself but failed to find
a seconder.
The motion to accept Riach as
deputy-reeve was unanimous.
“I was pleasantly surprised that I
was selected by fellow councillors to
represent the township,” Riach said
at the meeting.
He acknowledged that, similar to
when he joined council, this would
be “another steep learning curve,”
but said that he felt up to the
challenge.
As a part of Huron County
Council, Riach hopes to impress
upon his fellow councillors the
importance of co-operation amongst
all councils.
He also stated that he would
endeavour to represent everyone in
his township.
“I think that being a representative
of North Huron at Huron County
Council is important,” he said. “I
think it’s important that we
recognize all communities within
North Huron equally.”
Riach’s first Huron County
Council meeting was on Wednesday,
Dec. 8 at the inaugural meeting in
Goderich.
After doing some research, Huron
County Clerk Administrative Officer
Larry Adams says that Huron
County Council will not lose any of
its representatives for the upcoming
four-year term.
Around the time of the October
election, several municipalities were
told that their representation at the
Huron County Council table was in
danger of shrinking due to depleted
population numbers in North Huron,
Central Huron, Huron East and
South Huron.
Adams, however, did some
digging through the Huron County
records and found that if council
wished to lower its number of
representatives, members would
have had to pass a bylaw to that
effect before the October election.
Because of depleted voter
numbers produced by the Municipal
Property Assessment Corporation
(MPAC), which is headquartered in
Pickering, many municipalities were
informed they would have one fewer
representative at the Huron County
Council table for the 2010-2014
term.
Adams says, however, that if
Huron County Council wanted to
alter its composition from its current
20-member structure, it would have
had to pass a bylaw at some point
during the 2006-2010 term.
Council will now be required to
review the bylaw later in this term,
probably in 2013, says Huron
County’s David Carey, should the
composition wish to be changed.
Just before the October election,
as voter lists began to take shape,
Central Huron, Huron East and
South Huron were faced with the
potential reduction of their Huron
County Council representation from
three members down to two and
North Huron could have had its
representation reduced from two
members down to just one, its reeve.
To ensure that this research was
correct, Adams said that he brought
in a legal opinion, which confirmed
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 26
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 26
By Denny Scott
The Citizen