The Citizen, 2007-07-12, Page 28Chad McMichael headed a group
of residents from the Humphrey
subdivision in Belgrave at the North
Huron Council meeting July 3.
The group is opposed to the
proposal of garbage and recycling
pickup.
“We do not wish to have curbside
pickup, we don’t want to add it to
our taxes,” McMichael said.
He brought a petition with 15
names on it supporting his cause.
There have been letters sent out
and phone calls made to the area
regarding how residents feel about
having curbside pickup, and the
response is pretty even for both
sides.
“We have had requests from
residents there since the new year
(for curbside pickup),” clerk-
administrator Kriss Snell said.
Currently, some residents of the
subdivision pay for private curbside
pickup, and no decision was made
on introducing it to the entire
community.
The North Huron council meeting
had an intense start July 3 as an
enraged Jim Taylor made a
presentation to council regarding the
Wingham landfill.
Taylor who lives by the landfill
asked why there is an environmental
assessment being done of the
landfill, if the assessment only
means further expansion of the
current landfill.
“You’re costing me and my assets.
The landfill has significantly
lowered my property value,” he said.
“How will you compensate me?
Have you budgeted for that?”
Taylor called upon long-serving
members of council to explain their
actions regarding the environmental
assessment.
“We’ve taken this to court before,
but we didn’t take it to the MOE
(Ministry of the Environment),
because we are good citizens, but
looking back we should have,”
Taylor said.
He went on to say the town of
Wingham has taken advantage of his
area.
“Nobody wanted to be
amalgamated with Wingham. Why?
Because they would take advantage
of us! Before amalgamation this
never would have happened, and if
we had known we would have
objected,” Taylor said. “We feel like
we’re second-class citizens.”
Taylor said he wants the
assessment to just look at the small
area by his property.
“Any environmental assessment
looks at the entire area, including the
smaller area, and when it comes
back if there are problems with A, B
and C then it’s incumbent upon this
body to take care of that,” councillor
Greg McClinchey said. “Even if it
comes back positive, no decision has
been made yet (regarding
expansion).”
“No motion has ever been
passed for a county dump,” East
Wawanosh councillor James
Campbell said.
Reeve Neil Vincent said the
assessment can take up to three or
four years before the results are
back, which Taylor said he cannot
wait for.
“I might not even have another
four years, I want something done
immediately,” Taylor said. “If you
want to buy me out, I’ll put a price
on it, but don’t let it sit there another
month, six months.”
“If you want to continue on, come
to me with a cheque.”
A request from the Ontario Good
Roads Assocation for information on
the condition of municipal
infrastructure brought mixed
feelings for at least one county
councillor at the July 4 meeting.
Municipal DataWorks is a web-
based infrastructure asset repository
owned and managed by OGRA.
Councillor Bernie MacLellan of
Huron East expressed some slight
unease about the request. “How
much information do they want,” he
asked, adding that while problems
might assist in getting grant funds, it
could be detrimental to tourism.
“This doesn’t end up in the
Toronto paper, does it?”
Warden Deb Shewfelt of Goderich
admitted that it could, and agreed
that MacLellan was raising some
good points. “But it’s public
information once it comes to
council.”
Chief administrative officer Larry
Adams said that the information was
meant to assist when requests for
funding were made.
Councillor Jim Fergusson
wondered about the cost involved.
“This will have to be updated
regularly. We will require extra staff
resources?”
County engineer Don Pletch said
the data gets sent to the province
every year. “It’s just statistical
information. There’s no difference
involved.”
The fact that asset management is
a requirement was a point raised by
councillor Bill Siemon of Huron
East. “We have to do all this work
anyway. Uploading the information
is the only difference.”
Morris-Turnberry councillors
agreed at their July 3 meeting to be
part of a study into the possible
savings from an OPP contract that
would include every municipality in
the county except Wingham.
“It wouldn’t be good not to
consider it,” said mayor Dorothy
Kelly, after administrator clerk-
treasurer Nancy Michie explained
the OPP will prepare the costing
study at no charge.
Kelly and Michie had attended a
Clinton meeting, June 22 organized
by Central Huron. It was noted there
was a potential saving if all the
municipalities signed a group
contract with the force.
Last year, Morris-Turnberry paid
$124 per household for police
services.
Councillor Mark Beaven
wondered if the possibility of a
locally- run, country-wide police
force had been broached at the
meeting. Kelly and Michie said it
wasn’t. Councillors Lynn Hoy and
Bill Thompson both said they’d be
opposed to a county force.
One of the options proposed at
the meeting, which the councillors
would not consider, was one that
would see the entire county under
OPP policing, closing the Wingham
police service.
“Let Wingham do their own
thing,” said Hoy.
“Residents of Wingham have told
me they realize it’s costing them
more (to have their own police
force) but they want to keep it,” said
Beaven.
Landfill neighbourhas plenty to sayto NH councilPAGE 28. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2007.
The debate regarding the Seaforth
fire department’s new pumper
finally came to a close July 3 when a
purchase was finalized.
On a recorded vote, Huron East
council voted 7-5 in favour of
purchasing a new custom cab
pumper from ResQtech Systems
Inc. at the price of $306,000.
In favour were mayor Joe Seili,
David Blaney, Bill Siemon, Bob
Fisher, Les Falconer, Joe Steffler
and Andrew Flowers, opposed were
deputy-mayor Bernie MacLellan,
Larry McGrath, Alvin McLellan,
Frank Stretton and Orval Bauer.
The debate raged earlier this year
between council and the fire
department concerning the new
pumper. Council was prepared to
purchase a new truck, but when the
department suggested a custom cab
truck at approximately $20,000
more than the original estimate,
questions were asked.
Earlier discussions on the pumper
led to council asking for more
proposals, including a break-down
of the price, as well as a price from
the same company for a custom cab
as well as a commercial truck.
The recommendation was made
by the Seaforth fire board at their
meeting on June 28. Seili and
MacLellan were in attendance. And
while the department didn’t go with
the cheapest one, they felt the
warranties were far superior for little
more money.
The firefighters compromised on
the truck. It originally came with a
price tag of $309,500, which
included two site visits at $3,500
each. The site visits are standard
practice and are an opportunity for
the department to make the trip to
the factory in North Dakota to
observe the truck in a near-finished
construction state to ensure that
everything is going together
properly.
The department forfeited one of
the visits to cut the price down by
$3,500, but Bedard still thought it
would be a good idea for the
department to make one of the visits.
Siemon said that the company
should be doing their own quality
control, and that the municipality
shouldn’t have to pay in order to
visit the factory to ensure its own
truck is going together correctly.
Blaney disagreed, saying, “I think
it’s a good idea. While you might
call it quality control, I’d call it an
insurance policy.”
Stretton also spoke against the
custom cab. In the best interests of
his area of the municipality, he said,
this move doesn’t send a good
message.
“Our budget is stretched as it is
and we need money for bridges and
roads. I think it sends a message that
we treat the south different than the
north,” he said. “I’ve talked to
people from service clubs in the
north who donate lots of money to
these departments and they’ve said
they won’t be donating in the same
way now.”
MacLellan agreed, saying that
since his first trip in a custom cab
truck versus a commercial truck, his
opinion against the custom cab
pumper has not been changed.
“If it was my money, I don’t know
that I would pay the difference. I
know it’s just $20,000, but to me
that’s still a lot of money,” he said.
Steffler, chair of the fire board,
said the safety for volunteer
firefighters should be at the top of
the list. Steffler also defended the
site visits, calling them “money well
spent”.
The recorded vote came at the
request of Steffler.
Humphrey resident
opposes pickup
Huron County will send a letter of
support asking for a higher
allotment of funding for Huron
Business Development
Corporation.
At the July 4 meeting of county
councillor, Huron East councillor
Joe Seili asked for the letter saying
that HBDC had many of requests
for loans, but not enough
government dollars.
Councillor John Bezaire of
Central Huron said he thought that
when request was made to HBDC
for a loan, the money came from a
bank.
Planner Scott Tousaw explained
that when HBDC started they were
given $1.5 million for a loan fund.
That has risen to $2.2 million.
“However, they now have requests
in access of that,” he said. “I think a
letter would be helpful.”
The end
It was a down and out group of performers in this scene from the children’s drama workshop
final presentation at Blyth Memorial Hall on Saturday morning. The two plays performed, one
for younger children, one for older, focused on the theme of Superheroes. The younger group
did a story about a young girl whose superhero mom thinks she is too little to help in the fight
against crime. The older group, pictured above, performed an original piece about a small
village whose magic fountain was stolen by villains. The performances were the culmination
of a week of theatre games, exercises and fun at the Blyth Festival. (Vicky Bremner photo)
By Terry Bridge
Wingham Advance-Times
By Terry Bridge
Wingham Advance-Times
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Seaforth to get new pumper
By Shawn Loughlin
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County to send
letter of support
By Bonnie Gropp
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OGRA request results
in mixed feelings
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