The Citizen, 2007-11-15, Page 6The pur chas e of a snow bl o we rgave one North Huron councillor anopportunity to re-iterate a point ofview at the Nov. 5 meeting.Director of public works Ralph
Campbell said that“local dealers ”
were asked to submit quotes. Three
were received. Each allowed $1,200
for a trade-in snowblower.
A n a mo un t o f $4 ,00 0 wa s
i n c lud ed in th e bu d get for the
snowblower.
The quotes were:Huron Tractor,
Blyth,$3,400 plus taxes; McGavin
Fa r m Sup p ly,Wa l t o n ,$ 4 , 6 4 5 . 5 0
p lus taxe s ,a nd R ob er t ’s Fa rm
E q u i p m e n t ,L u c k n ow,$ 3 , 1 3 9 . 1 8
plus taxes.
Th e re c o m m e n d a tio n was to
accept the lowest quote.
Councillor Greg McClinchey said
that while there was a few hundred
dollars difference,he would preferthe township to go with the quotefrom Huron Tractor,which is locatedin North Huron. C l e r k - a d m i n i s t r at o r K ris s Sn el ls a i d ,h o weve r ,t h at prov i n c i a ll egi s l ation prohibit s council fro mgiving preferential treatment to local
business.
“That may be,but I’ve expressed
b e f o re m y fe el ing s o n th is. I
understand the argument,but I think
we should support local business,”
said McClinchey.
Councillor Archie MacGowan felt
this could get council into a difficult
situation. “You do get into a problem
with that. Where do you dra w the
line?”
McClinchey reminded council that
in the spring they had made the
decision to not accept a quote from a
local business for a rotary finishing
mower,even though it was the best
price.
MacGowan pointed out that in thatcase,the other mower had been thepreference of staff because of thee q u i p m e n t ’s size and em ploy e e s ’familiarity with the model. Councillor Murray Nesbitt notedthat if council is simply going toa l ways accept the local bu s i n e s s ,then they might as well forget thetender process. “As I sai d I un de rstan d thea rguments. I just still have myreservations,”said McClinchey.Coun ci l ap p r ove d therecommendation.PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY,NOVEMBER 15, 2007.McClinchey stresses preference for buying local
North Huron council approved the
hiring of part-time winter help for
the road department at the Nov. 5
meeting.
Director of public works Ralph
Campbell said that the wo r k l o a d
i n c r ea ses so gre a t l y d u rin g the
winter that many of the employees
are not getting the necessary time
off.
“It was brought to our attention
t h a t s om e g uy s ar e n ot g e t t i n g
weekends off all winter.”
C l e r k - a d m i n i s t r a to r K riss Sne ll
sai d that la st ye ar th e tow n s h i p
o p e rate d u nd er n ew Mini stry of
Tra n s p o r t a tio n stan da rds th at
reg u l a te a mo ng ot he r th ing s th e
number of hours an employee can be
on the road or working per week.
“AMO did get some concessions,
but not nearl y eno ugh,so we ’re
going to be dealing with that again,”
said Snell. He added,however,that
last year may have been exceptional.
“It was really difficult because we
had six weeks in a row of solid
plowing.”
Hiring part-time people will also
lessen the amount of overtime paid,
said Snell.
Continued from page 1
The existing plans for the ne w
building are just a starting point and
Seili says that the design will likely
change several times over the winter.
H o weve r,s eve r al c it i zens vo i c e d
their concerns over the new library
turning out to be a “square ,ugly”
something that Seili says he doesn’t
want to see happen either.
“Over the winter,we’ll get some
model designs,some top views and
some front views.It’s my own idea
that we could just mirror the existing
library,put the footprint in for that
and there you go,you have heritage
with the newe r ,m o d e r n l ibr a ry,”
Seili said.“We’re also going to see
what we can do as far as green
projects go. We know that there is
some funding out there for green
projects,so that’s where we’re going
to head.”
MacLellan echoed this,saying that
in all likelihood,the building should
be able to be built for half the cost,
$2 00 p er squ are fo o t ,a nd t ha t
council is committing double what is
re q u i red t o en sur e t hat th e new
library will be an attractive part of
downtown Brussels.
Paying the Bill
S ei li an nou nce d t hat M or ri s -
Tu r n b e rry (may or Dor o t h y Ke l l y
was p resent ) wou ld co nt ri bu t e
approximately 20 per cent of the
final cost of the library.
T he pr e l i m i n a r y br e a k d o wn of
cos t (st i ll wit h th e hy p o t h e t i c a l
figure of $600,000 as a cost) was that
H u r o n E ast wou l d co nt ri bu t e
$300,000 from the tax levy,Morris-
Tu r n b e r ry wou l d co nt ri bu t e
$ 1 0 0 , 0 0 0 ,B r us sel s woul d ra i s e
$125,000 through community events
and service groups and the Carnegie
building would sell for $75,000.
S ei li cal le d fo r p le dge s ,n o t
necessarily that night,but from local
service groups and announced tha t
h e,a l o n e ,ha d p le dge d $500 a
year over four years to the library
cause.
U rgin g t he p ubl i c to make a
decision,Seili said that financially,
sooner ra ther than later is a smart
idea.
“ The cost s are going to cl i m b
every day.We’ve been working for
two years at this process and the
building that we’ll build next spring
probably would have been $30,000
or $40,000 cheaper if we had built it
two years ago.”
“Did we make a mi stake? We
wanted to listen to the public and we
have to go through a certain process.
I t ’s n ot li ke i n p rivat e bu s i n e s s ,
where you decide to build it,you get
someone to do it and you carry on.
This is dealing with public money,
not private money.”
One ci ti zen asked wh at wo u l d
happen if the fundraising expectation
of $125,000 wasn’t met. Seili said it
would come from the tax levy,so
people should be pre pared to see
t a x es go up und er t ho se
circumstances.
Wayne Lowe of Brussels said that
a New Year’s Levee is being planned
and that an annual event,similar to
Homecoming can be expected every
year. Lowe’s announcement was met
with applause from the crowd.
However,as far as the sale of the
building is concerned,Seili admitted
t h a t t here i s n o secu re p ri c e t a g
attached to the library,and even if
there were,just because a building is
for sale ,doesn’t mean it will be
bought.
H o weve r,i n pr evi ou s cou nci l
meetings,councillor David Blaney
sa id t hat seve r a l part ie s have
approached him about buying the
building.
The Old Building
While concerns about the state of
the existing library were raised,one
citizen asked what would happen if
the building wasn’t purc hased right
away.
With repair costs being a concern,
and the municipality picking up the
t a b ,th e q uest i on wa s wh e t h e r
putting money into the new building
is a good idea. If snow cav es the
c eil i ng i n b efo r e t h e l ib ra r y ’s
purchased,taxpayers could be on the
hook for the new building as well as
the renovations for the old building
just to get it to code.
Council conceded that this was a
possibility,and with the vote going
the way of a new building,getting
things moving as soon as possible
would be beneficial.
B l a n e y also said that with
gove r nmen t legi s l a ti on being the
way it is,minor adjustments made to
th e exi sting bui ld ing to m ake it
accessible now,might not stand the
t est of ti me. Say in g th at the
accessibility standards might change
in five years,he said council could
have to renovate the renovation.
“I’d hate to wake up in five or
s even ye a r s and spend $100,0 00
more because someone high up had a
brainwave,”Blaney said.
Preserving the Carnegie building
was a lso h ig h on p eop le’s
agendas.
Blaney said that all of the research
int o the heri t age designa tion has
been completed and that a bylaw can
be expected to come to council for a
decision very soon.
The Future
“We’re trying to get this planning
done in the winter.We’re getting into
t he Chr istmas seaso n,bu t we ’re
trying to get the planning done for a
spring build.There will probably be
different designs and different ideas
t h at will come up over the nex t
month or so,but then you can go to a
design and get it done and go to the
tendering process so that you can
build,”Seili said.
Whi le not calli ng di re c t l y fo r
volunteers that night,Seili said he
hoped to form a committee for the
p r o j e c t ,one th at wo ul d wo r k
alo ngs ide the plan s and take an
active role in fundraising as well.
While nothing is set in stone ,Seili
said he hopes to have two Huron
East councillors on the committee,
on e from M or ri s - T u r n b e rry an d
several citizens,people who know
and use the library.
Seili says the next public meeting
on the library can be expected in
February or March,when council
hopes to have design options for
public discussion.
Relief for NH plow operatorsBy Bonnie GroppThe Citizen
Continued from page 1
C o m c e n t ric was esta bl ishe d in
1999 by Hay Communications Co-
o p e rat ive Ltd . ,Z u r i c h ; Qu ad ro
Communications Co-operative Inc.,
Kirkton; Huron Telecommunications
C o - o p e r at ive Ltd. ,R i p l ey ;
Tu c ke rmsith Com m u n i c ation C o-
operative Ltd.,Kippen and Morning
Communications Co-operative Ltd.,
Milverton.
Features of the proposal include
existing infrastructure,such as fiber
backbone,local support staff,1,000
c u r rent wireless customers in the
area and identification of existing
structures that will be used in the roll
out of this project.
“ T wo new towe rs are pro p o s e d
wit h ut ilizat io n of e igh t ex i s t i n g
structures,”said Leeming.
Her report noted that Comcentric’s
“ f ina nc ial p os ition prov id ed th e
assurance of project sustainability
and th ei r k now l e d g e of th e
ge o grap hic al a rea an d cu stom ers
presented a realistic sense of what
the broadband uptake will be.”
Wa r d e n D e b Shew fel t ex t e n d e d
c o n grat u l a t i o n s ,“ We know wh e re
we’re going. It looks like a good
proposal.”
H u r on Ea st co unci llor Bern i e
Ma cL el lan offe red the on ly
comment when Shewfelt opened the
floor to discussion,but it summed up
the feeling of his colleagues around
the table.
“Let’s get it done.”
SHEAR
TALENT
Hair Design
& Tanning
for men & women
34 Newgate St. (Rear)
GODERICH 519-524-6555
Walk-Ins Welcome
Seili says plans a starting point
Huron picks Comcentric
By Bonnie Gropp
The Citizen
This notice is paid for by the undersigned
There have been rumours circulating in this area indicating that a
problem I re ported in 2006 to the Municipality of North Huron
rega r ding unsafe and health-thre a tening conditions in our fo rm e r
Wingham apartment was untrue.
Our concern about the health threat to us of second-hand smoke in our
apartment was reported to the municipality and a staff report was
submitted to Council about it on January 8,2007 before a full discussion
of our issues held at the Council meeting that same day.
Aspects of our concern were obviously confidential and were not
disclosed at the meeting of Council. This confidential information
should have been respected and handled as such by the Municipality.
Instead,however,it has been brought to our attention that this
confidential information has been spread far beyond the municipal
offices and for reasons not clear to us our concern a bout the second-hand
smoke has been misreported so that we have been made to look like
liars.
All of us in North Huron are vulnerable to this kind of ab use.This
gossip by municipal officials has compromised my integrity. I wish to
assure all who have been subjected to these rumours that my wife,Janis,
and I have been completely honest and forthright thr ough this entire
affair. Our complaints have been independently proven. North Huron
council discussed this situation about the mishandling and misreporting
of our complaint by municipal staff at an in-camera session on
November 5,2007 and rejected my request that they issue a public
apology for the unauthor ized disclosure of information filed with it
under an expectation of confidentiality. But Council also advised me
that they are in the process of implementing for the first time a
"confidentiality policy" to which all employees (and perhaps council
members,my suggestion) will be obliged to abide.
Better late than never!
If you have any doubts or questions about my declaration or wish to
comment on it,please write to me at the address below.
Brock Vodden,PO Box 492,Blyth,Ontario N0M 1H0