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The Lucknow Sentinel, 2015-02-18, Page 9Wednesday, February 18, 2015 • Lucknow Sentinel 9 Huron County council seeking two per cent increase for 2015 budget Dave Flaherty Goderich Signal Star Huron County staff has received its marching orders to bring the 2015 budget down to a two per cent increase. At the Feb. 4 county council meeting, staff brought forward the draft budget which represented a 5.45 per cent increase according to treasurer Michael Blumhagen. CAO Brenda Orchard said theywere looking for some direction on what increase council would be comfortable with. Eventually, Howick Reeve Art Ver- steeg put forth a motion inshucting staff to come backwith the two per cent tar- get, which was passed, but not before a great amount of discussion. Blumhagen said as of the end of 2014 the countyhad approximately $42 mil- lion in reserves, but he advised against council continually dipping into them for funding. He said Huron County is facing a number of large capital expenditures overthe next decade. For example, he said there is an esti- mated $26 million in improvements that need to be made to county bridges by 2030. Huron East Mayor Bernie MacLel- lan commented that the budget pro- cess has been the same for about 25 years but he believes there needs to be more planning for the future. "Since we have such a huge reserve could we not move some of the funds into individual departments," he asked. "Working on a game plan... wouldn't that help us?" Blumhagen agreed that future sus- tainability is something that needs to become apriority. MacLellan also questioned $300,000 in salary increases for 46 county employees. "Something seems to be missing here.' However, Jane Anderson, human resources director, explained that the raises were only for positions that haven taken on more responsibility. MacLellan said while he under- stood that, he believes the budget needs to be looked at from a "taxpay- er's position" and there are many peo- ple who have been "financially hardshipped". "There are people at the hospitals whoworkforthe province who haven't gotten a raise in seven years," he said. "I'm questioning whether we need to knuckle down and even challenge some of these union groups. We are zipping out increases everyyear" Ashfield-Colbome-Wawanosh Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek said the problem is the Pay Equity Act. Versteeg said legislation has "ratcheted up public salaries over the past 30 to 40 years': "The public sector is gaining one per cent a year on the private sector. I don't think we are going to solve it - it is an ongoing issue, he said. Blumhagen said staff were antici- pating that council would be looking for further reductions in the budget, so he prepared a list of items to be taken out. These included advanced care paramedic training for Huron County EMS, a proposed gala for EMS employees and reductions in the consulting services budget. Goderich Deputy Mayor Jim Don- nelly said the budget should be driven by "governance" not "man- agement suggestions." Van Diepenbeek said he didn't want to see money coming out of reserves. "I want see substantial cuts," he said. Huron East Deputy Mayor Joe Steffler suggested using the 2014 sur- plus to help mitigate some of the costs in this year's budget. Bluewater Mayor Tyler Hessel had initially indicated he was "torn" about giving specific figures to staff. "We are voting on recommenda- tions, we need to make a decision. We need to do our job," he said. Furthermore, he told his fellow councillors they need to start think- ing about future budgets as well, something he is developing within his own council. Public Invitation to Drinking Water Source Protection Open Houses Open Houses in Clinton and Wingham New plans have been created to reduce risk to municipal drinking water sources and the public is invited to find out more. The Ausable Bayfield Maitland Valley Source Protection Region is holding two free public open houses. "Source protection plans take effect on April 1, 20157 said Jenna Allain, Program Supervisor with the Ausable Bayfield Maitland Valley Source Pro- tection Region. "We are hosting an open house in February and an open house in March so people can learn about how the source protection plans are adding protection to municipal sources of drinking water and to find out if plans will impact them:' The two open houses run from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. People are welcome to drop in to either event at anytime dur- ing those hours. The first open house takes place on Thursday, February 26, 2015 at the Regional Equine and Agri- cultural Centre of Huron (REACH) Centre, 169 Beech Street, Clinton. The second open house takes place on Wednesday, March 25, 2015 at the North Huron Wescast Community Complex, Hot Stove Lounge, 99 Kerr Drive, Wingham. The Ontario Ministry of the Environ- ment and Climate Change (MOECC) posted plan approval on the Environ- mental Bill of Rights (EBR) Registry on January 22, 2015. The plans take effect on April 1, 2015. The MOECC also approved Updated Assessment Reports for the Maitland Valley and Ausable Bayfield source protection areas on December 10, 2014. The approved drinking water source protection plans are posted online at www.sourcewaterinfo.on.ca. People can also inspect a copy of the plans in Board sets Early Priorities The Huron County Economic Development Board has developed a Terms of Reference and identified ini- tial research priorities. These exciting steps forward come less than a month after their inaugural Board meeting. The Board, which represents an innovative private / public partner- ship, has the mandate to look at all things related to the future economic success of Huron County. This includes reviewing the alignment of County economic development activities to ensure they meet success measures established by the Board, as well as exploring new activity areas for opportunities. Early priority actions being under- taken by the Board include research- ing perceived barriers to planning and building approvals, determining how the Board can facilitate access to venture capital and mentoring exper- tise, and exploring priorities and best practices for post -secondary educa- tion opportunities in Huron County. Board members have also set out to determine how they can best meas- ure their own success in improving the local economy. "Based on our discussions to date, we have a number of passionate indi- viduals, who have each been suc- cessful, who believe strongly that we need to seize the opportunity pre- sented to us," said Jim Lynn, Chair of the Board. "This group has a bias towards action. There is strong sup- port for a new approach from County Council and from staff. We look for- ward to pushing the boundaries of traditional practices:' person at the Maitland Valley or Ausa- ble Bayfield conservation authority offices during regular business hours. Maitland Valley Conservation Author- ity's office is located at 1093 Marietta Street in Wroxeter. Phone 519-335- 3557 or visit mvca.on.ca for business hours. Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority's office is located at 71108 Morrison Line, east of Exeter and just south of Highway 83. Phone 519-235- 2610 or 1-888-286-2610 or visit abca. on.ca for business hours. The source protection plans include policies to address 21 activities that can pose a threat to drinkingwater sources in certain circumstances. The most common threat activities in wellhead protection areas of the Ausable Bay- field Maitland Valley Source Protection Region include: * Below -ground home heating oil tanks *Large commercial fuel tanks * Storage of enamel paints or some degreasers, metal cleaners, or solvents in quantities more than 25 litres * Pesticide, fertilizer, and manure storage and application *Storage of hazardous waste *Septic systems If you are located close to a munici- pal well and would like to leam if plan policies apply to you, or how you can protect local drinking water sources, you are invited to attend one of the open houses, phone toll-free 1-888- 286-2610, or email info@sourcewater- info.on.ca. P/ EITTEMTIOII EIDVERJISER+S r� J WNW /4 4 4 tem Don't miss the opportunity to reach 20,000 homes across Huron and Bruce counties. To participate in this special publication, contact your local sales representative from one of the following Sun Media papers. Deadline: Tuesday March 10. Lucknow Sentinel • Clinton News Record • Goderich Signal Star Kincardine News • Lakeshore Advance • Seaforth Huron Expositor