By Chad Ingram
Published Oct. 4 2017
The following are brief reports of items discussed during a Sept. 27 meeting of Haliburton County council.
There will be some costs for Haliburton County associated with bringing Rogers Hometown Hockey to Haliburton Village on Oct. 14 and 15.
It has become clear the county is expected to pay for signage as well as security for the event which will bring NHL hosts Ron MacLean and and Tara Slone to the community with segments aired during an NHL game.
“I understood this was a well-oiled machine” said Algonquin Highlands Mayor Carol Moffatt explaining it was her understanding the show which will bring with it a number of stage trailers crew lighting etc. would basically roll in and out of town.
“Did we know we had to pay for signs?” Moffatt asked. “Who’s paying for the signs?”
Chief administrative officer Mike Rutter said that the county was expected to pay for signage promoting the event had come as a surprise.
The price tag for that signage could be in the neighbourhood of $10000 although Rutter said some grant funding may be available to help offset the expense.
Rutter said some expenses had been expected and thought that had been relayed to council.
“I hope we were clear there will be some cost associated with this” he said.
Security for the event will also be the county’s responsibility something that has cost $8000 to $10000 in other communities.
“We’re sort of coming up with numbers as we go along” he told councillors.
Bussing area children to Head Lake Park for the big show will also be paid for by the upper-tier.
“The show will go off without a hitch” Rutter said. “Our job is to get people there.”
The county is hoping that thousands will show up in Haliburton Village’s Head Lake Park for the Sunday evening broadcast.
Some councillors felt there had been a lack of communication around details of the event.
“I just think it’s been a bit of an informational vacuum” Moffatt said.
Creating a deputy-warden
Council approved amendments to the county procedural bylaw that will create a position of deputy-warden. The deputy-warden will be a member of county council who will from time to time fill in for the warden. In the case of an extended absence by a warden the deputy-warden will act as head of council and assume those responsibilities. A warden is chosen from among the eight members of county council by those members on a yearly basis. Council had a discussion earlier this year about extending the warden’s term but the majority of councillors preferred to keep it at one year.
Abbey Gardens in co-operation with the Coalition of Haliburton Property Owners’ Associations is creating demonstration natural shoreline gardens at the property near West Guilford and is creating shoreline naturalization kits that will be available for purchase.
Abbey Gardens hosted shoreline re-naturalization workshops in August and September.
“I think that we’re anticipating that we’re going to expand from here” operations manager Heather Reid told councillors.
Along with educating the public about the ecological benefits of shoreline naturalization gardens will demonstrate what re-naturalized landscapes look like over time – one year after planting three years after planting etc.
Abbey Garden also plans to sell native plants kits which it will begin stocking in the spring of 2018. It is anticipated they will retail for $225 and contain 45 to 50 plants.
