NEWSLETTER —
October, 2003
This Newsletter is
produced and distributed by the Bluewater Shoreline Residents’ Association
(BSRA), an umbrella group of residents/beach/cottage/subdivision associations,
as a service to the shoreline residents in Hay and Stanley Wards. It is funded by the Member Associations and
its Associate Members. For information
on membership, please contact the Membership Secretary, Jim Chapman, at (519) 235-1644 or (519) 565-5303, or by e-mail. BSRA’s Postal
address is BSRA, GMB #411, RR 2, Zurich
ON N0M 2T0. BSRA’s web site is www.bsra.ca, and its e-mail address is
Click here for contact email address.
This is to remind you to be sure to
mark your ballot for Jim Fergusson for Councillor-at-Large for
Bluewater Council, and to return your marked ballot promptly so that your
vote may be
counted.
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Municipal Election
You are already aware of the importance
of the current Municipal election to the Shoreline Residents in Bluewater. BSRA is attempting to ensure that the new
Council has members who are knowledgeable about Shoreline issues that affect
each member of BSRA, as well as understand the issues which affect the whole
Municipality, including those who are not shoreline residents. For that reason, BSRA endorsed Bill MacDougall as a candidate in Hay
West ward, George Irvin as a
candidate in Stanley West ward, and Jim
Fergusson as a candidate for Councillor-at-large. Nominations have now closed, and Bill MacDougall and George Irvin
were acclaimed as Councillors for Hay West and Stanley West wards respectively,
and for them the election process has been completed. However, Jim Fergusson is being opposed by Dwayne LaPorte and
Steve Harburn, who were both Municipal Councillors prior to amalgamation.
Although Jim has already proven himself
to be an excellent member of Bluewater Council, BSRA strongly believes that the
same knowledgeability about shoreline issues needs to be brought to Huron
County Council, where the Councillor-at-Large has a seat and a voice in the
decisions being made about issues under County control. Jim has the distinction of not only
understanding shoreline issues, being a shoreline resident, but he was also
raised on a dairy farm and then spent many years living in a small town. He is therefore in the enviable position of
being able to see issues from various points of view, and able to make just
decisions based on his broader background.
Thus, not only is it important for the shoreline residents to elect Jim,
but it is important for all residents of Bluewater.
Therefore, it is very important that all
shoreline residents make an extra effort to elect Jim Fergusson by ensuring
that each ballot in this mail-in vote is properly marked in Jim’s his favour,
and returned promptly after receiving them to ensure that we provide maximum
support for Jim. Every vote counts, so make your household’s votes count for Jim
Fergusson and for you! You may be
interested to know that Bill Dowson was re-elected Mayor of Bluewater by
acclamation, and Paul Klopp was re-elected Deputy Mayor by acclamation, and to
both of them we give our heartiest congratulations. If Jim is successful in being elected as Councillor-at-Large, he
will join these two on Huron County Council.
Except for Zurich, where Marg Deichert was acclaimed as a Councillor,
the other four wards in Bluewater have multiple candidates, and elections will
take place for each.
Your BSRA Executive Committee is
committed to supporting the candidates it endorses, and you will be receiving
further information by mail, including a reminder to promptly return your
ballot marked for Jim Fergusson.
The Year in Review
At the BSRA Annual General Meeting last
month, outgoing President Bob Campbell provided a report on the year’s
accomplishments. That report is printed
below so that the members of BSRA’s constituent associations may see it. We are indebted to Bob Campbell for
preparing this and other thorough reports.
1. BSRA Reserve Fund
At our 2000 Annual Meeting, the
Executive was directed to pursue with the Municipality resolution of the
inequity existing with respect to taxes and road services for shoreline
subdivisions. BSRA made a written and
oral presentation to Bluewater Council in May, 2001, requesting assumption of
roads accessing shoreline residences.
Continuing frustration with respect to
the priority placed by Council on resolution of the inequity, concerns about
inadequate representation of concerns of shoreline constituents by their four
ward councillors, and questions about the availability of voting by mail in the
upcoming municipal election led to the calling of a Special Meeting of the
Association in May, 2002. At a
subsequent General Meeting in June, 2002, motions were passed by the member
associations:
“1.
That the BSRA establish a separate fund for the purposes of
financing: whatever legal action may be
required to protect the interests of
shoreline residents; and political expenses related to the 2003 municipal
election.
2.
That the BSRA member associations be requested to contribute to the
above fund an amount equal to $50 for each member of that association.
3.
That the Executive Committee, in consultation with legal counsel, be
authorized to take appropriate action to protect the interests of shoreline
residents, including, where deemed necessary, initiating legal action through
either the courts or the Ontario Municipal Board.
4.
That the BSRA initiate on behalf of shoreline electors a petition to the
Bluewater Council ... to pass a by-law re-dividing the municipality to create
one shoreline ward consisting of those lands West of Highway 21 within Hay and
Stanley Wards.”
In June, 2003, a recommendation of the
Environmental Committee resulted in a General Meeting resolution: “that the water testing program presently
being done at St. Joseph be expanded to include the rest of the Bluewater
shoreline and that this be funded by the BSRA Reserve Fund up to $2,000.”
This action, designed to effect
improvement in the quality of our surface water, is intended “to protect the
interests of shoreline residents” – the principle upon which the Reserve Fund
was established.
It is anticipated that the Reserve Fund
will be available for any contingencies that may arise in the future where the
interests of shoreline residents need to be protected. A Reserve Fund financial report is presented
separately by the Treasurer. In
summary, contributions to the Reserve Fund during the summer and fall of 2002
exceeded $35,000; contributions continue to be received.
2. Unassumed Shoreline Roads
In the fall of 2002, an alternative
mechanism to partially offset the taxation/services inequity was introduced at
Bluewater Council. Council establi shed
a “Roads Grant Committee”, consisting of 3 members of Council and two BSRA
representatives. The resulting grant
program provides for reimbursement of eligible road maintenance expenses up to
an annual maximum of $1,900/kilometer of unassumed shoreline subdivision access
roads.
The Committee continues in operation
with two primary functions: the monitoring of the road grant program, and the
development of a municipal roads policy to define the road standards under
which a shoreline road could be assumed by the Municipality, should that
subdivision wish to pursue the matter in lieu of receiving the annual road
grant.
It is anticipated that a draft roads
policy will be presented for consideration by Council this fall.
3. Representation of Shoreline Interests / Concerns
As referenced in sub-section 1.1 above,
continuing concerns about inadequate representation by the four ward
councillors of concerns of their shoreline constituents led to the presentation
of an 1,134-signature petition requesting that Council re-divide the
Municipality to create a shoreline ward West of Highway 21 with councillor
representation proportionate to the number of shoreline electors. When Council failed to act within the 30
days prescribed in the Municipal Act,
BSRA solicitors referred the matter to the Ontario Municipal Board for a
determination.
In November, just prior to the scheduled
OMB hearing date, Council passed a by-law creating two shoreline wards
with
one councillor each. Our solicitors
then requested the OMB to allow BSRA to withdraw its petition.
Date Subject
September
16 Response to
Administration report re Maintenance Grant for Unassumed Shoreline Roads
November Draft By-law to
restructure Council
November
14 Ward Restructuring
Proposal # 2
December
18 2003 Tender for Gravel
/ Grading
April
23 Limitation on types of
eligible expenditures – road maintenance grant program
May Observations
re: Preliminary Bluewater Budget; Roads
Department Budget
May
22 Shift in Tax
Burden to Hay West and Stanley West Wards
June Observations re
method of financing – new arena facility
June
9 Roads Policy /
“Road Standards”
July
3 Request to
Freeze Rezoning Applications, pending development of Bluewater Official Plan
July
29 Environmental
Issue – Surface Water Quality
5. 2003 Municipal Election
BSRA involvement in the 2003 municipal
election includes the following:
seeking quality candidates; endorsing those candidates whose
qualifications, experience, and track record are consistent with the
expectations the Association has defined as the ideal qualities for elected
representatives; assisting in the election campaigns of endorsed candidates;
and recommending in a letter to shoreline electors those candidates that the
Political Action Committee believes will best contribute to making Bluewater
Council effective over the next three years.
To date, [as of Sept. 6], BSRA has
announced its endorsement of candidates for the following positions:
Councillor-at-large Jim Fergusson
Hay
West Councillor Bill
MacDougall
Stanley
West Councillor George Irvin
Shoreline electors are strongly urged to
vote for BSRA-endorsed candidates. [See new info above.]
6. Establishment of BSRA Committees
At the 2002 Annual Meeting, the
Executive Committee announced the establishment of the following six
committees:
Communications; Economic Development;
Environment; Member Services; Political Action; and Road Services. The objectives of this initiative are: to enable the Association to deal more
effectively with a broader range of increasingly complex issues of concern or
interest to shoreline residents; and to utilize the various skills,
experiences, or interests of a greater number of shoreline residents in the
work of the Association.
Section 2.0 of this report, “Summary of Committee Initiatives /
Activities: 2002-03", [not included], documents our progress to
date. It is anticipated that even more
shoreline residents will become involved in committee work during 2003-04.
7. New Initiatives in 2002-2003
[These] new initiatives warrant
highlighting:
I. the
establishment of our Association website:
II. the
development of a member data base to enable the future production of a
Shoreline Resident Directory.
III. the
provision of a reliable snow-blowing service at reasonable cost.
IV. our program
of testing water quality at several Lake Huron sites within Bluewater on a
weekly basis.
V. Association
involvement in the 2003 election campaign with a view to contributing to the
quality of the next Bluewater Council, [as well as Huron
County Council], and ensuring effective representation for shoreline residents.
8. Priorities for 2003-2004
Nine Priorities were detailed to the
membership, including the following:
•
Continue to act on behalf of our member associations and associate members to
protect and enhance the interests of Bluewater shoreline residents.
• Continue to identify and investigate
areas where BSRA can provide to shoreline residents, or their member
associations, services that are not readily available through other sources, or
that can be obtained at lower cost through group purchasing.
BSRA Annual Election of Officers
As at each BSRA Annual Meeting, members
of the BSRA Executive Committee were elected for 2003-2004.
Here is a list of the BSRA
Executive Committee Members for
your records.
Office Name Subdivision Home* Lake* e-mail
President: John Gillespie St. Joseph Shores 236-7285
Click
here for contact email address
Past Pres.: Don Brazier Lakewood 271-6203 565-5231
1st Vice Pres.: Glen May Homestead Heights 236-7119
2nd Vice Pres.: Melodie
Northey Copper’s Cove 236-7568
Secretary: Bob Campbell N. Houston Heights 565-5202
Treasurer: Harlie Johnston Elmwood 238-2843
Membership: Jim Chapman Westdell 235-1644 565-5303
Newsletter: Doug Banks Houston Heights S. 471-4378 565-2560
* All area code 519. When there is no Lake number, this indicates a permanent resident.
Shoreline residents are welcome to contact
these Officers for information or to report concerns. To contact the Bluewater Municipal Office, call 236-4351 or
565-5212, or you may e-mail bluewater@town.bluewater,on.ca. A Directory of municipal telephone numbers
is at www.town.bluewater.on.ca or under Municipal Government Services (phone
book)
John
Gillespie, President Compiled
by Douglas Banks, Newsletter Editor
