HEATHER BOA Bullet News CENTRAL HURON – Central Huron’s council has confirmed it will not support a county-wide plan to search out faulty septic systems, effectively quashing a program proposed by the Huron County health unit.
A crowd of more than 60 ratepayers from across the county cheered when the municipality’s clerk, Brenda MacIsaac, announced the motion to support a mandatory septic system re-inspection program was defeated in a tie recorded vote.
Council and administration did a last-minute shuffle from its cramped council chambers to a larger auditorium, where Mayor Jim Ginn pounded the gavel to bring order to the room on a number of occasions.
Central Huron’s council had already defeated a recommendation from its chief administrative officer at its Dec. 20 Committee of the Whole meeting, but in an unusual move, a motion was put on last night’s agenda to again consider supporting the program. COW meetings are usually less formal to allow for more discussion on issues, with the recommendations it passes coming to regular council meetings for approval and defeated recommendations approved through passing of the meeting minutes. However, Ginn said he consulted with the clerk and deputy clerk and decided to bring the motion back for another vote because he knew there would be more discussion.
“I knew discussion was going to take place either on the minutes or on a report pulled from the Committee of the Whole minutes,” Ginn told council during discussion to approve the night’s council agenda. “I didn’t see much difference in the way it was going to be handled.”
A plan for inspections every five years at a cost of $155 collected through annual surcharges on the tax bill that was approved by county councillors in August 2012 needed the support from the majority of lower-tier councils that also represent the majority of the electors in Huron County in what’s referred to as a triple majority. Central Huron becomes the fifth of nine municipalities to oppose the plan, with those five representing 27,721 electors, which is more than half of county residents who are registered to vote.
Councillors rehashed arguments they’ve brought to the council table in previous discussions on the proposed mandatory septic re-inspection program.
“My feelings haven’t changed at all on this at all. I’m very strongly opposed to the fact that we’re looking at a county-wide mandatory septic inspection [program.] We’ve always said we have identified areas and those identified areas, if we know where they are, that’s what we need to deal with,” Barnim said.
Coun. Burkhard Metzger argued the process is “deeply flawed” and should be corrected before getting approval from councils. He said the program should be revised to prioritize those 4,000 septic systems the county knows have never been inspected.
“I do not believe that once you pass the program and put it in place, you will change it. That’s not going to happen,” he said. “It’s my hope that if it doesn’t get passed there will be process of putting something in place but before the mechanics get put in place it comes back to approval from us again so we can talk about this. It’s not just a carte blanche to get this program put into place.”
He also questioned the county health unit’s ability to administer the program.
“This agency has not a very good track record in delivering programs,” he said.
Ginn, who is a known proponent of land stewardship, said he is concerned about a suggestion to target areas.
“I think you’re looking for trouble trying to do a program like that. We don’t know exactly where all the systems are and these landowners do not know their systems are failing,” he said.
He pointed to federal and provincial efforts to provide safe drinking water, conservation authorities’ work to clean up water supplies, water testing by health units, development of best practices to improve water quality.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have to spend those dollars if our water was clean? If it was safe, it would make thirty-one dollars look like a joke,” he said. The five-year $155 inspection fee would be divided into five payments of $31 annually.
During a portion of the meeting when members of the press and public are allowed to ask questions, local resident Fred Dutot called into question the procedure on how the issue of septic system re-inspections was handled.
“You know the number of emails that shuffled between my house and your house but I’m not going to go into that in public,” he said, directing his comments to the mayor.
He applauded Metzer for driving home from a family ski vacation in Collingwood to vote against the motion and ensure it was defeated.
Councillors Burkhard Metzger, Brian Barnim, Alex Westerhout and Marg Anderson opposed the motion to support the septic re-inspection program. Mayor Jim Ginn, Deputy Mayor Dave Jewitt and councillors Alison Lobb and Dan Colquhoun were in favour.
4 Comments on "Central Huron Council rejects plan for mandatory septic re-inspections – again"
So I guess all of us down wind will know where to look when things heat up this summer, eh? I feel really embarrassed for this community. Maybe 2014 can’t come soon enough?
Long time problem, easy fix.Take animal & human waste out of the lakes and rivers. I can’t believe the province wants clean water try sources such as deep drilled wells or quarries! Toronto knew about this in the ’70s!
Thank you Councillors Burkhard Metzger, Brian Barnim, Alex Westerhout and Marg Anderson.
How do you spell “Neanderthal” ?