Shelburne Council declares Feb. 14 as Cogenital Heart Defect Awareness Day

February 13, 2020 · 0 Comments

Written By PETER RICHARDSON

Council began Monday night’s session in the lobby, where Mayor Wade Mills and the rest of Council proclaimed Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14 as Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day in Shelburne.

This disease affects one in seventy newborns in Canada, to some degree, which makes it the number one birth defect and cause of death from a birth defect. Many newborns undergo unimaginable interventions in the first few hours of their life, due to CHD.

Two Shelburne residents and their parents were in attendance for the proclamation, Tyson Kottelenberg and Penny Clarkson, both suffer from CHD, but today are doing well thanks to the doctors at SickKids in Toronto. Tyson’s father, Brian, and Penny’s mom, Amanda, looked on as the proclamation was read out by the Mayor.

Next, Mayor Mills, Deputy Mayor Steve Anderson and Coun. Walter Benotto, alongside the rest of Council, presented two more Community Excellence Awards to Recipients, Alethia O’Hara Stephenson and husband and wife Andrew and Juli-Anne James for their work in and for the community of Shelburne.

Alethia was primarily honoured for her work with Youth Advisory Group, at the local high school. The group recently made history, when they organized the Black History Month celebrations at the Museum of Dufferin, the first time this has happened.

Andrew and Juli-Anne, run the registered charity Streams Hub here in Town. The duo recently made a formal presentation to Council to help build a physical home for Streams in the community. The charity involves youth in cultural, artistic and creative endeavours.

Later on, during the actual Council meeting, Keith Quinn, the President of the Shelburne Kinsmen Club, read out a proclamation to declare the week of Feb. 16, as Kin Canada Week and Feb. 20 as Kin Canada Day, in celebration of the organization’s 100 years of community service. Mayor Wade Mills, then, made the proclamation official.

Before the actual Council Meting began, a meeting of the Committee of Adjustment was called to order, to hear a report by Town Planner Steve Wever regarding the severance of a lot at 116 Owen Sound Street.

The now vacant lot is to be split into two, with a new semi-detached home to be built on the lots. There were some concerns expressed by abiding residents, as to drainage issues, which Mr. Wever assured Council would be addressed in the actual site plan and permit stage of the development.

The planner for the owner, was present and assured residents that this issue would be addressed. Amelia Cunningham, who lives behind the lot, on Willow Street, noted that water currently pools in their back yard when there is a thaw or heavy rain. Steve Wever answered her that the owner would be obligated to see that all drainage went to an approved outlet. Councillor Wegener asked if the mature trees on the property would be retained, to which Steve Wever replied that there was no obligation on the part of the owner to do so, however the proposed plan did not require their removal. This prompted Susan Davis, also, of Willow Street to mention that there were several mature Poplar trees on the back of the property which regularly shed branches onto the surrounding properties and that their removal would not be objected to. Council unanimously approved the consent application and opened the door for G>P> Carpentry Inc, the property owner to move on to the next step in the process.

Te Town Audit Planning Report from BDO, was presented to Council and received, as was a Consent Agreement application from planner Steve Wever concerning 218 Greenwood Street. The Consent agreement will allow the owner, Spencer Brown, son of Orangeville Mayor, Sandy Brown to proceed with the permit phase of his development there.

In other business, Council heard a report concerning the adoption of a County wide Interoperable Radio Communications programme from Dufferin County. The premise of the report was to have a single radio system within the County, for all of it’s emergency services users. Originally proposed by the fire chiefs of Shelburne and Grand Valley, the controversial plan was not fully supported by members of County Council. The issues of cost and effectiveness, now that Orangeville has gone to the OPP for policing and Shelburne will soon follow were two of the stumbling blocks. A compromise solution was proposed, whereby the County would pay 50% of the cost, provided all of the member municipalities would pay the other 50%. It was an all or nothing compromise, as if any of the participants refused, an onerous financial burden would then be placed on the remainder. As it turned out, this happened, with both Mono and Melancthon opting out of the proposal. As a result, the plan was shelved, though the possibility exists for a new approach to be suggested.