To the editor,
I hardly know how to start this letter, I am so mad. It has taken three drafts to calm me down from what I really would like to say to North Huron council.
On Jan. 16, four previous council turncoats voted to no longer have a museum and dispose of all artifacts. In 2019, those same four formed a committee with a mandate to choose a new location for the museum. Two years were allotted for the final report.
On Oct. 18, 2021, the report was presented to council recommending the historic CNR train station, which Doug Kuyvenhoven owned and offered to the town for $1 for 20 years. The report included a budget, staffing, renovations and the inclusion of a tourist information location. We were told by council what an outstanding report we had produced.
On April 4, 2022, council approved the signing of a lease agreement for the train stations with owners Doug and Debbie Kuyvenhoven. The agreement would cost $1 plus HST per year, running until Dec. 31, 2040 and the municipality would be able to retain the land permanently.
On Jan. 12, council appointed the fundraising committee with Paul Heffer as the chair and the committee had until Dec. 21, 2023 to meet the goal of $420,000. Immediately, the committee met to make a plan to achieve its goal. The committee got their fingers slapped for doing so, for now they wanted the town treasurer to be on the committee and, as you know, we had no treasurer for over a year.
The committee was told emphatically that they could not raise funds. Do you think this was a setup? Sure it was – they already had councillors on the committee. Sound familiar? They did the same thing to the Howson Dam committee that offered to fundraise. You do not need a treasurer on the committee to accept donations or issue receipts.
Thank God Ross Procter and I did not need the treasurer when we went after donations for the Alice Munro Garden or the two town signs.
Talking about Alice Munro, I have collected many of Allice’s belongings from her daughter, for example, her desk, chair, typewriter and awards (including Alice’s Nobel Prize, which no one will see in Wingham). Maybe Morris-Turnberry or Clinton might like the artifacts for an Alice Munro Museum.
Next will come the removal of the Alice Munro Garden so the old museum can be torn down and the land sold. What will Wingham have to do to invite people to stop in town?
When we opened the Alice Munro Garden, the town was full of visitors and press from across Canada. People from all over the world have come to see the garden and to visit the museum display. The only tourist attraction will be gone and so will Wingham’s history.
How can council afford to pay $500,000 to remodel a room at the Royal Oaks, pay rent and utilities for two nights a month for council meetings in a building the township doesn’t even own, but cannot afford a museum that you will own? How did you get to the number of staff that now fill the town hall chambers?
The population has not changed, but we have more office staff than before amalgamation. It’s time to clean house within, rather than put out a 20 per cent increased budget.
If you want to save money, then cut the $500,000 cost of a new, fancy council chambers that has no benefit to the taxpayer. I’m sure staff want a fancy, new chambers, but how many staff pay taxes in North Huron? You’re making cuts at the complex – what is wrong with turning the Hot Stove Lounge into a council chambers?
I no longer respect, trust or desire to volunteer for a town that lacks vision. Council has totally destroyed volunteerism – you ask for volunteers and then you shoot them down.
This town has so much red tape I expect one day we will have to go to council for toilet paper and, if you are accepted, take it quick and leave before they change their minds.
Verna Steffler
Wingham
