Mayor Ian Boddy announced today that City Manager Ruth Coursey will be retiring effective immediately after a 26 year career in municipal government.
"On behalf of Council and the citizens of Owen Sound, I would like to thank Ms. Coursey for her dedication to the City since accepting the position in July 2011. She has been extremely beneficial to the residents, and has made great strides within the business community", commented Mayor Boddy. "Personally, I thank Ms. Coursey for her assistance during my transition to the mayor's office, and I wish her much success as fresh opportunities and adventures come her way".
Council has named Wayne Ritchie as the Acting City Manager. Mr. Ritchie has been with the City of Owen Sound since 2001 as the Director of Finance.
The City is advising residents and businesses that they may stop running their water effective immediately. The Water Department has determined the level of frost penetrating the ground has diminished to the point where we believe there is no longer a danger of the water services re-freezing.
Residents and businesses should continue to monitor their water flow. If pressure suddenly increases, it may be an indication that the lines have thawed. Please call the City at the number listed below and water staff will visit to ensure permanent service is restored and remove temporary hoses.
If you were asked to run water, or supply neighbours with water, your billing will reflect average historical usage during this time period, and will not include the extra water used
For residents that have been requested to boil their water, you are asked to continue to do so until further notice.
The City would like to thank all residents and businesses for your patience and understanding during this crisis
by Jon Farmer
I met Lisa McAllister at Grey County's Black History Event standing in front of her grandmother's bible. Printed in 1867, the bible was on display in the atrium of the Grey Roots Museum and Archives, turned open to a page with the birth and death dates of relatives from the early 1900s. She had arrived early to prepare her presentation on Underground Railroad quilts and the way they told stories.
Lisa and I were both born and raised in Owen Sound. The roots of both of our family trees dig deeply into this soil. I'm at least 5th generation Owen Sound and I know that one of my ancestors bought land in the area in the late 1860s. Lisa's family history goes back further. Standing in front of her grandmother's bible, she told me stories about the heirlooms and keepsakes she found in her grandmother's home when she passed, describing letters and photographs older than our country. Her home had been in the family since Lisa's great-great-grandfather built it on 11th St West after arriving in the are in 1856.
Grey County's Black History Event is an annual function, organized by the Emancipation Festival. This year it featured presentations on our area's connection to the Underground Railroad, the lived experiences of local people of colour, a salute to Les MacKinnon, and culminated in the official release of the 12th volume of Northern Terminus: The African Canadian History Journal published by the Grey County Archives.
by Dave Beverly-Foster
We in Grey-Bruce-Owen Sound aren't part of the 10% of people who live in low-lying coastal zones, or in one of the 2/3 of major global cities that will experience flooding from sea level rise. But we do know the hardships of drought and other erratic weather when it comes to farming. We know that we must do what we can to slow, mitigate, or reverse climate change. And to do this we must limit our greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate change is a big scary thing that can be hard to even think about, let alone act on. But this week, we made progress. The Ontario Liberals have announced a carbon trading system known as cap-and-trade. This system puts a hard limit on the amount of greenhouse gasses that Ontario industry can release into the atmosphere, giving us a tool with which to control our climate change impact.
This tool is basically the creation of a new market. Each business will be given a quota of greenhouse gas emissions they can spew into the atmosphere. Once allocated, businesses have control over these quotas. If they find ways to live within their carbon means, they can trade these quotas on a carbon market, effectively incentivizing lower carbon emissions. In this way the whole Ontario economy lives within our atmospheric limits but businesses can still find ways to grow.
By Hub Staff
Branningham Grove is back in our headlines. The city's Community Planning and Heritage Advisory Committee unanimously recommended that the City give notice of their intention to designate the 1881 building under the Ontario Heritage Act. At their April 13 meeting, Owen Sound City Council will deal with this recommendation.
What's the rush?
As of this writing, the High Victorian building at the eastern entrance to the city is the subject of a demolition permit which gives authority to the owners to level it anytime after May 5 this year. Deputations by Aly Boltman and Christy Hempel at the last City Council meeting [available at minutes 15:20 and 28:40 of the council meeting video] not only made the heritage and planning case for retaining the building, but specifically inquired as to the apparent hurry to demolish it.
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