> HHS CEO Rob MacIsaac weighs in with an opinion piece /Pg 13 > Grimsby to replace west ice pad Pg 5 > Jr. Peach Kings bring home silver Pg 7 > Winter Home Improvement tips Pgs 10-11 Thursday, January 24, 2019 Vol. 8 Issue 38
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Lincoln votes in Grimsby opts out Cannabis retail decisions polar opposite results By Mike Williscraft NewsNow When the smoke cleared Monday night, Grimsby council had opted out and Lincoln council had opted into to having potential cannabis retail stores within their municipalities. The Province had given municipalities until Tuesday, Jan. 22, to decide. West Lincoln council voted to opt out in December. Both decisions were decisive, in opposite directions with Grimsby voting 8-1 and Lincoln voting 7-2. Comments around the Grimsby council table were virtually all negative. Coun. Reg Freake cited a host of crime statistics which has skyrocketed in Denver, Colo. after cannabis was legalized there. Coun. Dave Sharpe outlined his skepticism regarding potential revenues from an excise tax program outlined as part of the incentive to have municipalities opt in. “I was trying to express tonight with all those numbers that 25 licensed cannabis stores
would have to sell massive amounts of cannabis to reach the $100 million in excise tax and we don’t even get any money until they surpass that amount. Even if 100-200 stores were licensed, each store would still have to move quite a lot of product to bring in $100 million in excise tax for the Province, never mind surpass it,” said Sharpe after the meeting. “I think it might be more realistic with 400-500 licensed retail stores or more, and I will not be surprised if every municipality that opts-in will get a retail license within a much shorter period than expected.” Coun. Randy Vaine, the lone vote in favour, said council was being “short-sighted” in its decision, noting society will look back in a few years wondering what all the fuss was - on top of missing out on government funding. While Grimsby’s discussion was part of a regular council agenda, Lincoln held a special council meeting to make its decision. While Lincoln voted in See RETAIL, Page 3
Festive affair
Smithville Legion hosted a ribbon cutting last week to celebrate accessibility upgrades at the facility. On hand were, Front (L to R) David Bingham, Ontario Trillium Foundation; Sam Oosterhoff MPP Niagara West; Kathey Putman, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 393 President; and Dave Bylsma, Mayor of West Lincoln. Back, Jim Wilcox, Chris Kivell, Gillian Han, 2nd vice-president, Kathy Wetselaar, Coun. Doug Newton and Ken Hunter. See Page 9 for full details. McDonald - Photo
Biodigester research continues By Mike Williscraft NewsNow Anyone looking to the recently installed Grimsby Energy board for immediate answers and quick decisions regarding the Sobie Road biodigester is looking in the wrong direction. While last week’s special council meeting sustained bombshell after bombshell regarding the now-$15-millionin-debt biodigester, work is ongoing to prepare for the next report, which is expected at February’s Finance and Administration Committee meeting. Delight Davoli, who made last
week’s presentation to council as the recently appointed chair of Grimsby Energy, which oversees the biodigester operation, said work is slow, but purposeful. With no minutes found for any GEI meetings pre-2017 and next to no minutes at all for any meetings of Grimsby Hydro, which was responsible for Niagara Regional Broadband Network (NRBN), getting to the financial bottom of the organization has been more than challenging. “We have very, very little to go on. We’re working on it but
we have a weak or non-existent paper trail,” said Davoli. NRBN was sold in 2016 for $9 million with the net proceeds from that sale eventually being spent to prop up the biodigester as spending continued to skyrocket far beyond the initial $3.5 million budget. The project, which has had many problems over many years will still take another $100,000 per month it continues to operate until an ultimate direction is decided upon by the new GEI board and town council, which is the shareholder See SEARCH, Page 3