>Fire Prevention Week salute to Grimsby Fire Department /Pgs 9-12 > Grimsby Terry Fox Run nets $27K Pg. 6 > Knights of Columbus event Sept. 30 Pg. 7 > WLMH Foundation 50/50 winner drawn Pg. 8 Thursday, September 22, 2016 Vol. 5 Issue 20
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Grimsby passes new hydro restructure
Checking in Volunteers Melanie Bruzzi, right, and Gerscha Gerritse help participants in the West Lincoln Terry Fox Run check in at Smithville Arena. Nearly $5,800 was raised Sunday by 75 participants. Williscraft - Photo
By Mike Williscraft NewsNow Grimsby council did and about-face Monday on its plan to allow more discussion on a controversial restructuring of its hydro utility. At the Aug. 15 council meeting, a motion to create Holdco 2 - a second holding company within the structure of Niagara Power Inc. - was lifted and sent back to the Administration and Finance Committee for more discussion. About 20 people were in the gallery that night specifically to hear the debate on the matter.
There was no public notice published that it would come up this week, under ‘correspondence’ on Monday. To get the item dealt with in the same meeting, council needed a two-thirds majority vote to rescind the Aug. 15 directive. This allowed council to revisit and vote on the matter all in one meeting. As has been the norm on the hydro issue, there was no discussion on the motion to rescind or the subsequent motion to allow for the restructuring of the hydro company.
Interim measures on walk-around menu From Elm Street up the escarpment on Mountain Road in Grimsby was the focus of a walk-around yesterday (Wednesday) with regional and local officials. Many concerns have been raised in the weeks following another serious truck accident on Mountain. In an attempt to get everyone on the same page, Grimsby Reg. Coun. Tony Quirk requested Niagara commissioner of public works, Ron Tripp, and acting director of transportation, Shawn McCauley, be part of the walkaround. See SAFETY, Page 3
Food processing (L to R) Volunteers Heidi DeBoer, Leen Zonneveld, Riese Heemskerk and Kcee Lewis sort food at Beamsville Lions Food Drive Saturday. See Page 5 for more details. Williscraft - Photo
The restructing effectively removes FortisOntario – which had purchased 10 per cent of Niagara Power in 2009 - from all things hydro. This move makes it solely a shareholder in the profit centre of NPI and removes it from any entities which could be possible liabilities - namely the CoGen unit on town hall’s lawn and the under-construction biodigester on Sobie Road, for example. The motions passed Monday were opposed by Ald. Dave Kadwell and Ald. Joanne Johnston. See HYDRO, Page 2