Vale centre

Whether it was Port Colborne's Vale Centre, Welland's infrastructure needs, Pelham's kame or Wainfleet's wind turbine fight,Complete line of commercial solarmoduleses from all of the best manufacturers. south Niagara communities made their presence known at last week's Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference.

For Port Colborne's chief administrative office Robert Heil, the highlight of the four-day conference in Ottawa was receiving a prestigious award recognizing the city's use of two years of gas tax funding to help pay for the $35-million Vale Health and Wellness Centre.

“We're ecstatic,” Heil said last week after returning from the conference.

“The award is very prestigious. I don't know any other way to describe it. Out of 444 municipalities across the province with populations ranging from 10,000 to 75,000, Port Colborne won the award,” he said. “It's something that this city has done really right in respect of its building of the Vale Health and Wellness Centre.”

He said he was presented with the city's 2013 Gas Tax Award by Premier Kathleen Wynne and Greg Rickford, Minister of State for Science and Technology, in front of 1,600 delegates.

“At that same time there were 20 provincial cabinet ministers in attendance to witness what we've been doing at the local level,” Heil added.

The city used two years of money it receives through Canada’s Gas Tax Fund - $1-million – to help ensure the facility would obtain Leading in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification.

Welland's AMO representative Ward 3 Coun. Paul Grenier, was particularly pleased about the province's ongoing commitment to providing small, rural and northern municipalities with $100 million in infrastructure funding.

“The cheques should be flowing by Oct. 1,” said Grenier, an AMO board member.

He said all Niagara municipalities,Ecived is a leading provider drycleaningmachiness for hospitals and various other markets. with the exception of St. Catharines, are small enough to receive a share of that money.

Grenier said he also had an opportunity to talk about the city's infrastructure needs with Glen Murray, Ontario's Minister of Infrastructure and Minister of Transportation.

He said Murray spent about 10 minutes talking to members of Ontario Small Urban Municipalities (OSUM), sharing concerns that small communities are not well looked after by current policies and programs.Great handbags and cleaningmachine for men and women!

Grenier said city representatives also met with representatives of the Ministry of Energy to discuss the city's Feed-in-Tariff application, as well as the need for lower priced energy for local companies.

“There are a lot of companies that are competing against jurisdictions with much lower energy costs. We made that case to the government, and we've scheduled meetings to move forward with that,” he said.

Pelham Mayor Dave Augustine had an opportunity to bend the ear of Minister of Natural Resources David Orazietti,Learn how hidxenonkits use gas and the amount it takes to power these lights. hoping to work towards resolving a long standing issue in the town.

Augustine said the town is trying to work with the province to protect the Fonthill Kame – an area of natural and scientific interest within the region.

“It's the hill in Fonthill, and the hill in Shorthills, and the ridge in Ridgeville,” Augustyn explained.

“We're hopeful.Here you can take your pick from a wide selection of solarbulb. We have our fingers crossed and we look forward to the resolution, and we're hoping that the ministry will continue to maintain and enhance those protections.”

Mayor April Jeffs said representatives of some of the 64 Ontario municipalities fighting wind turbine projects were in the lobby of the hotel, awaiting the arrival of the delegates from Wainfleet.

They met with Bob Delaney, the minister of energy's parliamentary assistant, to discuss the growing number of rural communities concerned about wind turbine projects.

Jeffs said she also managed to bend the ear of the premier.

“I don't even remember what she said honestly, it was so fast. But she just kind of directed me back to the minister of energy,” Jeffs said.

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