"The intention is to sell the property, but Morison noted they will ensure 'potential developers provide the kind of use that is best for Cayuga rather than just unloading the property for the developer to do whatever they want."  ~ The Haldimand Press,  Sept. 15, 2016  In response to public protests, presentations, emails, letters and phone calls, Mayor Hewitt has stated in the November 15 Council in Committee meeting that there has been no discussion of selling.

Ward 2 Councillor hosted an eleventh-hour open house on November 22 at which he insisted that this issue can be delayed until January.  However, there has been some insistence by administrative staff that there is a pressing necessity to ratify this report before the new budget.

Please read Report PED-GM-10-2016 on Haldimand County website and contact your councillor.  Council can and in all likelihood will ratify this report on December 12.  The first step toward selling the Court House Grounds is to clear it of all public buildings.

Haldimand County Councillors have approved Report PED-GM-10-2016 which essentially dismantles the Haldimand County Museum, moves the 181-year-old Nicholas Log Cabin* to windswept Cheapside and sets the stage for the sale of the County Court House Grounds.  The current Administration Building which also sits on the grounds "...will go to ground", stated Mayor Hewitt at a Council in Committee meeting on November 15.  Councillor Corbett made it clear at the same meeting that the money from the land-sale is required to build the new centralized $18,000,000 administration building.  Many question the need for a new administration building and the lack of fiscal responsibility.

ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 12 at 6:00 p.m. councillors can and will most likely ratify the recommendations.  We encourage everyone to attend.  Let our elected representatives know that their constituents do not agree with the decisions they are making.  Please continue to send  letters, phone calls, emails expressing concern to councillors.   Mayor Hewitt conceded at the November 15 meeting that because of the volume of public response, council needs time to consider.

At a time of year that we celebrate family traditions and find time to socialize with friends, it is an effort for folks to follow the procedures and actions of municipal government, prepare presentations and appear in the council gallery.  In spite of Christmas festivities residents turned out in numbers at the hastily organized, eleventh-hour open house organized by Ward 2 Councillor Morison.

     * Tomorrow:  History of the Nicholas Log Cabin

Court House Grounds Summer 2016

This is the photo that has offended Haldimand County Councillor Fred Morison.  At the Council-in-Committee meeting on Tuesday, November 15, 2016,  Councillor Morison adamantly expressed his disapproval of a petition circulating and comments on social media prior to administrative staff reports coming to council and before council decisions.  Morison would have preferred that a better time for the petition would have been after the Council-in-Committee meeting when Report PED-GM-10-2016 was brought forward.  This report was made available to the public late Thursday, November 10 and can be ratified on December 12. 

A petition on Change.org (Search key words: log cabin), requests that Haldimand County Council save Cayuga Court House Grounds, parkland, museum, archives and 1835 log cabin.

Council has already approved at the Nov. 15th meeting to break up the museum collection and distribute it among the libraries.  Morison is holding an Open House, TUE., NOV. 22 at 2:00 and 6:30 p.m. in the Cayuga Kinsmen Community Centre to discuss these latest developments.  Please note change in location for the Open House.

[Photo:  lbw]