Hub Staff

In a Mayor's Update to members of Saugeen Shores Council at the December 10 Committee of Whole meeting, Mayor Luke Charbonneau said Bruce County Warden Mitch Twolan had made some remarks concerning Saugeen Shores at a recent County Council meeting.

Mayor of Huron-Kinloss, Twolan was elected to the position of Warden December 6 and in his speech, Charbonneau said, Twolan made specific note of his interest in seeing the County "move forward on affordable housing in lakeshore communities and did name Saugeen Shores as one of those places," said Charbonneau, something he said was "encouraging."

Twolan spent some time on the Nuclear Innovative Institute (NII) and called on all Bruce County municipalities to support the Institute being located in the Town of Saugeen Shores. "I'm very grateful to the Warden for those comments and am very much looking forward to working with him," said Charbonneau.

Citizen recognition was also in Charbonneau's update. "I'm very keen to recognize outstanding achievements by citizens throughout this community over the course of this term on council," he said, and added that he hopes members of council will participate by sending him suggestions.

"I can't imagine turning one down, I'm keen to recognize all those people who are doing great things across our community," he said.

The Mayor's Update is something that Charbonneau said he will do periodically over the next term.

The NII was a matter of discussion a short time later as an Information Report was presented to Council by CAO David Smith.

Smith said that the Town has been working closely with the County, Bruce Power and Mayor Charbonneau to secure a location for NII within Saugeen Shores.

"Our hope and desire, as our community has expressed very loudly, is to keep the Nuclear Innovation Institute in Saugeen Shores and we're working very hard to accomplish that goal," said Smith, reminding councillors of Bruce Power's commitment to exhaust all opportunities within Saugeen Shores before looking elsewhere.

Smith said they've received "many, many, many letters" and acknowledged the overwhelming support from members of the community. "We're going to continue to bring this one home," he said.

Councillor Dave Myette suggested that the Town had been working with a "long list" of potential sites, and now has it narrowed down to a "short list" and wondered if the properties being considered would ever be shared prior to a decision being made.

Smith said that while it's unlikely they'll be publishing a short list, his sense is that they expect a decision to be made early in the new year "so in January." Smith added that if it involves municipal property, Council will be involved in a decision to move forward.