April 16, 2025

Grey Highlands ice storm response called into question

BY SOUTHGREY.CA STAFF — On Wednesday, April 16, Richard Lemoine addressed Grey Highlands Council to criticize the municipal response to the recent ice storm which devastated parts of the municipality on the weekend of March 29-30. The wintry weather blast hit many parts of Ontario, causing road accidents, excessive tree damage and power outages to over 32,000 Hydro One customers provincewide.

Lemoine, who resides in the southeast portion of Grey Highlands and is the President of the Brewster's Lake Homeowners Association, claimed that he and his neighbours were hit much harder than others. "The recent ice storm did not treat Grey Highlands equally," he explained. "Those of us most affected, were without power for eight days."

"I believe that a state of emergency should have been declared," said Lemoine. "The municipality should have been doing wellness checks on residents and provide information as to where the could obtain assistance."

Information that was posted on the Grey Highlands website was inaccessible to those without Internet during the week-long service downtime. Lemoine lamented that flyers with information about warming centre locations, road closures or tree clearing services were not delivered to affected residents via the postal service which remained operational.

He compared the Grey Highlands response to that of Clearview Township, where municipal crews provided significant cleanup effort, collecting fallen tree limbs and grinding roadside debris for property owners faced with damage from the storm.

Lemoine's complaint regarding the collection of debris, was backed up by another affected resident. Marion Bartlett added her own assessment in a letter to Council. "We had heard that the Town of Blue Mountains, Mansfield, Mulmer and other municipalies were providing tree chipping and removal service, free of charge for their residents," she said. "The suggestion that I “load up the debris” and take it to the dump... (was) a ludicrous suggestion as my small car might hold a large garbage bag and little else."

"Use this event to examine emergency plans and improve them," was the advice given to Council and staff by Lemoine. "Had this event happened when the weather was colder, this would have been a life-threatening event!"

Correspondence from residents was received and discussed by Council. "Cleanup is going to take months," said Councillor Nadia Dubyk, who also added context to the response by other municipalities. "Different municipalities may be responding given different structures, given resourcing, and also impact."

"Staff have done a significant amount of work to recover from the ice storm," said Deputy Mayor Dane Nielsen, while acknowledging the concerns of residents and how the storm affected and continues to affect them. After much discussion, Council passed a motion to ask staff for a report on an increased brush pickup program in the heaviest affected areas.

"An emergency control meeting is scheduled for sometime in May," said Mayor Paul McQueen that he described as a 'hotwash.' "I think as we move forward (we will have) have those conversations reflecting on the circumstance, the ice storm and the flooding."

Mayor McQueen also mentioned possible financial support from the Ontario government to address damage from the storm. "Staff are aware of funding opportunities (from the Ontario government) and are looking to take advantage of those, and all avenues that allow us to get some funding and support for the works that were done," added Deputy Mayor Nielsen, who had the last word on the matter. "The goal should be to take lessons learned out of the situation and see what can be improved in the future."

 

---

At South Grey News, we endeavour to bring you truthful and factual, up-to-date local community news in a quick and easy-to-digest format that’s free of political bias. We believe this service is more important today than ever before, as social media has given rise to misinformation, largely unchecked by big corporations who put profits ahead of their responsibilities.

South Grey News does not have the resources of a big corporation. We are a small, locally owned-and-operated organization. Research, analysis and physical attendance at public meetings and community events requires considerable effort. But contributions from readers and advertisers, however big or small, go a long way to helping us deliver positive, open and honest journalism for this community.

Please consider supporting South Grey News with a donation in lieu of a subscription fee and let us know that our efforts are appreciated. Thank you.