Joanne Shuttleworth

ELORA – Taxpayers in Centre Wellington are facing a 7.38 per cent increase in the township portion of their property tax bill after council, as committee of the whole, spent two days whittling the budget down from the proposed 8.54% increase.

GUELPH – On the evening of Dec. 6, about 50 people gathered in Marianne’s Park in Guelph to mark the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. It was a somber event to remember the 14 women who were killed in a mass shooting at Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal 1989.

ELORA – All of Centre Wellington – downtowns, areas within the urban boundary, and rural areas – is now considered part of the township’s Community Improvement Plan (CIP) area and is therefore eligible for CIP grants. That was one of many updates to the CIP adopted by council on Nov. 27.

CENTRE WELLINGTON – R.J. Burnside has not completed its study of parking in downtown Elora and Fergus, but councillors are concerned a parking structure was not suggested in an interim report presented on Nov. 27.

CENTRE WELLINGTON – The province’s decision to expand the urban boundary of Centre Wellington in April threw the township and Wellington County into confusion. Its decision to reverse the expansion in October is having a similar result.

ELORA – Halloween may be long over but the nightmare continues in Elora. A section of sanitary sewer pipe on Metcalfe Street collapsed on Nov. 15 and the street has been torn up and closed ever since.

PUSLINCH – Plagued by parties that exceed capacity and renters who don’t respect the venue, Puslinch councillors hoped the solution to problems with rentals at the Puslinch Community Centre might be found in the 2024 user fees and charges bylaw.

FERGUS – Wellington OPP have identified six youths allegedly responsible for a spree of graffiti in Fergus over the weekend of Nov. 24 to 26 and are looking for more suspects.

PUSLINCH – The Township of Puslinch is looking for a new fire chief.

PUSLINCH – What could be more environmentally sustainable than getting a real Christmas tree as opposed to an artificial one?  Getting a real tree that’s wrapped in biodegradable netting and not the usual plastic netting, Alison McCrindle says.

CENTRE WELLINGTON – Get your foot off the gas. Speed limits are about to be reduced on several roads in Centre Wellington after council approved a new posted speed limit bylaw on Nov. 27.

CENTRE WELLINGTON – Council did not approve two proposals to locate battery storage facilities in the township at its Nov. 27 meeting, but it did express a willingness to entertain the idea.

ERIN – Kevin Cox of Erin has jumped right back into normal life after apparently – hopefully – battling cancer for the second and final time.

GUELPH – Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis held an open house on Nov. 22, offering a glimpse of what goes on inside the heavily secured building.

FERGUS – Centre Wellington firefighters were able to extinguish a Thursday night garage fire before it spread to the house, thanks to some quick-thinking neighbours.