As anticipated, our case came before the Halton Hills Municipal Council last evening (Sept. 27th). As it turned out, the motion before Council was to defer the designation once again. This was in light of the CVC Board motion, received by Council, not to sever property and to levy the Region for costs incurred.

Anne McIntyre and Kate Murray proceeded to give an excellent presentation of our current Business Plan, which was well received by Council.

The motion was moved by Councilor Fogal, who set the tone for discussion with a strong expression of confidence in NHCHS and a penetrating critique of the CVC “no sever….” position. The theme of the ensuing discussion was that of support for deferral and ultimately designation. The stated purpose of deferral was to allow Town staff an opportunity to review the Plan, Some relevant points in the ensuing discussion:

- The rent collected by CVC for several years on the property should have been used to maintain the property.

- Support for designation will be, on the part of some Councilors, dependant on at least conditional securing of Trillium funds or the equivalent.

- A reminder of the historical value of the site and building as the prime component of designation.

- The impasse with CVC must be resolved.

Our understanding, to be confirmed, is that Halton Hills will lead the way in negotiation with CVC.

Although this may not be the best possible result for the Fallbrook project, it does have some advantages in that we can fine-tune our Business Plan, and it provides a potential means of resolving the ownership question.

In other news Rob Leverty of the Ontario Historical Society informs me that all went well regarding the approval of our incorporation at the OHS Board meeting on Sat., and that all that remains to be done is registration with the Province.

The current agenda of NHCHS includes the following:

- Confirm and monitor negotiations between HHMC and CVC

- Investigate funding possibilities with the Scottish Studies Foundation.

- Discuss educational components of the site with the School of Scottish Studies, University of Guelph.

- Initiate funding application with the Trillium Fund

- Develop an educational vision, plan, and means of communication thereof. - Develop a donation plan to recognize escalating levels of donation.

Your input is invited at any time. Regards - Bill

Electric Scotland Note:  Halton Hills Council has made available a pdf report on the meeting which includes the Business Plan which can be viewed here!