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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1986-01-22, Page 1Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1986. 40 CENTS Sheer concentration shows on the face of Courtney Sauve as she makes a craft as part of the skating party for Blyth and Brussels Brownies held at the Blyth arena Saturday. After skating the two Brownie packs joined In a craft session and had hot chocolate. Also from the Blyth pack but not quite so concerned are [left] Pauline Stewart and Charlene Hulzebos. Staffing formula won't hurt small schools BY RHEA HAMILTON SEEGER The Huron County Board—of Education touched on everything from smoking in the school to job sharing at its January meeting, Jan. 13 in Clinton. A formula proposed by the Elementary Staffing Committee was adopted that would allow staffing on a more equitable basis. VOL. 1 NO. 4 Blyth reassessment beefs aired this week Revised assessment notices un- der the reassessment of property values to 1980 values were mailed out earlier this month and brought a flood of enquiries that "swamp- ed" the Blyth municipal office staff, Clerk-treasurer Larry Walsh told Blyth Council January 14. Mr. Walsh noted there was "quite a swing" in the assess- ments of many people in town (some of the village councillors themselves being among those hit hardest by reassessment). The reassessment to 1980 property values was prepared by the Huron-Perth Regional Assess- ment office staff at Goderich and accepted by council at its Decem- ber meeting. While the overall tax burden in the village will remain the same, it will be shifted to people whose properties had been undervalued in the 1975 assess- ment, particularly owners of par- cels of vacant property. A series of open houses will be held January 22, 23 from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. and January 25 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Blyth Municipal office. (The latter meeting will also serve residents of Morris township who have also been reassessed. Other meetings from Morris took place at the township office Monday and Tuesday of this week.) Representatives of the Regional Assessment office will be present to answer questions and hear complaints. Mr. Walsh pointed out that if the amount shown on the assessment notice increased $1000 over the amount on the old assessment notice (this is not the value of the property but the amount on the notice calculated after the compli- cated assessment formula was used) then the home-owner would face a $288 increase in taxes under last year's mill rate. In other business, councillors expressed concern again about the dangers caused by loading of students on school buses to Central Huron Secondary School in Clin- ton. Council had earlier conveyed its concern about the practice of stopping the school bus on main street for loading to John Elliott, representative to the Huron Coun- ty Board of Education, but he felt there was no need for a change in policy. Recently the bus has been Continued on page 3 Joan Van de Broeck (Colbourne, Goderich Twp. rep.) wanted some assurance from the committee that small schools would not be unduly affected. Bob McCall of the board's Operation Department assured Van de Broeck that the staffing formula would have a positive effect and that small school staffing was thoroughly Optimism for the future domi- nated the meeting of Brussels village council Monday night with a number of items of business pointing to growth in the village. Starting off the evening was .a visit from Rad Slobodan who has recently bought the Master Plas- tics building on main street and wanted to inform council of his plans. Although his plans are not as yet firm, he hopes to renovate the building possibly installing stores on the main floor and renovating the upstairs for apart- ments. He asked for council's co-operation in obtaining govern- ment grants for such things as heritage reconstruction and con- version to apartments. First step he said, is to make the building sound after years of disuse. The main floor will have to be strengthened or even replaced and all new electrical and plumb- ing services will have to be installed. Council asked him to inform them again when he had plans on paper and promised to assist in any way possible in obtaining grants. Neil MacDonald was present at the meeting to discuss two de- velopment-related items. He ask- ed if it would be possible for him to divide one of the buildings at MacDonald Building Supplies into units to be rented out to small businesses. He had been ap- discussed. Class sizes were set as primary-21=29, junior 23-31 and intermediate 26-34. Other consideratins include pro- gram objectives, collective agree- ment and the individual workload of teachers. The escalating cost of liability insurance was brought to the attention of the board through proached, he said, by some possible tenants needing about 1200 square feet of space for warehousing or other small-busi- ness uses. He inquired if it would be possible to get separate hydro services to each unit of the building. ,Council agreed that it was possible and encouraged his ef- forts. They also encouraged him when he asked if council was agreeable to him advertising the assets of the village like the arena, parks and new swimming pool in connection with his attempts to promote lots in his subdivision to possible buyers from the Kitchen- er area. With the cost of housing so high in Kitchener, he said, it made sense that more people there would start looking toward Brus- sels as a cheaper place to live. He plans an advertising promotion in the spring. Council wasn't as agreeable to his inquiry if they would consider helping plow streets in the subdivi- sion that have not yet been accepted by the village. Council decided to continue with the terms of the current agreement of subdivision. Council also decided to meet with William Wheeler in regards to the possible acquisition of property for an industrial park, again feeling growth in Kitchener might push more businesses to the west. Council considered a request numerous letters from other groups and boards. Grey county Bd. of Ed. suggested a blanket coverage scheme through a group of boards. The Huron board will pass its concerns on the matter to the provincial authorities. A ban on smoking in schools was suggested by the Ontario Medical Association but it was the concen- from a Kitchener real estate agent to see if they would ,have any objection to selling the old fair grounds as a horse track with the Palace building to be renovated to have stables downstairs and living quarters upstairs. The agent feels there may be a possibility of this kind of tenant. Councillor Malcolm Jacobs said there was plenty of living quarters above stables in the horse country around King City and he could see nothing wrong with it. Clerk Stuart Parker said the Huron County Planning office had been informed and had said they wouldn't want to give an opinion until they had looked at possible other uses for the property and what would bring the best return to the village. Mr. Jacobs said the property wasn't of use to anyone the way it was and he felt it was better, if there was interest in this use, to let somebody make use of it who might eventually have an operation grow and provide jobs. Council had another query from a development manager regarding the egg grading station on main street. The manager felt he might have a client interested in buying the building if it were acceptable to tear it down and rebuild on the site. Council said it had no objections to such a move. Some said they would welcome it. (More council news in next week's paper.) sus of the board to refer the request to the executive committee. Tony McQuail (Ashfield, West Wawa- nosh rep.) asked what was being done in the schools to help people avoid the health hazard. Robert Allan, Director of Education point- ed out that a good deal of the curriculm is directed at the pro- blem. There are programs in thes schools organized by the Heart and Lung Association. Smoking is restricted to staff rooms in some schools and secondary schools have designated areas. Allan told board members that staff is feeling the impact of no smoking informa- tion and he didn't want to see the Medical Association recommenda- tion become arbitrary and lead to conflict. Mary Ann Dempsey (Goderich rep.) suggested the recommenda- tion be forwarded to the schools and allow the staff to make their own decision. Committee members will be busy developing their annual estimates for the budget. It was passed that where groups or individuals request allocations of more than four per cent then they also identify areas where there can be cuts. This idea was first implemented last year and was successful. There are three main committees, per- sonnel, education and manage- ment. The mileage rate was increased from 22 cents per kilometer to 23 cents. The report on Technical Educa- tion prepared by Joe Wooden was accepted. Both Allan and McQuail commented on the thoroughness of the report, adding that Wooden created a great deal of discussion at school level. The report is required by the Ministry of Education. In summary the purpose for technological studies is to prepare students for the world of work, for entry to post secondary education- al institutions or provide techno- logical studies as part of the secondary school experience. Courses. offered will depend on the staff and facilities available. The report says that while a syStem-wide approach to the pro- gram would be ideal it all depends on the individual school's staffing and facilities available. The following committee ap- pointments were made: Special Education Advisory Committee - Eugene Frayne, Sally Rathwell, Bea Dawson; plus the following non-trustees H. Watson, (Goderich and District Assoc. for the Mentally Retarded), W. H. Keil, (North Huron Assoc. for Bright Children); A. Brindley, (Parents Assoc. of Visually Impair- ed Children for London and District), M. Taylor, (Robarts School Parents Assoc.), P. Has- kell, (Parents Group of Huron County), A. Kiungel, (South Hur- on and District Assoc. for the Mentally Handicapped). Supervised Alternative Learn- ing for Excused Pupils, (SALEP), Sally Rathwell,' Joan Van de Broeck, John Jewitt, Dr. J. C. Goddard and non-trustee memb- ers, Eric Kirk and Patricia Mura- tori'. Ontario Public School Trustees Assoc. Bd. of Governors, John Elliott, D. McDonald. Donnelly and Murphy, Barris- ters, was appointed board law firm and the firm of Vanderwesten and Rutherford as consulting engin- eer. The recommendation of an architect was referred to the management committee. The board authorized the Direc- tor and the administration to prepare proposals for programs like Co-operative Education. This will enable the board to,apply for provincial funding more quickly if the government offers financial Continued on page 6 Brussels discusses development