Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1978-05-04, Page 1Expect Exeter tax rate up only two percent Two percent increases over the period of a year are few and far between for most things these days, but that’s what most Exeter ratepayers may be paying in increased mill rates this year. Exeter council tentatively approved their 1978 budget this week, and as long as they don’t find some unex­ pected expenditure and the auditor doesn’t uncover some error within the next two weeks, that’s the in­ READY FOR ANY WEATHER — Murray and Mary Lou Run­ dle provided three musical numbers at Wednesday's concert at Usborne Central School including "Strolling Thru the Park". T-A photo No help for study of downtown plans Suggestions that Exeter council should help pay for a plan being considered by the Downtown Business Improvement Association for the restoration of store fronts was quickly vetoed, Monday. Councillor Lossy Fuller, who had met with members of the business group last week, along with other members of council, said the plan would be prepared by Nick Hill and would for­ mulate a policy to be followed for a uniform ap­ pearance in the business section. . / “It’s a good program,” she suggested, adding that if the businessmen were prepared to pay towards preparing Pfaff quits council post Steve Pfaff, the youngest person ever to sit as a member of Exeter council, announced Monday he would be resigning his seat at the next meeting. Pfaff has been promoted to the position of post master at the Rodney post office. He assumes his duties in June. Mayor Bruce Shaw congratulated Pfaff on his appointment and added he would be sorry to see the young councillor leave. At the last meeting, Sbaw announced he would not seek re -election for the next term. Councillor Ted Wright said he had been approached by some citizens about filling the mayor’s post, but em­ phatically stated Monday that he would not be a candidate for the position in the fall. such a plan, council should too. Mrs. Fuller said the plan would provide for a more harmonious appearance of the store fronts. However, Mayor Bruce Shaw said that if money was spent on improving private property, there would be room for complaint from local taxpayers. He was advised by Mrs. Fuller that council would only be financially sup­ porting the drafting of the plan and not in the actual work undertaken by any of the store owners. Councillor Derry Boyle contended that council’s support would in fact be “double taxation”. He said if the Downtown Business Improvement group wanted the plan done, they had thejr own1 budget with which to work. Reeve Si Simmons agreed with Boyle, saying that only the downtown businesses would be helped and there were others in the com­ munity. “A good businessman will renovate and keep his store looking as good as he can to bring business in off the street,” suggested Coun­ cillor Ted Wright. Mrs. Fuller advised her male colleagues that several smaller communities were undertaking downtown restoration plans and said that while the businessmen should pay the biggest share, “we should help.” She then presented a motion that $1,500 for preparation of the plan by Hill be included in the 1978 budget. She received support only from Councillors Harold Patterson and Steve Pfaff as the motion was defeated. crease they’ll be approving at their next regular meeting. Meanwhile, ratepayers will be holding their breath that they’ll get one of the smallest increases in recent years when the mill rate is finally approved. The total public school levy for residential purposes was listed Monday night at 179.12, up 3.5 mills from last year. The commercial rate increases from 201.8 to 205.49. Separate school sup­ porters aren’t quite as fortunate, as their rate has taken more of a leap and is. now fractionally higher than that for public school sup­ porters. The residential rate for Separate school ratepayers is 179.84 compared to 175.4 of last year, while the com­ mercial rate has gone from 201.57 to 206.29. While ratepayers will face a slight increase this year, even that isn’t the fault of the local council members. The general levy has increased by about half a mill, the other boosts coming basically from the educational levies of the Huron County Board of Education and the Huron- Perth Separate School board. Total expenditures this, year for local ratepayers will be a whopping big $1,681,024, although they’ll act as a “collection agency” for a major portion of that as they turn over the local levies to county council, the two school boards, Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority, etc. Throughout the reading of the lengthy budget docket this week, Mayor Bruce Shaw kept referring to the fact that “we don’t have any control over that” as the fixed costs of the town and the other group’s levies were outlined. Actually, there was very little discussion on the various items in the budget. “Virtually there’s no in­ crease in the general levy and it’s a budget with which we can be happy,” Shaw stated. Reeve Si Simmons jokingly pointed out that it “looks like an election budget.” The various committees and the finance committtee were commended by Councillor Derry Boyle for “a darn good budget” and Shaw passed along much of the credit to clerk Liz Bell, who was putting together her first budget,* The general government expenditures, which include council members’ salaries show an increase of about $700 to $15,450. “It’s a paltry sum for what we do, so there won’t be any argument there,” the Mayor quipped as the first item was • reviewed. The adminstration budget, which includes the clerk’s office staff, audit and legal fees, insurance, advertising, building maintenance and election expenses, was set at $79,222. That’s up almost $14,000 over last year’s expenditures, coming from increases in all categories, plus $2,000 for this year’s municipal election. Insurance and office sup­ plies show the largest gains. While firemen’s wages are up from $15,746 to $21,166 this year, the fire department budget is actually down by about $9,000 due primarily to the fact a new pumper and a considerable amount of equipment was purchased in 1977. The wages are based to an extent on the number of calls for the department, and judging from the low in­ cidence of fires in the area this year, the figure allotted could be high. The building inspection costs are up only $750, while the police department budget shows a decline of over $13,500. Wages are up, but last year’s total included the new police station costs. It’s even going to cost less to look after stray dogs. The budget this year was set at $1,800 while last year’s ex­ penditures were $99 more than that, 0 Garbage collection and disposal costs are an­ ticipated to Remain almost unchanged, these amounting to about $64,000 in the current budget. The cemetery board budget of $13,000 is about $300 higher than last year, and the parks expenditures are expected to be $23,590, also virtually unchanged. The biggest jump in this year’s budget stems from public works projects. Half a million dollars will be spent on roads, traffic control, sanitary sewers and storm drains. Monday night, council approved a tender in the amount of $114,616,25 to Lavis Contracting, Clinton, to undertake several street projects. A coat of asphalt will be placed on Andrew Street from John to Huron and reconstruction projects up to one coat of asphalt will be undertaken on Wellington St. from William to the rec centre entrance, Qidley from William to Main, John West from Main to William and William from Sanders to Gidley. Lavis had the lowest of five bids, the highest of which was $218,915.05. Public works ad­ ministration consumes $75,000 of the budget, while general maintenance, repairs and small projects total $61,900. , Sanitary sewer work takes another The $19,900. South Huron Please turn to page 3 PAVILION BURNS — Exeter firemen are engulfed in smoke as they battle a blaze which gutted the snack bar and damaged the adjoining picnic pavilion at the Kirkton-Woodham community park around noon on Sunday. The fire is believed to have started in a fryer. Staff photo Park drain is a 'waste Councillor Derry Boyle suggested this week it would be a “waste of money” to consider draining the Exeter community park. He said that in his 25 years of working with local’ teams, he found that a day delay was all that encountered following rain storms. A committee studying the development of theparkhave suggested to the South Huron rec centre board that drainage of the park is the first aspect that should be considered. It has been estimated it could cost up to $25,000 to undertake a complete drainage plan. Mayor Bruce Shaw said he questioned the entire project, but said some parts of the park should be drained. Boyle was also of the opinion it would be a waste of money to move the present ball diamond as the development committee have also recommended. “I hope there’s some damn serious consideration given before some of the changes suggested are made up there,” Boyle commented. <%• Serving One Hundred and Fifth Year imes - Advocate erving South Huron, North Middlesex '' '' EXETER, ONTARIO, MAY 4, 1978 & North Lambton Since 1873 11• I ■■ Price Per Copy 25 Cents ...... I RIDING HIGH — Curator Bob Tremain tries out a. ,. _____ - - penny farthing during a press conference at the Lambton County museum, Thursday afternoon. He is held aloft by Lambton treasurer Wayne Kloske. The official opening of the museum is set for May 13. T-A photo Fire hydrants may be kept very busy Over 300 dogs are expected to visit Exeter this Sunday to compete in a show sponsored by the Bluewater Kennel Club at the rec centre. Bill Armstrong, Sanders Street, said the animals will be coming from throughout Western Ontario from points between Kitchener and Sarnia. While the canines will be judged, points will not be awarded for championship standings. Basically, the local show is a pre-season test to give owners and animals alike some ex­ perience in the show ring. One of the featured per­ formers will be Atlas, a trained German Shepherd, who will demonstrate his ability to untie ropes and climb ladders. * The parade of champions will be staged at 2:00 p.m. Armstrong indicated dog owners were enthused about their first visit to Exeter. Superintendent bets they'll be banned Defer action on 'dirty' books The Huron County Board of Education sent its dirty book problem to a committee Monday to decide if three English literature texts contain material “ob­ jectionable” for teaching county secondary school students. The board voted to give the problem to the school programs policy committee which decides what text­ books to recommend to the board for use in the classroom. The move was made to avoid another confrontation between teachers and students who feel the books are wor- • thwhile and parents who feel they should be banned from school use. The three books —■ The Diviners by Margaret Laurence, Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck — became the centre of attention for a third time recently when the St. Josephs Catholic Women’s League from Kingsbridge began a letter writing campaign to have them taken off the list of books used in the secondary school English literature curriculum in Huron. The CWL cited about half a Fife it, says Exeter Members of Exeter council aren’t particularly concerned about the books being taught in some Huron secondary school English classes. Monday night, they unanimously agreed to file a resolution from Turnberry Township which called for the banning of three texts on the English courses. Those books are The Diviners, Catcher in the Rye and Of Mice and Men. Councillor Derry Boyle quickly moved to file the resolution and was sup­ ported by Councillor Steve Pfaff, who said his brother was currently studying one of the books in question in his grade 11 course at SHDHS. “Who am I to say what Boyle Don some people can read?” questioned. Deputy-Reeve MacGregor indicated concern about the books, which the resolution said gave explicit description of sex acts and contained blasphemy. He said he was concerned that the books were being taught and that was different thar^them just being available on the book shelves. “How naive do you want children brought up?” Pfaff questioned. MacGregor said there were some things in the books he wouldn’t even say to his wife. “I hope not,” Boyle replied, “but you’d say it to me though .” dozen excerpts from each novel in a campaign in­ volving board trustees, parents, members of parliament, the minister of education, township council in the county and other Catholic Women’s Leagues. The campaigns asked that the groups and individuals contact the board requesting the three novels be banned in Huron high schools. Seaforth trustee John Henderson said at Monday’s board meeting that he would like more positive action taken by the board. He said the board had wrestled with the problem” before and still faced the same controversy. Henderson said once it went to the education Committee, once to the executive committee and now the school programs committee, He said he would like the motion sending the three novels to the com- . mittee amended to have The Diviners taken off the list. Director of education John Cochrane told the board that by doing that the board would probably face another pa rent-tea ch er-stu dent confrontation. He said that move was suggested before and one board meeting brought the groups together in an emotional display that solved nothing. Cochrane suggested that by sending the matter to the committee the problem could be resolved ^between the principals of the schools, English department heads and trustees. He said the books would probably not be on the list of texts for next year if the board took that route. “It would be a fair bet, jf I were a betting man, that the books won’t appear on the list next year,” he said. “That’s the reason they were sent to the committee.” The director told the board that recent board policy required the board to allow one month for groups af- Please turn to page 3 Air waves a little heated as radio location debated Mayor Bruce Shaw said this week he has had all the confusion removed from his mind about the advantages of establishing a county-wide police communication system, but indicated the •choice of a location for the dispatch is still very much of a problem. “It’s a logical step,” he told council in reference to . the system. He said a report given to the five county towns last week by the Ontario Police Commission convinced him of that. However, that meeting, which was held in Clinton, resulted in a stormy ex­ change between officials from Goderich and Clinton, who are both seeking to have the dispatch located in their towns. Shaw said he had never attended a meeting quite like it. “It was a rather heated meeting to say the least.” That meeting was prematurely adjourned by W. S. Shimmin, of the OPC, after the between Clinton Several stormed < It has before that Clinton would have to go to considerable expense to house the facility. They would have to erect a building and hire at least one more man and a stenographer. Goderich, on the other hand, already has athe other hand, already has a “I’ll be darned if I know suitable building and the why they want it,” Shaw said required personnel to man in reference to the Clinton bid, noting the added required personnel to man the 24-hour dispatch service. Workers at Fleck have cars painted ex- ; heated exchange Goderich and representatives, members had out of the session, been pointed out Two accidents were in­ vestigated by the Exeter OPP this week, one of them resulting in injuries to two area residents. Those injuries were sustained by Barbara Cooper, RR 2 Kippen, and Loreen Ross, Main St., Exeter. They were passengers. The vehicles were driven by Clifford Ogilvie and Douglas Ferguson, both of Exeter, and Arthur Woodcock, RR 2 Lucknow. The collision occurred on Highway 4, just south of Hensail on Friday. OPP Constable Larry Christiaen investigated and set total damage at $1,025. The other accident was reported on Saturday, when a vehicle driven by Ronald MacGregor, RR 8 Parkhill, struck 10 guide post rails on Highway 81, north of the Crediton Road. Damage was set at $1,275 by Constable Bob Whiteford. During the week, the local detachment officers laid 12 charges under the Highway Traffic Act, four under the Criminal Code and six under the Liquor Licence Act. One theft was reported, it being a lime colored roto- tiller, which was taken from the residence of Harold Tripp, Centralia. Police are also in­ vestigating several wilful damage complaints, most of which appear related to the strike situation at Fleck Manufacturing. Three employees still working at the Huron Park plant reported that their cars were sprayed with paint during the week. Sugar was also put into the gas tank of a vehicle owned by one of the security guards at the plant. Peter Oud, Hay Township, reported Tuesday morning that a window had been broken at his farm office on concession 2 sometime during the preceding night. Police investigation determined that the window had been smashed from a shot gun. by a blast pense that town would face. Exeter council previously supported Clinton’s bid, but only if they could be con­ vinced that the service provided would be satisfactory. Shaw said there was some indication Clinton may with­ draw their offer to house the dispatch. Wingham has supported the bid from Goderich and Police Chief Ted Day said that Seaforth was expected to do likewise. “Let’s hope the other municipalities will straighten it away,” Shaw said, noting that time was of the essence in that a decision had to be made by the end of May or Huron could lose out on the funding from the OPC. The Mayor explained that if the funds were not used by Huron this year, the county would drop down to the bottom of the list and it could be five to 10 years before they would be eligible again. The province pays 75 percent of the capital costs involved in establishing the system. Shaw also reported that the OPC has suggested that a microwave system be used, rather then telephone lines. While this will increase the initial costs about $600 per municipality, the operating costs should be lower. In his monthly report to Please turn to page 3 CHOIR PERFORMS — Members of the primary department had ideal vantage spots during Thursday afternoon’s perfor­ mance at the Exeter Public School. Here they listen to a rendition by the junior choir. Staff photo I 1