HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1980-10-22, Page 3Bridge bring
at Morris.meeting
by Debbie Ranney
An election'race may ' be .ori in MOrrjs:
:Township- as former P000pillor_Sain Fletph,
Doug Fraser, Bob Black.h4 Clem McLellan
declared POssiblestandidates it
ratepayers' meeting at the Morris ToWitShip
Hall, wednedAy night:
As:ilk/00H Of the preSent council indicated *
theyll tun with-Ore exception of Ross Procter
who noted one', of the prfine-,purposei 'for
ho lding the me,eting-Was people to run
in an electron. Besides councillor Pirocter,
the present council includes Reeve Bill
Elston, Deputy Reeve Tom Miller and,
councillors Bob • GraSbY and ,Clare Van '
Camp. Candidates 'had. • until Tuesday,`
October 21 at pftn. te' 'withdraw 'theit
names so some 'may have; dropped out of the
race after, the paper went' to Press:
"I think it's important everyone knows
that's why we called the meeting. I've
served four Years. I'Ve enjoyed the fellows
I've worked with, here, but I do not intend to
run for election,"- Mr...Procter said.
Reeve Elston said he was'sorry councillor
Procter wasn't standing::'" would have liked
to have seen one of them (the present council
members) take my'place and .I said so' at the
table," he said.
"The work (of 'the to4ship) and the
workload at Goderich is eiterisive. I do my
best to serve everyone. If none of the
councillors are going to oppose me, I
suppose I'll run for election because our
centennial's going to be next year, so that's
one of the things that needs to be looked
after," Reeve Elston said.
Deputy-reeve TQM Miller said council
spent about $400,000 on the new Martin's
bridge with 80 pet's'cent paid ;by grants.
Councillor Bob
the
said fout or fi ve
years ago after the government condemned
arenas, they went after bridges and that four
years ago the estimated cost to build the
bridge was $90,000. "Since the bridges are
built on priority Schemes, four years went by
and now the bridge is' costing $400,000," he
said. .
Reeve Elston noted the bridge would be
paid for when completed.
He Said seven tenders on the bridge were
all within 10 per cent of each other.
LOWEST TENDER.
`We took the lowest. It was a necessity to
build that bridge—either that or close the
sideroad because Of the bridge condition,"
he said.
Ratepayers were given the opportunity to
ask questions and that they did, starting off
with Edgar Wightman's, "I'd like to ask
council Whit they've done about the'
sidevValk ,(in •Beigrave). I told 'you About- last'
spring. There's been two people hurt on it so
far.",
Councillet Clare Van Carrip ,said the
,sidewalk Was to be done thii fall. He noted
that a' lot of Other work 'had to• be done 'fi tst.
"This is a Public It shouldn't be left
like that. They've got thousand of dollats'tc
spend on bridges and things likP that where
ipeopleare going to be nut+, they don't seem
to be doing' anything to repair it," Mr.
'Wightman replied.
Councillor Ross Procter Said if his memory
served him correctly sidewalk- repair' had
been discussed at council and turned over' to'
road superintendent' Lloyd' Michie.
"You may disagree with the' speed, but,
it's being looked after," he said.
Sam Pletch Asked council how much land i
had been bought for the new Martin's bridge
at what cost. Reeve Elston said $3000 for
about 8/10 of an acre. That, cost included thei
land, the basement for the'bridge and the
working space fot the contractors.
Joe Prescott wanted to know why Motrisi'
couldn't use local resources instead of hiring
out-of-town contractors for the -'bridge.i
Councillor Grasby pointed out that township
doesn't have the money necessary to build
bridges and Mr. Procter said contracts were'
open to ,public tender.
LOTS OF RULES
"When it's public business, there's a lot
of rules about how things should be done,"
he said.
"But isn't that why we put you fellows iii
the driver's seat?" Mr. Prescott asked.
He also suggested when a person Applie
for an office job with the township, counci
shouldn't be asking how much they wante
for a salary, but telling them what the
would get.
Councillor Procter said he didn't pretend
to know all the regulations.
Mr. Prescott pointed out a section in the
Ontario Municipal Act which stated that a
council should not 'tender for an office
position with the municipality. "The only
response I can make' o that is that we never
tendered for any particular job. We asked
people to apply for it. We asked for
aplications rather than a tender," councillor
Procter said,
"What I was trying to get at was, if you
can bypass one (regulation) you can bypass
another which makes it more beneficial to
this community," Mr. Prescott said.
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••
OCTOBER 22.0, 1980
S
THE BRUSSELS POST
a epaye
„
By: DEBBIE RONEY
Huron County Board of
'Education Trustee John El-
lot Spent moitof the time in.
,the "hot seat" when Mortis
Township held a ratepayers'
meeting at the township. hail,
,Wednesday night.
Mr. Elliott represents
Blyth, Morris and East'Wavy-
anosh Townships. Mr. Elliott
explained that he had been
the representative on the
Board of Education for six
years. At one time he was"
also chairman of the board.
He said the board has a
budget of $25 million annual-
ly and that the ntain thing he
had been - involved in this
year was salary negotiations:
He noted that for the ne'goti-
sting committee alone, he
had been involved in 35
meetings' and would likely''
have another eight or nine
before December. •
"It's an ongoing process-7
very, complicated," he said.
,Sam Plereh asked him
what an, average wage for the
average teacher would be.
Mr, Elliott said elementary
teachers received what the
papers reported as a 9.6 per
',cent increase and in fact it
was about 7.9 per cent. He
I explained how the salary grid
worked with seven different
r categories And said. that an
A4 teacher (which is one of
the top levels) with 10 years
of experience would have a,
salary of roughly $32,000.
When asked What new
teacher 'corning in, would
start at, he said roughly
$14,000 for aleachei with no.
experience, but ' ;that there
weren't any-teachers in that
category since many nip.,
have degrees which could be
applicable instead of Year's' of
experience
Using the seniority system
in times of declining enrol-
molt was also discussed. He
said there's a. period of time
when its difficult to bring
„young people in because of
the seniority system. Young
teachers become •redundant
and;the experienced teachers
remain on staff.
"Do you consider this
percentage raising of teach-
ers is a fair thing?" asked •
Edgar Wightman.
"No, I would rather look at
absolute dollars. Most of
the ti m e, the people involved
hi negotiations are in, a,
higher salary level. They
won't negotiate, any other
way. They want to be on the
provincial average," he said.
"The ones that aren't
getting much money aren't
getting much of a raise and
The one's'that are getting a lot
of money'get more; 'Mr.
% Rittman-said,.
"The. biggest mistake in,
this country in my opinion
was that the civil service was
given the right to strike,"
Mr, said.
Mr, Elliott and ratepayer
Joe Prescott ' got into a
lengthy discussion on whe-
Mei or not unions, control
apprenticeship prograMs
with neither of them conced-
ing to the other's point of
view.
1 . The discussion then took a
different turn as Mr. Prescott
asked a question about bus-
- ing. He, wanted to know what
would happen if a busdriver
slid off the road in winter.
Since the bus driver can't
send anybody for help and
can't leave the bus himself,.
was there any program being •
set up in the 'near future to
put radios in,the buses so the
driver could 'get the graders
out to help him, Mr. Prescott
wanted to know.
Mr. Elliott said that had
been discussed• and itkut at
budget time. It was going to
bourhood of $120,000 to
5140,000 .,
" It ' s being considered.
It's juSt .a question of where
we're going to come up with.
the money to do A, he said.
Huron board had a
problem with some construc-
tion at the Goderich high
school this year and had to
spend' a lot of money there.
Mr,. Elliott said he intend-
ed to seek another twoyear
term, on the „Huron County
Board of Education. "I would
like to thank the people of
IViorris Township. They have
supported me fantastically,"
he said.
• — '
acclaimed to. office. The new reeve of the Seaforth. • The new face on 'council is Bill
township is Harvey Craig of Walton, and the ,
deputyleeve, is Marie Hiclinell . of 1R.R. 5,
Seaforth:
Two of the previous cooncillori returned
to office are Art Anderson of R.R. -1,
Siemon of R:R. 4, Walton, •
Ron Murray was also acclaimed to 'office
as the McKillop representative on the Huron
and Perth County Roman Catholic Separate
School Board.
One new face as.McKillOp .acclaims
McKiilop' Township pOinicil has been ' Seaforth and Bill Leeming of R.R 1, cost roughly in the neigh,
NOTICE
Eastern Standard Time will begin In the
Village of Brussels at' 2 a.m.
$unday,POtober.,2efith.-:
All citizens should set their clocks
BACK one. hour, at 'that time.
WM. KING
Clerk-Treasurer
Village of Brussels
• , •