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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1987-02-04, Page 1■■ Inside Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn., Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. 24 Page Bridal Section Inside VOL. 3 NO. 5 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1987. 40 CENTS When the lambs start arriving, can spring be far behind? Martha Boon of the Huron County 4-H Sheep Club cuddled this two-week-old Dorset youngster for the camera on Sunday. Martha is the daughter of Harriet and Henk Boon of RR 2, Bluevale. Brussels approves Grey fire pact Brussels appoints auditor After an often-emotional hour- long discussion, Brussels council confirmed the appointment of Pannell Kerr MacGillivray (former Spicer MacGillivray) as the village auditors Monday night. Nancy Exel of the firm visited council to express concern with council decision, reported in The Citizen, that the appointment of the firm was under review. She said she was upset because she had heard nothing from council about a possible review until she received a letter after the report of last month’s council meeting appeared in the paper. During that meeting on January 12, according to council minutes, council asked the village staff to collect information on auditing costs from other municipalities. “There were some figures here that didn’t please council so we said it (the appointment) was under review,” Councillor Mal­ colm Jacobs explained. Mrs. Exel explained that under the Ontario Municipal Act, an auditor is appointed until that firm has been discharged, not on a year-to-year basis. She also explained that the accounting firm’s bill with the village involved more than the actual audit fee. There was discussion about a charge of $1,200 for a trip to Toronto to make a presentation to a government body but it involved several meetings in preparation for that trip. “If you’re implying I billed $1,200 for six hours work, you’re way off base.” Councillor Gordon Workman said that when he looked at the figures Brussels paid for account­ ing services last year and he saw whatother municipalities paid, Mrs. Exel’sfirm waseither awfully good accountants to deserve more than other accountants or the village was paying too much. Mrs. Exel said that of the $14,000 bill for services in the last year, $5,850 was for the audit and the rest was for consulting servic­ es. She explained that a detailed, seven-page time analysis had been included with the bill. She said she should probably have billed for the consulting time separately from the audit time but: “I didn’t show up at these meetings all by myself. Iwasinvitedtothose meetings” by the village clerk or by council representatives, she said. A large portion of the additional consulting time involved extra Continued on page 3b Brussels council approved a new fire agreement with Grey township Monday night in a split vote broken by Reeve Hank Ten Pas. The agreement still must be approved by Grey township council. The agreement calls for a yearly standby charge of $500 and an hourly rate of $350 per hour. It was a compromise between the fee last year which required the township to pay no standby and pay only $300 per hour firefighting charge and the Brussels council’s original request of $1,200 per year standby plus $350 per hour. Councillors Malcolm Jacobs and Gordon Workman objected to the new proposal. Councillor Jacobs said he thought it was unfair to Walsh remanded to March 25 Former Blyth clerk-treasurer LarryB. Walsh has been remanded to March 25 for sentencing, at the written request of his lawyer, David Smith of Guelph, who was unable to be present at Mr. Walsh’s appearance in Wingham District Court on January 28. Judge Garry Hunter of Goderich granted the request after the duty council read a letter from Mr. Smith asking for the extension because a character witness for Mr. Walsh was unable to appear at this time. Mr. Walsh is facing charges of theft in conjunction with the School board against learning at home The concept of home schooling in Huron County got a resounding “No” from school board superin­ tendents of student services Paul Carrol 1 andC.K. Rowlandatthe board meeting in Clinton on Monday, in answer to a question as to whether they thought the practice provided children with an adequate education. The question was first raised by Donald McDonald of RR 2, Brussels, trustee for Brussels and Grey, who said that a woman had called him to ask if the practice is legal, and why. At first, staff members soft- pedaled the answer, with Mr. Rowland saying that the situation is actually legal under the provin­ cial Education Act, where the operative word is not ‘ ‘adequate' ’, but “satisfactory.” Bob Allen, director of education for the county, said that the board does have some discretion as to whom supervises these home pro­ grams, but added that if the board were to consider one of them unsatisfactory, “we would likely be overruled by a judge (in a court oflaw) whoare, by precedent, very lenient (in these cases.” Mr. Carroll said that he felt that the families he had visited, on behalf of the board, were doing an adequate job as far as they saw it. charge one amount to Morris township on one side of the village and charge a different amount to Grey on the other side. Morris has agreed to the charge of $1,200 a year plus $350 per hour. But Councillor Neil McDonald who was involved in negotiating the proposal argues that Brussels is doing two different jobs in the two townships. In Morris township the department is responsible for the fire from the time of call until thefire is out. In Grey township Brussels will respond to fires close to the village and stay at a fire until the Grey Township Fire Depart­ ment arrives on the scene. Brus­ sels did not want to stay in Grey for Continued on page 2 disappearance of more than $94,000 from the Village of Bljrth between 1980 and 1986. An earlier charge of fraud was dropped in October when Mr. Walsh pleaded guilty to theft. Mr. Walsh served as chief administrator for 13 years, before resigning last May in the face of an investigation by Ontario Provincial Police. During Mr. Walsh’s last appear­ ance on October 22, Mr. Smith told the court that his client had been ‘ ‘ most co-operative with police and accountants” throughout the in­ vestigation. “according to their social or cultural beliefs, or whatever.” But in answer to a direct question from John Jewitt of RR 1, Londesboro, vice-chairman of the Board of Education and trustee for Hullett, McKillop and Seaforth, as to whether he personally felt that the system provided an adequate education, Mr. Carroll answered witharesounding“No,“ which was quickly echoed by a similar answer from Mr. Rowland. Mr. Rowland says he feels that a major problem develops when the families try to education their children at home beyond the elementary school level, since there is no way such children could then qualify for any post-secon­ dary entrance under the Ontario Secondary Schools, Intermediate and Senior Divisions (OSIS) pro­ gram. “We encourage these people at all times to take advantage of any extra-curricular school programs we offer,” he said. “The educa­ tional invitation is always open to them.” Mr. Allen said that at present there are 17 families in Huron County, with a total of 29 children being educated at home, and that the “phenomena’’ seems to be growing.