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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1987-12-22, Page 16PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1987. Amy McCrea honoured by Blyth Council on retirement Blyth village council started off its meeting Dec. 15 with a presentation by Reeve Wasson on behalf of the Blyth Memorial Hall Board and the Recreation Commit­ tee to Amy McCrea on her retirement after 19 years as secretary-treasurer of the groups (along with the Blyth and District Community Centre Board which had presented an award the evening before). Mrs. McCrea said she enjoyed the job but in the last few years there had been so many changes that she didn’t enjoy the job anymore. She reminisced about taking the job over from Jessie McKay who pushed her into accepting the position when she worried she wouldn't be able to do it. The council's presentation was a figurine. The arena board had presented her with a clock. ***** The village streets will be sanded with a new, tractor-operat­ ed sander specially constructed for the village. The project will be on or under budget, village foreman Merv Ritchie said. The village tractor has a snow­ blower on the back so the village has reached agreement with town workman John Rinn to pay him for the use of his tractor to power the sander at a cost of $5.70 an hour. Since he won't be able to put a snowblower on his tractor he will be able to rent the village tractor if needed, at the same rate of $5.70 an hour. Murray and Mike Siertsema were present with maps to describe their hopes to sever two lots on the west side of Gypsy Lane from the Siertsema farm. One would be used for a new house for Mike and the other help for possible future use bv Murray. A road allowance would be left between the lots in case of future development farther back in the farm. Councillors approved the idea which must still go before the Planning and Development committee of Huron county council. Speaking of that committee, it appears the ongoing dispute be­ tween village council and the planning committee over return of a severance fee when the village purchased property from Mr. Siertsema to expand the fair grounds appears to be over at last. The debate which had gone on for months seemed to be settled by a terse letter from Bill Hanly, Huron county clerk-treasurer and administrator that the severance application had been made “by an individual”. The village as a municipality is exempt from pay­ ing severance fees but individuals aren’t. It appeared from the applica­ tion, that acting clerk-treasurer Ann Nesbit has been acting as an agent for Mr. Siertsema, even though the cheque enclosed for the fee was a village cheque. Counci­ lor Bill Manning who has led the village’s side in the argument said he was satisfied to let the matter drop although ‘ ‘ if an individual made the application why would the county accept a corporation cheque?" He said it looked like the county was just glad to get the money and maybe even happier to take the village's cheque than an individual’s because they knew it would be good. There was some talk at the meeting about the inadequacy of the space in the Blyth branch of the Huron County Public Library and some feeling that perhaps the village should be looking at alternatives in the future to provide better facilities. The lift at the Blyth and District Community Centre is now fully installedbutcan’t be used because it hasn’t been approved by provin­ cial inspectors yet. Apparently, Councillor Bill Howson reported, all the inspectors have been tied up in a hearing into a construction-site elevator accident in Toronto. When the project had been undertaken there had been only one tender for the construction portion which was turned down because it was felt (at $30,000) it was too high. The arena board decided to contract the project itself and the final bills for the construction portion came in at just over $25,000 but that figure also included $3-4,000 in extras such as carpeting the stairs and all interior painting which hadn’t been includ­ ed in the original tender. Council dicussed some sort of tag or other identifying marker to indicate which garbage bags and containers contained burnable garbage and which contained garbage that had to be buried. Councillor Lloyd Sippel said he had been getting complaints from people who separate their garbage but it seems to get thrown into the truck along with unburnable gar­ bage and they’re tired of doing the work of separating it if it isn’t going to make a difference. If there is some way of ensuring the two types of garbage won’t get mixed up, “the feeling 1 have is that people will sort it,’’ he said. “Everybody is fed up with this explosion of garbage out there that we can’t burn,” Reeve Albert Wasson said. The tagging idea which might cost Blyth $200-$300 for the year, will be investigated further. Also being considered is a system of indentification cards for everyone from the Village and the township "Happy Christmas to all, and to all To all our clients we wish a a goodnight!" —santa ciaus Healthy & Happy Holiday Season! From John & Barnie & the rest of the Staff at 523-4930 LAWRIE DECORATING Blyth 'During the year, in the rush of events, we tend to overlook the important friendships that are the true basis of business relationships. One of the great pleasures of the holiday Season is the opportunity to exchange cordial greetings with those whose friendship and goodwill we value so highly. In this spirit it is our pleasure to say “<Yhank You” and extend our sincere appreciation for the very pleasant association we enjoy with you. Jrfay a bright and prosperous J\ew Year bring happiness to you and to yours. Elliott Snsuratue brokers of Hullett using the dump. There are a lot of people, particularly from the township, who the staff don’t know and they want to make sure that only garbage from the two municipalities gets into the dump.***** Council agreed, reluctantly, to be part of a county-sponsored study required under new provin­ cial pay-equity law. The study will rate all jobs in each municipality to make sure women are fairly paid. The study, if done separately would cost Blyth more than $2,000 but it’s hoped that by many municipalities getting together costs can be cut. Councillor Manning said he would go along with the proposal because it would save money but he had mixed emotions about capitulating to this kind of provin­ cial government pressure. Councillor Howson said he wasn ’t against women getting paid equally to men but he was against the principal of this whole matter of the province forcing municipalities into this kind of study. Eventually all agreed to go along with the inevitable and join the study. We’ve saved up a wealth of season’s cheer, along with our sincere thanks. Merry Christmas to all! MANAGERS AND STAFF Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Blyth and Brussels Branches