HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1993-02-10, Page 1See page 22 See page 23
The North Huron
itizen
Vol. 9 No. 6 Wednesday, February 10, 1993
60 cents
Smash-up
Blyth firefighters help am-
bulance workers extricate
William Fry, 50, of Goderich
Twp. from the 1991 Chev (top
picture) which was driven by
Bryan Allan of Blyth. The car
was struck on Hwy 4 in Blyth's
north end by a Camaro (lower
picture) which OPP say had
been driven at excessive
speeds by Aram Kassa-
manian, 30, of Cambridge. All
involved were taken to
Wingham District Hospital and
released the same day with
minor injuries. Kassamanian
was charged with dangerous
driving by Wingham OPP.
Landfill site test costs may
hit Brussels residents hard
Church
Area church
raises over $38,000
for mission work
See page 10
Farm
Lucknow hosts
Line in the Dirt
rally
See page 14
Business
Area merchants
hear how to meet
the challenges
Entertainment
Blyth's residents
get sneak preview
of community play
Teeswater Co-op
buys area stores
The cost of drilling test holes to
monitor the Morris Township land-
fill site could mean a charge of up
to $100 for each Brussels home-
owner, Brussels council learned at
its Feb. 4 meeting.
The estimate came after Brussels
councillors met with Morris Town-
ship councillors at a meeting Jan.
19 to discuss the waste manage-
ment situation.
The Ministry of the Environment
(MOE) has told Morris Township
that the test wells must be drilled, a
move that could increase the cost
Brussels' share of the landfill's
costs to $58,000 extra this year
from $22,000 last year, even
though Morris has reduced Brus-
sels' share 50 per cent from 60 per
cent.
"I don't know where you're going
to get the money other than from
the people," said Donna White,
clerk-treasurer. "I don't know
whether it's better dealing with it
and getting it over or dragging it
on."
She was referring to the two
options of putting the entire costs
as a one-time charge for garbage
collection or putting it on the taxes
and borrowing money to spread out
the cost. "(The costs of) Huronlea
completely wiped us out, wiped out
our reserves," Mrs. White said. She
said putting the cost on the mill rate
would mean a huge increase at a
time when council is trying to hold
the line. She pointed out the $100
cost was the high-end estimate and
the cost could be $50-$60. There is
also the possibility the MOE could
give a 60 per cent grant for the pro-
ject but that won't be known until
October.
"I know damned well that there
are hundreds of people in this town
who can't afford an extra $100,"
Reeve Gordon Workman said. He
argued that MOE should be told
they should come up with money to
help spread the costs out over time
so people don't have to face too big
a bill at once.
"I don't care what the municipali-
ty is, they just don't have that much
money," agreed Councillor Bruce
Hahn.
If the extra cost does work out to
$100 per household, and if it were
applied to the garbage fee, it would
mean costs would rise from $70 a
year last year to $170 a year this
year.
Councillors agreed they would
prefer to recover the costs through
a one-year increase in the garbage
charge but will have to wait to see
how large an increase is involved
before making a firm decision.
By Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot
Financial troubles at United
Cooperatives of Ontario has led to
the independent Teeswater Co-op's
purchase of Auburn, Belgrave and
Mildmay UCO stores.
The announcement was made at a
public meeting in Belgrave Feb. I.
Jeffrey Hurst, general manager of
Teeswater Co-op, which is owned
by 450 shareholders, revealed the
company purchased the UCO stores
to better utilize expensive equip-
ment such as fertilizer and feed
trucks and improve purchasing
power.
The buy-out was partially insti-
gated by UCO which admitted at
the meeting it was suffering heavy
financial losses. UCO president Jim
Kraemer told the crowd because of
money problems, UCO had decided
to get out of the retail business and
remain as a wholesale supplier to
locally owned co-operatives only.
To reach this goal, UCO offered
to let Teeswater Co-op purchase14
co-ops ranging from Auburn to
Wiarton, said Mr. Hurst.
"After several months of soul-
searching, the committees felt that
this was far too big and would end
up structured like the former sys-
tem of UCO and not a front line
locally managed co-op but one dic-
tated to from a head office," he
said.
That's when Teeswater's board
of directors met with Mildmay's
and Belgrave/Auburn's boards to
discuss if they would be in favour
of amalgamation.
They agreed and the proposal
was sent to UCO which accepted
Huron County councillors and
members of county boards took
home nearly $225,000 in payments
for attending meetings and conven-
tion and travel expenses last year, a
report at the Feb. 4 meeting of
County Council showed.
Robert Fisher, 1992 Huron Coun-
ty Warden had the highest costs,
with' per diem payments of
$43,699.90 and convention and
other expenses of $7,319.39 for a
total of $51,019.29.
Highest total for any regular
member of council was paid to
Bruce Machan, reeve of Wingham
who received $9,812.15 for attend-
ing council and committee meet-
ings (he was head of the Seniors
and Social Services Committee last
year with Huronview and Huronlea
being built) and $1,279.59 for con-
vention expenses for a total of
$11,091.74.
Councillors from the local area
received the following (convention
expenses in brackets): Leona Arm-
strong, Grey, $3,551 ($549.34),
total, $4,100.34;Tom Cunningham,
Hullett, $7,323.10 ($1,777.41),
$9,100.51; Norm Fairies, Howick,
$5,471.35 ($685.55), $6,156.90;
Douglas Fraser, Morris, $3,912.70,
($452.19), $4,364.89; Bob Hallam,
West Wawanosh, $3,216.90 (none),
$3,216.90; Marie Hicknell, McKil-
lop, $4,452.15, ($690.38),
$5,142.53); Dave Lee, Blyth,
$2,868.65, ''8.85), $4,067.50;
Brian McBur —y, Turnberry,
around the area.
As far as employee changes, Mr.
Hurst said "Our intentions are to
keep all present full-time employ-
ees." There will be a manager for
Belgrave and Auburn along with
full time feed and crop sales repre-
sentatives at all locations. The local
managers will be accountable for
their individual branches.
Mr. Hurst said the changes
should keep the cost of doing busi-
ness as low as possible. He believes
there will also be substantial sav-
ings when the combined co-ops go
to one computer system instead of
three.
Changing times are behind the
changes, he explained.
"Now is normal, the 70's won't
return. We're in a mature market
place that in some instances is even
declining, such as in rural
petroleum," he said.
Like farmers who've had to
change management practices, and
who've expanded or specialized to
stay in business, the co-op has had
to too, he added.
the offer.
"There are still two items not
totally agreed to by both parties,
however we feel very confident
that a completed deal will be signed
in the very near future," he said.
Little changes will take place at
the Auburn and Belgrave stores.
However, there are plans for bulk
chemical storage at Belgrave plus
re-installation of fertilizer blending
equipment. As well, Belgrave may
get a skid steer to mix fertilizer and
a one tonne truck to haul small lots
of feed and fertilizer spreaders
$3,325.15, (none), $3,325.15;
Ernest Snell, East Wawanosh,
$5,714.80, ($719.30) $6,434.10;
William Vanstone, Colborne,
$3,237, (none), $3,237; Gordon
Workman, Brussels, $5,618.10,
($387.24), $6,005.34.
Isabel Elston, a member of the
Library board received $1,418.45
for attending meetings and $495.13
in convention expenses for a total
of $1,913.58.
Brussels
to build
storm sewer
Brussels village councillors
agreed, at their Feb. 2 meeting, to
proceed with construction of a
storm sewer down John St. from
Church St. to Market St. and along
Market St. to the Maitland River.
The cost of the drain was part of
a tender won by Lavis Construction
of Clinton for $84,872.67. Lavis
was the lowest tender by $52 over
the next lowest of the seven compa-
nies competing for the contract.
The contract also includes the
paving of the Elizabeth St. exten-
sion to Huronlea.
The project will be partially paid
for under the village's Pride pro-
gram. Councillors had to decide if
they wanted to do all the work this
year or delay a portion until next
Continued on page 2
County councillors, bd. members
get $224,679 in salary, expenses