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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1997-09-10, Page 14PAGE 14. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10,1997. Hitching a ride Looking ahead and behind, these two young visitors to the Thresher Reunion cruise the fairgrounds at Blyth this past Saturday during the three-day event. County postpones handing over roads County Health Unit, planning department study service sharing After a spirited debate led by Hullett Twp.'s Reeve Tom Cun­ ningham, Huron County council­ lors agreed to postpone turning over a number of small roads to the townships until after a comprehen­ sive study on management of all roads in the county is completed this fall. The proposed transfer involved a number of short roads which the county fell no longer met the crite­ ria to be county roads. The hardest hit in terms of mileage, would be Howick Twp. which would receive three stretches of road, the longest being County Rd. 28 for 10.5 km County council briefs Architects sue Huron County is being sued by a firm of Goderich architects to work the company feels it should have been paid for in connection with renovations to the county court­ house. Allan Avis and John Rutledge are seeking payment for $13,288 worth of work on the project. The county claims the company tendered for the job and all costs should have been included in a fixed cost. Because of unforeseen problems due to the design of the original building, the project went ovcrbud- get, exceeding the $21,000 contin­ gency fund by $65,000. The problems required a lot of extra work by the architects for which they feel they should be paid but the county feels their original ten­ der was firm. The county is prepared to defend itself against the suit.*** Council, at its September meet­ ing, went into closed session for 45 minutes to discuss issues regarding weed control. One of the issues is legal action by Bill and Kathy Westbrook over a $256.80 bill for weed cutting on July 17, 1996. A contractor work­ ing for the county, went onto the Westbrook property and cut grass and weeds, but unfortunately didn't notice the area had been planted in trees, and cut them all off. There was an insurance settlement in the issue but the county still sought to have the couple pay the cost of the cutting. from Hwy. 87 to the Bruce County boundary. But the stretch that had Cunning­ ham fuming is a 1 km stretch of County Rd. 22 from Lot 44, Cone. 14 Hullett to County Rd. 25 at Auburn. The road's main use is to take truck traffic to Craig Hard­ woods' sawmill, which he termed an important industry. The county has spent very little money in upgrading the road and now it's going to dump it on the township which will have to pick up the cost for bringing it up to standard, he said. But Bill Clifford, reeve of To make matters worse, a county contractor entered the Westbrooks' property by mistake again on July 18 this year and cut weeds by mis­ take. The contractor sent a letter of Continued on page 15 4 T T1 TOP RATE ; 4^ 4- 4^ j 90 Day Investments! •t minimum deposit $10,000.“ Call Today For Other Top Rate Quotations CREDIT UNION Clinton cCLINTON COMMUNITY^ 41- 4’’ 48 Ontario St. 4> PH 482-3466 Goderich said he couldn't support Cunningham. "We all have the same problems," he said, and argued that Goderich had plenty of problems it could dump on the county. But Cunningham argued that all the other roads being turned back to the townships had been improved before they were turned over. "There isn't one (other) road being turned back without work done on it," he said. Cunningham argued in favour of delaying a decision on turning back the roads until the roads study is completed. It will look at whether all roads could be more efficiently administered by local municipali­ ties or the county or whether the system should remain the same. "If the county was to take over all roads the issue wouldn't matter," he said. A motion to defer the transfer was approved by council. Should the old system remain in effect, Cunningham warned that his township is prepared to pressure to have the road upgraded before it is turned over to the township. 118 Main St.N.-f PH 235-0640 In an effort to reduce costs, Huron County Health Unit and the Huron County planning department may begin sharing inspection ser­ vices in 1998. The change was initiated by the decision of the province to include septic tank inspections in the Build­ ing Code Act, said Gary Davidson, planning director. That means the municipality will have responsibili1 ty for assuring that all sewage prob­ lems are dealt with correctly. At the same time, the province is increas­ ing the standards such systems must meet. Currently there might be two sets of county inspectors on a building site, planning department officials looking at setbacks, etc. and health unit inspectors looking at the plumbing and sewage systems. "We may be able to find ways to Farm tax rebate change could mean tax increase Continued from page 1 In addition, farmers had previ­ ously paid the full amount of their taxes to the township, then received a 75 per cent rebate on their farm­ land and farm buildings (not their residence). Now they will have a new farmland tax rate that will see them pay only 25 per cent of the value, leaving the township, school board and county missing the other 75 per cent This will drive up taxes ceNtral adult educatio^ ™ing classes at Vanastra Community School COMPUTER COURSES Introductory WordPerfect 6.1/Windows An introductory course for those with little or no experience using a word processor. Learn to open, edit, save and print documents, letters, memos and tables, use the spell checker and format text. Thursdays 6:30-8:30 Sept. 25-Oct. 30 cost: $60 Intermediate WordPerfect 6.1/Windows For students who have completed an Introductory WordPerfect 6.1/Windows course or who are experienced with WordPerfect 5.1. Learn about tab setting, moving and copying text, headers and footers, setting margins, formatting columns and using graphics. Mondays 6:30-8:30 Sept. 22-Oct. 27 cost: $60 Introduction to the Internet Learn to use Netscape browser to find your way around the World Wide Web and how to perform searches. There will also be a demonstration of E-mail. Thursday 7:00-9:00 Nov. 5 or 12 cost: $10 TOLE PAINTING Learn and practice new strokes and techniques as well as complete several small projects This course will be aimed for the beginners. Students must supply their own paints and brushes. Wednesdays 6:30-8:30 Sept. 24-Oct. 15 cost: $40 PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT Discover Your True Colours True Colours is an exciting program to help you discover your unique personal characteristics and values. Knowing this information helps to promote success at home, school, work and in the community. You will be able to appreciate the differences of individuals as well as increase your self-confidence and self esteem. Be prepared to laugh and have fun as you learn. Tbesdays 7:00-8:00 October 1 & 8 cost: $20■■• • • ------- Register In Advance By Calling 482-5922 Course Fees Payable In Advance Of Course Start Date economize," said Davidson. County councillors agreed to seek agreement from local munici­ palities for the county to assume responsibility for private sewage system planning, inspection and installation to continue to be administered by the county. A pro­ posed user-pay system fee sched­ ule, however, was send back for clarification. Bob Hallam, reeve of West Wawanosh, worried that the fees were too high. "When the MOEE creates higher standards it forces people to do it (sewage disposal) under the table. I have a lot of problems with excessive fees." The combination of high fees and expensive septic systems might actually end up harming the envi­ ronment by having people illegally avoid them, he said. for everyone (see story on farm page). Asked by Pat Down, reeve of Usbome Twp. if he had made cal­ culations on the taxes if the town­ ships received an off-setting grant from the province (the province says it has set aside $176 million for such needs but hasn’t announced how it will be distribut­ ed), Nix said he hadn’t made such calculations but farm taxation is about one third of the money raised in the county.