HomeMy WebLinkAboutGoderich Signal Star, 2011-08-17, Page 3•
nal -Star • Wednesday, August 17, 2011
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Ibome School Council looking for second opinion on repair costs
Creces
h Signal -Star
olborne school community is hoping for the best and
i i g for the worst.
1)1• quite honest, it doesn't look really good, said
t a Ingham, School Council Chair. "From a school
1 standpoint, it's a tough pill to swallow"
awing a special meeting of the Avon Maitland District
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School Board July 28, to which more
than 100 concerned parents, teachers
and members of the school community
came out, the news was delivered that
the school on Lucknow Line was closed
because of mold problems and students
would be shipped to the empty Victoria
Public School. in Goderich.
The school community fears the high
cost of remediating the mold problem
will bring about an :accommodation
review and - worst case scenario- close
the doors for good.
'Colborne is a very tightly knit school.
We look at ourselves as a family there,"
Ingham said. "It has been quite a strug-
gle to date. I" don't know of anybody
that's happy with what's happening
now.":
A school board meeting in Septem-
ber will determine whether or not the
review takes place, though the
Colborne community has been through
this before, Tess than five years ago.
It is always sitting in the back of our
minds," Ingham said. "We're using our
'Keep Colborne School Open' button
from the last accommodation review."
It is unsettling, she said, that the fate
of the school Is now in the hands of
trustees. However, if the July 28 meeting
is any indication, there is an incredible
amount of parental support. -
Part of what doesn't sit well with the
parents, she said, is the calculations of
repairs versus building value that has
the school teetering dangerously close
to -the 60 per cent mark - the cut off for
accommodation review.. -
At the July meeting, .Ashfield Col-
borne Wawanosh Councilor Barry Mil-
lion told the board that for any major
works they should be seeking more
opinions than one on how much it
would cost to repair the school. Millian
also suggested looking at local trades-
people for the work and for a second
opinion.
The Colborne community also wants
to see the report which was created on
Victoria when it was deemed prohibi-
tive to repair.
"We are still waiting on that from the
board," Ingham said. "We're working on
getting the information .requested at
that meeting"
Over the next month, the school
council will be putting pressure on the
trustees to keep Colborne open and
avoid another accommodation review.
Ingham noted she has two kids attend-
ing Colborne, and would like to see
them graduate there: In the meantime,
she said, the community will mobilize,
rallying to keep their community hub.
County prepares for judicial inquiry.
4) Councillors are
seeking to have an
inquiry on their home
turf
Cheryl Heath
OMI Agency
Huron County Councillors are seek-
ing to have an inquiry on their home
turf.
But that move did not come without
some debate at the county's Aug. 10
committee -of -the -whole session.
In addressing the upcoming inquiry
into county council's composition,
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County CAO Larry Adams reports that
while the review was originally set for
Aug. 24, only a half hour could be allo-
cated to both the five municipalities
seeking the action and the four munici-
palities defending it.
As it stands, says Adams, the next
available Hu ion County date for the
inquiry is in November, though the
county could see a faster resolution by
agreeing to have the inquiry In another
venue outside the county's borders.
That proved to - be an idea that some
councillors favoured.
"Let's get it over with," urged Coun.
Deb Shewfelt (Goderich).
Others, however, were not so sure.
"It's a -Huron County problem, it
should be fixed in Huron County,"
argues Dave Frayne (South Huron).
Meanwhile, Coun. Bernie MacLellan
(Huron East) says November is soon
enough and that proved to be a senti-
ment shared by the rest of county
council.
The issues stems back to an earlier
county decision to allow four munici-
palities --- Huron East, Central: Huron,
Wact Coast
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South Huron and North Huron -- to
keep an extra representative at the
countytable. though Municipal Prop-
erty: Assessment Corporation (MPAC)
statistics suggest they did not have the
populations required to do so. A 1999
Huron County bylaw set the rules for
representation with one councillor per
4,000 population and, as such, South
Huron, Central Huron and Huron East
were set to lose their third representa-
tive while North Huron should have Lost
its second voice at the county level.
However, after some municipalities
contested the MPAC statistics and other
complaints were lodged, county admin-
istrators consulted legal counsel, which
suggested- that proper procedure was
not followed and that the county coun-
cil's composition should not change for
this term.
Correction
Liz Schweitzer's Dancing Trees
artwork was incorrectly identified
on page 4 of the August 10 edition
of The publication
regrets the error.
FOSTER FAMILIES -
NEEDED FOR
Huron Perth CHILDREN & YOUTH
oatl..rsr
Help Children from Your Community
For Information Call the Huron -Perth
Children's Aid Society
Perth County: Vy Waller at
519-271-5290 or 1800-668-5094
Huron County: Deante Jardine at
519-524-7356 or 1-800-265-5198
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