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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1996-01-17, Page 1`:' �'We got the goalies" `•;6 Two goalies were MVPs for winning town teams k‘,,,, on weekend. 4_,IT,* See page 6 ' 'Clerk Honoured Marion McClur . has now been clerk of McKillop for 25 years. see page .3 Councillors get complaint - on "The 401 'Nail" & snowmobiles in Seaforth See a e4 or Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 — Seaforth, Ontario Briefly Assault with bat A resident was arrested on Queen Street in Walton for aggravated assault with a baseball bat on a McKillop Township man last Wednes- day. The Goderich detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police says the victim was taken to Seaforth hospital, then Gansferred to London's Victoria Hospital with mul- tiple injuries and a broken arrn, for which lie has undergone surgery. Another snowmobile has also been stolen in the area. The OPP say a newblack and green Arctic Cat, ZR580, valued at $10,000' was stolen on Cont:. 1 of 'Tuckcrsmith Township last Thursday. Crime Stoppers of Huron County also reports that nice cases of potato chips worth about $190 were taken from a truck sitting at Vanastra Public School in November. About $500 damage was also done to the truck. , Doctors "decent" As of Monday doctprs in Seaforth, and' elsewhere in thc province, will be gctting- $70 an hour for hospital emergency work. Seventy hospitals qualified for the program announced' by provincial health minister Jiin Wilson in early Decem- . ;ber, that has been a very . contentious issue elsewhere,• for instance recently Southampton where doctors arc up in arms. But not so here, says Seaforth Community Hospital Chief Executive Officer Bill Thiben, who adds it is nice seeing On- tario put some dollars into rural health care. ' "Our physicians have been really decent about it," Thiben says. Seaforth: now has six doctors and is still seeking more. The provincial program pays for emergency hospital coverage from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. weekdays, and for weekends and statutory holidays, except in some very specific instances, in place of OHIP billing. Costs controlled Thc Seaforth Public Works Deparunent switched to winter hours the second week of December so has been able to keep a lid on recent overtime costs, despite the relatively steady snowfall here since the sten of November. Two Works employees now start work at 5 a.m and finish at 12 noon weekdays, while another plus Superin- tendent John Forrest con- tinue on regular shift from 6:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. "This system alleviates the need for overtime hours during the week," Forrest reported to Seaforth Council last Tuesday night. "Fo- rtunately this winter there has only been two weekends where overtime work has been required." Superintendent Forrest plowed and sanded ` the streets and blew the sidewalks on Boxing Day, resulting in no overtime hours for thc department over the Chrisunas and New Year's holidays. • Mobility tower licensed? Worried rural neighbours rally BY GREGOR CAMPBELL Expositor Staff Trouble is brewing in tiny Becchwood where technology looms ominously and threatens the rural life. A petition now signed by more than 40 neighbors is circulating "very much opposed to the erection of a Bell Mobility tower", •staked outoverCftrislmes on the property .of Kevin .Shea, two miles north Of St. Columban• on sideroad 10 of McKillop Township. • •- . They would like things to slow down. They say the surveyors have been in -before the federal government has even issued -the necessary license. "We are all very concerned about the health of our families and we must also be concerned about the livestock producers that live within 'a, close -range to the proposed tower," the petition. states. Thc increasing popularity of cellular phones requires such microwave relay towers. They have been an explosive issue elsewhere, for instance Flamborough, where councillors said residents learned of the project when they"awoke to the sound of bulldozers working in a field. They demanded changes in the way such towers arc licensed by the federal rrovemment.- Continued on Page 2 ' January 17, 1996,— 75 Cents. Plus GST GREGOR CAMPBELL PHOTO CONQUERING HERO RETURNS Mike Watt of Egmondville returned home and was at. the local arena for much of Saturday signing autographs, dropping pucks and showing anyone that asked the Gold Medal he won a couple of weeks ago with Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championships. Provincial deficit comes home to roost ouncii cuts frills in Seaforth BY GREGOR CAMPBELL Expositor Staff ' Seaforth Council seriously tightened its' fiscal belt in a major cost-cutting session Tuesday night, trying to make up $64,000 in recently an- nounced provincial transfer cuts that immediately impact the town's budget. Among the much nitty-gritty - the town is eliminating tree branch and limb pickup, slowing down ext cnditures on roads and sidewalks, increasing registration Ices, charging minor teams or b:Ill diamonds, not paying for any team cham- pionship pictures, d ay with summer ron programs, and not going to any more conventions. The town is inercasing char- ges to the fire board for snow removal, reducing animal patrols to once a week, and making the lawn bowling club pay rent for the town property upon which its . building is situated by doing away with a $990 grant. Seaforth decided to inves- tigate tying the rent it charges the public utility commission for its Town Hall premises to the rate of inflation. Council came close to dissol- ving the rccrcation beard, ar- guing the grant process that originally made- it necessary no longer exists, but decided to wait and sce if members are willing to serve on it and other special-purpose boards without getting paid for it. Council started with a list of 50 cost-saving suggestions that if implemented might save $58,540. Some suggestions wcrc major, some like buying refillable pens were humorous, and others relatively mundane: such as cancelling executive plan- ners, not doing public relations advertising, using disposable cups, scaling down official dinners and faxing as much as possible after 11 p.m. In a lengthy session council- lors discussed and went through all suggestions one -by - one, eliminating some, okaying others, and putting some on the back -burner to sec if arguments other than the bottom -Zinc can sway councillors to save them as this year's budget process soon gets into full swing. WORTH MORE? The annual July 1 fireworks is an example. . Eliminating them would save .an estimated. $2,300, and councillors agreed grants for Collecting branches twigs such frills arc diminishing, . some spectators don't seem to eats up 20 per cent of time want to pay in the��irst place, sand enforcing larger admissions COST VS BENEFITS might be more trouble than it's Given the provincial grant worth. cutbacks, Superintendent John However, some -councillors Forrest said 'the Works wondered whether the Department looked closly at fireworks aren't the linchpin of costs versus benefits, in par - the enure Canada Day weekend ticular how employees ate in Seaforth, and whether it using their time, to carry on. would be like' throwing the He said the practice of sen- -baby out with the bath water to ding men and a truck around to axe the event without gi4ing. pick up tree boughs', branches other groups in the community and twigs had grown beyond the chance to pick up the slack, what was originally intended, or at least be notified such a • until now it consumes 20, per decision is' seriouslybeing cent of the department's work considered. week. Council left the future of'the He felt a far better use of fireworks up in the air, for town resources would be for now. ' the Works Department to cut In the same vein, council left park grass, a chore the town the futures of the local now pays about $4,000 arfnual- recreation board, architecture ly for. conservation (LACAC) and Council agreed. planning advisory (PAC) com-, Residents will now be minces, and the committee .of responsible for taking fallen adjustment, in kind of a semi- branches to the proper bins at limbo. the town shed, or pay others to Recognizing special purpose do it for them. boards may have value beyond On its works' superintendent's strict cost, councillors decided to investigate further before cutting - to sce, for instance, if capital 10 per cent for an es - members might be .willing to timated savings of $15,000 by serve without honourariums. scheduling five years of work "You might never have a over six, and to reduce quorum," one councillor sidewalk construction 30 per quipped. cent to save $2,000, thus doing Council estimates eliminating two blocks of walk rather than the recreation board and the usual three next year. honourariums for all the With new provincial block various boards could save funding replacing the previous taxpayers $2,550. grant system, the municipality It could also mean council now doesn't necessarily have might have to take its tum to bear the cost of a transport helping to run the weekly ministry inspector on site. bingo Monday nights, as the Forrest, with 15 years ex - recreation board now does. perience, suggested doing his "As long as it's not on coun- own in-house road construction cil night," Deputy -Reeve Bill inspection to save Seaforth Teal! said. about $3,500 this year. Optimists still optimist "1 am confident we can do it," 'the' works superintendent said. • Council okayed it. CHEAP BABYSITTING The, cost' of summer recreation programs, which just about broke even save for labour costs which once again left it with a big deficit last year, led to their elimination at Tuesday night's meeting, an es= timatcd savings to Scaforth of $9,000.. • "As far as I'm concerned it is. cheap babysitting," Coun. Heather Robinet commented. Councillors agreed those residents interested in registering their childrenin such activities can sign `them up in similar programs in Seaforth each summer, albeit at an increased cost the town doesn't end up: subsidizing. One notion councillors nixed fast was to apply a 10 per cent surcharge to non-residents, for recommendation, the town also instance those from •Eg- decided to scale back road' mondville, who register for Seaforth recreation programs. It had been suggested this might add about $1,220 to town revenues, but council did not pursue it; thinking it might lead to problems and would sour the spirit of recent mai- , gamation talks with neigh- boring municipalities. Lining ball diamonds with chalk costs the town about S800 annually, which council decided to do away with, or charge minor ball teams $10 per game for diamonds. Council decided to increase recreation department registration fres 10 per cent, and no longer pay for the arena Pipes burst, Hall damaged Smith says club members plan to plug along despite this latest "liule obstacle" and spiff up the Hall even more with some paint, to make it more attractive to rent out as a medium-size facility and help the service club make money. The local Optimist Club talked about folding lute hast year because it is having dif- ficulty, if- fie finding people who want to be members, so decided to temporarily scale back activities at that time and hang tough until the Spring and then make another go at it. Pipes froze then burst causing thousands of dollars in dotage at the Optimist Hall sometime before New Year's, giving the beleaguered local club another headache. Nobody knows how it hap- pened, the heat was hack on when it was discovered the Saturday before New Years, so somebody probably turned the heat off before then by ac- cident, says Mark Smith of the Optimists. Numerous pipes in the walls burst, the toilets cracked and there was water everywhere. The damages estimate would probably be in the neighbor- hood of $4,000 if a contractor were to do it, Smith says, but he and club members Jack Bedard and Don Hoffman have been putting in some extra hours fixing things up. They've still got a long way to go. There is still no hot water in the clubhouse at the comer of Mill And Brantlird Streets, and no water to the kitchen. The deductible on the huii- ding's insurance is $10,00), so that doesn't help. championship pictures - for teams that go all the way. Deputy -Reeve Tcall said- the practice was controversial in some quarters anyway, because- winning ringcttc teat'fl weren't recognized with $450 pictures • like some hockey teams. NEVADA FEES UP - Council -considered doing away with - championship trophies for winning Seal -mai • sports • teams completely, but -decided to .investigate medal- lions as a cheaper form of recognition, that might main-• tain goodwill. Council decided • to stop losing money running the booth • at Optimist Park in the sum- mers, and to investigate either eliminating lights at the tennis courts next to the high school to save an estimated $600, or installing user -pay metres for those lights. • Nevadaticket fundraising license and permit fees were increased from two to three per cent, which will generate an expected $1,5(X) in revenue. - Council okayed reducing •its - - donations to various local societies and events by 10 per ,cent, or about S 1,5(X). It also dccitkd to. come • up. ' • with some kind of long-range plan to sell municipal lots on Brantford St., and investigate increasing parking 'fines and joining a co-op purchase group. Photo copy fees wcrc also increased to raise $250. Council is investigating_ get- ting rid of unnecessary lighting around town, for instance the non -mandatory illumination of the town's water tower. "That's the last thing, you want lit up", , one councillor commented. - Council plans to continue chopping and keep looking. for savings as its budges process continues in the next couple of months. They decided they can Icarn as much in various one -day workshops as they might at conventions, so axed $5,000 for conventions from their budget. Councillors also decided to pick up their mail rather than have it sent by post; at a pos= siblc savings of as much as $150, except in individual cir- cumstances that might make it more difficult for a councillors to do their job properly. Clerk/Administrator Jim Crocker told council provincial grants have been chopped 15 per cent and will total $359,932, with fewer strings • attached.