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Times-Advocate, 1982-11-17, Page 1QUALITY FUR 111/11111 HY PAY MORE? Whitings Phone 235-1964 Pair return from Germany with nine 'excellent plroapects Mayor Bruce Shaw and Councillor Bill Mickle return- ed from their industrial pro- motion trip to Germany this week with nine "excellent prospects" and another six which may be suited to Exeter. The pair told council this week that 11 of the industrial prospects Will be planning visits to Exeter in 1983 and Mickle predicted the town could expect some developments in the next two years as a result of the trip. He said the trip was well worth the time, cast and effort and that for each dollar spent .on the trip, the town could get a potential return of over $1,000. Cost of the trip has been listed at about $3,500. A MICRO • . Mr iWORLD — Milton Bellamy of Shallow Lake near Owen Sound peers through a microscope at live bacteria in one *of the displays in the animal technology. building during open house at_CCAT. Want a►ov't refun Mickle explained that the nine prospects categorisedas excellent were masters in their profession and added that they were "sincerely in- terested" in relocating to Canada. It was indicated that several were interested in joint ventures with local businesses and industries and much of the success of the trip will depend on whether local businesses and industries can be "married up" with Ger- man prospects in joint ventures. To that end, the two Exeter men will be meeting with the industrial and . tourism pro- motion committee to outline more detailed information about the trip and a meeting is also planned with local businesses and industries in the immediate future to in- form them of the prospects available. Shaw indicated that some of . the German :prospects. will start arriving in March and it was noted that ;heir reception and the competitiveness of the .communiy.will be factors In dstablishing industries here. • - Set -1 fees for fleas • The South Huron rec centre board of -management this week approved a rental fee of $75 per Ally for the proposed flea market to be operated by the Exeter Kinsmen next year. • The Kinsmen plan to operate the venture from the . agricultural building on Sun- days, from May 1 to September 18. The $75 fee will also apply to any other groups wishing to rent the facility for daily usage in 1983. The recommendation came from the facilities committee, which suggested the Kinsmen provide any fencing which may be required and also be responsible for putting it up and taking it down. • The club will also be responsible for a clean-up and • the rec board will Ire the booth and rec- centre washrooms open during flea dmarket hours. The committee's recom- Bart for 1903 ball dijl<\ - #• rental fees was also a6 terested some of the •in=• dustrial prospects are, Midi's 'explained that some of the 21 industry and investor people had travelled as far as 70u km to meet with them and one had spent over four hours on a :train, Only, six of the 21 were categorized as not suitable for Exeter and Mickle said their names will be passed on to the provincial ministry of in- dustry and trade for possible relocation in other Ontario centres. Shaw and Mickle spoke in glowing terms of the coopera- tion they received froin 'ministry personnel in.Canadp and Germany, and despite a shortage of staff, minister Gord Walker had directly ordered that the pair begiven top priority and schedules of employees in German trade offices had been adjusted ter meet their needs. The two were also impress- ed with the support given to J. Mueller, who had arrang- ed most of the interviews. The Exeter delegates also lauded the efforts of each other in the venture. Mickle noted it had been important for the German prospects to have a meeting involving the Mayor, while Shaw said the informatii on Exeter com- ,piled b ickle prior to the trip them extremely well preared. "No two individuals were ever mire knowledgeable t their town,' Shaw said. credit must be given'to ck eforthetimeandeffort e put into compiling ipfornlation. The Mayor also said their trip was different from most trade missions in that they were stile to make contacts directly with people who own businesses. Ontario trade officiais.told them that they had done • everything right in their arrangements.. TWO'KIN AWARDS - It was surprise night at the Exeter Legion. Saturday night as Exeter Kinsmen.club members Bob Reynolds received a Master Kin Award and Tom Humphreys received a lifemembershipthe highest oword possible in tcinsmen ranks. At the right is Kinsmen District Governor Brian Cleaver of Paisley. Kinsmen surprised Surprises were frequent u the Exeter Kinsmen Club met Levfor a special occasion at the ion Hall, Saturday night. t was billed as a Gover- nor's Ball was actually •a celebration to honour two long service members. Tom Humphreys received - the highest Kinsmen award, a life membership -in the club. The presentation was unknown to Humphreys until he and his wife Phyllis were called to the head table by chairman Bob Reynolds as the banquet got underway. Reynolds was in for asur- prise himself as later in the program he became a Master Kin, the second highest award in the organization. . Making the presentations were District Governon Brian Cleaver and Zone K Deputy Governon Ken Hall. Exeter � deputy -reeve Lossy Fuller brought greetings from the town. Also in attendance was Ger- rot Dauber of Sarnia who was instrumental in getting Hum- phreys into Kinsmen work. • Serving South Huron, North Middlesex dvoca & North Lambton Since 1873 over tax wri to S o t t proved. It calls fora fee of $s when no lights are required Exeter has lost a total of $1,15935 in taxes due to four property owners having their assessments reduced because their homes have urea for maldehyde foam insulation and council think the federal - and provincial governments should be making refunds to municipalities .for • the lost revenue rather than having other ratepayers pick up the added costs: The four home owners received reduced taxes rang- ing from $216.95 to $331.81 in their appeals to the court of revision. Assessments have been reduced by up to 75 per- cent by courts of revision. although .the -provincial government announced recently that the reductions will be held to 35 percent in the future. • "if it continues (the reduc- tions) it could mean some concern to.=the town's tax structure, commented finance chairman Bill Mickle,' adding that the number of and 312 when the local homes insulated with floodlights are used. urea formaldehyde was not Weekend tournaments will known at thistime. be charged ata fee of$75,plus He said municipalities had • $25 for. a beer tent set up in. nothing to do with approving the insulation, as that was done by the' provincial and federal governments, and the latter should now consider re,bates to the municipalities to cover their losses from the reduced assessments. The finance .committee repdrt also indicated members were considering. the prospect of with -holding the school portion of un- collected . taxes until such time as they are collected although no final decision has conjunction with any tour- cements for a total of $100. The board also approved an expenditure of $347.40 as their share towards the purchase of 'a new film projector. Exeter Minor Hockey will pay an equal amount and the balance of the cost will be made up from a $694.81 Wintario grants. In other . business at Wednesday's meeting, the board: Learned from finance com- been made in that regard. mittee chairperson Carolyn Municipalities have ex- Merrier that the budget pressed concern over the fact should be • in line if no un - they are required to pay the forseeable expenses arise. full requisition from . the 'rhe annual grant has been schoril boardsslespite the factreceived from Stephen some of those taxes are in ar- Township and the Usborne rears and the municipalities grant is on its way. • often have to borrow funds to It was agreed the board meet the r uisitions. would pay for the board GETS PALM LEAF — Reg McDonald presents a Gold Palm Leitf to R.t. "Ted" Pooley at Thursday's Exeter Legion Remembrance Day banquet. The award is the highest possible in Legion ranks. T -A photo Complefe term in charitable display Exeter ,ct►tuxil_ approved that a letter be sent to three ngiofl�he current termeir . analysis of ope. .Tuckersmith ra onSbroken an meeting out into community user $ On the recommendation of categories early in the new e sr lot services commit- , year so future requests can be considered at budget time. Also approved was a *50 donation to the Salvation Ar- my and $300 to the Huron County Christmas Bureau, the latter to be used at the Ex- eter depot which is co- ordinated by the Exeter Lioness in conjunction with the Family and Children's chairman Morley Hail added Services in Goderich. ui . tee. council approved a dona- tion of $sot► fr► Tuckersmith Township council for the operation of the indoor pool at Vanastra, a request that had been made earlier in the year final buds and held et tabulations were available to council. In the recommendation, members spousestickets for the annual Christmas party. Approved hiring Robert Redfearn for arena help at $5 per hour. Set a fee of $25 per hour for ice rentals from midnight to 4:00 p.m., excluding holidays and weekends. Dropped the idea of having Pleaseturn to page 2 Store plans big change Exeter's committee of ad- justment will hear an applica- tion on Tuesday for a minor. variance being sought to enable a major reconstruc- tion of Darling's iGA. The application indicates the A.J. Darling & Co. Ltd. have purchased the Genttner Fuels building located to the west of the iGA and plan to demolish that structure along with the two-storey portion of the grocery outlet located at the corner of Sanders and Main\ A new addition would then be •erected on the present parking area to the north of the store.and the area now covered• by the Genttner building and the two-storey portion of the IGA would be used for parking purposes. The application for the minor variance pertaining to the rear yard will be heard on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the town municipal building. One Hundred and .Tenth Year EXETER, ONTARIO, November 17,1982 Price Per _Copy 40 Cents - e C.nsujtunts report sites need r administrator, staff shufflin f The - long -awe benefit and study was;,: eter counc raining 13 some of wit ed"as cosltro Major am recommenda town establish clerk -administrator, combine the positions of chief building official and fire chief, convert the cemetery superintendent teseasonal employment and further Study contracting out some of the works depart- ment functions, particularly garbage collection. The %p rt was prepared by Personnel Management Associates Inc., and Lion J. Sharzer, president of the firm, indicated it was based on information gleaned from eight other municipalities and seven local businesses and industries..- A I3 -grade salary structure has been recommended, and LEGION LIFE MEMBERS = Three members of the R.E. Pooley Exeter branch of the Royal Canadian Legion received life memberships at Thursday's annual Remem- brance Day banquet. Above, Ted Pooley makes the presentations to Elmer Bell, Pot Skinner and Rev. George Anderson. T -A photo Employees accept offer Mayre..float. boat firm . severance pay owing Ile said.lhe agreement says Hughes personally will- pay the employees $41.730.96 by • Deeernher 3. The balance of $67.461- is to be paid by: the new owners in equal weekly payments by lay 3. It also states "subject to sales being as anticipated" lhaI 35-36 hourly -rated Please turn to page 2 Former employees of ,Hughes Columbia Inc. at Huron Park are near'settle- ment in an agreement that will see them get about half the money they are owed in back pay, but' more 'impor- tantly, many of them may get their job's back. It was announced onThurs. day that the bankrupt firm may, be purchased by a Kit- chener couple and part of the transaction will see the employees given 50 percent of the pay owed to them by the company when it went into receivership in June. The 85 employees voted unanimously to accept the settlement. The settlement hinges on a Kitchener couple's plan to purchase Hughes Columbia and turn it into the going con- cern it once was, said London lawyer Bob Beccarea, who acted on behalf of the workers. Following Thurs- day's meeting. prospective owners Ralph and Audrey Sprung handed out job ap- plications and announced they hope to resume opera- tions by early December. The company will retain the existing name but will be owned by Aura Yachts inc. l with Mrs. Sprung as presi- dent. The couple's offer to purchase the company is to be completed December 3, and Mrs. Sprung said Friday the purchase looks like a sure thing. Beccarea said the settle- ment came after months of leg work and cooperation by former owner Howard Hughes of Orangeville, major • secured creditor•§ (the Toron- to Dominion'Bank and the On- tario Development Corpora- tion), the employees and• receivers Yale and Partners • of Toronto, who were ap- pointed by the bank and ODC. Bernie Yale; spokesman for the receiver, said Friday the bank was owed about $670.000. including $100,000 in interest: the ODC about $750.000 and the employees about ,$335,000. including $86.425 ' in unpaid wages.. 548.000 in unpaid vacation pay and $200.000 in severance pay. Other secured and unsecured - creditors were owed another $1 million.. At a meeting about a month ago, Beccarea said, it was agreed the firm's assets couldn't possibly cover all outstanding debts. it was also noted prospective purchasers would shy away from the eornpany if all creditors demanded -100 percent of what. was owing. As a result. Beccarea said the bank agreed 'lo forego alx►ul $100.1100ininterestit was owed and took its share of the • . firm's assets. Vale said the OD(' agreed to allow. Sprung to pay hack $450.000 of the $750.000 it is owed tSprung is to pick up that portion of the debt as part of the purchase 'agreement) and will get another • $100,000 • from -Hughes. The employees agreed to accept 50 cents of every dollar in unpaid wages and vacation pay the firm owes them. for a total of $67.461. Beccarea said the employees were not able to recover. any of the • it was noted, if the salary diVidual. to exercise these tions open if he could not do ranges are approved the total skills if the job is to be done so - cost cost for 1982 will be $6,193 to successfully. This may be These ranged from hiring. bring employees into line with more of a problem for.coun- :the individual on a contract their respective grades. 'cillors than for staff and the basis, changing employment In 1983, the• salary ad-, . process will take time. to part-time or combining the justments will be governed by Sharzer said he could not position with another the government's government's wage comment on the qualifica time position to create a new guidelines and therefore will tions of the present clerk- full time job. not exceed -five percent . in treasurer, Liz. Bell, to fill this Sharzer said combining the building official and most cases. ' position, but said she should fire chief Commenting on the need .certainly be considered for it. jobs may be the most for a clerk -administrator, - Explaining that no other workable solution in that the Sharzer said in discussions town surveyed of Exeter's positions are complimentary. witiscopgmitte�_. b@ '� ` ,, �S7► Cbiei - r-kital*ri,n the las4oh . found a sense of uttlea§e regar bum ' off ciafs, coupled tion (joining $fie two jobs t din# town• operations. He said scssssessiskstsssassmissam this is not uncommon among elected officials, and while not opining whether . it was justified, said -the basic reason for the problems is that Council has no one in- dividual to turn to whom it. feels will give information on the total operation. - "One consequenee of this situation is greater council in- volvement in administration and operations than in other municipalities I have studied," he noted. adding that council itself has. developed and implemented. many procedures to obtain direct fiscal and budgetary in- formation and control procedures that woald be the res ponsi 'b'tlity• of a clerk- adminstrator if one existed. -I believe a clerk ad- ministrator whose main responsibility is administer- ing. the entire` organization and whose success Will be • based on the efficiency and -productivityof the organiza- tion is an effective answer to this problem," he continued. ' "It is of course, not an easy job and,the individual's suc- cess in it will depend on the quality of his relationship with both council and staff. Special personal skills are therefore'' necessary and councillors as well as staff will have to allow the in - Accepted in principle Alltown boards and employees will be given an opportuni- ty -to comment on the salary, benefit and organizational study presented -lo council this week by Personnel Management Associates Inca Mayor Bruce Shaw said the report will no doubt create a lot: of controversy. We have to make some decisions, folks." he saidafter the report was outlined by Lion J. Sharzer, presi- dent of the London firm, Monday. Shaw said Sharzer had come to grips with several matters that would require decisions from council. "What you're forcing council to do justifies the cost (of the study )," he remarked. 'Council accepted the report in principle and then approved sending it to the executive committee for their recommenda- tions on the salaries of employees who had their wages frozen earlier in the year pending the report. with the tact the value of building permits has fallen to a third of their previous level.. he suggested the town should seriously consider whether it needs a full time position at this time. His contention. he saidwas reinforced by the fact that at• least two counties; Brant and ' Lambton, have one employee who provides inspection and. •related services for virtually all county municipalities. "The indiv idual.in question should be giver the opportuni-. ty to justify full time employ- ment." the report said. but went on to list Bothe of the op - council should assess whether the current building official could and is willing to do the . fire chief's duties, the training .required, the affecton the quality of fire fighting in the town and. of course, what would happen to the current fire chief." ,the report concluded. Sharzer also said Exeter is one of the fewlowns of its size'- . to have a full time cemetery superintendent. The present job description indictates that during the winter months the individual spends most of his time maintaining the Please turn to page 2 eiliSt '>. DONATE LIBRARY BOOKS - Junior Formers of Huron County are presenting a book. 'A Rural legacy to libraries in the five towns in the county. Above, clob Pavkeie of the South Huron Junior Formers presents a copy to Exeter. librarian Elizabeth Schroeder while Irene and Katherine Gibson look one over. The books ore available from any Junior Farmer. • : - T -A photo.