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Page 2
Times -Advocate, December 3, 1986
Okay new tractor, part-time help
lrited debate on road staff and proled's
Deputy -Reeve i y Fuller won
considerable praise or her handling
of a steady and spirited attack on
three of her committee's recommen-
dations this week, but she also came
away with all three of those issues
fairly intact, although that could
change in future deliberations over
two of them.
Noting that she had come under a
heavy barrage from fellow members,
Mayor Bruce Shaw commended the
public works chairman for handling
herself "very well".
The issues were all major and were
contained in one motion that asked
council to adopt street projects for
1987 as recommended in the recently
completed road needs study, as well
as the hiring of an additional full-time
staff member for the public works
department and the purchase of a
843,174.50 tractor with a snowblower
and flail mower attachments.
The motion for all three approvals
was defeated by Reeve Bill Mickle
and councillors Dorothy Chapman,
Gaylan Josephson and Morley Hall.
Fuller received only the support of
fellow committee members Ben
Hoogenboom and Tom Humphreys.
The fourth member of their commit-
tee, Peter Snell, was absent, so the
vote did not end up for Shaw to
resolve.
However, in subsequent and
se . • rate motions on the three items,
council unanimously supported the
purchase' of the new tractor. The
public works department also was
authorized to hire a part-time
employee and the request for a full-
time person could materialize yet as
it was turned over to the employee
relations committee for study, and
reoommendation.
Council also approved the engineer-
ing for the street projects recom-
mended by the committee, so the bat-
tle over those will have to be fought
again at a future date.
Also approved was a motion to call
for tenders for the sale of the present
tractor and blower used for sidewalk
snow removal and another older trac-
:; . •
COMMITTEE — A local committee has been formed to assist in deciding what Conestoga College conti-
nuing education courses should be offered in Exeter. Shown (back left) are Elizabeth Bell, Conestoga
coordinator Jane Huffman, Gail Little, Janet Hern and (front) Rick Graham, Rick Hawley, Ruth Stover
and Bev Teeter.
Conestogareaches out
to .residents in district
Conestoga College is reaching out
to serve the residents of smaller com-
munities. Night courses tailored to
the needs of this area will be offered
in Exeter in February. Conestoga
plans to offer night courses at SHDHS
min February in French, flower ar-
ranging, personal finances, starting
a small business and parenting, pro-
vided enough registrants apply for
each course.
"We -ire taking a new approach. We
feel it is time to go back to the peo-
ple", explained Jane Huffman, com-
• munity coordinator of continuing
education at Conestoga's Stratford
campus.
Besides offering continuing educa-
tion at the campuses in Cambridge,
Doon, Clinton, Stratford, Guelph and
Waterloo, Conestoga branched out ex-
perimentally to Brussels and Milver-
ton last fall. The pilot project was
very succesful. In Brussels, with a
population of 900, 80 registered for
classes in bookeeping, flower arrang-
ing and water colours. Seventy turn-
ed out for the Milverton classes.
Huffman credits a large share of
the success of continuing education in
these small centres to the efforts of a
local committee set up to identify the
educational needs and interests of
their community, and their assistance
in selecting and organizing suitable
courses.
A committee has been formed in
Exeterr to assist in choosing the types
of courses wanted here in future.
Representing a cross-section of this
community are Elizabeth Bell, Rick
Graham, Rick Hawley, Janet Hern,
Gail Little, Ruth Stover and Bev
Teeter.
The committee is preparing a ques-
tionnaire which will be circulated
with Conestoga's spring catalogue in
March. The answers will help the col-
lege determine which continuing
education courses to offer in this area.
Residents will be asked if they are
interested in continuing education,
what courses they want, and which
time of year is most suitable.
Conestoga College offers over 200
credit and non-credit courses rang-
ing from accounting, auto mechanics,
computers, family law, and floral
design, through French, human rela-
tions, marketing and photography to
real estate, self improvement and
writing workshops.
Only courses with sufficient com-
munity interest will be offered. Some
courses requiring special facilities
may not be available here.
Hay council defend
Continued from front page
bypassing local dealers.
Although Councillor Don Weigand
had not been at the November 17
meeting where the decision was
made, he said that he would have has -
ed his decision on the specs, and come
10 the same conclusion as fellow
councillors.
Steckle countered with the argu-
ment that the township had hought
2,90( extra pounds of iron, which
would use more fuel. Ile said Case
had Dever lost to JCB before when the
,1('11 cost more. Ile pointed out that
N1'I'(' would not pay subsidy on
anything over the figure in the lowest
submitted lender. -
At this point. some of the
ratepayers joined in. Lloyd Willert
voiced his concern that if people did
not support others within their com-
munity. the rural communities would
. deteriora te a nd, disappear.
Paul Klopp warned that council's
action would leave a bad taste. Ile
said the turnout showed that people
in the township "do give a damn". Ile
expressed the hope council would
learn from this. and added Hay
residents would "learn to come to
more Meetings".
An irate Don Hader said it was "a
damn good thing this was not an elec-
tion year. or you guys would all be out
on your ear".
Wilder replied that "we need peo-
ple like you...get your name on the
ballot next election".
Some in the crowd questioned the
need for a backhoe at all. Road
superintendent Ross Fisher admitted
that previously the township spent
about 81,000 annually to hire a
backhoe, but pointed out that many
jobs which should have been done
never were.
Wilder said the decision could not
be reversed. The machine had been
delivered and already had 25 hours on
it.
Steckle left after saying he ap-
preciated the opportunity to state his
case, adding "now its up to you peo-
ple", referring to the Hay residents
in attendance.
After all had left, Wilder told coun-
cil they had made the right decision.
and had nothing to be ashamed of. Ile
said he felt Hay had obtained $10,000
worth more backhoe for their money.
"We made our decision, and we
have to live with it", Wilder
concluded.
The February courses will be
advertised in January.
Good ideas
for corridor
Several good ideas have come for-
ward for the future use of the corridor
which extends from Exeter to Morri- .
son dam along the Ausable River it
was reyealed at Exeter council last
week.
Deputy -Reeve Lossy Fuller made
that comment during a discussion on
Ausable Bayfield Conservation
Authority work .with Exeter
representative Ervin Sillery and •
general manager Ted Jones.
On hand to make one of his periodic
reports, Sillery said he hoped there
would be some action on the corridor
project next year. It is being spear-
headed by the Exeter Lions along
with several area residents.
He explained that other ideas are
still being solicited from the public
regarding use of the area.
Councillor Morley.Halt, suggesting
that more people should use the
nature trail east of the Morrison dam,
questioned whether there were signs
along Highway 4 advising motorists
that tile conservation area was
nearby.
Agreeing that he would like to see
the trails used more, Jones explain-
ed that signing of conservation areas
is a provincial matter and the
Authority is permitted only two signs
along Highway 83 to advertise.
Mrs. Fuller said mere signs for the
area are on the "wish list" of the cor-
ridor planning committee.
Councillor Ben Hoogenboom cited
the need for more rest areas at the
conservation area, noting he had hik-
ed there recently and found no place
to sit down out of the wind.
Jones advised that some natural
rest areas comprised of fallen trees
(that have been helped to fall) and
rock piles have been established. He
said that these natural structures
keep maintenance costs to a
minimum and also reduce the hear-
tache of vandalism that is often
associated with man-made structures
in such areas.
The discussion ended with Sillery
acquainting council with the program
underway to improve stream quality
along the river by reducing pollution
from farm livestock operations. He
said some polluted areas had been im-
proved considerably and it showed
what could be done through caution,
care and spending a few dollars.
VISITORS AT VILLA - Students of the Toddlers Inn Nursery School visited the Villa Nursing Home,
Thursday. Here they are shown entertaining residents T -A photo
r
tor and mower that will not be need- Josephson respondedthat it had
The purchase of the new tractory been pointed out there were
went through with only minor objer; some errors in that the summer ural
ed when the,new equipment arrives. ahead
tions from council, but the street pro-
jects and the added full-time staff
resulted in considerable debate.
Actually, the debate over the street
projects for 1987 was opened by two
ratepayers, Dr. Bill Steciuk and Doug
Mock, who appeared to request some
immediate remedial action on River-
side Drive.
Noting it was dusty and full of pot
holes, the two explained to council
that it may not have been high on the
needs study recommendation, but
argued that was only because the
traffic flows taken as part of the study
were conducted in the summer and.
didn't reflect the use it receives dur-
ing the curling season.
Mock explained there had been a
steady flow of traffic on the street that
very night.
He suggested that council consider
a "stop -gap" solution of grading the
street and then applying an asphalt
cnat that should last for about 10
years.
Works superintendent Glen. Kells
said that such a. project could be
undertaken, but Fuller told the two
that the street was not included in this
year's budget as it was not a priority
in the needs study.
Steciuk termed as "pretty silly" the
priority tit. ' ' to the reconstruc-
tion of a portion of Alexander St. on --
-which there was little traffic and no
residences.
Hoogenboom said the street could
be.added to the list for 1987, but cau-
tioned that he didn't want to give any
false hopes.
"I'm sure your words have not
fallen on deaf ears," Shaw com-
mented before the two departed.
When the debate over the 1987 pro-
jects ensued later, Hall opened debate
by questioning the inclusion of
Baldwin St. and Church from Main to
William as the top two priorities,
noting both had only a small amount
of traffic and only one residence.
Fuller explained that nine criteria
had been used by the engineers in
determining the recommendations in
the needs study and said that it should
be followed rather than choosing
streets on the basis of "whoever fights
the hardest" as hap been the case in
the past. "If we don't accept (needs.
study) as such, we'll be in trouble as
we have in past years," she argued.
Noting that traffic was one of the
criteria used in the study, Chapman
said there was "no way" the traffic
could justify the type of expenditure
planned for the recommended list.
Mickle interjected that the two
• Riverside Drive residents should
have been advised that their street
was not recommended for reconstruc-
tion until 1990 in the needs study and
added that until all the facts that had
been used in the study were tabled,
council could not make a proper
decision.
He also suggested that questions
posed "seem to be irritable".
Kells then advised that the study
facts were contained in 1,000 pages
and asked Mickle if he would like one
copy of each for each member of
council.
The works superintendent then
went on to note he had already
presented the needs study to the
ministry as authorized by council and
suggested that the ministry may not
look very strongly at council's request
for additional subsidies if the report
is changed a short time after being
presented as a 15 -year plan for the
town.
He added that he would "feel
stupid" going back to the ministry to
tell them it was to be changed after
spending a day with them going over
the report.
Kells contended it should at least be
followed for 1987, explaining there
may well be valid reasons for alter-
ing priorities after that as the condi-
tion of streets can change.
fic count did not reflect the year -
around use of certain streets such as
Riverside.
Chapman then asked why the town
even needs Baldwin St. and she was
told by Humphreys that it had been
given to the town by the Anglican
church and had to be maintained.
Hoogenboom, who termed the
street a disgrace, suggested it was
needed for parking as commercial
growth was taking place in that
neighborhood.
Mickle suggested the matter of
streets was going to need some "hard-
nosed" decision by council and ques-
tioned whether the expense of curbs
and gutters could be continued as op-
posed to the type of remedial action
the two ratepayers had suggested for
Riverside.
He also wanted to know if the com-
mittee had any idea of the increase
they would face in next year's budget.
"If everyone gets the streets done
they want, it may be (increased) 200
percent," Fuller quickly responded.
After the decision to approve only
the engineering on the recommended
list, Kells chastised council for not
giving the engineering firm the time
required at an earlier meeting to pro-
perly present the needs study.
Some members failed to attend,
despite, the fact the session was
delayed one month to ensure
everyone could be there. He also
noted that it had been intended that
no other topics be on the agenda, but
another presentation was made and
that had resulted in the engineers be-
ing "intimdated" and adhering to
council's request to only highlight the
lengthy report.
Kells said in fairness to the authors
of the report, they should be invited
back to explain the report in as much
detail as had been given the ministry.
Council agreed to such a session
with Hoogenboom urging "people
questioning the report should be
there".
The debate over the hiring of a full-
time works department member was
broached by Fuller, who noted that
the department had expanded by on-
ly half a staff member since 1971,
despite the fact the equipment list in
that year was only one pickup truck
and a grader and now included a
pickup, three dump trucks and a gar-
bage truck, etc.
She said it now took 500 man-hours
to pick up leaves, while before they
were burned by citizens: it took 32
man-hours for garbage pickup, while
in 1971 it was contracted out to a
private firm; the number of sanitary
sewers had doubled; paper work has
increased; and the new sewer lagoon
took four man-hours daily.
Help was also needed, she explain-
ed, because of illness of one present
member.
Josephson said the report failed to
impress him with urgency when 1971
statistics were used to back it up and
he contende i the matter should go
through the proper channels of the
employee relations committee.
"We want the sidewalks plowed and
the roads kept open," Fuller respond-
ed, suggesting it may be difficult to
get part-time help of the quality
needed.
Coming Soon
GO
REAL
THIS
YEAR
For Christmas with a .
New Brunswick Fir
Christmas Tree
- Looks like a spruce
- Stays fresh far longer than
a spruce or pine
- SOFT NEEDLES (no prickles
when decorating)
-:They're coming soon. Don't
Miss out!
- Order one now from any
Exeter Boy Scout
;they'll be here December 3
at the
Massey Ferguson
Dealership
Corner of Main & Well-
ington St.. Exeter
surpr1Se�
someone this
hristmas!
See Anstett's complete selection of
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Photographed above --
'Ruby and Cultured Pearl
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$1595.
ANSTETT
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284 Main St. EXETER
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2 The Square GODERICH
GEM SOCIETY
SPECIAL
$12?
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Econo Box, 12 pieces of
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Medium box of french fries
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500 mL. salad of your choice
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One loaf of Grecian Bread
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DECEMBER 1- 24 ONLY
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