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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1989-03-08, Page 2Page 2 Times -Advocate, March 8, 1989 LOCAL -3V4 OCKE OUT Lockout over - General Coach workers still have the sins they carried for the past two months on the picket line, but the labour dispute is still up in the air after last week's offer that came with the union's blessing was rejected by 70 percent of the membership who voted. Okay park development planning EXETER - Council Monday 'night gave their approval to prepare detailed plans for redevelopment of MacNaughton Park. The. townis co-operating with the Exeter Lions Club and the Aus- able Bayfield Conservation Author- ity in splitting the cost of having the plans prepared by a student -from Fanshawe or another college offering courses in landscaping. Presenting the proposal to coun- cil were -Jon Dinncy and John Ste phens of the Lions and John. Schwindtrepresenting the Authori- ty. After- getting council's approval, Schwindt said he would take imme- diate steps to' find a suitable student to prepare an overall landscape plan for the park: The salary to be paid to the stu- dent is expected to be -S12,000 over a maximum eight month period. Each of the three groups will con- tribute 54,000. . Jon Dinncy outlined the program and said, "Lions officials came to _council two and a half years ago . and rce iVedapproval for this type: ` of project on the understanding the town would match us dollar for. dollar. Now we: are ready to go." Dinncy assured. council that if the plans were completed before' the eight months were up, the town could use the student's services for other municipal projects. He added, " The park completion is first pri- . ority.. if wc get done what wc need, then it's town business." Councillor Ben Hoogenboom commented, " My first reaction is, why spend $12,000? That would go a long way to planting trees and why should it take eight months to prepare a plan." • Schwindt replied, A lot of things arc involved. These include road resurfacing and realignment; trails and walkways; services; for- mal planting beds; bank revet- ments; a washroom building; play- ground equipment; picnic facilities; parking areas, etc." Dinney added, " We were also concerned at the beginning about the time and cost. But, we found it involves a lot of things. Start with walkways for handicapped. From there it went -on and on. Without a plan we couldn't take on a project of this magnitude.'A lot of work and costing is involved." • He continued, " Three years ago, we received a quote from a Kitchen- er firm for $15,000. Now it would probably be $20,000. I think we are getting a bargain." Councillor Morley Hall was in-. complete favour of the plan. He said, " I was really delighted when . - the Lions decided to take it on for this sum of money. I'm certainly in favour of the.' cost sharing. We would be remiss if we didn't go ahead." When councillor Ervin Sillery asked about, possible grants, Schwindt replied, " Grants could be possible for linking Exeter with Morrison Dam, but not for work inside the park. Deputy reeve Lossy Fuller agreed saying, " I sat on a committee three years ago when we put money in re- serve for this kind of project. We can't drop it in miistream.• With dif- ferent groups involved we need a de- sign co-ordinator. I think it's great."' Councillor Harry Klungel thought the eight months to complete the plan was "incredible". .. To this argument, Schwindt said, " The washrooms alone will take a long time." . Again on the cost of the project, Dinriey said, I think .$12,000 is an excellent price and I feel we will get a good job. Any student will have an energetic approach and do his or her best to further future employ- ment possibilities." On a question from Dorothy Chapman regarding the present parking lot for picnics, Schwindt said, '' No, it will not be moved. In fact -it will be enlarged and im- proved." '- Reeve Bill Mickle who was in charge of the meeting in the absence of mayor.Bruce Shaw said, " Three years ago we.gave our intent to pro- ceed: Now we can take the monies needed from our parkland reserve". Mickle -asked the Lions delega- tion, Do you have a committee in charge of this?" and was told -by, Dinncy; ". We would welcome a council member to be a part of the committee to oversee the project." Hoogcnboom volunteered to sit on the committee saying, " I don't want you to think I am against this. I'm in -favour, it was just a matter of cost. I agree you need a plan." Five area motor vehicle EXETER - Officers of the Exeter detachment of the Ontario Provin- cial Police investigated five motor vehicle accidents this week. Three of the five mishaps were caused by snowy and icy road con- ditions. Thursday at 7.55 a.m., a vehicle driven by Terence J. Connolly.of Bayfield struck a patch of ice on Highway 4 and rolled over. Dam -- age to the vehicle was•moderate as the driver and his wife Joan suffered minor injuries. Three hours later the same day, vehicles operated by .Peggy Holmes, Grand Bend and Mark Vandcrgunst, Exeter collided on Clerk quits Continued from from page successfully undcr -some trying conditions over the last seven years. I think it was a good career move on her part," said Sharer. Sharen said council is undecided what-it=will' do about replacing Mollard but deputy clerk Christine, Smith will be acting clerk after Mollard is gone and a replacement DIANNE MOLLARD narr Iv%foural; str:utcrr ::c , Smith.: - made it clear to him that she is not interested in the job. Council met in a tegular meeting yesterday, Tuesday, and Sharen said in an interview Monday that Mol - lard's leaving will likely be dis- cussed. Mollard begins her new job with Bosariquct-April 3. Highway 83. Damage to both vehi- cles was light. Aftcr hitting loose snow, a vehi= cle driven by Sharon O'Neill, Grand Bend struck a mail box owned by Klaus Jermonkin in Mount Carmel at 12.20 a.m.; Sat- urday. Also Saturday, due to icy condi- tions, a vehicle operated by John Westlake of Hensall slid off a pri- vate drive at the Dashwood Indus- tries parking lot and struck a fence. Damage was described as light when a vchicic driven by Dwayne Farm women Continued from front page RR 1 Varna, was most impressed with the dummy dcmonstration. "When you sec how fast it wrapped around the pto, it really makes you think", she said. Participants agreed the workshop was "really worthwhile - it starts you thinking -about what could hap- pen. Huron Tractor offers the use of its facilities each year for the wom- en's workshop. Shop foreman Ken Bruxcr wag on. hand this year to as- sist-Matisz: cAlso on hand were Bert Visschcr a r m.11ern; meter- - ion Cot711'iy 'Farm Chimney fire at Centralia home CENTRALIA - The Stephen• township fire department based at Huron Park answered a chimney fire call early Friday morning at the home of Bill Graham on Victoria street in Centralia. Chief Norm Hyde said, " Damage .was minimal. They were lucky they smelled smoke at that time of morning. In addition to some smoke damage only a small por- tion of panelling will have to be replaced where the fire burned through." Back a Fighter / Support eats crashes Hayter slid on ice and struck a building at Johnny's Gas Bar in Crediton, Sunday afternoon. During the week, officers laid 50 charges under the Highway Traffic Act andl6 charges under the Crimi- nal Code. T Lockout ends, pickets continue HENSALL - General Coach workers rejected last week's con- tract offer by a margin of 70 per- cent, even though the union had recommended its acceptance. The company responded by ending the lockout situation Monday, but pickets continue to keep production at the recreational vehicle plant at a standstill. "I kind of half expected it," said Local 3054 president Adam Salvo- na of the vote, but he added that the. union had possibly misread the feelings and determination of the membership. Salvona said it is. now evident the workers want a full pay increase in the range of five or six percent. Last week's offer of three yearly pay hikes of 40 cents an houraver- aged slightly less than a four per- cent increase for the average em- ployee. "I would imagine the company is worried," said Salvona of the rejec- tion decision in which 142 ballots were cast out of the membership of 209. "I think it was a surprise to both the union and the bargaining com- mittee," said General Coach presi- dent Andy Imanse in a telephone in- terview, claiming the offer put the wages of a ten-year employee over $12 an hour. Imanse also said the lockout was lifted on Monday morning so workers could return to work, but none crossed the picket lines. Imanse could not predict if the la- bour dispute would continue or - whether a settlement would be reached soon. - "We'll just have to wait and see," he said. On. the picket line, workers said they were resolved to co tinue their protest against the lack o contract agreement. "Some guys aren't going accept what he's (Imanse) offering n w un- less it's a buck an hour," sal one picketer. "As far as I'm cone ed, it's a grudge match." Workers were speculating th lockout since late December was no • more than an alternative to layoffs in a slack season. "He should have been a nice guy eight or nine weeks ago," said a'. worker who described General Coach as "working for the Harold Ballard of RV plants". Most picketers agreed- that the ready availability of part-time la- bour has helped casefinancial bur- dens on the workers while maintain- ing the pickets. Stephen to consider zone amendments CREDITON - Stephen tonwship council has set aside April 4 as the date to consider two zoning amend- ment applications. Applications wil be considered for Ronald Meurer at Lot 23, Con- cession 13 and at part of Lot 19, Concession 1 for Gerald Mcj ride. A minor variance has been ap- proved to recognize_a change in frontage and minimum lot size for Quality Produce at part of Lot 7, Concession 2. . No objections were received on a zoning amendment for David Scatcherd at Oakwood subdivision, near Grand Bend to reverse a resi- dential and recreational property zoning. A report on the Wein municipal drain was received from engineer Bill Dietrich and was provisionally adopted. A court of revision will be held on March 21 at 7.30 p.m. Road superintendent Eric Fink- beiner has been instructed to call tenders for the supply of gravel for 1989 and construction of a bridge at Lot 22, Concessions 4 and 5. Tenders are also being called for the collection of garbage at Huron . Park for a period of one year. The resolution from the town of Fergus regarding the cutback on rail service in rural Ontario was sup- ported. A grant of ,S5 for each of five Ste- phen township young people partic- ipating in the calf show at -the Hen - call Spring Fair sponsored by the South Huron Agricultural Society was granted. The road budget for 1989 with ex- penditures of 5771,980 was ap- proved. - Need more input on street names EXETER - Several 'members of change of a number of street names council Monday night mentioned in the near future. •receiving input about the proposed Councillor Ben Hoogenboom said he had received a number of com- plaints on a possible change on Eastern Avenue. He added, " Chang- es can become expensive for resi- Te n d e r for re ents." y c I i n Reeve Bill Mickle commented, " • g We will ask for.more input from local residents before the subject is discussed March20by the execu- tive committee. It's a people -situa- tion now." Works- superintendent Glenn Keels said he had received a num- ber of objections and felt people • don't forget names. He jokingly added, "Tonight, when we were talking about MacNaughton Park, I - heard it referred to as Riverview Park at least twice." Clerk Liz Bell said her office has - "received a couple of calls in favour of changes. One suggestion was to rename Andrew street north as -Or= - chard street, because it oncewas the location of an apple orchard. Continued from front page cent of the residents participate ini- tially, Kells 'replied, " That may be . so, but the contractor has to bid on the potential amount of custorn- ers." . When Deputy reeve Lossy Fuller voiced concern that the tendering was for the entire garbage contract and asked what would happen to the present garbage truck, Kells replied, Our garbage truck is now nine years old. Within a year or two we will need a new one. The only way to find out is 'to tender. You don't have to accept it:" Kells continued, " At the end of the first year, we can assess the pro= .gram. If you are happy,.we can sell the truck. If not, it will still go for a year or two. This way you have a bit of flexibility. • Ben Hoogenboom added, " Glenn One town mishap EXETER- Only two motor vehi- cle accidents were investigated this week by officers of the Exeter town police department. . On February 28, vehicles driven by Robert Goudie, Hensall and James Verner of Lakeshore collided at the intersection of Highways 4 and 83. Sunday, a vehicle operated by Timothy Griffin of Huron Park went out of control due to a mal- function and struck a telephone pole on Huron street east. - summed that up well. Here is our chance to get downto the nitty, • gritty. We can tender, but are not committed." Reeve Bill Mickle agreed saying, " The recylcing is the catalyst to start this. We must tender to be eli- gible for blue boxes: We are elimi- nating one bit of work by having the contractor do it." Mickle continued, " Here we have an initiating project. Let's start with single family dwellings. If we find -we can handle more later on, then we can do it." Dorothy Chapman agreed saying, " It's sensible to tender the 'whole thing." - To switch The transfer of three secondary school principals was announced by the Huron County Board of Educa- tion after their regular meeting. • SHDHS principal Bruce Shaw has been appointed .principal of Goderich .District Collegiate Insti- tute. Hcrb Murphy, currently at Godcrich, is to go to Wingham. Former SHDHS principal Joe Wooden will come back. to Exeter. Each of the men has been in his present position fQr six. years. Shaw returned to SHDHS for a second term as principal in 1983 af- ter five years as principal at Sea - forth when Wooden was transferred from Exeter to Central Huron Dis- principals trict Collegiate. The name of the person to fill the vacancy at the Clinton school - will be announced at the next board meeting on April 3. Changes in somc of the Omen- - tary schools -were also announced. Bill Black, now at Blyth, was ap- pointed to replace retiring principal. Don O'Brien at Zurich Public School Bill Stevenson will move from Usbornc to Vanastra Public School, as Vanastra principal Mary .. Ellen Walsh is taking a ycar's leave . of absence. The Usborne vacancy has not yet been filled. All appointments are effective September 1, 1989. Livin_ Rooms Dinin_ Rooms and Bedrooms VIS.4' &ephen8�Furniture eta 63 MAIN STREET Wednesday, Thursday 9-6 MasterCard Friday — 9 - 9 235-1794 Sat., Mar. 11 — 9 - 5 •