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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1994-04-20, Page 2Page 2 Times -Advocate, April 20, 1994 i IN THF. NEWS Regional wrap up Township drops mobility bus support SEAFORTH - Tuckersmith Township no longer supports a mobility bus service for physi- cally -challenged residents. The decision was made at the April 5 meeting of Tucker - smith Township Council de- spite a request from deputy - reeve Robert Broadfoot to de- fer the motion. Reeve Bill Carnochan said the Central Huron Mobility Service committee was driven more by the province than the local community. "I haven't seen a ratepayer that's asked for it," he said. "Based on the information we have now we can not be sup- portive of this program," it was reported in the Huron Exposi- tor. Teaching positions cut in Perth MITCHELL - The Social Con- tract Act and a decrease in enrol- ment will result in the elimina- tion of almost 25 teaching positions in Perth County Board of Education schools. At Mitchell District High School, seven classes will have to be eliminated. "We're fortunate that none of the existing staff will be lost. But it is disappointing that we have seven fewer classes," said principal Terry Boyce. In September, the Mitchell high school will be staffed at minimum levels with a faculty of 33 teachers, including the principal and vice-principal, it was reported in the Mitchell Ad- vocate. MP headed for South Africa MOUNT FOREST - Bruce - Grey MP Ovid Jackson has been chosen as a member of an elec- tion observer team travelling to South Africa to observe the up- coming elections. Jackson told the Mount Forest Confederate in a telephone inte- vicw that he was approached three weeks ago with the opport- nity. "There are some risks in- volved and we wet told what to expect as well as about the logis- tics of the trip," Jackson said. Jackson and seven others left for South Africa on Saturday and were expected to arrive Tuesday in time to observe the final week of the electoral cam- paign as well as the actual vot- ing. Members will return to Cana- da at the beginning of May after a 17 -day stay. Zehrs plaza information expected GODERICH - The mystery re- tailer taking part in the Zebra mall expansion will soon be ready to make a public an- nouncement, according to a planning consultant working on the project. "I am aware (of the retailer's name], hut I'm not at liberty to disclose that...," said consultant Todd Lisso who is working on the project. Rut, he said an an- nouncement would be made soon. Wal-Mart announced last Monday that plans were set for a new store in Barrie, but a repre- sentative told the Goderich Sig- nal -Star that a blanket announce- ment about stores in rural Canada has not been made. Authors Week in Exeter Dale Parsons, a locally -born author now working in Kitchener returned to Exeter Public School Monday morning to present a children's story he is revising for publication to the grade five class. Called "The Great Refrigerator Box Race" it tells a tale of children in Huron County on a day off school due to a snowstorm. Authors Week continues until Friday at Exeter Public School with a variety of activities. Monday morning, au- thor Richard Thompson from Prince George B.C. made his first stop on his Huron County tour at the school to share some of his writing. Here he gets grade four stu- dent Rachel Amerongen to start a story with a choice from the "story vine". At right an enthralled crowd of stu- dents in the Exeter Public School library listens at - tentatively to his presentation. Drummond takes another bash at 'frivolous luxury' Mayor selects committee to plan Heritage Square library, town hall renovations By Adrian Harte T -A Editor EXETER - Even as the mayor was preparing to announce a spe- cial committee to address future plans for "Heritage Square", one councillor and two members of the public took another bash at the pro- ject. Councillor Robert Drummond once again spoke out against the proposal to renovate the Old Town Hall and Public Library into a "civ- ic centre" to house the municipal offices and expand library services. Drummond called it a "frivolous luxury project" and suggested council would be better off ad- dressing sewer projects to "clean up a few problem areas around town". He asked where council would be finding the funds to pay one third of the joint infrastructure grant, its Usborne tenders EXETER - Usborne Township council spent most of its April 5 meeting opening up tenders and pro- jects and property rentals. Council chose the lowest bid of 55,881.45 from A.G. Hayter Con- tracting Limited for construction work on the 'B' Branch of the Cann - Mitchell municipal drain. There were seven tenders submitted, the highest of which was $8,757.95 for the work. Council also agreed to rent a prop- erty known as the Webber farm to Paul Passmore, who submitted a hid of $126 per acre per year. The ren- tal of space in the farm shed on the property, however, went to an Onta- rio number company, 653531, which offered a rent of $711 per year. Township council also awarded the contract for compaction and cov- er at the Kirkton Landfill site to Snow Con. The Thames Road Ball Park will he mowed by Doug Miners this year, who offered a winning hid of $75 per cut from amongst five kid- ders. share under the three -party plan. Would council be prepared to raise taxes, or sell debentures and go into debt, he asked. "I think it's a sad commentary on our society that found money has to be spent on luxuries, not ne- cessities," said Drummond, who argued just as many people at the Strategic Planning Session March 30 spoke in favour of improving the town's hard services. In response, mayor Bruce Shaw told Drummond the Heritage Square does not appear to be con- sidered frivolous to a great many people. He also asked if Drum- mond was opposed to the town tak- ing its $560,000 share of the infra- structure grants. • "If we don't take it, somebody else will take it, and that's the his- tory of grants in this province," said 130 new spaces Shaw, adding the opportunity to ac- complish expensive projects with "50 cent or 33 cent dollars" cannot be passed up by municipalities. He agreed sewers and water lines are important, but "also important for a town are the things you don't see, what makes you feel what a town is," he said. Drummondpggested the entire issue be put on the fall election hal- lot "so all the ratepayers can have a say and not just those at a short town meeting". Reeve Bill Mickle pointed out Exeter continually upgrades its hard services, and noted that else- where on the evening's agenda were paving and sewage projects already in the works. He said the draft budget already demonstrates there is room in the budget for the infrastructure projects over the next two years, mainly through savings in other budget items, but without any reduction in town ser- vices. • In fact, the proposed draft budget shows a small decrease in property taxes to recognize the user -pay waste collection program. Mickle said the town has a re- sponsibility to maximize the grants made available to it, and other hard services projects already qualify under other programs. The infra- structure grants are a rare op- portunity to accomplish projects not normally subsidized. Councillor Bob Spears said council faces no risk in appointing a committee to consider the "Her- itage Square" proposal. If the an- swer comes back the project is too expensive "council can still reject it," he said. Cottages to make way for more Grand Bend parking By Amy Neilands Special to the T -A GRAND BEND - More parking spaces will be added to the Grand Bend core. At Monday night's council meet- ing, council addressed what was earlier mentioned as its "number one priority", parking. The village has purchased some property from Gerplex Ltd. The property is located on the north side of King Street behind some local businesses on Main Street. Council was disclosing who :he owner of the property as of press time Tues- day. Standing presently on the proper- ty are five cottages which will be removed. The latid will be black - topped over to accommodate about 130 parking spots that will be con- trolled by ticket machines. The cottages have not been lived in for a number of years, said coun- cil. "The parking issue had to be dealt with," said councillor Cam Ivey. "It is difficult to accumulate land in the core area." The site was chosen because it is adjacent to a commercial area, it is financially responsible, and it is buffered from residential areas. "It is a big step in the right direc- tion," said Ivey. The purchase price of the three quarters of an acre land will be $375,000. The village received small grants from jobsOntario but that will only cover improvements. The village • will issue debentures up to $250,000 to cover purchase and ac- cessory costs. The rest will come from money in reserve accounts. The job is being tendered and demolition will begin as soon as possible. In another parking matter, coun- cil disputed the arca wanted by the OPP for parking behind its new Grand Bend office. It would take up the space now occupied by a park- cttc off the Eilbcr Street parking lot. While there is only the need for 12 spaces, councillor Bill Uniac argued that the parkettc "serves far more use than a few parking spac- es." "Parking is thc number one priori- ty of the village," said councillor Ed Fluter. The loss of a park is regret- table, but there are other areas to dc- velop parks. Ivey reassured Uniac that the parking lot would not require the mature oak trees to be removed from the site but Uniac also showed concern towards the parkette's hack - ground and its recognized value. "There are too many other alterna- tives," said Uniac. "There is lots of time to take one more look at it," said councillor Phil Maguire. Two members of the public at- tended the council session and voiced concerns about the project. Rob Oud asked if the public ought not to receive a vote on the overall plan. "Definitely not," said mayor Shaw, pointing out opposition to constructing the arena was consid- erable 20 years ago. "If we listened to what the major- ity of people said then, we wouldn't have an arena now," he said. Oud argued the situation was dif- ferent, since the arena generates revenues, and a civic centre would not. Shaw, however, explained the arena runs a considerable deficit, over $100,000, each year. "If your looking at things from a fiscal point of view, the best thing we could do is shut that arena down," he said. Gerry Downie said he didn't get the impression from the March 3C meeting that Heritage Square had to be done right away. "I am definitely against the de- velopment of Heritage Square, as a taxpayer," said Downie, who sug- gested instead the Old Town Hall he demolished, its clock tower pre- served and the area "become a lovely park". Instead, he proposed council move its offices and the library to thc agricultural building behind the arena, which he said is not used much these days. A better priority for Exeter, said Downie, would he the construction of a second bridge across the river to allow the better flow of traffic and emergency services. At the end of the meeting, Shaw announced thc members of the Her- itage Square committee. Members from council include himself, reeve Bill Mickle, deputy -reeve Lossy Fuller, and councillor Bob Spears. Members drawn from the public include librarian Helen Hodgins, Joanne Bowen, Val Gould, Joe Rid- er, Dennis Hockey, and Tim Clark. Additional "resource" members, who would help as needed, include administrator Rick Hundey, county librarian Beth Ross, Doug Gould, and Bob Rohilliard.