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Times Advocate, 1996-08-21, Page 2INT FNEW, Ste -dance winners The step -dance group "Country Classics" competed at the Mitchell Jaycee Festiva! - placing second and at the Stratford Kiwanis Festival - placing first. They also had the honor of performing at the First World's Clogging Festival held at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto early July. The group members are: back left to right, Amy Bender, Tavistock and Lori Richardson, Kirkton. Front row, Tracy Reibling, Shakespeare and Julie Weicker, Tavistock. They are students of Judy's School of Dance, Stratford. Lambton unveils plans to restructure Proposal calls for Grand Bend and Bosanquet to join Thedford and Ar- konalo mate Township of Ausable WVOIWINitos-itstinibiliteiaCounty Warden Gord Minielly announced a plan Friday to restructure the county according to the provisions of Bill 26. The proposal recommends merging 12 of the 20 existing municipal- ities into five in time for municipal elections next October. According to the proposed Lambton restructuring, the municipality of Ausable will consist of Bosanquet, Thedford, Arkona and Grand Bend. Other municipality pairings will include Warwick with Watford, Brooke with Alvinston, Dawn with Euphemia, and Enniskillen with Oil Springs. Sombra, Moore Petrolia, Wyoming, Forest, Plympton, Point Edward and Sarnia will re- main single municipalities under the plan. Lambton petitioned the province exempt the county from Bill 26 due to restructuring already undertaken under Bill 35, the Sarnia Lambton Act. However, the county has in- itiated a study in order that "we not lose the control of our future to a provincial com- mission and have others expand their boun- daries at our expense." Included in the plan is a recommendation that the county expand the types of services it coordinates including water supply, sew- age disposal, policing and electrical utilities. According to the proposal, each vote of a city member of County Coun- cil represents 3,480 electors. Minielly has distributed 21 votes to mu- nicipalities other than the city and one extra vote to be held by the War- den, totalling 37. Regarding the community of Grand Bend, the report clearly states it does not support the proposal from some area residents to include the en- tire greater Grand Bend area in one municipality. "The loss of the assessment would cripple service delivery in the re- mainder of Bosanquet and the entire county. The loss would be about 35 per cent of its taxable assessment." The warden's plan does not set out to define "communities of interest" or redraw municipal boundaries. "It usually ended up as an assessment grab," Minielly said of attempts to draw boundary lines. "In today's electronic age, and with our mobile population, there are thousands of local communities of interest and they overlap each other." The plan will go to County Council for endorsement on September 11 and will be presented in its entirety on October 2. If the package is en- dorsed by County Council and 50 per cent of municipalities representing 50 per cent of the county population, it will be forwarded to the minister for implementation. "The loss of the assessment would cripple service delivery in the remainder of Bosanquet and the entire county." Trip planned to Playhouse The group are having a meal in Exeter be- fore going to the thea- tre. By Jain Reiietling Varna correspondent VARNA - There will be no church services in Varna or Goshen this Sunday, August 25. Church services will resume Sunday, Sep- tember 1 at 10:30 a.m. in Varna. Plans have been finalized for the dinner -theatre evening on August 28. Cars will be leaving the Varna church by 5:30 p.m. going to the Triple A restaurant in Exeter and then on to Grand Bend. Anyone Page 2 Times -Advocate, August 21, 19% Queen of Fair contest cancelled MITCHELL - There are not enough contestants to keep this year's Mitchell Fall Fair Queen contest going. According to the Mitchell - Advocate, two girls have entered the competition that requires a minimum of three contestants. "They are just too busy," Queen Competition Chairperson Betty Jermyn told the Advocate. "They are going into college and university and that's the week- end they move." The Mitchell and District Ag- ricultural Society plans to hold the competition next year but Jermyn says there will be unde- termined changes. Hospital admission may be reduced HURON/PERTH COUNTIES - If the Huron/Perth Injury Pre- vention Committee has its way, hospital admissions in the two counties will be reduced by the year 2000, reported the Huron Expositor. Less people will be admitted to hospital, according to the committee's action plan, due to fewer injuries caused by farm, motor vehicle and cycling acci- dents as well as instances of trauma and falls by seniors. An injury prevention project coordinator was hired last year for the committee that first met in October. Its action plan consists of a strategy to aid organizations in examining the prevention of in- juries. Walton farm hosts match WALTON - Neil and Marie McGavin will host the 69th an- nual Huron County Plowing Match on August 22 and 23, re- ported the North Huron Citizen. Events include a pork chop barbecue, antique tractor and horse plowing, horseshoe pitch- ing competitions, step dancing, clogging, a farm machinery show, 4-H Achievement Day and Queen of the Furrow con- test. Town employees to be evaluated GODERICH - Although some councillors are protesting about "poor timing," reported the Goderich Signal -Star, council plans to spend S14,322 to im- plement an employee evaluation system. Councillor Maurice Jenkins felt the matter should be post- poned until after restructuring, stating changes in roles and re- sponsibilities of staffing after amalgamation takes place would make the evaluation redundant. Jenkins brought forward a mo- tion requesting council table the matter until the first meeting in February. The motion was de- feated and council hired its con- sultants. Based on guidelines the con- sultants provide, the town's de- partment heads will evaluate each of their employees, the ad- ministrator will evaluate the de- partment heads and the person- nel committee will evaluate the administrator. A separate motion was passed, allowing the police services board t0 be part of the evalua- tion process. able to drive should contact Shirley or Ruby Hill. Margaret Hayter has returned home after a visit with Darlene and Marshall Babych at Delburne, Al- berta. While there she saw yellow canola and green wheat with no sign of harvest but lots of big bales of hay. It was in the high 20's and no rain so she didn't miss the hot weather at home. The Mite Girls for Stanley have their tournament this weekend in Varna. Anyone with any news of trips, meetings or special events, phone me at 233-7443 or drop it off at my home before Sunday evening. Made -in -Exeter study underway EXETER - Oweson, the consultants hired by the Town of Exeter and the Public Utilities Commission to undertake and internal organizational study, have met with the steering committee and began working on a communication plan. "Every aspect of municipal business will be ex- plored to find savings and efficiencies," Ad- ministrator Rick Hundey told council. Hundey presented council with a update Monday night on the progress of the study. The consultants will gather input from the community, staff, elected officials, volunteers and town boards through ques- tionnaires, meetings and interviews. Once in- formation has been gathered, a data and service re- view will be conducted. The study focuses on determining if an internal re- structuring will yield comparable or greater ef- ficiencies than an amalgamation. An amalgamation study with Grand Bend, Bosanquet, Stephen and Us - borne is currently underway. Exeter hopes to have its study completed prior to the amalgamation study in order to make a comparison. Amalgamation study Hundey also reported on the Amalgamation Com- mittee progress. He noted Chris Reid, of KPMG, will now be the project manager due to a serious car accident that has taken Mike Follett out of the pro- ject. During a meeting with staff, consultants con- firmed Exeter's concern that the study will not have time to provide a detailed re-engineering study but rather a general re -organization study and opera- tions review. "They will not be looking a process evaluation," said Hundey. However, KPMG intends to develop a model for municipalities to make process changes. For ex- ample, the model will indicate how many staff members are required to handle a program area but will not tell how to re-engineer the processing of taxes or of a planning application. Because administration is expected to yield the most savings, it was decided a staff sub -committee should be struck to work on this project. A process design workshop will be held on August 28. On the topic of amalgamation, an in camera meet- ing was held last week at the Recreation Centre. Councillor Joe Rider expressed surprise that KPMG states administrators agree discussion of as- sets and liabilities should not be discussed because the proposed amalgamation should be considered a marriage. "There's no comparison between Exeter and Us - borne," said Rider. Hundey agreed Exeter's point of view is that amalgamation is a business merger and not a marriage. "I think they (KPMG) stretched discussion and made points that were too broad," said Hundey. Wheat mould cuts yields in half sr Continued from front page flour and Vern Alderdice, who farms near Hensall, predicts small price increases in the product. "Precious little if any Ontario wheat will be used in pastry flour," he said. Fusarium has hit across South- western Ontario, with Essex and Kent not faring as poorly. Michigan and Ohio have also been affected but good harvests will be imported from other parts of the United States as well as Western Canada. Fusarium however, concerns many in the agriculture and ag- ribusiness sectors. According to a recent Ontario Ministry of Ag- riculture, Food and Rural Affairs wheat advisory on the disease, "The stress level on people at all levels in the industry is in- credible...Many elevator operators are scrambling to find buyers for sample grade wheat, while trucking and handling costs soar. Millers may be forced to use lower quality wheat, which will yield less and cut profit margins in a very com- petitive industry. Flour supplies are likely to be extremely tight. Crop insurance liability will be sig- nificant." Good estimates only half the farmers in Huron County have crop insurance. Alderdice claims his lowest wheat yield was 16 bushels per acre on one 100 -acre farm and averaged 40 to 45 bushels on his remaining 300 acres of wheat. He recalls an attack of fusarium 20 years ago, but said it wasn't nearly as serious as this year's bout. "I've been farming for 44 years and I've never seen it this bad...It's quite a loss for people...We have a situation in the making this year that I've never seen in my life- time....I've never seen such a wide spectrum of problems in the crops...I think this food thing could be a problem for the world." He listed potato blight, tobacco mould, poor weather and concern for corn among the many worries farmers have this year. Because it is recommended fusar- ium -hit crops be plowed under, popular no -till methods may be questioned in the near future, he added. Although he claims no -tilling "kind of makes farming a one-man operation," due to its efficiency, he admitted it requires additional weed control and results in slightly small- er yields. The OMAFRA wheat advisory indicates "infected residue left on the soil surface can produce spores and fungal hyphae for up to two years to infect subsequent crops....a light tillage operation should be un- dertaken as soon as possible after harvest. The longer residue is left on the surface, the higher the risk to this year's corn." Alderdice, who recalls an On- tario -wide bylaw in existence in his first 20 years of farming that re- quired farmers to plow all fields un- der by May 1, wonders why such a rule has been changed. Residents views differ on future location of library of Continued from front page Culberts' library negotiations. "Ninety per cent of the people I've canvassed are in favor of put- ting it on hold for the time being," he said, adding it makes sense to consider either the municipal office or works department building for a new library _site, as these buildings would become vacant if amalgama- tion takes place. He described the petition that has collected 501 names to date as "strictly a citizen's movement." Johnston, who mentioned he took the petition to only a few people, said, "Let's wait and see if we can utilize our own buildings rather than put it on the private sector." McFalls, who claims many res- idents approached him, wanting to sign the petition, stressed the peti- tioners are not against having a li- brary. However, he pointed out, "council should've left it on hold." "It's got to be stopped," he con- tinued. "If it isn't, we double pay. This could ruin amalgamation talks...I got so fed up with this here Friends of the Library...Our council isn't very strong...They should put them out." Dykeman plans to take petition results to the village's next council meeting. Meanwhile, Friends of the Li- brary is gearing up its fundraising campaign for the proposed library site on Main Street. Since forming on August 1, the organization has raised nearly half of its $4,000 tar- get to cover the shortfall needed for one year of library lease expenses. "We're going to have cash one way or another," said Friends Chair Mary Lynn Hetherington at a group meeting on Thursday night. According to a Friends of the Li- brary brochure, the organization is "a community-based support group whose aim is to further the goals of the library in the community," with fundraising as "perhaps the most common activity." Such groups have been success- ful in ilderton, Thunder Bay, Ne - peen, Ottawa and Windsor. Hetherington encouraged the 17 people present to call their local councillors in support of the pro- posed library site and come forth with fundraising ideas. The organization believes ren- ovating the old hardware and res- taurant store fronts downtown would boost commercial and retail development as well as provide a space for children's programs, re- search, an Internet station and pos- sibly an archival storage and meet- ing space for Lucan and Area Heritage. Because the Culbert's proposal requests $6.13 per square foot for the proposed space and the county is offering $4.70, the difference works out to nearly $4,000 per year in extra rental costs. In the pro- posal, which involves a 2,766 square -foot space, heat, air condi- tioning, electricity and specific ren- ovations would be provided by the Culberts. At no additional cost, a room in the rear of the building may be used for children's activ- ities and Lucan Area Heritage. In a letter to council dated Au- gust 6, Heritage Committee Chair Mike Anderson pointed out Her- itage is willing to put $1,000 in the Library Reserve Fund and $2,500 in the Museum Reserve towards the Friends of the Library fundraising campaign. "We're coming up with the mon- ey," said Anderson. "The ball's in (council's) court now to make a move." Mert and Muriel, who attended the meeting, said they have not yet been approached by council to ne- gotiate. "We have never been allowed to get to the table since Feb- ruary...They say things that are wrong but we can never talk." "When we go to council to ask anything, they sit around the table and ask who got how many phone calls at home...When you bring up the library or heritage, it's almost like a dirty word," added Anderson. "They don't want to talk to you," agreed a woman in the audience. "We have to form a plan of attack of how to convince our coun- cil...It's about time they started spending money the way we want it spent," said Anderson, adding, "I think we have to take the per- sonalities out of all this." While Friends' primary goal is to raise money for library rent, it hopes to supply on-going funds for extra needs. Ilderton Friends of the Library member Claire Anderson spoke at the meeting, saying usual- ly Friends groups are formed to fundraise for items such as flag poles and equipment. "Friends can be anything you want them to be," she said, ex- plaining each organization has its own mandate. Lucan Friends plans to bring re- sults of its fundraising efforts to Lucan's next council meeting. "It looks to me like it's split right in half," said Reeve Rob Brady in reaction to aims of Friends and the petitioners. "Both sides have argu- ments to be made." Although he pointed out council has not yet received a lease in writ- ing from the Culberts since their first lease proposal, he figures if ne- gotiations go ahead, they will hap- pen quickly. "We have nothing on the table right now," he said, adding, "I'm not going to fool around with this much longer." As for the prospect of the Her- itage group donating reserve funds towards Friends of the Library, Brady said, "that money is ear- marked for the museum." However, he explained, there is a possibility the library reserve mon- ey may be included. "If this Lucan library can go ahead without the taxpayers' (mon- ey), I have no objet;tion to it." Although he said the municipal office would not be suitable for a li- brary, he suggested the works de- partment office would be large enough but would need "a fairly major investment to bring it up to standards." "It's in a good location and it would be a good building to start with." The people with the petition have a point, he mused, while, on the other hand, Friends of the Library are conducting an aggressive fund- raising campaign. "I have to respect both sides of this," he said. "I would love to see a new library and I think a new li- brary is a main priority in the com- munity. To what degree is there a sense of urgency?...Council's going to have to make that decision."