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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1996-11-20, Page 2Page 2 I )Times -Advocate, No> nber 20,19 11 1 f i ! r' i' I Regional wrap up Suspect denied bail GODERICH - Michael Adam- son has been denied bail after being charged with attempted robbery, forceable confinement and use of a firearm to commit an indictable offence. According to the Goderich Signal -Star, the 19 -year-old Goderich man was charged Nov. 5 after turning himself in to the Goderich police. A w4rrant had been issued for his arrest. The charges were laid after an incident Nov. i where a man en- tered a gas bar and pointed a hand gun at the clerk before be- ing frightened away by custom- ers. Stores are reminded of heritage restrictions SEAFORTH - After the town's Canadian Tire Store re- ceived a fresh coat of paint, Sea- forth's Local Architectural Con- servation Advisory Committee decided to send a letter to the store owner on Main Street South "to remind them that their building is part of the heritage conservation district, and there- fore requires council approval for any alterations made to the exterior of the building." According to the Huron Ex- positor, the chief building in- spector is to visit United Auto Parts "to• determine the nature of work being done and to provide any information on appropriate techniques and materials that we have." ,4"9ncrl1,� 994 444, A44. 1 . work .ort this .store will also be required 1 rOliowing completion of an ap- plication process. Police chief pleads guilty and moves on with career MITCHELL - Suspended Mitchell Police Chief Chuck Zehr was penalized five days pay after pleading guilty to threatening a constable and de- stroying a document related to a police complaint, reported the Mitchell Advocate. Zehr has been suspended with pay since March under the for- mer Mitchell Police Service. Other charges of receiving dou- ble mileage and purchasing a ring with town money were withdrawn. "I'm pleased there's a light at the end of the tunnel and I can't wait to get on strength with the OPP," Zehr told the Advocate. Zehr's lawyers claim the pro- ceedings in terms of the police act and criminal charge will af- fect his future with the OPP. Blyth accelerates campaign BLYTH - At its last meeting, the Village of Blyth has decided to. boost its already powerful campaign to change the way ed- ucation taxes are collected, 're- ported the Clinton News - Record. Blyth has stated that effective Jan. 1; 1997, it will no longer collect the education portion of property taxes. More than 250 municipalities have supported the campaign and an estimated 100 will join Blyth by not collecting educa- tion taxes. There were five first place teams at this year's South Re- gional Athletic Association Volleyball tournament on Fri- dayy'..§tephen Central, McCurdy and Hensall public schools were tied for toppoints at the boy's, tournament held at. McCurdy Public School while Usborne and McCurdy were tied for first at the girls tournament held ui Exeter Public School. Teachers and coaches say the number of first place teams at the tournament is a result of a.higher level of talent in the sport among all students. Stephen Central Public School boys volleyball team were - champions along with Hensel! and McCurdy School at their tournament on Friday. Back left to right: teacher Missy Pfaff, Mary Laye Jr., Jesse Schroeder, Cal deLange, Dean Brown, An- drew Kinsman and coach Deb Lord. Front 1 to r: Brayden Lord, Zachary Neil, Brodie Truemner, Jarrett Palen, Brent Hoffman and Jonathon Brand. Missing coach Mary Laye Sr. McCurdy Public School boys volleyball were involved in a three-way championship last week. The three teams involved in the tie were Hensall, Stephen and McCurdy. Above, back left to right: Brent Tatara, Frazer MacDonald, Joey Richards, James Atkins, Tom Phouttharath, Ken Rattana and coach Doug Pearson. Front ! to r: Gary Sauder, Hung Vo, Christopher Arnold, Ryan Knee, Kenny Tilley and Matt Pfaff. The Hensall Hawks, of Hensel! Public School. Back row, from left, Kevin Dickins, Gresham Bayley, Shawn Willert, Joe Randall, Darryl Reddon and Coach Lowell Mount. Front row, from left, Dustin Elder, Allan Mallette, Daryl Weiss, Pa- nayese Fragiskatos and Brian Greenhill. Absent is Ben Par- sons. Usbome Public School girls volleyball team. Lindsay Cor- nish, Robyn Etherington, Heather Parsons, Natalie Ker- slake, Jennifer Hem, Sarah Verhoog, Stacey Snow. Middle row. Kristy Bray, Megan Hewitt, Kelly Miners, Sherri Skin- ner, Tabithe McNight, Kelli Fulton, Megan Skinner. Front, Kerrl Fulton, Carl Mason, Karen Passmore with Harpy the mascot. Coach is Kim Ryckman. McCurdy Public School girls volleyball team. From back row left, Annette Kuhar, Krissy Redmond, Stephanie Rich- ards, Lindsay Parso s, Melissa Simpkon, Jody Parsons. Front row, Crelene Dolly Chansamone, Thu Ha, Jas- mine Lather, Shauntell chwartz, Samantha Morris and coach Sandi Skinner. P Osborne supports Exeter PUC study USBORNE - After reviewing a boundary adjustment study pro- posing that the Exeter PUC expand their services to includeits rural neighbors, Usborne council decided to support the study calling it a "win-win" situation. Exeter's utility hired ECMI (En- ergy Cost Management In- corporated) from Burlington to pre- pare n study recently designed to look at the financial implications of the PUC expanding its hydro ser- vices into the townships of Stephen and Osborne. According to the findings the rat- epayers in the two rural areas would save $4.1 million over a five year period if they purchased their hydro from Exeter. Usborne and Stephen are currently being served by Ontario Hydro. "They (councillors) felt it was an excellent opportunity to find some savings for our residents," said San- dra Strang, Usborne Clerk - Treasurer. However, the boundary expansion is contingent upon a mu- nicipal merger or a Private Mem- ber's being passed. In other business, council ap- proved a request to the Ministry of Transportation asking for an exten- sion of the 60 km/h speed limit at the north and south ends of High- way 23 Kirkton. An earlier MTO investigation concluded there "could be some benefit to public safety by ex- tending the existing speed zones" at the south end, however, council asked the speed limit also include the north end up to the Kirkton- Woodham Community Centre. After sharing the cost for using the Kirkton landfill site equally, Usborne and Blanshard Township will engage in a cost sharing pro- gram that is based on the amount of waste each municipality produces during the year. The move to go to a cost sharing system was initiated by a proposal from Blanshard Tpwnship. Council also rec- ommended that the subject of per- petual care be discussed at the next Usborne-Blanshard joint council meeting. Usborne reeve Pat Down, coun- cillor Brian Hardeman and clerk Strang attended an information ses- sion at the Goderich Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police oil Thursday. The session was intended to up- date all Township and Village councils of Huron County in how the Ontario Police Structure has changed since their re -organization implemented earlier this year, and inform them on how these changes will impact policing services in the future. Council will appraise land involved in property line dispute GRAND BEND - At its November 4 meeting, Grand Bend Coun- cil received a legal opinion regarding the Hodgins property issue. Owner Art Hodgins approached council earlier this year to have a property line discrepancy resolved. It' was established the property line issue may open a 'can of worms' if the village attempts to cor- rect a difference in measurement between Plan 2 and Plan 3. "This may be a major problem to correct," said Administrator Paul Turnbull. "It may not just affect the Hodgins property." Council passed a motion to have an appraisal done on the portion of the road allowance proposed to be sold to Hodgins/. Coyle/Love property Council recei»»ed an appraisal for a 40 square foot portion of Kitchener Avei ue being considered for closure. The property was appraised at $23,000 and council resolved to offer the property for sale at $11,500 plus legal and survey fees to Coyle and Love. In other business, council received only 14 responses to a letter from the village regarding the Shoreline sewage connection option. Eight of those who responded were in favor of the proposal and six were against it. Council turned down the proposal because ap- proximately 50 per cent of residents responded. This was the sec- ond attempt within six months to include the subdivision in the sew- age connection project. "Grand Bend will not proceed with the installation of a sewage collection system on Shoreline Drive as there is not sufficient inter- est at this time," stated the motion. AMALGAMATION STANCE Exeter Council pursues another way to improve The following is a press, release from the Town of Exeter signed . by CAO Rick'Hun- dey At its special meeting of November 7, 1996, the council of the Town of Exeter decided to withdraw from amalgamation talks with Stephen, Usborne, Grand Bend and Bosanquet so as to pursue improve- ment in local government in another form. Council has endorsed the following to outline its position. The Town of Exeter and all municipalities have faced a loss of Provincial grants and anticipate fur- ther reductions in transfer moneys from the Prov- ince. We also anticipate further downloading of Pro- vincially -funded services. These Provincial actions put tremendous pressure on the property taxpayer. In response, our goal is two -fold. (1) to find cost savings for the Exeter taxpayer; (2) to ensure there, is good local gov- ernment for the long term. The Council has thoroughly studied two broad options over the past year: (1) amalgamation with adjacent and nearby municipalities (Stephen and Usborne Townships, Village of Grand Bend, Exeter, parts of Hay Township and Town of Bosanquet); (2) internal re -organization and merger with the P.U.C. Both restructuring options appeared to hold prom- ise of the tax savings we need to find. The answer as to which approach is the best has not, until very re- cently, been at all clear. At this time, Exeter Council has decided that, on behalf of its ratepayers, the best decision is to under- take internal re -organization and restructuring, and to consider inter -municipal co-operation all intended to better serve the Town at lower cost. Exeter Council has decided as well that amalgama- tion, as it has been proposed and studied, is not in the best interests of Exeter. It is also improper for Exeter Council to support the proposal because of the hardships it imposes on the part of Bosanquet outside of the amalgamation area. This decision was very difficult and complicated and it requires some explanation. First by way of background, readers are reminded that Stephen, Usborne and Hay Townships and the Town of Exeter are in Huron County while Grand Bend and Bosanquet are in Lambton County. The proposal began as a South Huron Initiative. However, Hay Township, and the Villages of Zurich and Hensall declined to participate. Exeter. Stephen and Usborne were disappointed in that decision. Still early in the process, Grand Bend asked to join. In de- fining what the community of interest was, it was concluded that parts of Hay near Exeter and all of Dashwood belonged in the study area. In addition, it was concluded that alarge part of Bosanquet is a "natural pat" of the Grand Bend area. Concerns We identified concerns and they were: (1) there will be difficulties in creating a single lo- cal municipality in 2 counties ow (2) there will be difficulties and opposition to tak- ing part of one County and adding it to another (eg. adding the Lambton pert on to Huron); and (3) there will be a tax lois and financial impact on the parts of Bosanquet and Hay that are not included in the amalgamation. The impact on Hay was pre- dicted to be much smaller than on Bosanquet. The participants in the amalgamation study felt that these problems could be solved. In hindsight, that conclusion has turned out to be idealistic, and unrealistic as well. Exeter and others were surprised, for example, at the magnitude of the negative impact defined by the consultant KPMG as being 31 percent of Bosanquet's levy (ie. loss of $400,000. in tax rev- enue to the Town of Bosanquet while expenditures would drop only $79,370.). Bosanquet has said the impact is understated. Hay's impact is 7% of total assessment, clearly a more manageable figure if compensation becomes necessary. The Amalgamation Committee turned to short- term compensation as a means to redress the im- pacts. At our last meeting, Bosanquet said that no compensation will resolve the inequity our amalgamation proposal would create. Exeter and Usborne have both said each in their own ways that we must treat our neighbours fairly. Exeter agrees with Bo- sanquet that there is no way to fairly re- solve the inequity. This then is one of the reasons we have withdrawn from the amal- gamation talks. While we question the fairness, Exeter has also concluded that it is unrealistic to pursue amalgamation in another county and by splitting Bo- sanquet in the manner proposed. To explain: (1) the amalgamation needs County support to have a good chance of succeeding with the Province. We believe that support is not available to us; (2) even with County support, Bosanquet would have taken the proposal to a Commission and a Pro- vincially -appointed official would decide how we would restructure. Exeter Council will not trust so important a matter to an outside party. That abdicates our responsibility to the people who elected us. • Exeter also is not willing to wait to have a matter heard and resolved. Delay is not a option. Now what? Now we come to the most important question. Where do we go from here? Council wants to reas- sure its electors we are not giving up on local gov- ernment reform nor are we giving up on finding tax savings. As stated at the start, we have studied the potential for savings by internal restructuring involving Town departments and the P.U.C. There are many choices and each has very large tax savings. Accordingly, Exeter Council will not move to implement internal restructuring. Moreover, we stand prepared to con- sider inter -municipal initiatives to improve services, and reduce costs while maintaining service levels. We do not regard the amalgamation talks as a fail- ure. Rather Council expects that the Committee's work will help the municipalities find better ways to improve local government. Exeter Council has dedicated hundreds of hours at minimal cost to studying two broad approaches to re- structuring. Exeter can now go forward with certain- ty on how best to meet the two goals of cost - efficiency and good responsive local government, Council encourages the public to talk with council- lors or the Municipal office. The office phone num- ber is 235-0310.