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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1997-01-15, Page 2Page 2 Times -Advocate, January 15, 1997 4 IN_THE. NF. W.S ,„ Regional wrap up Perth activates 9-1-1 emergency. response_ MITCHELL • - :Perth County officially -activated ils 9 -1 -1 -mu- nicipal addressing system re- cently, reported the1Mitchell Ad- vocate. . The first 9-1-1 call was made from' a cellular phone by War - don Don Hocking during a cere- mony held at the Sebringville Community Centre. Within rninutes emergency response teams from the Ellice -Downie Fire Department were on hand. • The process began in 1993 and a year later a committee was formed to begin the task of re- naming all .the county conces- -sions and roads. Perth is the 18th county to recognize 9-1-1 in the province at a cost of 32 - cents per month per subscriber. Blyth council steps up campaign BLYTH - "It will take resole to eontinue. To fail is,unaccept- able,' Blyth Reeve Mason Bai- ley told the North Huron Citizen regarding council's move to dis- continue the collection of educa- tion taxes. - Blyth Council plans to attend a ROMA (Rural Ontario Munic- ipal Association) cdnference set for,early February to garner fur-. thee. support for its education fi- . nance reform campaign. According to a council resolu- tion, more than 300 municipali- ties across the province support B1yth3 initiative to convince the government t0 remove educa- tion taxes from all property'. Councillor resigns after moving outside town limits CLINTON - Councillor Burt Lobb resigned last Monday after discovering his new home on the edge .of town is actually in Tuckersmith Township, reported the Clinton News -Record. As he is no longer a Clinton resi- dent, Lobb cannot continue to hold his council seat. Council hopes to receive ap- plications from local citizens to fill this vacancy: Applications will be accepted at the town hall until 5 p.m. on Jan. 31. And at the Feb. 3 council meeting, ap- plicants will be given the oppor- tunity to address council. Multi-million dollar suit names 23 area residents GODERICH - Amulti-million. dollar- law suit filed by Gabriele Bell has named 23 people in the area.. reported the Goderich Sig- nal -Star. Bell was found innocent of -ar- son charges in 1995 after a con- viction in 1992 as a result of a 1990 fire at Newgate and Hamil- ton Streets. The conviction was over- turned in 1995 after a new, trial that found her innocent. She is now suing for $2 million in gen- eral damages,"SI million in spe- cial damages, SI million in ag- gravated damages and $5 million in' punitive damages. Eight -hospital restructuring option is first of its kind in Ontario Helen Hewitt L Towel Bawler LISTOWEL - In two weeks of intensive study and consultation, the hospitals in Perth and Huron counties have developed a proposal for keeping all eight hospitals open while saving 13.4 per cent ($10.5 million) over three years. Details of the proposal will not be made public until Jan. 22, when the Hospital and Related Health Services Study Task Force and the Huron Perth District Health Coun- . cil announce their preferred option for changing health care in Perth and Huron. Tuesday morning Kerry Bla- grave, spokesperson for the eight hospitals, outlined the res.ru.turing alternative developed by hospital board members, physicians and senior hospital managers. Two yearlan - The -proposal calls for hospital care -and emergency services in all - eight hospitals. Each . hospital would have in-patient beds, out- patient programs and diagnostic -. services. Services at -Clinton, Seaforth and - St. Marys hospitals would be sized - according to the needs. of the com- munities they serve. Mr. Blagrave said numbers of beds at these hos- pitals and those in Listowel Wingham, Exeter • and, .Goderich would be reduced so that occupan cy rates would be high. - - Stratford would serve as a dis- trict referral centre offering. essen- tial services and programs that. re- quire specialist support, such as • paediatrics, 'rehabilitation and spe- cialized surgery. . In addition to essential services. obstetrics and . surgery would be • available at Goderich, Listowel and Wingham. Goderich hospital • would continue to provide mental- health programs. The plan would be implemented in stages. over two. years and be completed by April 1, 1999. It includes savings of 17 per cent in administration and in support services (housekeeping, laundry, maintenance, business office, ad- mitting and medical records). Savings Blagrave said.the plan meets the task force's criteria, 'which now re- quire savings of from 12-18 per cent instead of the 18 per cent Tint proposed. The boards and CEOs of the eight hospitals .recommend the DHC's task force adopt this propo- sal as the preferred option for fur- ther d^vclopment and public con- sultation. When asked about job losses Blagrave said he expects some de- crease in staffing. but added Minis- try of Health cutbacks would not have permitted staffinglevels to re- main as they arc with or without this plan. Although he could not re- veal how administration costs would be reduced, he stated admin- istration jobs -are the ones most af- fected. - Governance issues are not coin, pletely covered in the proposal. • Blagrave suggested the DHC and Restructuring Commission should look at governance and perhaps look beyond hospitals when look- ing at administration: "The prefer- able model would be to have all community health care under one administration." Blagrave also noted the plan calls for major changes in the hospitals but- goes.a long way to keep physi- cians in rural Ontario. Those present at Tuesday morn- ing's press conference in Listowel were CEO Ken Engelstad and board representative Dave Gower of Goderich hospital, Exeter trus- tees Bob Hern and Clayton Mur- ray, Seaforth CEO. Bill Thibert, Winghan CEO Lloyd Kock, Clin- ton CEO Allan Halls and board chair Harry Lear, and Listowel CEO James Van Camp and board member David Hicks. Representa- tives from St. Marys and Stratford were unable to attend. Kelly Gillis, senior health plan- ner with the DHC. also attended the press conference; she said the task force will receive the detailed docuritent immediately for careful consideration and will meet on Jan 21 to consult with the hospitals and to make its final choice of a pre- ferred option I'or health care. A first In Ontario no other DHC has ap- proached hospitals and offered them an opportunity to get together and create their own plan for con- sideration. • "It's a. first in Ontario," Blagrave said. "The DHC and the hospitals have worked together, and it has beena positive process. The time frame has been extremely -short; so we've been fortunate in the way it has come together, with all eight hospitals endorsing the plan. The proposal represents tremendous ef- forts on the part of boards and ad- ministrative staff." "Thc hospitals' ability to put to- gether an alternative plan to meet ' the noon deadline [Jan. 14) would not have been possible without the work of the task force, DHC staff. their consultants and sub -groups, and the valuable input from the. public at the open houses. "The data and costing informa- tion - developed by. Price Water- - house "arid the task force . allowed the hospitals to build upon a solid information base. We are looking forward to working with the task force in the future." For more Information see page 24 Gas spill blamed for fumes HENSALL A delegation of residents affected by gas fumes in their homes from- December 28 to 31 asked council to take action by inforrning the Ministry of the Environment its reaction was less than saris- faciory. The residents were also "upset that they were not -kept .informed by the village on the status of the in- vestigation. . -•- "Let's show a little respect when people's homes are in danger," said spokesperson Debbie Collins. "Your first priority is the people who live here." Residents of the King Street homes affected smelled a strong odor of petroleum fumes on December 28 and as" a result, the village flushed the storm sewers with water. The odor returned on December 31 and, it was reported a gas spill had occurred that afternoon at Erb's Garage on Queen 'Street. According to a min- istryreport, the spill occurredin the afternoon when, approximately one litre of gas spilled during a fill -up. Residents speculated more than a litre of -gas entered the catch basin near the garage -,where it travelled through the storm sewer and released fumes. Although the ministry seemed to be of little help, Union Gas arrived on the scene and told residents to ventilate their homes and turn ()Ups appliances. Some area resident's complained of headaches and sore -necks and faces.. adding they were "afraid for our homes and our families."„ Since the sewers were flushed, it is difficult to ac- curately -determine how much or where the gas, entered the sewer system. However, it was necessary to take quick action locally- when residents learned the min- istry would not visit the village until Jan. 6. "There's no way they can conduct a proper in- vestigation six days later," said Councillor Jeff Re- aburn who introduced a motion to send a letter to the ministry expressing "grave displeasure" over the action and demanding faster - response for the safety of cit- izens. Council also will look into setting a policy to better communicateiwith residents during such an incident. In addition, the works department will investigate the catch basin to determine if it can be sealed off to pre- vent such spills from entering the sewer -system and local creeks. - Province takes over education spending CLINTON - Education Minister John Shobelen announced Monday that education will no longer he paid by the resident property tax sys- tem and Mike Harris' government will eliminate more than half of the school boards in the province. Homeowners will no longer pay for education out of their property - taxes but 'the province will supply the $5.4 pillion out of general rev- enues. Commercial and industrial property taxes raised for education will be collo •ted"by local municipalities and distributed to local school boards on a litable per pupil basis. 7 he province, instead of school .. boards. will nine what the tax rate will be. A $.` •H.)F- ling has hcen placed on trustee's salaries as well as a cap of five . • i L trustees per board. Chairspersons, vice-chairspersor,s and committee heads could earn up to $10,000 but some trustee may be paid as little as $1,000. As well, reforms announced Monday include a reduction in the num- ber of school boards from the current 166 to 66, comprised of 29 pub- lic boards, 26 separate boards and 1 I French boards. • According to a study by the Ontario Separate School Trustees' As- sociation, ssociation, the (eduction in the number of school hoards are estimated to save $150 million. The Ontario Public School Boards' Association Presidentjnn Peter- . son claims the report of school hoard spending "appears to signal the end of parents' and taxpayers' say in how education dollars are spent in their community." Community Action program features local information By Brenda Burke • T -A Reporter - HURON COUNTY - Leadership. Organizational management. Com- munity Awareness. - According to . Program Co- ordinator Mary Lynn MacDonald, these are the three, main skills 10 Steps to Community Action is teaching Huron County residents who signed up for the sessions that began on Jan. 8. • In its ' fifth year, ,the program in- cludes information on networking, fundraising, problem -solving, deal- . ing with change, and attitude ad- justment for the '90's. Also included is a speech by Hu- ron MPP Helen Johns on the im- pact of the Harris government and a weekend retreat at Centralia • Inter- national Academy -as well as a Hu- ron County Familiarization Tour and Quiz Show. • ; Add to the list, sessions ,on time management, organizing a meeting, mobilizing a group, analyzing per- sonalities, dealing with the media, panel discussions with community and local government leaders, and you have a program that- offers a wide variety of learning ex- periences. With a focus on business and per- sonal development, the sessions prove effective for information - gathering and contact -making. Facilities such as the Blyth Thea- tre, Huron County Museum and Bayfield Town Hall are used, to provide insight into .local attrac- tions for up to 24 participants of the program, which originated with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. - "We move it around the county," explained MacDonald, adding, "1 really believe in 'learn by do- ing'•...It's a participative. pro- gram...We physically put people in different situations so they know -what's going on in their own back yards." , . She• feels the, sessions, provide "excellent training...on a local basis using local examples." • Ten Steps to Community Action is sponsored by private businesses as well as OMAFRA, the Huron Business Development Corpora- tion, the Huron Community Ser- vices Network and Human Re- sources Development,Canada. Valued at• $500, the program costs $195 per person including ac- commodations and meals for the weekend retreat. This is a $70 price hike compared with last year when JobsOntario was a sponsor. MacDonald, who claims the price will remain consistent for a few years, adds some organizations pay for employees to attend and as well, financial help is available for participants on social assistance. Johns instrumental in education finance reform TORONTO - Ontario will now have a new funding. model for ele- mentary and secondary education in the public and separate school system, Helen Johns, MPP for Hu- ron County said Monday. The mod- e) will focus on directing dollars to the student and the classroom equally throughout the province. "This will . provide funding so parents can be sure that, no matter where they live in Ontario, their children have the same opportunity to excel," Johns said. There's no such thing as asecond-class student in Ontario. The new model recog- rizes that 'different .communities ace different challenges to provid- ing high quality education." Johns added she had been instru- mental in lobbying the government to move ahead with education fi- nance reform. She is pleased that • her efforts have been beneficial to the students and taxpayers of Hu- ron County. "The Government is committed to providing Ontario's young peo- ple with'an elementary and secon- dary education that will give them skills, knowledge, habits and disci- plines necessary to pursue their life goals," said Johns. - Johns. emphasized 'that the new model represents real value for the taxpayers, students and parents of Ontario. "It was time to overhaul the way government determines how funding is distributed by the province, and after decades of ineq- uitable funding for rural, Ontario the new funding arrangeent will be in place by January 1, 1998.." What do you believe the biggest issue of 1991 will be in your area? Dwayne LaPorte • Zurich Forcing amalgamation or not `To me It's going to be amalgamation. Whether the government forces It or not. There's alot of people talking right now and there's alot of people not talking and It's going to make a big difference In alot of the decisions v -being made." Earl French Blddulph Discussion of amalgamation 1 think that amalgamation will be one of the biggost things facing the municipalities in 1997. Lucan and Biddulph are expecting word from the government at anytime approving their amalgamations." Ry Angela Pickering T -A Co-op Student �H Weber , Stephtlitn Township Talks of restrugturina 1 think It's going to be the restructuring of the municipalities. The whole change In the delivery systems and the change of school boards." t• Cecil Pepper Hensall Cutbacks a big concern 'The biggest Issue I see for Hensall and the area Is the cutbacks in finances from the province. In my opinion the biggest Issue Is amalgamation and getting together and budgeting with the amount of less money we have." Ben Hoogenboohl Exeter Upcoming hospltullulks "There's no question about it. Our community Is very concerned with some of the proposals and the Immediate effect they would have - unless they were to come up with some options that are more acceptable to the community." 1