The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutTimes Advocate, 1998-10-21, Page 6T1MusADvOCAF 6 Exeter Times—Advocate Editorial.. Opinionrift Wednesday, October 21. 19' Jim Beckett Publisher and Editor • Don Smith • (jent;ral Manager ' !'reduction Manager Deb Lord Published by J.W. Hedy Publications Limiu+d • 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850 . Exeter. Ontario NOM1 S6 ! (5191235.1331 • EDITORIAL Is another new manager needed. in Exeter? ll putting one more level of management it on the town staff really•mean taxpayers will be better served? ,• . If the town staff were it hockey team would -adding 'one more assistant general manager enhance per- :formance?• • We doubt it put town council seems to think more is better as they have authorized an advertising campaign :to seek out a person with outstanding . :-qualifications. The help wanted advertisement in ' last week's T -A stresses the new manager will be capable of handling multi -faceted responsibilities. . ____13ut that's not a11:-7'he - successful candidate. -must • - also be ethical• honest and civic -minded. _ These days'presidents and prime ministers might have some difficulty getting hired in Exeter. No • .. wonder the town has hired a consultant to sort through the applications and make sure the right person is hired. . - • 'l'he title will be "service delivery manager" the . salary will be more than the previous workssuper-- intendent but less than the clerk -treasurer. We're guessing it will be somewhere in the high -forties but we could -be wrung. Whoever gets the position will report.directly to '. chief administrative officer Rick liundey who will . make sure he or she is delivering public works ser- . vices like: roads, sewers. solid waste handling, recreation programs and facilities as well as making- -the parks and cemeteries departments run smooth- ly. It sounds like a pretty heavy responsibility. So heavy, in fact, we wonder how all these services were delivered before. • We have been told the new position will not put --any additional stress on the town coffers because a ceuple.of retirements have freed up enough money to cover the wages: Could it be the theory of a usual 1y -frugal Exeter Council -is to spend the money because it is available? Let's hope not. With amalgamation just around the corner (it -should be because the topic has almost been talked to death) the reality of downsizing and cost efficien- cies should follow quickly. Adding another executive position will only add to future costs when sever-- :. ances could be a major part of budgets. - In the real world, if there was a need to improve "service delivery" the first thing that should be asked of every employee would be to work just a lit- . debit harder. We have not heard any crying need to improve they way 'our taxpayers are served, in fact, most seem • . quite satisfied -with the level of service..they are.get- lirig now. _ , • Most complaints, usually refer to the level of taxa- tion; not the level of service. It is very possible our elected officials.have missed an opportunity to save • taxpayers &substantial amount of money unless • there is an unannounced plan to combine some pre- sent title on the town management hierarchy with the new position. .- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The Times Advocate continues to welcome letters to the editoras a forum for. open discussion of local issues, concerns. complaints and kudos. The Times Advocate reserves the right to edit letters for brevity.. Sign your letters with both name and address. Anonymous letters will not be published. • Principal's note In September 1999 all sec- ondary schools in the province will embark on a complete restructuring of the sec- ondary. school cur- riculum.• The program will be reduced from five years to lour. A di1= lerent version of streaming than has. occurred before in the province will be mandat- ed by the government. Streaming or tracking I -eters to establishing groups by ability. Many parents. today -went to high school in • a streamed program as • . either academic. vocational, technical or business sin:. -dctnts:- -- -- -- ------=— Extensive research has been compiled over-this-cen- tury verthis cen- tury about streaming. • Despite what many parents and•some teachers would.. believe, the research clearly shows that students`10 not learn more when they are See PRINCIPAL page 8 DEB HOMUTH PRINCIPAL'S NOTE give the people what they want Give the people_ what they wantThe people spoke in Grand_ Bend last week and it's about,. time politicians started listening to them. Well over 200 •people attended last week's town hall meeting in Grand Bend to voice their opin- ions on what they think about the North Lambton restructur- ing proposal. AND ANOTHER In short, they don't like it. More bluntly. some of them are mad as hell about being forced to amalgamate with Bosanquet, 'Tedford: Arkona and Forest. Grand Bend Mayor Cam Ivey pointed out he's wor- ried Grand Bend taxes will rise under this restructur- ing deal because taxes in the other four .municipalities are higher than Grand Bend's. There's also the added worry that Grand Bend residents will see their taxes go out of Grand Bend and not return to the community. The whole concept of the Nortti Lambton.restructur-' ing plan is flawed because. as Ivey pointed out. a finan- cial plan.wasn't done before the proposal was put together meaning things like the future of tax rates are up in the air. There's also no indication where the new North Lambton municipal office will be held, although you can bet it won't be in Grand Bend but in a more central North Lambton location. What Grand Bend residents should be most con- cerned about, however, is the fact that North Lambton restructuring meetings were closed to the public. In other words, the opinions of Grand Bend resident were ignored and shunned, making a mockery of the democ- ratic emocratic process. SCOTT NIXON THING Democracy' is defined by Webster's as "government _by the people. directly or through representatives." Who were the. politicians -representing when they "closed the North Lambton restructuring meetings? They certainly weren't representing the people. What must be. remembered is that councils and other politi- cal bodiesusuallyonly close meetings when it's in their own best interest not the public's. . • What's clear from last week's meeting is that resi- dents are passionate about their community and want to protect it from outsiders. And the fact that over 200 people from -a small community cared enough to go to a public meeting on a cold. rainy night. shows they're not going to take the North Lambton_ proposal tying down. So now it's time for- the politicians to listen to the peo- ple. Grand Bend councillors have gone -to bat for Grand Bend residents; Lambton .MPP Marcel Beaubien has not. According to the chairman at last week's meeting. Beaubien was a no-show at the meeting because he was'on a hunting trip. Beaubien was already an unpopular figure among Grand Bend's citizens and the announcement he was running around in the woods hunting instead of attending a meeting concerning the future.of Grand Bend certainly didn't help. - Hopefully audience members•at last week's meeting make good on their word and are flooding Beaubien's and Minister of Municipal Affairs Al Leach's office with= phone calls, faxes and letters. And hopefully. the provincial government uses some real "common sense" and gives the village what it wants. After all, most peo- ple have accepted that amalgamating is a reality. and is an attempt at cutting costs, but what's hard to accept is an imposed amalgamation ignoring the wishes of Grand Bend residents. • r About theTrnes-Advocate Address & Office Hours Times -Advocate, 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850. Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6. Our office is open Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. Contact Us By Phone or Fax Classified ad & subscription sales .. (519) 235-1331 24-hour automated attendant (519) 235-13'36 Fax number for all departments (519) 235-0766 Subscription Rates One year rate for addresses in Canada: $35+GST Two year rate for addresses in Canada- $63+GST One year rate for addresses outside Canada: .... $102 Call (519) 235-1331 to order a subscription. argoNotor Classified Rates Word ads: $9.00 for 20 words. 15c for each additional word+ GST. Notices (births, deaths. announcements, coming events. memoriams, cards of thanks): $11.00 + GST7 for up to 30 words. 15t for each additional word. All ads must be pre -paid. The classified ad deadline is - Monday at 10 a.m. Display Advertising To place a display ad. (519) 235-1331 weekdays 8:30 to 5 p.m. or evenings (5191235-1S36 (leave message) or toll-free at 1-888-270-1602. Deadline: Friday 4 p.m. E-mail Us TA e-mail addresses consist ofthe person's first initial and last name followed by @ta.eedy.com. For example, Jini 13eckett's e-mail address is <jbeckett@ta.eedy.com> Our general e-mail address is editor@SouthHuron.com. The Times -Advocate Team Publisher 1 Editor • Jim Beckett General Manager Production Manager Advertising Reporter Customer Service Production Staff Accounting Staff ext. 109 ' Don Smith ext. 112 Deb Lord ext„. 114 Barb Consitt ext. 110 Craig Bradford ext. 113 Kate Monk • • _ ext. 107 Scott Nixon ext. 105 Sue Hollings - ext. 101 Carol Windsor ext. 102 Alma Ballantyne, Brenda Hern. Laurel Miner, Mary McMurray. Barb Robertson. Joyce Weber Cassie Dalrymple. Anita McDonald. Ruthanne Negrijn. Ruth Slaght