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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1999-01-13, Page 4Exeter Tirnes-Advoasso Wednesday, January 13, 1999 In the News • Council wants to decide on water With repairs to Monism-1)am looming, Exeter council wants to decide soon if it will need the reservoir down the road By Kate Monk TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF EXETER — Morrison Dam and the bridge deck need repairs. On Monday night, Exeter council discussed whether it would agree to pay 45 per cent of the costs ($31,600) to repair the dam. With the partnership for the structure between Ex- eter and the Ausable-Bayfield Conservation Authority uncertain, council did not want to commit to paying the costs at this time. The bridge deck work is needed and ABCA staff say savings could be realized if the spillway retaining wall work was done at the same time. According to a letter from ABCA water and plan- ning manager Alec Scott to the town, an engineer's inspection in 1998 revealed work will be required in the near future to correct deterioration of the re- ta. ii.,g walls' exterior surface. "While this work will not necessarily need to be done in 1999, the sooner the repairs are made, the less chance that the condition of the walls will cause more serious structural damage," Scott's letter stat- ed. "Should repairs be made, it appears that the dam would not require further major maintenance for at least another 15 years." The authority estimates the retaining wall repair will cost $79,000 and has proposed it be paid for based on the historic agreement between Exeter and the ABCA. That would see the province paying 50 per cent of the cost, the ABCA general levy . picking up five per cent and Exeter paying 45 per cent. While the ABCA has applied for the provincial grant, it has not yet been received. Morrison dam was built more than 40 years ago to provide water for the canning factory in Exeter. How- ever, a few years ago, the canners switched to using Exeter's domestic water supply rather than river wa- ter. The town is still in the process of determining whether the river water could be re -instated for Na- bisco. If so, Morrison reservoir will be needed. Oth- erwise, the th-erwise,"the town does not believe it has an obligation to fund the on-going costs of the dam. After defeating two motions, council unanimously agreed to tell the ABCA it is still in the process of gathering information and may be in the position early in the year to confirm or deny the request for funding for the dam project. Yes to ABCA levy Council unanimously agreed to pay the 1999 ABCA general levy of $35,770. The ABCA board of directors Zurich hires firm for lagoon and sewer upgrades will vote on the budget and levy at its annual meeting on Feb. 18. 15 per cent decrease in insurance Jeff Coleman of Frank Cowan Insurance and Jon Gaiser of Gaiser-Kneale Insurance gave council the good news the town's 1999 insurance premiums will decrease by 15 per cent. Coleman said there are vari- ous reasons the premiums decreased but credited in- surance companies with "fighting hard for legislative reforms." Coleman told council the Y2K computer issue is "coming at us fast and furious" and advised that any- one who runs any kind of business should be ad- dressing the problem. "The industry as a whole is saying the Year 2000 is not an accident. We can see it coming," Coleman said. At the same time, Coleman said insurance might cover consequences of the problem. "If a building were to burn because of a Year 2000 problem, of course you're insured." Union Gas franchise agreement on hold Municipalities, including Exeter, have agreements with companies such as Union Gas which gives mu- nicipalities some control over the location of facilities, the amount of overhead that could be charged by the gas company and other details. The municipal franchise agreements are coming up for renewal. The Association of Municipalities of On- tario has been advised that municipalities are not simply renewing their agreements but are looking for further improvements and are requesting hearings. Rather than attempt to achieve municipal goals at each franchise renewal hearing, AMO has been asked to undertake a collective approach, according to an AMO Alert. Although council considered passing a bylaw on Monday night to renew the agreement with Union Gas, it decided to delay signing the agreement until AMO's report is completed. Exeter's agreement ex- pires in May. Snowmobiling complaints down Mayor Ben Hoogenboom and members of council reported they had received fewer complaints this past week about snowmobiles in Exeter. Hoogenboom relayed a news report that OPP of- ficers are patrolling on snowmobiles in Huron County. He has discussed the problems from early January with the local OPP and said they are "working to the best of their ability." Council writes off county account Despite strong objections from Deputy -Reeve Dave Urlin and Coun. Robert Drummond, council voted 5-2 to cancel the $9,000 due to Exeter from the 1997 Hu- ron County Urban Road Rebate. The second part of the motion called for the $9,000 to be expensed in 1998 to the town's 1998 planning/development budget as consulting fees paid to the Huron County Planning Department. Reeve Roy Triebner said Exeter and the county are looking for a compromise to the decade -old dis- pute over planning fees. That dispute has deteriorated to the point where Exeter was with -holding money owed to the county and the county was in turn with -holding funds due to Exeter. Triebner said a draft proposal includes Exeter continuing to do its planning work and being rec- ognized by the county for that work. Urlin questioned whether the county would hon- our a new agreement when it didn't honour the agreement made 10 years ago. Treasurer Liz Bell said the only recourse would be to take the county to court over the money Exeter believes it is owed. "I hate to write it off but there's nothing we can do," Bell said. Council supports manufacturing strategic plan Council passed a motion to support a Man- ufacturing Sector Strategic Plan for Huron County. The project has been initiated by the Goderich Ec- onomic Development Committee and has the sup- port of Human Resources Development Canada, the Huron Business Development Corporation and the Huron County Planning and Development De- partment. Coun. Pete Armstrong was concerned about the merit of the plan and was somewhat cautious about having strategic information made public for other communities to see who are also competing for in- dustry. Exeter administrator Rick Hundey said it would be advantageous for Exeter to participate. "Being left out isn't a good idea," he said, adding while there will always be competition between towns,. there will also be co-operation. Entrepreneurs will make decisions based on sever- al -factors, he said. As well, it's more advantageous for Exeter that an industry be located in Goderich rather than Owen Sound and Wingham would prefer a business be lo- cated in Exeter rather than outside the county, Hun- dey commented. The initiative requires staff time to meet with the strategic plan committee. No financial contributions are expected at this time. ZURICH — Council has decided to hire Acres and Associates as its engineer to upgrade the vil- lage's sewage and lagoons. Of five engineering firms, Acres submitted the lowest tender at $56,146. Peter Chapman of the Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA), which was wed by Council to act as the project manager for the study, "pre- sented the five tenders to Council last Thursday and recommended council go with Acres. Of all the applicants, Acres had the quickest work schedule, estimating it could start work at the beginning of February and finish by mid-' July. The project's first phase. Chapman said, is collecting data to identify the sewage and lagoon problems. According to their tender, Acres suggests coun- cil keep the public well informed of the work. There was some discussion among council of hiring B.M. Ross of Goderich to do the work since it has done work for the village before, but its es- timate was approximately $10,000 higher than Acres'. The village will get 90 per cent of the funding for the project from the government. That in- cludes the $13,500 OCWA will get in its role as project manager. 1 'Bend council upset with SPP costs GRAND BEND — Coun- cil isn't happy with OPP costing. The matter arose dur- ing Monday night's meet- ing in reaction to the North Lambton OPP's business plan, which states it will "ensure the 'delivery of high quality and cost effective po- licing services." Mayor Cam Ivey, upset that the village's policing costs have been set at $555,000 annually, said he doesn't understand why the costs are so high and _ said it's impossible to delve past the OPP's numbers. "It's out of control, it seems," Ivey said, adding that he wants to see the numbers for eaclt; Mu- nicipality in North Lamb - ton to compare them with Grand Bend. Deputy mayor Bob Mann added to . Ivey's complaints, "1 thought the police were supposed to catch crooks, not be crooks." Mann also wondered if the downloading off po- licing expenses to mu- nicipalities was the gov- ernment's way of trying to force municipalities to get into the policing busi- ness and get the province out of it. In other notes from Monday's meeting: Council questions ABCA levy Council delayed agree- ing to pay the village's annual general levy of $16,124 to the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Au- thority amid concerns the village will be forced to pay for special projects such as work at Morrison Dam. While the total general levy of $344,340 for ABCA member municipal- ities has been unchanged for seven years, Ivey wasn't satisfied. "The idea is if there's no increase everybody should be happy," he said. Deputy mayor Bob Mann, who sits on the A$CA's board, said he will take the village's concerns back to the ABCA. He said his under- standing was that the vil- lage wouldn't be charged for special projects on top of the general levy. Water Management Board Council appointed Ivey and Coun. Shirley An- draza to sit 4n the Ste- phen, Bosanquet, Grand Bend water distribution board and the Stephen, Grand Bend lagoon and collection system. Councillors Drew Rob- ertson and Jim Dietrich v011 be representing Ste- phen Township on the water distribution boards. Aszensment appeals Council approved 1998 tax reductions of $10,749.07 resulting from several property assessment appeals in the village. Administrator Paul Turnbull said the vil- lage's assessment re- duction of $10,749.07 wasn't significant when spread out over many properties. Council renews AMO membership Council decided to continue its member- ship with the Associa- tion of Municipalities of Ontario. The member- ship fee is $858.88. Mann , said • AMO, which regularly sends correspondence to council, keeps council up to date on its lobbying efforts on behalf of municipal- ities. y r