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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1995-03-08, Page 2Page 2 Times -Advocate, March 8, 1995 11. #4 Three musicians • Students at South Huron District High School placed well in the regional Musicfest Can- ada competition. From left to right are Troy Ducharme, Bronwyn Pearson, and Erin O'Rourke. Not available for the photo was Loma Miller. Suspicious fire. in Stephen STEPHEN TWP. - Local OPP are still investigating what they de- scribe as a "suspicious fire" at Cook's Mills in Stephen Twp. Police responded to the fire at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, February 28 and discovered what appeared to be gasoline had been poured into the outside heating'air conditioning unit. No figure has been released but police describe the damage as extensive. Police are also investigating the smashing of a window on February 26 on a vehicle driven by Roberta Walker. The incident happened on the SHDHS parking lot. Slow start for building EXETER - After an excellent year in 1994, the number of build- ing permits issued in the town of Exeter for the first two months of this year is down considerably. Chief building official David Moyer told council Monday night that he issued three permits in Feb- ruary bringing the two month total to five with a value of $28,200. Moyer added, " It was a lean month. I don't know what that re- flects for the rest of the year." Deputy reeve Dave Urlin report- ed that the city of Owen Sound was in a similar situation with only $27,000 value of building permits issued for the months of January and February. JobsOntario construction project to begin this spring TORONTO - JobsOntario recent- ly released an announcement that almost 60 full -year jobs will be created due to construction on Highway 86 and Highway 9. • The project, worth $3.3 million will involved repaving Highway 86 between Amberly and Wingham and Highway 9 between Harriston and Mildmay. Restoring guide rails and upgrading intersections and en- trances on Highway 86 are also in- cluded in the project awarded to Cox Construction Ltd. of Guelph. A news release from jobsOntario, stated that the construction on both projects will begin mid-May and are anticipated to be complete by early August 1995. Have a news tip Cali the `mes-Adv, u, 235-l33 x rte. 1 Osborne reeve says trees at Tract must be harvested GODERICH - Pat Down knows how to make a point, complete with props. Thursday morning at the Huron County Council, Down, the reeve of Usborne Township, brought a wooden rolling pin apd a basket of geraniums from home to illustrate her position on the controversial tree cutting at the Morris Tract. Huron County owns 140 -acre parcel of natural forest near Gode- rich and in the past have been interested in harvesting some of the wood. However, a group of environmentalists, calling itself the Hu- ron Fringe Field Naturalists recently went to the county voicing their concern about cutting the trees. Down, an Usborne farmer, believes that some of the trees must be harvested. In front of fellow council members, she had a pot of geraniums sit- ting on her desk of which she topk one of the dried flowers and crumpled it. "That's what happens to a tree. When we're born and grow, we all have a life expectancy," said Down. "I would rather harvest a tree and turn it into something useful (like her rolling pin) than have it dead." Huron's Agriculture and Public Works Committee is still trying to decide what to do with the forest which does need to be thinned out. Down said the pot of geraniums she brought to council, was thinned out from a larger group of flowers. "It didn't hurt that plant to be trimmed and it isn't going to hurt the bush to be trimmed either," said Down. Budget cuts will impact board CLINTON - It is budget time at the Huron Board of Education and while 1995 may not be too difficult to deal with, 1996 doesn't look promising. Due in part to increased property values and in part to the down- loading effect of the federal budget expected after the elections, the board will be hard pressed to find funding. Expenditures have been reduced with permanent staff adjustments and spending is hopefully stabilizing. Already operating at a greatly reduced administrative and bureaucratic hudget, the board must look at tax revenue to make up for the dollar reduction in provincial grants. HCBE Director Paul Carroll is expecting a very difficult time once the realities of the budget hit. "I don't know what we will do next year," said Carroll. He added that the expected cuts in transfer payments to the prov- inces will make the social contract look like a "teddy bear picnic." Hay okays building report Call tenders for Cann municipal drain By Ross Haugh T -A staff ZURICH - At its February 23 meeting, Hay township council ac- cepted the 1994, and, January of this year's building official report from Milton Dietrich. Dietrich revealed that during 1994 he had issued a total of 87 building permits with a value of $2,520,880. In the first month of this year two building permits with a value of $32,000 have been is- sued. Township drainage engineer Will Bartlett was present along with in- terested ratepayers to have council consider the report on the Cann mu- nicipal drain extension. He said the meeting was to determine if the work proposed in the report was the work that the property owners in the petition wanted. Bartlett was authorized to call tenders for this drain project with a deadline of March 20 after the op- portunity was given to all land owners affected to add or withdraw their name from the petition. A report from drainage engineer Robert Traut was approved and adopted by council. The township zoning bylaw was amended to take in a change at Part Lot 10, Concession 2. In response to concerns by the owner of part of Lot 14, Conces- sion 13, council agreed to waive the township portion of the minor variance application. The owners of Lot 21, Plan 522 are to be informed that they have 30 days from receipt of a township letter offering to move the dirt pile to reply and if no response is given, the municipality will not make any further offer to assist in this matter. Council also agreed that the hold- back from Brohn Developments Inc. for constructjpn of the [Ake - wood Gardens South Municipal Drain not be released until resolu- tion of the matter of the dirt pile. Discuss insurance A copy of a letter from Frank Cowan insurance Company was forwarded to council from the vil- lage of Grand Bend. The letter sug- gested that a separate insurance policy should be held by each fire board to avoid any claims experi- ence being assessed on the munici- pality holding the pglicy in the event of any claims against the fire board. Reeve Murray Keys advised that he had spoken to an agent of the in- surance firm who said that any claims experience due to a fire de- partment would be assessed against the premium for the fire depart- ment only, not against the insu- rance premiums for the municipali- ty holding the policy.The 1995 Hay -Zurich Waste Site board bud- get with operating expenses of $40,210 and no capital expense was approved by council. Council has endorsed the efforts of the residents near the hamlet of St. Joseph's to have the speed limit on Highway 21 reduced through St. Joseph's and the clerk was instruct- ed to forward a resolution to Huron MPP Paul .Klopp and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. Mail box policy Council has approved a policy to deal with mail boxes and posts damaged by the township roads de- partment. If a mail box and /or post is dam= aged beyond repair, all damaged mail boxes must be handed in to the township prior to replacement and all replacements will be as close to the original size and mate- rial as possible. The township will not be responsible for putting let- tering on the boxes. Additional costs to upgrade mail box style, size or material will be at the owner's expense. But, if the township chooses to upgrade the damaged mail box posts for rea- sons of helping in snow removal or for safety concerns, they will do so at their own expense. This would include extending arms or moving back from the edge of the roadway. Road superintendent Ross Fisher will be calling quotes for the sup- ply of calcium chloride for the up- coming season and for the purchase of a new rotary mower. These quotes are to be in by March 20. Fisher reported that grader re- pairs were being completed and he was authorized to have the trans- mission on the old grader repaired at a cost of from $1,500 to $3,500. Clerk Janisse Zimmerman report- ed to council that the township of Stephen was taking over the opera- tion of the Port Blake Conservation Area and is asking for participation by the township of Hay and the vil- lage of Grand Bend. Council de- clined to get involved at this time. Although council sees no pur- pose in redesignating the township property in Zurich to core commer- cial, in an effort to resolve the situ- ation regarding tlt appeal to the township's zoning bylaw amend- ment for Glenn Hayter to withdraw the appeal, council will request the village of Zurich to redesignate the subject property to core commer- cial during Zurich's upcoming sec- ondary plan review. Local tune-up needed Stephen's Bill Weber says its time to look at problems By Fred Groves T -A staff GODERICH - Is Huron County looking at govern- ment restructuring on the local level? That seemed to be the case Thursday morning when Stephen Township reeve Bill Weber stood before Hu- ron County Council and suggested that a change may be needed in the very near future. "I question whether it's time to take a hard look at our basic system of government," said Weber. Recently representatives from several municipal- ities, in particular Exeter, were at a meeting in Clinton to once again try and rehash out and come to some kind of an agreement over planning and consent fees. Exeter does it's own and wants to keep doing it's own. However, the county's planning departments has gone to the extreme of taking away certain planning privileges it has granted to the town over the years. "Perhaps it is the appropriate time to look at prob- lems of co-operation between upper and lower tiers of government and municipalities in search of growth and development," said Weber. While the planning department is the one under di- rect fire by certain municipalities, Weber and Exeter reeve Bill Mickle hinted that there could be other de- partments in the county system as well which aren't letting certain municipalities do what they are capable of doing. "I feel this council should take a pro -active role as it has in the past on many issues, to ensure future suc- cess in Huron County and committees within its boun- daries," said Weber. "I think there is a deeper issue...it's something we should all take back to our (municipal) councils," he added. "i'm not pin -pointing planning, it's an overall county process." In a nut shell, what Weber, Mickle and many other councillors don't want. to see is a reduplication of ser- vices, especially in regards to what is happening be- tween the county's planning department and the Exeter administration. Mickle said there has been a process set up which looks at issues in the southern portion of the county as far as duplication of services is concerned. "I think it's one of the most important issues we are looking at," said Bayfield reeve Pat Carrier in refer- ence to a county re -organization. Lately, whenever the county council has a problem it can't agree on, it is sent on to the newly created Stra- tegic Planning Committee who puts it on a shelf with a lot of other issues, which, hopefully it will be able to step in and find a solution to. "There is a lot of depth in what councillor Weber has said," indicated Goderich reeve Bill Clifford. "i'm wondering if it's a subject that should be referred to the strategic planning committee." "This would give us all an opportunity to think about it rather than re -acting," added Clifford. For Mickle, who has been wrestling with the plan- ning department over fe for a few years now, he doesn't seem to care whr ommittee takes on the prob- lem. Mickle, in the long run, wants to see duplication prevented in order to save money. "I would hope it's an open discussion with no level of government imposing upon another level of govern- ment what they have in their hip pocket as the only way things are going to happen," said Mickle. But will sending it to the Strategic Planning Com- mittee be the solution? "Things are going to happen very quickly over the short period of time because of the adjustment and the ability to do things." Board hopes to expand co-op HCBE will apply jointly with Clinton Co-op Childcare Centre for funding By Heather Vincent T -A staff CLINTON - By extending the current partnership be- tween the Huron County Board of Education and the Clin- ton Co-op Childcare Centre, the board hopes to continue with a very successful history. At Monday's board meeting, a motion was passed to ap- ply jointly for capital funding to renovate a portion of the Clinton Public School and create an addition in order to es- tablish a nursery and daycare program. Similar joint pro- grams have been successful at Seaforth Pub- lic School and Central Huron Secondary School. The board would establish separated roles for the school and the childcare facility. "We are only the landlord, they are the tenant and operator," said HCBE Director Paul Carroll. The joint project would allow a "seam- less" day for kindergarten and junior kin- dergarten students as well as providing care for school -aged children before and after regular classes. Carroll stated that combined programs are not only en- couraged by the Ministry of Education but he hu heard it said that they will bis mandated by the year 2000. Rather than waiting tot this eventuality, the hoard made a political decision to set the agenda itself. Funding, with a cap of $350,000, will only be made avail- able to six sites in Ontario. There is a 31 day "window of opportunity" of which the board has determined to take full advantage. During the committee of the whole public session, the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Learning were discussed. A province -wide curriculum and reporting system, an education quality and accountability office and a call for school board reduction indicates greater in- volvement from the government in school mat- ters. "What 1 see here is a larger role for the gov- ernment," said Carroll. In response to a question from Trustee Doug Oarniss Carroll said he does see the potential for a complete, classroom -ready curriculum with a variety of choices if the recommenda- tions are to be taken literally. School councils, which may already exit in some form, were also discussed during the public session. It will not be a matter of replacing existing council but rather, refining them to incorporate new mandates. "We don't have to undo what we have done," said Car- roll. "We are only the landlord, they are the tenant and operator." A final issue included in the report discussion was the creation of an Ontario College of Teachers. The director said everyone involved with education has the desire to make teaching a better profession. Many teachers have been asking for a college for years. None of the recommendations of the report are complete- ly foreign to what the board has been trying to achieve. The only real subject of continued debate is the issue of board reduction and possible amalgamation. While it may be likely that Huron will see a small reduction in the num- ber of trustees, the board feels that with amalgamation of the northern boards and reduction of French language and Roman Catholic boards, Huron and Perth will be able to carry on as they have been. Working voluntarily in the tri -county joint board, Perth, Huron -Perth R.C.S.S., and HCBE already achieve savings through cooperative efforts such as shared transportation. During the regular session, it was discussed as a part of the director's information report that Heritage language in- struction will be offered to students at Vanastra Public School. Already 32 students have enrolled to take the pro- gram and therefore, the board is required to go ahead with plans to open the class. The school will open in April and instruction will be held on Saturdays. The classes will be bffered with no charge to students. 1