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Home My WebLink AboutTimes Advocate, 1995-04-05, Page 3IN TF -IF WFW.4 Times -Advocate, April 5, 1995 Year-end reports presented to council By Cameron J. Wood ODERICH - Through budgets, "self-interest groups" and retiring • department heads, the Huron County Council managed to get a tookat how they finished out 1994 and approve their zero percent in- crease budget for 1995. - The first surprise at the March 30 scission was the retirement of. county treasurer W.R. (Bill) Al- cock. Alcock has worked for Huron County since 1975. In making his announcement, he cited the offer made to county employee for an early retirement package. "In a time when many employers are downsizing their workforce, it is difficult for some of the younger employees to advance," he said of part of his reason for accepting the offer and therefore creating a job opening for other staff members. tglcock's last day with the county will be June.30, 1995. Roads report County Engineer Denis Merrell told council the budget for 1994 was constraining, but a great deal of savings were found through non- priority cuts, and some service re- dpctions. In all, the total budget was $1.4 million less than it was in 1991. "But 1 feel we were able to deliv- er a reasonable level of service with $700,000 decrease in our budget from the previous year. ;Some of this was done with reduced staff," Merrall said. The staff currently sits at 43, down three from the previous year. "Last year was a transition year as the department was adjusting to greatly reduced revenues." But, that was not to indicate the county roads department was any- thing less than busy in 1994. Merrall said that over 40 kilome- ters of road was resurfaced, with the relatively mild fall weather helping them achieve this. work. The work brings the total county paved surfaces to a total of 554 km. Only 52 km of gravel roads remain under county jurisdiction. Roads redone in 1994 came in under the $2,126,000 budget level at $2,088,175. Merrall said it was his feeling it was more important to the residents of the cqunt1y tol nave paved surf 4 . e to.drive on than services such,ps g ass cutting and weed control: two areas reduced to control budget ex- penditures. Council opposed to new laws EXETER - On a vote of 4-3 Exet- er council Monday night supported a resolution from. the Ontario Fed- eration of Anglers and Hunters ask- ing Federal Justice Minister Allan Rock to reconsider Bill C-68, an Action Plan on Firearms Control. The resolution says the legisla- tion if implemented contains severe sanctions and restrictions on the continued ownership of firearms by responsible, law-abiding citizens by subjecting them to unnecessary and unjustified controls, limits, stipula- tions, red tape and financial bur- dens. Councillor Bob Spears started the discussion by saying, "I'm a mem- her of the Ontario Anglers and Hunters and I have spoken out against this legislation. This would do absolutely nothing to stop crimi- nal use of guns." Spears continued, " The registra- tion of $80 per rifle or shotgun is too high. If you don't register you will cnd up with a criminal record. It will be tough to enforce and have no effect on people who rob variety stores or banks. OPP officers arc al- ready overworked." He added, "This legislation comes from Toronto and doesn't apply to Huron county or northern Ontario. In rural areas we use guns differently. The Bill is aimed at solving Toronte's crime problems." Councillor Roy Triehner agreed with Spears saying, " 11 will cost too much for registration and I don't see it reducing crimc and Bob Drummond added, " 1 thought the original premise was to get unregis- tered guns off the street. It won't af- fect criminals.." The first opposition to the thoughts of Spears came from Tom Hughes who said, " What sport is shooting a helpless deer and as far as registration goes I have to li- cence my dog." Joe Rider and mayor Ben Hoo- genboom supported Hughes' objec- tions, but the resolution passed on the strength of votes from Spears, Drummond, Urlin and Triebncr. Good news also came to prot.zrty owners along the county road sys- tem. The actual tax load per proper- ty decreased. Is 1992, the 'assess- ment on S100,000 worth of property was $96.27: la 1994 this dropped to 589.47. Overall, the cost to drive on the county roads came in at S0.032 per kilometer. A total of 211,493,000 vehicle kilometers were travelled. The roads expenditures came in at 56,769,488 for 1994. "So, are we winning? I would say yes. In our needs have decreased. to $44,105,000 in 1994 from $48,087,000 in 1993. The 1993 work led to our net improvement," Merrell told council. "We now have a better road system than we had before at better money. We are winning." Library Beth Ross, county librarian, told council funding remained stable for the county library system in 1994; as did the level of activity. "Increases in library use and de- mand for services, decreases in funding and impending technologi- cal changes provide ample opportu- nities to search for new paradigms of library service," Ross said in her presentation to codncil. In confronting the rapidly chang- ing world of information delivery and communications, Ross said the library system has entered into a strategic planning process to identi- fy changes for the future. "There are several challenges fac- ing us. Our staff had to focus more on helping people with information and less on bulk provisions." In January 1994, the library sys- tem moved to a new circulation policy whereby the public could borrow books for a longer period of time. In her report, Ross said that "despite the closure of eight branches between 1988 and 1993 and a stable population base, li- brary circulation in Huron County had increased by 18 percent. Be- cause of financial constraints from both the county and provincial fun- ders, resources were not available to increase staff to accommodate this increase in library use. A drop of 10 to 15 percent in circulation was anticipated, based on other li- braries' experiences with this pro- cess. Our actual drop of only seven percent indicates continued growth in library use." Ross told council over half of the total county population have library cards; an exceptional figure for a rural region. Of local interest, the Belgrave Branch Library closed last year when the Township of Morris agreed to shut it down after public review and usage trends. Page 3 Grand Bend public speaking The power of speech was exercised by the students of Grand Bend Public School on March 28 as students from grades two to eight participated in a public speaking contest. The win- ners are (from left to right, back row) Caitlin Russell, Sarah -Rae Lovie, Ryan Murdock; (back •row) Samantha Haddon, Jessica Haddon and Angela Boundy. The six winners will go in the Lambton County District speaking competition. YOUR CHRYSLER DEALERS OF ONTARIO PRESENT ..THS FIRST.. DIRECT -FROM -FACTORY : DRIVE AWAY Your local Chrysler dealers are going direct to the Bramalea plant to pick up their specially equipped Intrepids. The Ontario built Intrepid comes specially equipped with a no charge 3.5 L V6 214 hp engine. 26C Package includes: • Standard dual air bags • Standard side -door impact beams • Air cond!loning • AM/FM stereo cassette • Power windows/locks • Speed control/tilt steering • Dual power heated mirrors • Power trunk release and more $19,888 LIMITED QUANTITIES AVAILABLE ONLY AT YOUR LOCAL CHRYSLER DEALER Dodge Trucks •l llPY51 CA l\inn 1 • h, Me" kArt aurd b bdr li 1w d oM digs tow ami (rad, blah nt 5 6ST Int, akin bpM 5%10, ksl,, iniwa,, *Wel •d Ines t. r air Deo* wog vt b kt Cee boo* kl 414 1