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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1996-05-29, Page 3$30,000 tp be saved from road and paving budget EXETER - Good news greeted Exeter Council last Monday night as councillors learned more than $30,000 would be saved from the paving and road reconstruction budget. ' The winning tenders from Lavis Construction came in at $224,000. Many Exeter streets will be im- proved'during the late Spring and early Summer including Huron, MacN'aughton Park, Francis, McCo'nnetl, Mary, William, Rose- mount, Pickard, Motz, Pryde and Waterloo. Lions Club to receive tax relief for 1996 141 IrXETER - The Exeter Lions Club met with Exeter Council's Ex- ecutive Committee recently to sub- mit its annual request for tax ex- emption on the Scout Hall and Youth Centre. The Lions Club will pay the 1996 taxes on the Hall, but asked for consideration on the centre. Coun- cil agreed to write off the taxes for this year only. Following its decision, council debated the merits of encouraging future donations to the town. Councillor Roy Triebner suggested, "In these times of economic re- straint council should enter into new partnerships with service clubs and others who might wish to make grants in lieu of taxes so that the ratepayers would be eager to fit their donations to our overall strate- gies. I'd hate to see windows closed as it's the way of the fu- ture." Reeve Bill Mickle cautioned, ' W have to be careful that we donit stet the road 9t that bur; bilify"td ii f9e"f5'nds is im1" peded. We hive to look ahead, but we have to be able to see the pot- holes in that road Roy is talking about." Nothing further was mentioned, and no action was taken. Huron Park resident arrested for marijuana cultivation HURON PARK - Exeter OPP re- ported p Huron Park resident was arrested on May 20 for cultivation of cannabis. A search warrant was conducted on the residence and a quantity of marijuana plants and growing light, were seized. In a separate incident on May 21, a quantity of large scrap metal moulds were stolen from 7 New- brunswick St., Huron Park. INTHE NEWS The Exeter, Grand Bend, Stephen, Usborne Amalgamation Committee has been meeting for several months and as the study process unfolds, it is inevitable questions will arise. In order to answer these questions in a public forum, the communication sub -committee will submit a regular response to a "question of the week." How will amalgamation affect my taxes? We believe that taxes will be lower as a result of amalgamation. Services such as water, sewage and street lights will continue to be funded by user fees and taxation collected from within the benefiting area. Therefore, if you do not have the benefit of these services you will not be paying for them. Services such as roads and recreation will be paid for out of the general funds of the new municipality and everyone will share equitably in those costs. At this time there is very little financial disparity between municipalities, and therefore the impact on taxes as a result of amalgamated services should be minor. Before a final decision on amalgamation takes place, we will complete a detailed analysis to determine exactly how your taxes will be affected. That analysis will show us how we can lower taxes by changing the way we deliver services. We will continue to keep you informed. In the long term, aS the advantages of a more efficient and effective amalgamated organization are realized, lower costs will assist in maintaining lower tax rates. Actual future tax rates will be based on the decisions of future Councils as to the provision of specific services and service levels. Unfortunately we have no control over Provincial fiscal policy and service downloading, and this will continue to affect our local tax rates. However, as an amalgamated structure we believe greater opportunity will exist to provide those services at the least cost. As one councillor put it, "in the end we expect to pay our fair share of taxes and get our fair share of services." • 1 Usborne• requests county initiate single -tier study USBORNE - After council moved out of camera at its May 21 meeting, a motion by Brian Harde- man was carried asking Huron County Council to initiate a study on a single -tier county government rods 'a(i' amalgamation/restructuring opt on,.l rLi: . Counbll passed a motion di - 'reefing the clerk to send a letter to Norman Thomson advising that cash -in -lieu of park land is a condi- tion of his severance and payment is required in order for his sever- anceto be approved. In a related matter, a delegation from the Baptist Church attended last week's meeting regarding the Kerslake application for consent to sever lands for a proposed new Baptist church., Correspondence from the Huron County Health Unit advised field tiles will be re- directed prior to a building permit being issued in read. The pro- vision of a mutual drain agreement in place of an engineer's allocation of drainage costs was discussed and an amount representing the cash - in -lieu of park land was clarified. Council passed a motion to ac- cept a mutual drain agreement in lieu of the appointment of an en- gineer on the understanding an en- gineer will be involved with mu- nicipal drain assessment allocations at the time the building is constructed under a develop- ment agreement. Council moved to send a letter to the Ministry of Environment and Energy stating due to closure of the ministry laboratory and loss of the Waste Management Improvement Grant, the cost of landfill operation frtqtors p}rt considerable, financird strain on the township. The low tender from Clarence Carter & Sons Ltd. in the amount of $12,500 for construction of the Usborne-Biddulph boundary road curve was accepted. Heartworm clarification EXETER - Last week's Cross- roads feature on heartworm stated 42 dogs tested positive for the dis- ease in Ontario last year. However, this number refers only to dogs that were prescribed a prevention program. In some of these cases compliance with dosage instruction may have contributed to the prob- lem. In total there were 427 dogs in Ontario that tested positive for heartworm which presents a great- er case for annual blood testing and prevention. Times -Advocate, May 29, 1996 r` Council forms committee for economic plans LUCAN - At its May 21 meeting, council chose the remaining members of its newly -formed economic development committee. Councillor Rosemary Gahlinger-Beaune and Reeve Rob Brady will sit on the committee along with Bob Benner, Norm Steeper, Don Liley, Pat Van Geleuken, David Atwood and Mike Anderson. At council's May 7 meeting, Gahlinger-Beaune was concerned two committee members belong to the Lucan and Area Business As- sociation. She suggested a member from a service or church group be represented in place of one BA representative "to ensure that we do have good cross -representation." "To my mind," responded Brady, "there's no reason why people can't wear two hats on this committee." "It doesn't seem balanced. It doesn't seem right," said Gahlinger- Beaune. The establishment of the new committee was suggested by Uni- versity of Western Ontario MBA students who presented results of their Lucan study to the BA in March. It was recommended Lucan establish a Community Economic De- velopment Committee to lead a bottom-up planning process that would involve input from the entire community by examining the village's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT). According to Gahlinger-Beaune, council has discussed setting up a similar type of committee in the past. Teddy bear donation LUCAN - Lucan Ambulance Ser- vice received a cuddly donation re- cently. The Second Lucan Brownies do- nated 12 teddy bears to the ambu- lance service on May 21 at the Lu - can Guide Scout Hall. The gift was the Brownie's year- ly service project and this is the third year they have donated the bears. Brownie leaders, Bev Anderson and Carin Marr said the Lucan Am- bulance personnel use the stuffed animals to comfort children at emergency scenes. "Whenever we have a call that requires us to transport a child, we find they (the teddy bears) help them relax and take away some of the fear," said driver/attendant Greg Smith adding many ambu- lance services are starting to use the bears. Brownies Brittany Anderson, Ka- tie Teale, Katerina,Ryan, Laura Clarke, Meghan Taylor, Jessica Lane, Jessica Toonderf and Melo- nie Marr raised money for the bears that were purchased from the Gollan Family of Lucan. Page 3 Exeter discussed future cooperation with Hay EXETER - Council approved a recommendation from the Execu- tive Committee last Monday night dealing with future cooperation with Hay Township and the Hen- sall Co-op Development on Walper Street. The final motion accepted by council states: "That a letter be written to Hay Township stating that, if the Township of Hay and the Hensel! District Co-operative agree to extend Walper Street (owned by Hay) as indicated in the site plan for the Co-op develop- ment, the Town of Exeter will re- imburse Hay Township for its costs, up to 50 per cern of the cost of the road extension provided that such boundary adjustment occurs within five years." :..v:T.■tV•rI14' �,FN.1_ e Iap//i2.7 e041104d a MOM NOM » -- NEUSTADT, ONTARIO — Manufacturers of fine quality outdoor cast aluminum furniture - residential, rural & commercial street lighting, Closed Tuesdays VILLAGE LIGHTING & MFG., Neustadt b,; _ 519 7995793 "WE HAVE IT ALL FOR GREAT CASUAL LIVING" • Vol outdoors • Pools • Gal del1 Areas • Sunroolus Casual Industries Inc. P.V.C. 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