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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1976-04-01, Page 1Wee her 1976 1975 1� Itt LO' tr I O MARCH ". 23 50 26 39 29 24 64 37 44 32 25 58 40 39 30 26 65 36 29 12 27 57 29 29 15 28 38 29 34 22 29 49 31 36 29 Rain .55" • Rain .15" Snow 2" Snow 14" Thursday, April 1 th Year No. 14 There wasn't Much dispute.. over -tithe county budget for 1976 when council, -.tom in:. regular, se ibti l ridaY in Otiderich..at arch ssion. Although costs. were ,ost -department& causing an overall increase in expentlitUre of 13.7 ter c�e}yn:tiy.i.hno -than Asame._l7 , Pe un Fv ; ill .1 main the , y ►!!! VO.--Oerry. #3iinn said' following the me rigf '' at: sl id help, Soften the blow for the taxpayers in 1976.: -" Reeve Ginn like- iany` atter i looking forward *tea �. the cost of education cotipty this year. The total county budget is That's 3~466, more an- 1 paignto fi t the +1+>t _Clinton Public e Citizens' fiction'--+ otmmkt!en Is." ndesboro.puts One of°1 ? Here 1�ev. Siaa �` , +�Po,I '► , +�t>f� � lapel bntEa. Ht' rSt okeutthiseeriestweek,[flews-%ecorc phptu] o remain the same as '75 to i x$7,244,142, egovernment grants and other revenue-, the county ratepayers will be asked to contribute 52,.528,000 a .actly the sue as last year. However, it has ' len necessary to use the accumulative 's t'pius of 34161383 to -maintain-,the levy ast year's figure. - uciuded in the 1976 budget is provision for intreases to the reserve funds:.. ,. ounty wants to decide- bed cuts k • Huron County Council is taking its role seriously. When Warden Jack McCut- (*eon asked councillors Friday at the March session in Goderich if they were ready to accept the responsibility for the suction of health care costs in the county should the government empower them to do so, few members decline_do. Warden McCutcheon told council that Ontario Premier William Davis and Minister of Health Frank Miller had been- impressed with a Huron County Board of Health presentation which stressed the fact that Huron is a "total county" that "sticks together". He said the only argument to which the premier and the minister of health would listen was the one which put forth the claim that Huron County wants to manage its own affairs even where health cutbacks are concerned and should be permitted to co-ordinate meetings with the five hospitals to work out an amicable settlement to achieve The results desired by Toronto. "Arewe ready to accept the respon- sibility to allocate bed reduction proportionately across die county?" asked Warden McCutcheon. John Jewitt of Hullett seemed to speak for all of council when he replied. "If we've got to be the body that takes the stand, then we'd better be the body that takes the stand.' . Only Reeve John. latmory of Se (forth . cancer in .t; tmmng the voiced his � � responsibility- He -4uestlonedwhether council should get `into this kind ot 0d - ministration, evens If given the power to do so. "How many, beds wilt we be expected to cut back next year'?" asked Flannery. Will this become an annual event. While council waits for the govern- ment's decision on -whether or notcounty council will be empowered, to allocate bed reduction apportionments through Huron, Dr. Frank Milli brought forward some shocking statistics' for council`s perusal. continued on page 15 Board stilt considering Goderich offer The Clinton Hospital Board are still confidence motion. ,,. iderin an offer from the board of The Clinton Citizens' Action Com - the the Goderich Alexandra Marine and mittee• meanwhile, advised the ...tQ..... y Q- 9 :G z.nM Town >ur t'! on Mouflay in a M - antra from the former letter that they found the AM rO offer c1Ctderch Psychiatric Hospital to the "lacking in several areas." Clinton hospital, in order to keep the Action committee chairman Jim Clinton facility open. Hunter said in the letter that they "thank In a statement to the press on- -the :Board for contemplating methods of Tuesday, Joe Murphy of the hospital co-operation." 'board said the Clinton hospital would Mr. Hunter said that even though the gladly take the 20 -bed psychiatric unit if transfer of the.20=bed psychiatric unit to • the Clinton Hospital could still have an Clinton would keep the hospital open. ''it active hospital. would not meet the needs of Clinton for "But I don't think at this point that an active community hospital." those 20 beds are Goderich's to give "The economic situation of the town away," Mr. Murphy said. • would not be improved by this move as Ontario Health Minister Frank Miller the present staff are not qualified for has ordered that the Clinton Hospital be, • work within a psychiatric unit." Mr. closed as soon as possible after April 1, Hunter wrote. but in a meeting on March 11 said he ''We freely admit that_due to the would reconsider his order. "'Psychiatric sychiatric closing 33 ,jobs have .been oar . . direct Goderich area. So far. the Clinton board has heard lost in the d>Ire�oHt, • nothing from Toronto. and no word is however, many of these 'may be picked up by the 20 -bed psychiatric unit that you seem so willing to give away again. "As well we find it difficult to un- derstand what enormous problem you have encountered that would mewl the loss of 35 to 45 jobs by closing 16 beds. Have you been grossly over -staffed or are you going to become grossly un- derstaffed? We here in Clinton do not need you to give up the mare than $300.000 that this number of jobs would realize. "A mere five percent of your budget would save Clinton, and since you are receiving an eight percent increase, you will actually have more dollars id your budget than last year and not be flooded with at least 20 new patients who are presently handled by �'Clrirtton, Mr. Hunter said. w seniors -1 Feder(' ti ant New Horizons cominittee, under the leadership of Mrs: Betty Scratch at u onview, have received 83,715 from the Federal Government's New Horizons program. New Horizons enables retired people to create projects of their own choosing. It offers grants to groups of retired people who will undertake activities for the benefit of themselves and others in their community. The New Horizons committee of Humnview, will use the grant to make videotapes of- activities in the Home, These tapes ,will be exchanged with Homes for the Aged in other areas in Ontario. working capital, 8150.000; hospital reserve. $200,000; employee benefits. 8150.000; and capital works building. $20.000. Looking at the individual budgets_._. within the total budget.., general government is up ffom 878.800 in 1975 to 894,850 this year. County council sessions won't cost any more - $32,000 again this year - but the warden's salary and his pay f+ar,other meetings is up from 85.000 to $6,200 and the county committees will cost $4.000 more this year - 816,000 in- stead..n€ tl<ie_5-i.2J100-budgeted last year. Convention and other committee costs have increased from $5,000 to $9,500and there's $21,000 included in this year's budget for- travel and convention ex- penses, tfaraw asn't there last year. The history project last year cost $10,000. This year: only $1,000 has been set aside. Turning to the general administration budget, salaries account for a large part of the increase from 5150,700 last year to 8178.500 this year. Salaries have gone up 18 per cent from. 5100.000 to 5118,000. Likewise, employee benefits and work- men's compensation have increased no'rninally. Thins like office supplies, equipment, postage-, telephone, travel expenses and legal fees are all up: The general maintenance budget is up from $110.425 to $114.152. Again. salaries and expenses like fuel, utilities and telephone have all increased. The county- road budget is actually down from 52,561,000 in 1975 to $24493,601) in 1976. Road maintenance is up'from The News -Record is pleased to announce ac Council okays $665,000 to $771,000 as is overhead and machinery from 5403,000 in 1975 to 5473,000 this year. But total road con- struction is down from 5900.000 to ;$813,600 and boundary bridges this year will cost only 597,000 as opposed to V325,0001 . t year. The he Ith budget is up 526,120 - from $.46e,700- n 1975 to 5492.820 in 1976. Salaries are all up, of course. including fees to board members. Equipment and materials are down slightly. but rent and utilities are up, Added this year - at the government's Dram order - is a family planning program which will cost $57,9.00.. This particular item was questioned during the session by Morris Reeve Bill Elston who com- mented. "We're getting some things we don't need while some things we need we're not getting." It. was pointed out to Reeve 11ston by Medical Officer of Health Dr. Frank Mills that the provincial costs are soaring for medical care of young pregnant women.. lie said family planning services are designed to prevent ever-increasing costly in- cidences across Ontario. . Plumbing ...and Environment has in- creased in cost from 544.500 in 1975 to $75,500. This department is subsidized by the government to the tune orf. 521.750. Inspection fees will bring in another estimated- 533.750. Direct cost to the Huron County ratepayers will be 820.000. The Children's Aid Society budget shows the results of severe government i continued on page :' • ��g prograrn yA' r Clinton Town Council decided last ,finigt coat of paving on the parts of Thursday night to go ahead with the"` Isaac, High and Townsend Streets that Streets reconstruction program again were r nslucted list year. this year, after they i rned,that tendo* :. Titey'.:vvnill a•lso reconstruct t eotrist.ruct Itat!e ratiiary from Shipley. to Orange Street. Joseph. from North to Orange Street and Wellington from Orange to Isaac Street. John Street from North to Shipley is also scheduled to be paved. Final approval must be given from the ministry of transportation and com- munication and Council will also apply for an additional subsidy from the Lame ministry. submitted on the::program were much lower than the engineer's estimate. Council accepted the tender of Lavis Contracting Company of Clinton for 573,986.05. which is about 536.000 lower than the engineer's estimate of 5109.000. The Lavis tender was the lowest of two submitted. the other being given by Wayne Lowry of Kincardine for' 596.409.54. The contract includes putting the A , that their new columnist, to replace J k Scott, is E1 i ie Townshend. Elaine, who is 25; ,is a local person, living close .to..� Bayfield. She Is well known in Huron County`ll*o'r •e - eatures. Which she writes for local papers and her column which can also be read in the Seaforth and Exeter papers. [ News -Record photo] expected until Mr. h'Itl1+�� . is released • addition tQ arena • from a heart where h surecovering fer ede two Ree. committee proposes a from a hes weeks ago. Meanwhile, the possibility of a'spring provincial election over the hospital issue disappeared on Tuesday when Liberal leader Stuart Smith said he 'would back the Conservative govern- ment in defeating an NDP non - By Jird Fitzgerald -ft may seem like a coincidence. but believe me, it was all perfectly legal. Ena Cook won the share -the -wealth draw last Sunday night at the hockey game,, a draw set up by her g.00d tus''band Frank. Mrs. Cook give 550 of "'ler windfall back to the hockey club in a generous gesture. There'll be another frac tonight at. the third game of the semi-final series. c er r Premier Bill Davis announced this Morning that he will be closing the town of Clinton and moving all the residents to Kirkland Lake in an effort, to cut government spending. Premier Davis ;aid that everyone had to be out of town ny June the first, and the government Moped to save $300.000 annually by ;.losing the town. Mr. Davis .... ha ha. -%pril fool! ! ! ! - 'rr C Back to hockey, the Kinsmenwill be rattling the girls' hockey teats this :riday night at the arena in an effort to wise money for Cystic Fibrosis. Billed s "Super Serious '76," the game should e a real fun match, so try and get out the support this worthy effort. IF er f Judging by the amount of sand and febris deposited on the sidewalks and awns in town this winter has to have Teen the toughest winter in many years. t looks like the contents of several travel pits have been spread all over 1wn. YOu could help the public 1wor ks cparttnent clean-up though by ping your sidewalks into the road aey c�tn get at it. -The Clinton Recreation Committee before a new floor was put down, to last week agreed to seiid'To town council ensure that no cracking occurs to new a proposed $216,833 renovation plan for floor and that the ice would be kept in the Clinton arena. eight months of the year. The rec. committee members sent the The present floor in the arena, built in report on to council with the recom- 1967. has a number of large cracks in it, mendation that the town proceed with and last summer, one of • the cracks the renovations. when they leaf ned it settled, snapping several cooling pipes. would cost the taxpayers only 554,000 Temporary repairs were made. but spread out over ten.years. engineers say the floor must be The remainder of the funds would replaced epta a soon at an estimated cost of come in the form of two grants, each worth 554,000 from the ministry of In other business. the rec committee culture and recreation and the Wintario decided to go ahead and buy a new lawn Lottery Fund. The other $54,000 would mower for the tractor for $1,03$ after have to be raised by public donations. they learned it would cost $728 to repair Basically. the renovations call for the the old one. addition of four new dressing rooms to the arena, a new tractor room, an ex- tension of -the auditorium to seat 100 more persons. a first aid room, and a new floor for the arena. including new cooling, pipes. The contractor, Whitney Construction, Ltd , would also do extensive soil testing The committee also decided to ad- vertise for new members for the board to fill two vacancies; and sent to the Centennial committee a bill for $280 for a temporary hydra service installed for the arena floor last summer. A permanent 100 amp service for the cook mad at County Council Clinton Deputy Reeve Frank Cook Ars upset that Chinon taxpayers are par- tially paying for a $j million extension to the Alexandra Marine and General Hospital in Godetich. "Clinton may be losing `thefr own hospital. yet they're paying for an ex- tertsion to Goderich's hospital", Mr. Cook told the Clinton Town Council at their last regular meeting. Mr. Cook told Council that the Huron County Council has a hospital building fund. which pays 25 percent of approved costs to hospital additions. This year, which is the first year the 25 percent figure has been implemented. AM and G will be receirting nearly $300.000 from County Council. The hospital is building an addition costing over 51 million. The addition includes expansion of the eunergency wing cases and it will also house Korey. Ontario Health Minister, Prank Miller cut back the Goderich hospital's budget $58: 000 in February. Clinton residents. as well as all other Huron County residents , are paying for this expansion through their taxes to the county. .'What makes. • me mad,' Mr. Cook said. "is that we're paying for that million dollar expansion when our hospital might be closing, I think the County Council should look into other whys of allocating these funds." Mr. Cook brought up the question of the building fund at County Council, held last Friday. but no immediate action was taken. County Council did however decide to ask the provincial government if they could have the authority to decide which hospitals beds should be cut in the county. in order to save the Clinton 'ttbtic Hospital. ice surface would cost 5725. with the Fair board agreeing to split the cost. The rec. committee instructed arena manager Clarence Neilans to look into the possibility of leasing electric hand dryers after they learned it would cost 52,626 to install the machines • in the arena's four washrooms. The -rec committee also decided to advertise for summer help fer the playground and the•swimming pool. -u-r().Vi'e'3' When it became evident that l-i-uronview's budget would have to be tightened to accommodate the gover- nment's announcement that only a 51'2 per cent hike would be approved in 1976, Administrator Chester Archibald was pleasantly surprised when some members of his staff came to him with the suggestion that the cost of meals for workers at the home be doubled. Mr- Archibald told council at its March session that at 50 cents each. the meals were bringing in 510,000 per an- num. Huronview staff reasoned that an additional 510.000 could be added to the budget if the cost of meals to staff went to SI The Board of Management at Huronv rev had been considering the increase. hut when the staff volunteered sets example for the raised price. board members felt compelled to follow their -example They decided that on meeting days. each board member would forfeit S1 for the meal that until this time had been free - "You mean the county will pay for rt." said Elgin Thompson. re•e % e• ++f Tuckersmith. hardly believintz ht' + .ars "No, my understanding was that the committee members would pay for the meals out of their own pockets said Mr. Archibald. Several heads nodded in agreement. "And it is high time we pard for our own meals. too.' stated Reeve Thom pson, obviously getting into the '.pint of the thing. Warden Jack • McCutcheon promptly brought the discussion to a close. Far the first. tine, the Cetrtr'al Junior to Clinton. The Mustangs won the troph presented with It last Saturday night Hamburg. Holding the silverware "C" trophy has come y last week and were at a banquet in New •are, Left to right, manager Larry Dew, assistant captain Dan Colquhoun, equipMeft manager Doug Kennedy, captain Mike Anstett, end president Clarence Ne11ans. [ News4tecord photo]