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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1969-12-04, Page 1Elected as directors -at -large of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture at the organization's annual meeting in Londesboro Nov. 26 were (seated left to right) Mason Bailey of RR 3 Blyth, Bob Henry of Blyth, George Smith of RR 3 Lucknow, (back row, left to right) Bruce Shapton of RR 1 Exeter, Tom Cunningham of RR 1 Auburn and John Stafford of RR 1 Wroxeter. -Photo by Muriel Trott BY SHIRLEY 4.'CELLER There may be a bit of reduction in the county mill rate for 197Q according to the forecast. _of _John G, Eery, clerk -treasurer for the county of Huron, speaking at last Friday v morning's_ -.session . of_ eounty'c council. . He said that because the building prograrn at the new administrative building in complete and final debenture on the 1961 addition at Huronview has been, paid coupled with the fact that the county is no longer responsible, for the assessment. departmet, it seems feasible that the county may be in a position to consider reducing the levy for general purposes. Berry urged council not to reduce the mill rate to such a position that*, in 1971 there wouldv.have to be a substantial increase. He stressed a "middle of the road approach."r-- He also reconunended that the working capital xesef re fund be increased to ,avoid ouch large borrowing costs.eInterest cost the end of October amounted to ,$9,401.07 for the general account and $37,948.32 for the highway account: Council. discussed the possible y of two instalments for . payment of taxes. It was pointed out that in municipalities where ,taixes are collected on an ins' %arment basis, county taxes should be forwarded in instalments as well. Everett Mcllwain of Goderich Township, said that the same people are paying the interest charges whether the local municipalities borrow the money orthe county borrows the funds. Elmer Hayter, Stanley, said it would be a real hardship for farmers to pay their taxes in instalments because they have to wait for their crops to grow before they have the Money to pay their taxes, Charlie Thomas, . Grey, painted out that a municipality could borrow money cheaper than the individual farmers. Jack Alexander, Wingham, suggested that the penalty for failure to pay taxes on -tithe should be raised to the 'high t- possible level in order to get tax money in promptly.' Warden James Hayter said that • homeowners who are paying their mortgages off in monthly instalments which include taxes are disturbed by the fact . that it, is costing so much money for interest charges on county borrowings. The . warden also stressed co-operation at the local level so • that the individual municipalities would not lose their right to collect taxes locally. "They could lose this function as well," warned Hayter. -Clerk Berry' also asked' that the executive comm consider the pibilityof establishing a reserve fund for sick leave credits. "In view of tbei,tight financial guidelines . as proposed by. various provincial, dements. * large payment in any o : oul result, o erspeud n, advised ,the clerk. The, reserve fund would, be a ' protection -factor," review other si The salaries of Huron County Health Unit ' employees came under county council's scrutiny Friday afternoon and there was some discussion concerning the" , raises proposed by the board of health. The medical officer of health, Dr. G. P. A. Evans, will receive a $3,000 per annum hike bringing his salary to $23,000. Some councillors, took exception to 1111111111111111111111 1111111 IIIII III 1 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111t111111111111111111111111111�1 I I iIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIillllllllllltl1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111�111IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIp11111111111111111U I III II 1111 No race -.moi f___- I_ Oberitb s _ -MP' ZP)1111*Warden's post ar Only one man has announced his intentions to run for the wardenship of Huron County in • 1970. That man is Roy Westcott, reeve of Usborne Object to paying librarian Jack Alexander, reeve of A Wingham, told members of Huron County Council Friday afternoon that he was not favor of paying the county librarian, Carolyn Croke, to the end. of 1969 since she is now employed elsewhere. . Miss Croke, who leftthe county job earlier in November after submitting a doctor's certificate that she must resign because of her health, is now working at a library in London. When the board agreed -to pay her salary until the end of 1969 there was no indication that• she¢ had another job. . The chairman of the library committee, Derry Boyle of Exeter, told council it was the county policy to pay an employee until the end • of the year ' is that employee left because of health reasons. He said Miss Croke's present employment ' had "much less stress and strain" attached to it. Warden James Hayter . said Miss Croke had 24 days sick leave coming to her. "She had a doctor's !certificate," he said, "Who are we to argue with that?" Turnberry Reeve A. D. Smith felt the library committee had been "led down the garden • path." He • asked ' that the executive committee review this policy regarding retirement because of illness. Miss Betty MacKenzie, Goderich branch supervisor, will take charge of library operations • until a qualified successor can be found for Miss Croke. Total proposed budget for salaries for 1970 for library branch supervisors and office personnel, excluding the county. librar%n,-- will -be approximately • $55,000. • Township and 1969 chairman -of the property committee. Two other reeves, Elgin Thompson of Tuckersmith and A. D. Smith of Turnberry had been mentioned, • but Mr. Thompson indicated earlier in November that he would be out of the running because of a time-consuming position in connection with the fall fairs of this district and Smith will not return to county council in January. In his parting words in Council, Warden James Hayter said Friday afternoon' at the final session for 1969 that he had enjoyed his year as top administrator in the county. He said he still has not decided whether or not he will return in 1970 as reeve of Stephen Township although he has one year to go of a two-year term of office. In view of the, fac .that4many municipalities ate switching to two-year terms, the warden added, perhaps council should give, some thought: to setting up countycouncil-committees for two-year terms as well. . He suggested also that the warden's term should be for two years. SFECIAL BULLETIN Santa's candy Not on your life! Santa may have been ih trouble with city officials in Sarnia last week when he apparently broke a police ruling by throwing candy to kiddies along the parade route, but he certainly won't be during his Goderich visit, December 13. Having his knuckles - rapped once was enough! _ Santa has agreed to dispense with the "candy toss" in Goderich. He has arranged to have the clowns in attendance (mainly ladies in disguise, from the Legion Auxiliary to Branch 109) "hand" small treats - to the youngsters as he passes by. Members of the parade committee, Martha Rathburn and Mrs. H. L. Blue, reported to the Recreation and Community Centre Boatel Monday night, that, details are nearly completed and,, many groups are now working on their floats. It was pointed out that technical • 122nd YEAR - 49 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1969 SINGLE COPY - 1S' this and asked why Dr. Evans rated such a large increase all at once while some of the lower salaried staff were taking a much smaller raise. "It seems to me that's making the rich richer and poor poorer," said Reeve Allan Campbell, ° McKillop: Chairman of the board, Wilmer Cuthill, Seaforth, told council the board had reached this agreement with Dr. Evans after serious discussions. The doctor maintained, said Cuthill, that his colleagues in this area are making between $30,000 and $50,000 annually in private practices. It was alsopointed -out .that, certain employees of the Huron County Board of Education with no more qualifications than Dr. Evans are earning considerably more than $23,000 per year. Public health doctors are not easily found either, it was explained, and the- county was interested in keeping Dr. Evans on staff for some time to come.` "I'm not in favor of releasing a man experienced in Huron -County and then hiring somebody new for the same salary or more," said 'the warden. Supervisor of Public Health Nurses Mrs: C. M. Elias will receive $8,560 up from $8,000 this year. Salaries for the rest of the nursing staff range from $6,700 to $7,700 fopublic health nurses, $6,225 for a registered. nurse, $4,400 for a registered nurse's assistant and $24.50 to $26.50 per day for part-time staff. • William Empey, chief public health inspector was raised from $8,000 per annum to $$,560. James Pinder and John Kerwin will each receive $7,500 per annum with Richard Dodds earning $6.,500:_ ..1IIII1111111111111111111111III111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111IIII111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111tiII111111T4 • 4 ()uric!! o ctivities at public meetin A ,public meeting between Goderich-Town Council and the town's taxpayers was held at MacKay • Hall on Thursday evening, November 27, replacing the regular meeting of council. Dr. G. F. . Mills, mayor, welcomed those in attendance and said it was thought to be a good idea to hold a public meeting in view of the fact no nomination meeting was to be held this year. - ' Dr. Mills said council wanted the • taxpayers to know that council _-was interested in the thoughts and ideas of the people and wanted the people to know what had been done by council since it took office in January of toss Humbua? assistance is still available from Mrs. Rathburn, Ron Price and board chairman, Paul Carroll.' At this time,, • the. parade entries total 23. There has been some surprise at the relatively small number of withdrawals as the parade date ' approaches. Members of the ' parade committee expressed their hope that as many commitments will be honoured as possible. Parade Marshall, Doug Cruickshank, advised by proxy, that judges have been appointed and assistance has been offered from the Kinsmen Club for crowd control, both at the parade and at the Santa's Court to be held Sunday, December 14, at G.D.C.I. A - large turnout for both events is anticipated. The parade and the following afternoon at G.D.C.I. are expected to be a great success. Final details will be announced next Thursday. Huronscho�I feathers resign The resignations of seven w Huron County school teachers were accepted at Monday evening's . meeting , of the Board •of -Education and eight -new teachers were hired to fill end -of -the -year vacancies. Resigning are Mrs. Marilyn • Taylor, Huron Centennial School; Mrs. Jean Davidson, Seaforth District High School; Mrs. M. Kerr, Victoria Public School, Goderich; Mrs. Sharon Soldan, Stephen Central School; Miss Dorothy Wagner, J. A. D. McCurdy Public School; Mrs. Isobel Carniss, Wingham PS; and Miss Gayle Lamport, J. A. D. .McCurdy School. Forty applications were received and 22 teachers interviewed for eight positions in • elementary schools across the county. Those hired were Mrs. Madeline Aggerholme to teach in Clinton; Miss Jc ati Fisher, Goderich; A. , Harrison, Turnberry; B. F. Hooper, J. A. D. McCurdy; Mrs, Barbara Moss, Goderich; Mr's. Shirley 'Mousseau, - Stephen; Allen Srhade, Goderich,, and Mrs, Carol»'ynne Wood, Huron Centennial. Some discussion was heard on the. is provision of special education in county schools. To date 272 students in the county have the . advantage of opportunity classes, remedial classes, speech classes. or occupations classes. , About, 277 more students could benefit from such training, it was learned. The board gave permjssion for James Coulter, superintendent, to make a study of the needs and what it woRld cost •to finance' it. It has been estimated that eight to 14 extra teachers for special education would have to be hired. Mrs. Marilyn Kunder expressed her., interest in the program. She said it was in keeping with the board's intention to • provide equal educational opportunities for all children in the county. Policy is forthcoming regarding the board's role concerning moving students from school to school. This has been done on several occasions with the mutual consent of the parents and .the administration officers of Huron County Board of Education. John Broadfoot asked that board members be * kept informed of such shifts. To holdBi�fra meeting this year, and also gile ' an water, light. and pollution indication of plans for , the control committee, said . the coming year. Q committee had a very busy'year. Each member of council was The first problem the committee called upon to give a resume of had was replacing a sludge line at the work of his committee the sewage treatment plant. The during the year and a• _ ,brief old line had been located , 20 feet outline of plans for next year, below the surface and a new line PUBLIC WORKS had been placed over the top of it,' just four feet below the Reeve Harry Worsell gave his surface. This line can now be report of the public works , rodded from both ends, has committee and said in his proved very satisfactory, and opinion the town had • a should be good for years tq wonderful public works crew. ., Vie, Sidewalks budgeted for had been A new truck for hauling completed . under -_. -Local-_ sludge cake away . has been improvements and funds could purchased due to problems with be obtained from the obtaining local people to remove" government for the work. - the sludge. The reeve gave a resume of The deputy reeve also paid the road work completed in the ,tribute ,to the men working at town naming Victoria Street, the the plant and stated -the local . Hamilton Street intersection, plant was being operated at and repairs to part of Bayfield ' about half the cost of plants Road. o operated by the Ontario Water Reeve Worsell gave a Resources Commission. breakdown of costs for work He said 97 new street lights carried out • by his department , had been installed `which citing the Elgin Avenue Storm completes the program of Sewer Project and. the Waterloo changing from incandescent to Outfall Sewer Project as , major mercury vapour. He said an expenditures. ' extra fixture ,or two might have Other items included a new to be added at' certain dark spots pump unit, a new tractor and a due to trees. new paint machine for marking Plans for the future' do not roads. Salaries and rental of inclutde any' proposals for equipment for snow removal Highway 21 until such time as it -Councillor ,!Pau, - Carroll were included in the outline and is known what will be done to reported on the activities of the. ' repairs to equipmerrt .A and the highway as far as widening is harbour committee of which he removal of trees in the town. concerned. - is chairman and on the He stated the steel poles recreation board, of, which he WATER, LIGHT, POLLUTION holding lighting fixtures on The also is chairman. CONTROL Square were ' not in the best of Naming 1969 as "...the year Deputy Reeve Walter condition' and an up -dating of the paint brush and the dust Sheardown, chairman of the program is to be proposed for mop," Coun. Carroll said the(Please turn to page 3) (Please turn to page'9) I IIt11111111111111111111111111111111111111ana III111111111111111111111111eati1111111111111ella11111111alla1U1 111111111111111111111111111111111111111111t111111111111maiIIIII111111111111111111 amit11111111111111111nuo IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII(ll,!llillll111111111111111111111111�81111111111111I next year. He said if this was main beach area facilities had accomplished the lighting been , repaired and painted standards would be placed six including all of the playground feet inside the Courthouse Park equipment, benches had been and eliminate lighting standards repaired or replaced and the from the sidewalks. beach patrol had been kept PARKS operating. With regard to the south beach area Coun. Carroll said the major expenditures there had consisted of new lighting on the street and- the addition of flood lighting for the picnic and play area. The Councillor said a start had been' made at the Maitland River to provide facilities for local fishermen and at Snug Harbour, through , the co-operation of the federal department ' of public works, protective 'fenders had been .installed on the outside dock io reduce the liability hazards from. damaged boats. Plans for 1970- include proposed development.. in three areas in addition to regular maintenance. These included catwalk docks at the easterly end .of the river breakwater area to further develop the area for local fishermen; a continuation of the attempts •at having ' the south beach area develpped and a research study to ascertain the changing face of the commercial harbour. • C o u ncillor Reg Jewell, chairman of the parks committee, complimented the workers on the parks staff. He gave a resume of expenditures for his . department saying Agricultural Park grandstand had been repainted and repairs had been carried out. Trees and flowers had been planted along ' with some shrubs. Two new lawn mowers were purchased. He said 100 maple trees had been planted, along, with 35 locusts and 15 flowering shrubs. Some revenue had been realized from the trailer park, two Shirds of the amount represented $2,816.97; ball park $45 and sale of an old truck $50, for a total of $2,964.47. Three mowers were used by the parks department to keep grass growth under control and while some painting had been done,' it was hoped more could be done next year. HARBOUR An open forum on the Nigeria -Biafra civil war will be held in Central Huron Secondary School, Clinton, Monday evening at eighto'clock. Guest speakers will be • cartoonist Ben Wicks and Toronto newsman Peter Worthington who has covered the African conflict. Slated to participate in a panel discussion are Robert McKinley, MP for " Huron; D. J. Cochrane, county education director; Brig. L. Morgan Smith (ret.) of Bayfield /Please turn to page 9) RECREATION . With regard to recreation, Coun. Carroll gave an outline of the work carried out by the G o d erich Recreation and Good. value for road money says chairman "I think we've had a good value for a road money this year," said Elmer : Hayter of Stanley Township, reeve and chairman of the road committee for 1969. He lauded good weather and fine cooperation of the Huron County road crew for the excellent results in road building throughout the county. "I think we've accomplished all we set out to do," concluded Hayter. Road maintenance' 'tb. Nov. 1 has cost the county $474,088 The Goderich Lions Club held the largest ,initiation night ofits 47 year history last Thursday evening at the Harbourlite Inn, with 14 new members added to the roll. Left to. right are, front row: Stanley Paquette, Dom Fox, Tom Cook, Pete Brander, Malcom" Mothers, Jack Hotchkiss, Ralph. Neville. Back row: Paul Schutz, Bill Wardley, B"r"iielt Tafiet, Bill Melick, Harold Kingsley, and John Sully. Absent was Jim Wright. - staff .photo: