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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1986-03-12, Page 1(;:lit , BEI ' 1{1 ?t , ➢,%ItfiICD ` illIF NQ. 11121 YEARS • • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 1986 Lobb named district deputy fire marshal By Anne Narejko CLINTON - Fred Lobb, Chief of the Clin- ton Fire Department, has been appointed Fire Co-ordinator for the Town of Clinton and District Deputy Fire Marshal for the County of Huron. He will be replacing , Dave Crothers of Wingham. Mr. Lobb, who will maintain his present position as chief of the local fire depart- ment, explained his new position will re- quire him to oversee the operations of the Mutual Aid System in which all Huron County Fire Departments participate. "All the planning for the Mutual Aid System in Huron County (a co-operative system for departments to assist one another) has been set up. My job is to make sure the operation goes smoothly between the departments," said Mr. Lobb. "In the event of an emergency or disaster where many departments are required to assist, they need someone who is in "charge. "When it comes down to it, whenever a situation arises that moves all the equip- ment out of one area to another, someone has to decide whether to put another on stand by," he said. Another facet of the district deputy fire marshal's job is to attend Mutual Aid meetings which are held on a monthly basis with the exception of three months in the winter. Mr. Lobb, who is a lifelong resident of this area, has been Chief of the Clinton Fire Department for one year, assistant chief for 11 years, but started his firefighting career in Brucefield when he FRED LOBB was only 19 -years -old.. After five years with the Brucefield Department, Mr. Lobb moved to Clinton and joined their depart- ment in 1969. Mr. Lobb is looking forward to his new position as Fire Co-ordinator for the Town of Clinton and the Huron County, and feels it "could be a tremendous responsibility." Council discusses tendering By Anne Narejko CLINTON The possibility of tendering for the installation of new streetlights has been discussed during the- last two council meetings, but a decision has yet to be reach- ed. For. the, second phase of the Ontario Neighborhood Improvement Program (ONIP) for the town, the Clinton Public, Utilities Commission (PUC) has ordered 85 lighting units. Manager Gus Boussey estimates the project will cost $35,000. This figure includes the price of the units as well as labor costs. In past years, the PUC was automatically given the job but at council's February 17 meeting, the possibility of tendering the in- stallation of streetlights was discussed. While it was mentioned that other municipalities do tender out similar work, Councillor John Cochrane pointed out, "If they (PUC) don't get the job, we still have to pay them (PUC employees) out of your's and my pocket." Questionning the cost of labor, council postponed any decision until they had an op- portunity to see a cost breakdown which they reviewed at their March 3 meeting. One unit; ( which includes the fixture, photocell, lamp, bracket, wire connectors, equipment, labor and tax), has an average cost off $322.45. The labor cost in question is estimated at $62 per unit. Mayor John Balfour pointed out that.this figure includes all facets of labor. "That price includes putting them (lights) together which they do whenever they have time; Also, under the regulations of the Health and Safety Act, you must have -two people of equal competence doing the work. One person will climb up the pole while the other stays on the ground," he said. It was also pointed out the PUC owns and controls all current carrying poles, therefore, a PUC employee would have to be with anyone who climbs the poles if the job were to be tendered out. Councillor Case Buffinga felt the PUC costs were reasonable. "Personally, I don't think they are out of line with the labor costs," he said, and Mayor Balfour reiterated Councillor Buff- inga's comment, saying, "The price is very reasonable." Before making their final decision of whether to tender out the job, council will take a look at the costs of last year's in- stallation. According to Mr. Boussey; the PUC charges only enough to cover their costs. Klompen Feest Rep. For insurance purposes, a council Turn to page 2 50 CENTS Million dollar budget for county social services Just over $1 million is expected to be spent this year in social services. The social services 1986 budget received tentative approval at the Mar. 6 session of Huron County council. The largest portion of this budget, $819,600 is handed out In the form of general welfare assistance, down from last year's budget amount of $839,900. Administering the program will cost about $5,000 more this year. A total of $190,216 has been set aside for employee salaries and other office expenses. This is up from $185,936 budgeted for last year. Other items in the budupt in,4,i4' on nun for supplementary aid, $13,500 for homemakers and nurses services and $16,000 for special assistance. The province picks up✓ the largest portion of the social services tab. It will pay $777,805, while the county will pay $281,611, an actual decrease of .9 per cent from last year's budget. The social services department actually had a $60,000 savings last year, mostly because the number of welfare recipients is down. All budgets are subject to final approval by Huron County Council at its Mar. 27 session. 6.iillion bu1get tentativel approved million Y ing of 9.3 kilometres on County Road 3 from Highway 4 to the county road. Also, $294,000 is earmarked for hot mix resurfacing of County Road 1 from Highway 8 to County Road 31, a distance of 4.4 kilometres. Road construction and paving will cost a total of $3.1 million this year. The rest of the budget is for regular road maintenance, winter control and equipment maintenance, which is at $2.9 million for this year. The budget also includes the $72,000 deficit carried over from 1985. This deficit was caused by overspending in the area of snow removal. By Stephanie Levesque Also cut from the budget proposal was the A $6.1 million road budget has been ten- purchase of a $130,000 grader, the asphalt tatively approved by Huron County council. resurfacing of the Auburn patrol yard On Mar. 6, county council accepted the estimated at $46,000 and the $15,000 pur- budget which sees the county paying $2.24 chase of a sign making machine. million for its roads. This represents a 3.8 The largest project this year is the per cent increase from the $2.1 million taken reconstruction of 9.6 kilometres of road on last year from county coffers. County Road 15, from Highway 4 to County However, the tentatively approved budget Road 17. This is estimated to cost $790,000. is far from what county engineer Bob Aemp- The second largest, project to be under- sey originally proposed to the road commit- taken by the county road department this tee. On Feb. 14, he presented a budget which year is the hot mix resurfacing of 7.3 brought the county levy alone up 41 percent. kilometres of County Road 31, from County This original proposal would see that one- Road 13 to Highway 8. This project is twentieth or 22.5 kilometres of the county estimated at $770,000. road system would get a hot mix resurfac- Another fairly extensive project ing. It was here that the road conirpittee estimated at $725,500 is the hot mix paving The Ministry of Transportation and Com - made the biggest cut. A project to pave 10.7 of 18.4 kilometres of road on County Road 22 munications will pay $3.9 million towards kilometres of road on County Road 8 north of from County Road 25 to Highway 86. the road budget. Clinton was scrapped. This project alone Other road construction and paving pro- All budgets for the county are subject to was estimated at $648,500. jects include $400.000 worth of hot mix pav- final review by county council on Mar. 27. Controversy rages over .library deficit By Stephanie Levesque The controversy surrounding the Huron County Library Board rages on as a 1985 deficit of $42,890 is cutoff the top of its 1986 book budget. fif° County councillors'; particularly last year's chairman of the library board Grant Stirling, questioned the, actions of chief librarian Bill Partridge at the March 6 meeting of county council. The Goderich Township reeve asked how there could be a deficit last year when the librarian had been told in October not to order any more books. In his defence, Partridge said that as of Oct. 24, 1985 all book suppliers were told the Huron County library would accept no more books. In an effort to reduce costs in general, the chief librarian also cut back on the number of photocopies made, no records were bought and no new equipment was purchased. The librarian did, however, accept $42,000 Worth of books sent frorritibrary Services Centre in Kitchener. The majority of the books purchased by theiibrary are from this Kitchener firm. It was noted that Partridge; accepted the books, but was not invoiced untilJanuary of this year. But according to the library's ac- counting firm of Vodden and Bender, custody of the books is as good as owing on them. - Library board chairman Tom Cunn- ingham, speaking for last year's chairman, said the board didn't know how many books were on back order last October. He said the current board also doesn't know how many books are on order. "That's what we're trying to clear up," he said. Hullett Reeve Cunningham said some kind of system is being worked out whereby the board will know every month how many books are on order. Bayfield Reeve Dave Johnson suggested that perhaps the chief librarian shouldn't be ordering books. "Maybe it should be someone else who has better control over county taxpayers' dollars," said Reeve Johnson. Goderich Deputy Reeve John Doherty was the only county councillor to speak in defence of the chief librarian. "The only wrong this man (librarian) did, was to accept books," said the deputy reeve. He. said the Town of Goderich has ac- cepted purchases and been invoiced for the following year and that has been acceptable to the town's auditing firm. "I guess it depends on who you get to do the auditing," said Deputy Reeve. Doherty. Reeve Cunningham agreed one mistake was to accept the books, but another has been the over ordering of books. Since 1983, the library board budget. has been overs- pent, specifically in the area of book pur- chases. Also, for the past two years, county council has sent back the board's original budgets to make cuts. Past chairman Stirling said the board was not kept informed of book purchases. "The question is we.warned the librarian in October to not take any more books. He didn't inform the board he was taking $42,000 worth of books," said Reeve Stirling. County council learned the 1985 library budget was actually $51,000 over spent. The other $9,000 came from county dollars. Last year et of $elibrary 796,519and of total had a u hat $598,217wasto have come from the county. Actually the county paid $607,497. For 1986, the library has a budget of $816,784, The county is to pay $622,146 and `the province is to pay $182,638. The rest is to be picked up in • fines and other miscellaneous fees. The largest expenditure is salaries which totals $387,804. The next largest expense is books, records, magazines and processing of these. This portion of the budget totals $214,235. The purchase of books alone is budgeted at $178,227 of which $42,000 (the carry over from 1985) has already been spent. The county's share of the budget represents a four per cent increase. All budgets are subject to final approval from county council on March 27. for Borgal hired county museum project five other architectural companies; in the museum reserve fund this year. It was in 1984 when Borgal and the now However, that amount is subject to final project director of the museum, Claus review when county council considers its Breede, did a feasibility study on the final budget at the end of this month. museum. Last year county council agreed to Borgal estimates it will cost $190,000 for set up a reserve fund for the project. his company to design the building at an At the end of 1985, the museum building estimated cost of $2.8 million. reserve fund had a balance of $238,865. The Borgal designed the addition to the Blyth count is tentatively .lanning to put $300,000 Summer Festival. The architect who assisted with the feasibility study on the Huron County Pioneer Museum will get to design the new building. Christopher Borgal of Blyth was chosen at the March 6 session as the architect to prepare sketches for the county museum in Goderich. The local firm was chosen over Chairman app o anted • for CPH fund raising • CLINTON - During the latter part of January, the hospital here received word that up to $400,000 was available from the Ministry of Health for the updating and upgrading of their obstetrics wing. The en- tire project has an estimated cost of $800,000, which leaves the task of raising the remaining amount up to the hospital direc- tors and the community. To carry out the fund raising process in an effective and efficient manner, the Board of Trustees at Clinton Public Hospital (CPH) has appointed Doug Coventry as the fund raising chairman. CPH Administrator Dan Steyn explained the process of finding an appropriate chairperson is a difficult task, "There was a meeting to establish who would be the best person for the job - who had the knowledge of what was needed. After the meeting, Doug was called..." he said. Mr. Coventry, who was the administrator at the hospital for 12. years before retiring two years ago, "was very involved in the fund raising campaign for the hospital five years ago and has first hand knowledge of the necessity to make a campaign run smoothly," noted Bill Hearn, chairman of the board. To date, $65,000 has been raised through donations and various events, setting Mr. Conventry's goal at $335,000. To assist him in raising the money, Mr. Coventry hopes to set up a committee. "The first thing we'll try is to put a com- mittee together. Then I hope to get together with Dan and organize it," explained Mr: Coventry. The committee will consist of 10 to 12 peo- ple who will then head sub -committees which will concentrate on one specific area. However, before the fund raising committee turns to -the public for contributions, they will seek support from the staff and doctors. "Before we go directly to the public, we will get the hospital family to show their support. I think the public will be surprised at how much will be raised here," said Mr. Steyn. Mr. Coventry, who is also on the commit- tee for the annual dinner and auction to be held on April 12, is optimistic about the fund raising campaign. "I have a feeling the campaign will be well accepted by the community...A new obstetrics department will be welcomed by everyone," he said.New Addition The new addition will consist of a modern and up-to-date obstetrical facility which will allow expectant mothers to deliver their children in an environment that is similar to a home setting, with the safety of all hospital expertise and equipment available at a moments notice. The traditional way of delivering will also be available. The present facilities were constructed in 1947 and have fallen behind in the expecta- tions of today's society. Present day re- quirements for new facilities are so dif- ferent that renovations for this purpose were impractical and would require too many internal changes of the present plant. With the moving of the obstetrics from the second floor, it is anticipated that the money from the Ministry of Health will allow renovation of the chronic care facility that will also be up-to-date. Construction on the obstetrics wing is planned to start late this summer and the fund raisinggoal of $235,000 is hoped to be reached beore the year's end. Mr. Steyn has a great deal of confidence in Mr, Coventry's ability to reach the goal, stating, "The hospital and the board are pleased with Doug's acceptance and we know he'll tiara fantastic job for us." Doug Coventry has been named ebt lrinart of the fund raising com- mittee for the proposed obstetrics wing at the Clinton Pudic flospitaL Mr. Coventry, former administrator; at .the hospital, is planning to set up a'eotiimittee tis assist hila, His goal has been set at $335)000., (Anne Narejko photo)