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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1986-06-11, Page 1Three false alarms in town CLINTON - While rutin$ 4 home wat- ching your favorite Monday night comedy or the movie forthe evening, yeti more than likely ha' to get up and increase the volume on your . t because of kf.n fire onion off in the background. On June 9, the alarm sounded three con- secutive times, but fortunately, there was no great danger. All alarms were false. NO. 24 121 YEARS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 1986 50 CENTS Hullett taxes are up 4.7 per cent By David Emslie HULLETT TWP - The results of the 1986 budget for Hullett Township are out, and residents will be facing a 4.7 per cent in- crease in their taxes. On a chosen assessment of $5,000, public school supporters will pay $1,121.23, up $50.39 over the 1985. figure of $1,070.85. Separate school supporters will be paying an extra $48.86 in 1986 asjthe amount rose from $1,094.10 in 1985 to $1,142.96 this year. Public school supporters in the commer- cial sector will pay $1,"319.10, up $59.35 over the 1985 amount of of $1,259.75. Commercial separate school supporters will face an in- crease of $52.57 with the 1986 figure of $1,339.67 compared to $1,287.10 in 1985. Auburn public school supporters in the residential area will be paying an extra $50.38 using the chosen assesment of $5,000, as the 1985 amount was $1,145.85, and the 1986 figure is $1,196.23. Separate school sup- pporters will pay $1,217.96, up $ the 1985 cost of $1,169.20. Commercial rates will go up $72.60 for public school supporters as. the cost for 1986 will be $1,407.35 and the figure for 1985 was $1,334.75. Separate school supporter rates in this area will be up $70.82 to $1,432.92 in 1986 of gravel and wood, as the township sold over $1,362.10 in 1985. more than expected last year. The expected expenditures for the County demands on the township hayed township in 1986 for general purposes are increased by 9.17 percent, from a mill rate $89,860 for general government ($92,265 for of 40.66 in 1985, to 44.388 in 1986. Although in 1985), $45,982 for protection ($52,000), dollar value, the county demands are lower $466,860 for transportation ($481,300), this year with a cost of $177,497 compared to $38,895 for environmental services ($14,750), a figure of $178,094 in 1985,.the township is and $24,000 for recreation and culture receiving less in guaranteed payment from ($14,000). the provincial governmet This year, The large increase in anticipated en- therefore the rate has risen. vironmental services is attributed to the Elementary school demands have risen township purchasing the Popp property by 9.05 per cent, as the mill rate is at 70.445 along with Blyth, while the recreation and for this year, but was 64.6 last year. Again, culture increase is caused by Hullett receiv- using the $5,000 assessment, the schools are ing only one government grant, this year, demanding $242,482 this year, a $19,555 in - rather than the two they received in 1985. crease over last year's figure of 222,927. The rising cost of equipment for recreation In the secondary school category, the mill was also to blame. rate is set at 53.044, a .82 per cent increase Hullett Township Council anticipates over last year's rate of 52.610. This demand revenue from taxation for 1986 to be $218,114 is an increase of $2,690 from last year's ($217,585 in 1985), payments in lieu of taxes amount of $194,213 to the 1986 sum of $23,900 ($23,900), government of Ontario $196,903. grants $314,500 ($328,470), and other Demands from the separate schools have revenue $47,300 ($34,700). risen by 8 per cent from a mill rate of 69.25 Receipts from other revenue have risen in 1985 to 74.79 this year. In 1985 the dollar dramatically primarily dile to an an- figures for the separate schools was $16,567, ticipated extra $5,000 being made in the sale and in 1986 they will be $194354. • «rantfor HuronvieW is denied. By Alan Rivett You could have heard a pin drop in the Huron County Councilchambers after it was announced the county's request for $750,000 for renovations to Huronview was turned down by the Ministry of Community and Social Services during the meeting on June 5. Huronview Administrator Wayne Lester, in answering a question by Exeter Reeve Bill Mickle regarding the funding situation, told council he had been informed by Minister John Sweeney moments before.the re- questcouncil t the had been denthied forte nursing home „ near Clinton. "I think we just lucked out. I don't have any other answers," said a disappointed Mr. Lester. First phase The first phase of the $1.5 million expan- sion and renovation project at the county - run nursing home was slated to begin this year with matching funds from the county and province. Huron County had placed $750,000 for the project in their 1986 budget set in March with the assessments already passed on to the municipalities. Calling the funding situation a "schmauzel", Mr. Mickle chastised the government for going back on its promise to provide funding for the project which was assured to Huron County prior to last year's municipal election.. "We got trapped" "I can't understand what the heck is going on (with the government). We were going to collect money for the project with the understanding of matching funds for the project. Now, we find the money is not in place... We jumped at having a lot of money and we got trapped," he said. He recommended to council that the money collected this year towards the pro- ject should be returned to the municipalities to be used for "future works in these municipalities." Stanley Township Reeve Clarence Rau, however; disagreed -with Mr. Miekle's li`r'o- posal, saying that the county should hold the municipal funds for the project until govern- ment money becomes available. Colborne Reeve Russel Kernighan also concurred with Mr. Rau's proposal. "We should keep the money for the pro- ject until we have solid backing and they (government) agree to allocate funds two year's down the road," said Mr. Kernighan. Huron County Warden Leona Armstrong said the county may have waited too long before giving the March budget the March budget full ap- proval. This, she said, may have given the county a better chance at being first in line for grant attraction. However, she said the government may still'give the project some consideration in 1987. "Disappointment" "It's a great disappointment to me. It was one of the projects 1 was hoping to get under- way this year," she said°. , "If we had given the Huron County budget full approval at the first of March rather than at the end of March. I believe this was a sad day for us." Bayfield Reeve David Johnston said the blame belongs with the province as county council had met all the deadlines associated with the grant prescribed by the province. "We were asked to snake a commitment by a- date -and,we-mafiea a rintitment. We didn't drag our feet. The -blame lies with the province of Ontario," said Mr. Johnston. In addition, he suggested to council to ask for a letter ,from the ministry explaining why the county didn't get this grant money. Mr. Lester said he would be writinga let- ter to Mr: Sweeney in regards to the funding situation in the near future. He said any cor- respondence between himself and Mr. Sweeney will be made available to council members. The Clinton Spring Fair Queen for 1986 is Kimberly Cook, daughter of Joyce and Murray Cook of Clinton. Kirnberly was selected during the evening contest on June 6 when she faced six other contestants. She was sponsored by the Clinton Comm .• Credit Union. (Anne Narejko photo) STRIKE OR NOT? Doctors .undecided CPH earns two year accreditation CLINTON - The hospital here has once again met the high standards set out by the Canadian Council on Hospital Accredita- tion, earning their accreditation for two years. "I'm very pleased with this," said Clinton Public Hospital (CPH) Administrator Dan Steyn. "The rules are stricter than they were before and there were more regula- tions to meet." The council is a non-profit organization set up by the Canadian Medical Association and the Canadian Hospital Association. It's role is to inspect hospitals and award those ...�.,, are providing quality care and service. care and service. The highest accreditation is for three years. CPH was last surveyed for the accredita- tion in 1984 and also received a two year"ac- creditation at that time. The next survey will be done in 1988. CLINTON - As of press time on Tuesday, doctors here had not decided if they would be _closing their offices indefinitely in sup- port of the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) call for strike action. , This week the OMA has asked the pro- vince's 17,000 doctors to strike indefinitely, beginning on June 12 in opposition to the , governmentlegislation- to• ban extra billing. On Tuesday, Dr. Art Steed of Clinton said that doctors in the area had only learned about the OMA recommendation on Monday night. He said that represen- tatives from various hospitals in the area will be meeting tonight to determine what action will be taken. Dr. Steed noted that in all likelihood each hospital will have a dif- ferent approach to deal with the matter. "We're still booking patients," Dr. Steed noted, "but a lot will depend on what hap- pens at the meeting." He noted that doctors in the area are op- posed to a long term "withdrawal of ser- vices." He emphasized that the word "strike" is not appropriate, in that medical care will not be stopped and pa- tients will still receive necessary treat- ment. through hospital emergency departments: Announcement of the newest OMA tactic in the war against extra billing came on Monday after the medical association's 250 -member council held a six hour closed- - door debate. According to Dr. Earl Myers, outgoing president of the OMA, "97 to 98 per cent" of the council voted in favor of the move to ask the association's members to close their offices and withdraw, ser- vices from hospitals. The council is expected to meet again on June 18 to review the strike action. Board seek better public relations effort CLINTON - The Board of Education in Huron County wants to boost its public rela- tions image. At their June meeting, board com- mittee to help promote theducation system in the county. Formation of the committee is part of the board's mandate for the 1986-'88 term. At their meeting in May, board members ap- proved the idea "to develop a co-operative communications program to enhance the knowledge and understanding of the Huron County school system." This month the committee was officially struck and its objectives were determined. They are to include; to identify current com- munication initiatives and, evaluate them; to make recommendations for a school material;board romotional to make slorecomm an and ndatio s for the facilitation of school board communica- tions; to make recommendations regarding appropriate personnel and budgetary com- mitments for the communications objectives. The new committee will be comprised of 18 members, including two board members, Mary Anne Dempsey and Tony McQuail. Other members will include representatives from the board of education offices, teachers, principals and vice -principals in both elementary and 'secondary, schools, clerical workers, bus contractor and driver representatives, and two media representatives. Someconcern was raised about parent representation on the new committee. Mr. McQuail pointed out that many com- Turn to page 2 North Street sanitary sewer repairs to cost town 617,893 By Anne Narejko The third option was to request a second CLINTON - A recorded vote saw council estimate.cillor Case Buffinga questioned the split 4-3 (Reeve Bee Cooke was absent) in favor of paying the; $17,893 cost of the $17,893 figure as the job required work on repairs to the North Street sanitary sewers only r54- feet of explained that North.Street e. in one eounci sura, At council's June 2 meeting, Steve. Burns contains poor soil and ..the workers must `of B.M. Russ and Associates, told council keep the mains working while repairing the there were three locations in the system tileThere's no question that this is high and which moa tos be serious The most serious is a collapsed tile and I'm not sure why it is high. T think it is the othet two repairs -►ceded are to bad because aid Mr. Burns, adding the ewersarhe risk and the work e over joints. � ., 40 -years -old. "These repairs really need to be done,"The third option of requesting second said fat Burns, adding the street will be estimate was disregarded as council felt tee do the w, therefore, this is an ideal tine there was not adequate tilde to do so. The re - Council had three Options as to how to pay mining two options had council split. fie the job, and this is where council was Those in favor of time and material believed that, because of the many unknowns and the poor soil in the area, the $17,893 Was padded. Those hi favor of the lump sum option felt because of the unknowns and poor soil,they could end up paying a lot more. Those voting 'in favor of the lump sum were councillors Buffinga, John Cochrane, Gerd Gerrity, teen Holmes and Bonnie Jewitt. WOVAING AT THE CAE WASH . rs frit' ail that bad, at least that's 'what the expressions on,'these lln on,and 'D ashijig,Car 9 Judy Larri; tees lieft), Sandra. , District Chtistiun School gtuide�nts faces seem t� indicates ai Charlene i ykstra,,Tanya'Thomps' n and Anita Briiinsii►a we e:t a bl anderW +. event went o nq hes at the Cliatou Cxaa Bar bu Its ne 1. Ail danutiond Broin the iil ya'ituiirge stop et P ia. s ital;'s building band Combined With donatiotys fi+brn W.,. �. , Durst o p lr'ar,m Ceiit�re, as' �weil as two pet cent of the sales !rad the has 'far that � Hurst' $605.255 was donated (Aisne Narejko photo) ' split 'l"he f irst option council had was to pay for the job kris* lump suns to Lois Contrac- 'Wig Co. Ltd. The :price of $17,893 includes labor and material., This means that Lavis Contracting would pick up any extra charges should the labor Or aria erial costs exceed the quoted cost. If the costs are lowere than expected, council will receive ;ails' Money back. The second Option was'to pay for the job v tirr a and materiel. this -means paying it the labor by the hour and paying the ex- t cost 01 titlaieiial. Thoseo ose4 were mayor John Balfour, pp deputy reeve Itosettl4t7 Arinstrong and councillor Doss Carter: