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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1987-01-14, Page 1®5COSSIS I\(:()RPORATING-THF: B1.11 TH tiTANI/ARD-THF: F3 %' FIELD 81:61,E 4' 'A). 2 121 YEARS WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1987 • After much controve chief librarian is By Alan Rivett After five months of ongoing private negotiations between lawyers for County Chief Librarian William Partridge and Huron County, the Huron County Library Board will accept the resignation of the chief librarian, effective June 30. Mr. Dan Murphy, the county's solicitor, . made the announcement in the afternoon session of the county council meeting on January 8, after some confusion as to the status of Mr. Partridge's resignation arose in the morning session of council. "As for the Partridge situation, the mat- ter is solved," Mr. Murphy told council. At a, meeting of the Huron County Library Board on December 4, Mr. Mur- phy made a number of recommendations to the board as to the settlement with Mr. Partridge. The recommendations included the resignation of Mr. Partridge be accepted effective June 30, 1987 and it will continue to pay Mr. Partridge's salary for a three 50 CENTS Huron's said to have month period. Mr. Partridge will also receive a letter of reference from the board and if he obtains employment before June 30, he will be free to accept the employment and his salary will cease, ex- cept for the three months salary after the resignation date. In correspondence between Mr. Murphy and Scott Ritchie, the solicitor for Mr. Par- tridge, on December 10, Mr. Ritchie said Mr. Partridge had accepted the recom- mendations and a letter of resignation would be in the mail. However, at the January council meeting, Bayfield Reeve Dave Johnston question,s,...council's acceptance of the recommendation of December 4, as there was no formal resignation tendered by Mr. Partridge as yet. "We can't accept the resignation if has n t been tendered," said Mr. Johnston. Tuckersmith Reeve Robert Bell asked Mr. Partridge directly if there was a letter of resignation or not, to which Mr. Par - resigned tridge replied: "There has been no letter of resignation." Mr. Partridge declined further comment. Mr. Murphy said, in a telephone conver- sation with Mr. Ritchie prior to the after- noon session of council, he confirmed that there was a letter of resignation and that Mr. Ritchie and Mr. Partridge had ac- cepted the county's recommendations. "I can't explain why he (Mr. Partridge) made that statement," said Mr. Murphy. The situation leading to Mr. 'Partridge's resignation arose after he threatened to resign after two letters signed by Huron' County Library Headquarter's staff citing mismanagement at the headquarters by Mr. Partridge were presented to 'then - chairman of the Library Board, Tom Cunningm. Mr. Partridge was employed as the chief librarian for Huron County for the past 14 years. Clinton LACAC secretary steps down By Anne Narejko CLINTON - As of January 16, Clinton's Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee (LACAC) will be without the ser- vices of its long tines member and secretary, Reg Thompson. At council's January 5 meeting, Mr. Thompson presented his written resignation to council, and in turn, council accepted it "with regret." Although Mr., Thompson told council he would continue to help LACAC in other ways, he said he was resigning "to make a point." In his letter, he noted, "This decision results from council's action in November, in repealing the Heritage Property Designa- tion on Glebe View. "Heritage designation is one of the impor- tant components in any plan for the recogni- tion and preservation of properties of ar- chitectural and/or historical significance in a community. The removal of such a designation is a very serious matter. A precedent has been set. Other designations are open to question." After the letter was read, Mayor John Balfour commented, by saying, "I know we are both on different sides of the Glebe View issue. I was looking at a person's individual side, but I was by no means undermining the historical value of that home. I don't think it set a precedent, but I'm sorry to see this ( resignation)." Also in his letter of resignation was a sug- gestion that council take a good look at heritage conservation throughout the town. "It is time for council to consider the whole matter of heritage awareness and conservation in the Town of Clinton. We are surrounded by communities with Heritage Districts: Bayfield, Goderich and Seaforth. But in Clinton, nothing has been done to develop a plan for preserving and using our downtown heritage buildings and other in- dividually remarkable properties throughout the town. The town hall and the library are a start in the right direction." A meeting between council and LACAC had been previously planned for January 22 and will deal with heritage matters in town. Owen Delve resigns from School Car Board CLINTON - The SchooCar on Wheels is short one member on its board of directors. Owen Delve,. who filled the treasurer's posi- tion, has resigned because he accepted a posting with CUSO. Mr. Delve, who was elected to the board last fall, had no idea at that time that he would be leaving so soon. "I became involved with the School Car while doing fund raising with the Masonic Lodges. The more I got to know about it, the more interested and involved I became. But CUSO came up after my School Car involve- ment," said Mr. Delve. His posting in Africa will be in Sierra Leone which has the world's highest infant mortality rate in the world. "CUSO's role is to find personnel to help. They have found that immunization can cure most of the problem, along with education. "My job there will be to keep the vehicles running in one section of the country," Mr. Delve said. For the present, Mr. Delve said Helen Bartliff will fill the treasurer's position. The jive mayors of Huron County,have common concerns and got together to voice them to MPP Jack Riddell and MP Murray Cardiff on Janualry 8. The group of five consistof (back left), Clinton Mayor John Balfour, Seaforth Mayor Alf Ross, Wingham Mayor Jack Bops. 1Front, left), Goderich Mayor Eileen Palmer and Exeter Mayor Bruce Shaw. The mayors meet and discuss problems which their towns are facing with the in- tentions of solving problems by working together. (Gary Heist photo) New engineer is hired By Alan Rivett Dennis Merrall, of London, an engineer with Middlesex County for the past 10 years, was, hired as the new county engineer for Huron County at the meeting on January 8. Mr. Merrall, 38, who served as the depu- ty.,engineer in Middlesex Coy,,,will, of- ficially start his duties with the county on January 22 for a probationary period of one year at a starting salary of $52,000 per year. "It will be my pleasure an honor to serv- ed as the county engineer. Before 'I ac- cepted the county's offer, I talked to a long list of people about the reputation of Huron County and discovered the county has a reputation for having 0 good roads system and a good roads department. I'll do my best to build on that good reputation," said Mr. Merrall in a brief statement to council last Thursday. At a meeting of the Huron County Roads Committee on December 12, Tuckersmith Reeve Robert Bell, the 1986 chairman .of the committee, said the position had been offered to another candidate who subse- quently refused the position. It was then of- fered to Mr. Merrall, who was reluctant to move to the area unless a starting salary of $52,000 was made available. He also re- quested that a day be set aside to review the policy and operation of the roads department with the former engineer. The newly -hired engineer takes over from former county engineer R.A ( Bob ) Dempsey who resigned from the position to accept a position in Woodstock late last year. Mr. Merrall expects to move to the area after the school year from London where he lives with his wife and two teenage daughters. DENNIS MERRALL Watch what you burn in town By Anne Narejko CLINTON - Last fall, council here was concerned about debris that was being burn- ed by residents in town. To try and control the problem in the future, they passed a bylaw at their January 5 meeting which pro- vides guidelines for open air burning. Within the limits of the Town of Clinton, a person wishing to start a fire of any kind out- side, must first receive written permission from the Clinton Fire Department chief. Council went one step further to clarify what the word "fire" includes, adding, "burning of leaves, rubbish or other material, a bonfire, a campfire, or any other fire in ayard, field or other open place, but does not include a small, confined fire, supervised at all times by a competent per- son, which is used to cook food, such as a grill or barbecue. Those who do not obey the bylaw face a maximum fine of $1,000. Rabies increase in 1986 by a remarkable- .97 per cent . , The hot spots for rabiesOitArio next year will shift to eastern Ontario ounties south of Ottawa, and to those south and west of Kitchener -Waterloo, according to provin- cial wildlife and health officials. Hot spots, or areas with a 75 per cent or greater probability of outbreak in eastern Ontario next year include Ottawa-Carelton Region, Leeds, Grenville, Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Counties. In southwestern Ontario, they include Wellington, Waterloo, Huron, Perth, Oxford, Brant and Elgin Counties. In the first 10 months of 1986, a tdlal of 3,462 people were treated for rabies - a 97 -per -cent increase over 1985. This makes it the worst year for rabies since 1985 when records started being kept. "At the current rate, the nunlber of people treated for rabies by the end of 1986 could go as high as 4,154," said Dr. Charles Le Ber, senior veterinary consultant with the Ministry of Health. He said that between January 1, 1986 and October 31, there were 2,946 reported cases of rabies reported involving wild and domestic animals, compared with 1,651 cases for the same period last year. This represents an 78 -per -cent, ncrease. As usual, high numbers of cases were reported in eastern and southwestern On- tario. Foxes topped the list, with skunks a distant second. There were no surprises, escept for the 28 raccoons reported in 1986. Dr. Le Ber said raccoon rabies is a major problem in Pennsylvania. If it moves nor- thwards, it could spell trouble in southern Ontario corhmunities where raccoon populations are already sizable. But long-term prospects are nevertheless encouraging, says Dr. Andrew Rhodes, ,Chairman of the Rabies Advisory Commit- tdtf the MNR. e Ber and Rhodes were cautiously op- timistic about MNR's program of vac- cinating wildlife by dropping thousands of baits containing live vaccine from -aircraft. For the past two years, the ministry' has tested the program on the fox population in an experimental area within Huron County Although rabies will continue to he a serious problem for the foreseeable future, Dr. Rhodes said that an expanded bait -drop program will lead ultimately to controlling outbreaks of rabies among foxes - the primary wildlife carrier of the disease in Ontario. Mediator appointed for teacher's negotiations The Education Relations Commission has appointed Mr. David G. Fleet, of Toronto, to act as mediator in the negotia- tions between the elementary Teachers and the Trustees of the Huron County Board of Education. Fleet received his law dedgree from Osgoode Hall Law School at York Univer- sity in 1977. He has previously been ap- pointed to Sault Ste. Marie Secondary, Sudbury Roman Catholic Separate School and Wellington County elementary negotiations. This appointment is made under Section 13 of the School Boards and Teachers Col- lective Negotiations Act, Revised Statutes of Ontario, 1980. Legislation governing Collective bargaining between school boards and teachers has existed since the summer of 1975, when the Education Relations Com- mission was created. Specifically, the Commission has seven functions: 'monitor- ing negotiations; collecting and providing data to all parties in negotiations; rosion work By Shelley McPhee Hoist BAYFIELD - Approval of Shoreline Assistance applications continues to be a main topic for discussion on the agenda of council here. At council's meeting on January 6, two , loan applications for erosion control work along the banks of Lake Huron were approv- ed by council. The applications must also have the Ministry/of Natural Resources seal of approval.' A loan, available under the Shoreline pro- perty Assistance Act, 1973, was finalized for assisting parties in negotiations; training third party neutrals; adjudicating had faith charges; supervising last offer, strike and ratification votes and advising the lieutenant Governor in Council con- cerning jeopardy to students' courses of study in the event of a strike and or lock- out. Events leading to a strike or lock -out under the Act are regulated and neither is legal until: a fact finder has met with the parties and his report made public, a 30 -day cooling off period takes place after the fact finders' report is submitted to the parties, the teachers have voted by secret ballot in a supervised vote on the last offer of the school board and teachers have voted by secret ballot in a supervised vote to take strike action. In the ten-year history of, the commis- sion, 1,869 sets of negotiations have taken place, 1,250 third parties have been ap- pointed, 725 fact finders and 525 mediators and strike action has been used on 40 occasions. continues Dr. Michael and Eunice Diamond, in',the amount of $7,500. The money will help cover the costs of installing a steel groyne wall. As well, a $2,700 loan was approved to Keith Fryer, to assist with gabion installa- tion on his lakeside property. Clerk Pat Graham told the News -Record that coiincil has dealt with four applications over the past several months, and money„ figures tally over the $19,000 mark. Clerk Graham further noted that some 20 erosion control projects are now ongoing thtough various means in the municipality.