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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1982-12-08, Page 1t derich IGNAL = SIAR 134 YEAR -49 GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8,1982 50 CENTS PER COPY Councillors take oath of office Will practise restraint Palmer says The structure of municipal government may change in Goderich in the pursuit of fiscal restraint mayor Eileen Palmer told members of council and guests at the inaugural session Monday. After accepting the chains of office from Huron County Judge F.G. Carter, mayor Palmer said the next three years will be the most challenging in the history of the municipality. Restraint, she cautioned, will be the biggest challenge. "Thenext three years will be among the most challenging in the history of the municipality and restraint will be the keynote in all facets of the operation," she said. "We will have to lower our expectations and decrease committee budgets if necessary. New programs will be closely scrutinized." While the mayor and members of council officially took the oath of office Monday, Palmer said the new council has already held a think tank and met unofficially with the Public Utilities Commission and town administration. Palmer indicated the new council is committed to a restructuring plan to reduce the number of committees of council from eight to four. "We will restructure council to four committees for efficiency, economy and effectiveness," she said. "It will mean fewer meetings, fewer clerical and secreterial hours and lower costs. Regular monthly meeting dates will be set and special meetings can be called when necessary." The mayor said council will appoint an organizational review committee to review the policies, services and programs offered and that committee appointments would be limited to one year, subject to the approval of council. Mayor Palmer said the municipality has a good council and administration that will work together. Prior to the swearing in ceremony, the Reverend F. Loebach of St. Peters Roman Catholic Church cautioned members of council on using authority wisely for the good of the community. "You are using authority that was granted by the members of this community and we must guard democracy with jealousy and care," he said. "It is a privilege to elect those who represent us and make) our laws but authority is a responsibility." Trust needed between board and press chairman says BY STEPHANIE LEVESQUE Trust and understanding between the press and board staff will be the Huron County Board of Education's top priority in 1983. At a special board meeting Nov. 23 chairman Dorothy Wallace presented what she called a "position paper" outlining how the board is perceived by both the press and staff members. Mrs. Wallace also gave suggestions as to how communication lines could be opened. The position paper was referred to the board's executive committee's first meeting in January. The chairman suggested that the press be invited to sit in on committee -of -the -whole meetings, that the board revert to two meetings a month - one in the evening and one in the daytime-, that agendas be . made available to the public prior to the meeting, that individual trustees be allowed to speak to the press on particular concerns, that a second line of communication to staff be established and that some kind of variation of employee groups get together to discussways to improve the quality of the work area. On staff communication Mrs.Wallace said the regular channel is for teachers to talk to the principal who refers it to a superintendent who refers it to the director of education who in turn refers matters to the board. The chairman said staff should feel free to talk to board members and while it has not been kir- bidden, but neither has it been encouraged. She added that various themes of "quality circles" should be explored. The chairman said editorial comment in the press suggests the board is thought to be a "secretive bunch". Mrs. Wallace also pointed out that resolutions are passed by the board with almost no discussion. "To the visitor, we look like a bunch of zombies," admitted Mrs. Wallace. Most of the discussion takes place in the various committee meetings for education, management, personnel and executive, the chairman explained. She noted the press has been invited to these in the past, but the board has to face the fact that the press isn't going to come. One reason for this she said is the committee only makes recommendations to the board and the press isn't going to spend time at a meeting when the material being discussed may or may not become actual fact. Mrs. Wallace said criticism leveled at the board suggesting it "rubber stamps" administrative decision is an idea she disagrees with and knows that Turn to page 3 • Huron County Judge F.G. Carter administered the oath of office to mayor elect Eileen Palmer at the inaugural session of council Monday. After ac- cepting the chains of office, Mayor Pahner said restraint would be the keynote word for the municipal council and she said council may scale down its committee system in the next term. ( photo ' by Dave Sykes ) Council must make tough decisions judge says Members of Goderich town council are no longer engaged in a popularity contest and must make tough decisions for the benefit of the community Huron County Judge F.G. Carter said at the inaugural session of council Monday. Judge Carter delivered a message to the new members of council after administering the oath of office and suggested the group had many talents to offer the taxpayers. "The mayor was' an intelligent, competent and experienced councillor and she will provide strong leadership for the municipality," he said. "You have a good council, one of the strongest since I've been in Goderich, and with that talent under the mayor's leadership, you will solve or alleviate many problems that face us." While he was effusive in his praise of the talents of Puppet workshop At a puppet workshop, which was sponsored by the Goderich Recreation Department on Saturday, December 4, children learned all about puppets. Besides learning about different types of puppets, the children also made their own and then put on a play.( photo by T.Marr) council, Judge Carter cautioned council not to make politically popular decisions, but tough decisions that will benefit the whole town. "The election is over and you are no longer engaged in a popularity contest," he said. " You have been elected to govern the town for three years and your decisions are not to be decisions to bring popular acclaim. They should be the right decisions for the common good of the municipality. "Some decisions will be tough but you should conscientiously believe the decision to be the right one and not the popular one." Council should always be conscious' of its public image and maintain a healthy respect for one another and ideas proposed at the.council.table. "You have every right to give criticism to ideas of other councillors," he said. "But never indicate they are not'acting in good faith. Criticize ideas but not the • individual and always leave room for compassion." Judge Carter strongly reminded council that it represents all of the people of the municipality and he suggested business should be conducted in a responsible manner. "You are the representatives of all the people and you must decide what is good for the people of the town," he said. "The people of the town look to you for leadership and not comic relief." The new council will hold its first meeting Monday, December 13 at 7.30 p.m. in the council chambers, Harbour can service Bruce needs The manager of the Bruce Energy Centre would have liked to have seen a $95,000 Ontario government study on port facilities for the center done at a later date. The preliminary findings of a study by Marshall Macklin Monaghan of Toronto revealed last week the growth areas or the Bruce industrial. park proposal will occur at the Port of Goderich, and later around the Bruce Nuclear Power Development (BNPD ► area • itself: The study indicated that -Goderich would meet the early needs of the energy center until the flow of marine commodities would derirand the development. of a port near the center. ' LBaie du Dore just-north•o€_the BNPD.and Holmes, Bay to the south could be developed into marine Hurts. the study shows. Ralph Jones, the manager of the Bruce center. said that the study should have been delayed until development of the energy center started. center started. "I think they need more time before they make a decision 011 Bruce and see how quickly it's going to develop," said Mr. Jones from his Toronto office. "I realize it's hard for them ( Marshall, Macklin, Monaghan) to recommend a port on the basis they're making an assessment but I would have preferred them to delay a recommendation." Mr. Jones said that future customers at the Bruce center may not find it economically feasible to pay shipping and trucking charges to move their com- modities to the Goderich port. Turn to page 7 • Committees set by town council One of the first official acts of the new Goderich town council was to accept the report of the striking committee as presented at the inaugural session Monday. Councillor Bill Clifford will chair the ' finance committee, a position he held witha previous council, and former finance chairman, Don Wheeler, was also appointed to the committee. Ed Giesbrecht will chair the works and engineering committee and Jim Britnell will act as co-chairman. Brunei was selected chairman of the traffic committee and councillor Jinn Searis, co-chairman Councillor Glen Carey will again chair the fire committee and reeve, Harry Worsen was also ap- pointed to the committee. Worsell becomes chairman of the environment committee and John Doherty, co-chairman while -Searis is in charge of the property committee along with Clifford. Don Wheeler was appointed chairman of the waterfront comrnittee and Carey, co-chairman and Doherty will again chair the parks committee with Giesbrecht acting as coo-cchairman. Citizen appointments to committees and boards will take place at a later date. Tough times for board budget BY STEPHANIE LEVESQUE An early warning that the Huron County Board of Education is going to have a tough time keeping its 1983 budget down was noted at a special meeting on Nov. 23. There is concern that the Ministry of Education will limit general legislative grants for education pur- poses to an increase of five percent despite increased costs to the board. The Huron board supported two motions from other school boards relating to this concern. A motion from the Leeds and Grenville County Board of Education states it will petition the Ontario government to ensure the level of increase for the grants is adjusted for those boards that settled collective agreements prior to Sept. 21 and those boards that have not settled. The intent of the motion is to eliminate financial hardships to those boards that settled prior to Sept. 21 and before the five percent restraint limit was imposed. The Huron Board settled its collective agreements prior to Sept. 21. A second motion, from the Renfrew County Separate School Board, calls for petitions to Ontario- PremierWilliam Davis, the Treasurer of Ontario and the Ministry of Education to order Ontario Hydro to roll back its eight percent increase to five percent or to increase school board grants during the 1983 fiscal year for electrical consumption Weight percent. Trustee Murray Mulvey pointed out the board's costs are affected by fuel and solar this year fuel costs to the Huron board have risen 43 percent. "We can't keep our costs at five percent unless we hold the cost of fuel," said Mr. Mulvey. He said he wasn't aware the cost of the fuel had risen so high until he consulted administrative staff, Mr. Mulvey added there are also indirect cost in- creases related to the increased cost of fuel. Trustee Jean Adams commented this subject is an item that should appear in newspapers. The Goderich trustee said, information such as had been presented makes the taxpayer aware of costs facing the board and why board of education costs can't always be held down. INSIEJh®'THE SIC/NAL-STA portaacti Over the past weekend the junior girls' ringette team and the Atoms beat their opponents, the Novice team tied their game. the Bantams and the Midgets lost one and won another; while the Pee Wees won a game but lost in two others. Ringette and Pee Wee pictures appear on the front page of the Recreation section along with stories about each confrontation. Convention The Ontario Federation of Agriculture recently held its annual convention in Toronto. This story and other news qf interest to farmers carp be found on pages 11 and 12 in the Recreation section.