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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-03-19, Page 1oder is ch 138 YEAR m 12 GODERICH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 1986 60 CENTS PER COPY PUC to repayment negotiate pyment of underbilled account s y puter. In another instance, the customer Municipal Electrical Utilities recom- A motion was passed that the manager was not being billed for sprinkler charges mends a PUC can collect payment for and the Secretary -treasurer enter negotia- since a change in ownership. underbilled accounts back as far as six tions with, the four parties to see if satisfac- Mayor Eileen Palmer- of Goderich who years. tory arrangements can be made for repay - sits on the commission declared a conflict Commissioner Bob McMillan, a former ment. • . of interest because of her employment employee of the PUC said the commission Following the vote on the motion, Mayor with the Bedford Arms Motel. She did not has rebated both residential and commer- Palmer raised her concern about the pro - take -part in the discussion. cial customers in the past. Durst also cedure of billing the customers first for the Durst explaind that the new computer pointed out that in 1985, the PUC rebated underbilied accounts and then notifying system has a fluctuation factor of 5Q per the Town of Goderich $8,578.63 for an over- the commissioners. Chairman Peters said cent and if a bill fluctuates by this percen- billed account. it has been the precedent and the policy tage, the computer flashes on the screen Chairman Peters recommended the that when an error in billing is discovered, that there is a ,variance. The London • commission not charge penalties or in- the customer is notified immediately. He system recognized an unusually high terest because the commission made a said he decided that with this precedent in reading but there was no check on a low serious mistake. He said he would suggest mind, the procedure of notifying the reading. the commission discuss terms of repay- customers immediately would be followed. Commissioner Herb Murphy asked if • ment with the parties involved to learn if a In other business the. conunissioners there was a limitation on the time period mutually satisfactory agreement can be voted to raise their remuneration by 4 -per when a customer could be billed for under- arranged. cent taking a commissioner's billed accounts. Commission chairman Durst said a repayment schedule has honourarium from $1,498.38 per annum to Jim Peters . said the Association of been arranged with customers in the past. Turn to page 2 BY SHARON DIETZ The Goderich Public Utilities Cti mis- sion will be negotiating with four commer- cial customers to make • satisfactory ar- rangement for payment of underbilled ac- counts. The discovery of underbilled accounts, which ranges back over a period of six years in one case, was made when the commission was converting their billing procedures to computer, said secretary - treasurer Fred Durst. The Goderich PUC billing had previously been done by the London PUC. Durst reported to the commission that four customers are involveed, the Town of Goderich, the Bedford Arms Motel, Mac - Donald's and The Suncoast Mall. He said one instance was possibly an error in key punching and in another a master change had not been entered into ,the ,London corn- llamage plagues car dealers BY SHARON DIETZ Goderich Police Chief Pat King, reported an increase in willful damage when he made his report to the March meeting of -the Goderich Board of Police Commissioners. Commission chairman • Alvin McGee said he had reported two instances of theft when parts were stolen from vehicles in the lot at McGee Pontiac Buick. McGee said 'in one case, the tank transer valve wasstolen from a diesel truck. McGee said his mechanic told him, it would take an ex- perienced mechanic with good tools 15 minutes to remove the valve. "And this was done by somebody laying on his back in a snow bank," said McGee. Chief King said this type ' of willful damage goes in cycles. Several years ago it was hood ornaments. People went along and knocked the ornaments off the hoods of cars. Now they take keys or knives and rip the finish off the side of the cars by dragging the key or knife along the side of ' the car. McGee said he has had'several instance a Council opposes hydro route Because it would harm valuable agricultural land, the proposed Ontario Hydro transmission line from the Bruce Nuclear Plant to London should not pass near Goderich, Heinrich Stoeckler said in a recent letter to Goderich council. People need food and we must not waste agricultural land. The hydro line makes it more difficult for us to work on these fields and it makes it more expensive too. We can't use big machinery any more and we can't use the plane to plant and spray our fields and under the line lots the crop doesn't grow as good as somewhere else," said the farmer from RRS, Goderich in his letter. Council will inform Stoecker about its protest about the hydro towers which are proposed to be located one mile from the end of Goderich Municipal Airport's main runway. The local hearings concerning the pro- posed transmission lines will be held in Clinton town hall on Tuesday, Apr. 15 at 10 a.m. - where the finish has bet n marked on cars in his lots in thistype of incident. He said he doesn't report these cases td police because his insurance company would just laugh at him. The cost is not insigpificent, he said. It will cost about $2,000 tb repair • the finish on the cars most recently damaged in this type of incident. McGee suggested Barents be cautioned by police through` a report in the newspaper that this type of willful damage is occurring. He .said it is usually young kids involved who mimic one another or gangs of kids who hang out together. In lots of cases one or two are ring leaders and once they tire or get caught, it dies down. McGee said the car dealers in town had a meeting a couple of weeks ago and they are'all experiencing the same thing. In other business, the commission decid- ed to look into the cost of repainting the Ford cruiser to match the other cruiser. Mayor Eileen Palmer raised her concerns about the expense involved especially in times of restraint. Young Canada Week was another success for Lions The Goderich Lions Club has wrapped up the 37th annual Young Canada Week Peewee Hockey Tournament Saturday as the B and C Division champions were declared. A total of 58 teams competed in five divi- sions of competition over eight days and more than 80 games were played. This year's tournament marked one of the first times that the entire schedule was filled with teams from Ontario. And it also marked one of the few times in the tourna- ment's history that play was suspended because of weather. • The opening four, games of the tourna- ment had to be cancelled and played Sun- day. However, once tournament chairman Bill Chisholm got the tournament rolling it proceeded without a hitch and the hun- dreds of peewee players, coaches and 'parents who passed through town ap- peared to enjoy the tournament. ' The Lions Club tried a new format in the top two divisions by offering a round-robin format for six teams rather than the eight- teatn . elimination system. It seemedto work well as each AA an A team played at least three games. London Sabres took top honors in the AA Division defeating Owen Sound 10-0 in the final while Belleville won the Paul Rivers Memorial Trophy as the third place finishers. Turn to page 2 Choose bi=monthly council meetings After a 20 minute meeting of Goderich council on Mar. 17, ReeVe Harry Worsell suggested council meet twice a month in- stead of the customary three meetings a month. • "The concern about cutting back on meetings is that ratepayers think we don't have much to do. But, I think it speaks well about our committee system and the effi- ciency of the committees and the ad- ministration in dealing with the town's business," said Coun. Bill Clifford. Coun. John Stringer also congratulated both tine uleuk-administrator and the mayor for the efficiently -run council meetings. - Council has nothing to lose by trying two meetings a month, said Coun. Glen Carey. ••It sounds like We're rationalizing cut- ting down on the meetings but the reality is we don't have enough business for three meetings a month since they're continual- ly under half an hour long. Let's try two meetings a month and see what happens," he said. Council meetings will be held on Apr. 7 and 21 and then on the second and fourth Mondays of every month starting in May. Exceptions will be in July and August when one meeting will be held each month. flagging her Cabbage Patch doll, four-year-old Sara Buduark sits engrossed in the (`are Bear movie shown at the Goderich Legion last Wednesday during the annual Cabbage Patch party. (photo by Susan Hundertmark ) Councilors criticize librarian for book purchases BY STEPHANIE LEVESQUE The controversy surrounding the Huron County Library Board rages on as a 1985 deficit of $42,890 is cut off the top of its 1986 book budget. 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 $42,000 worth of books sent from Library Services Centre in Kitchener. The majority of the books purchased by the library are from this Kitchener -firm. It was noted that Partridge accepted the books, but was not invoiced until January of this year. But according to the library's ac- counting firm of Vodden and Bender, custody of the books is as good as owing on them. Library board chairman Tom Cunn- The ice uu hue Maitland River stalled to break up alit; proceed' down the river towards the lake last week as spring runoffbegau. The Maitland Valley CotlSer'Vation Authority predicts a gradual nrtaiff.ult'g medium water Ievelsttn1e'ss *eget morolltarc.$ eulta'll inch of rafli. The show has already absorbed all the water it can and any measure of rainfall could pose a threat, says MCVA engineer- ing services technologist, Jane Taylor. (photos by, Dave Sykes) • 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 Turn to page 2 Spring runoff should be gradual Caution drivers The Goderich Police Department cau-. tioned 65 drivers in a half hour period dur- ing the reduced visibility because of fog on Friday. The same law that stipulates drivers must drive with their headlines on one half hour after sunrise. and one half hour before sunset, also says'driNerknius{' drive with their , headlights on when visibility is reduced to 150 metres or less., Police also stopped drivers .tec issue similar warnings during the snowstorm a week ago Friday. The fine for this offence is $53.751 It is also an offence to put a vehicle in motion with its parking lights on. This is a separate offence and the fine is another $53.75. Parking lights are only used separately when the vehicle is parked. The Goderich'department plans to start laying charges where these offences are concerned since there has been a con- siderable period of time where only warn- ings were issued to no avail. BY -SHARON DIETZ Maitland Valley Conservation Authority predicts the spring runoff will be gradual unlesswe get close to an inch of rain predicted for Tuesday night and Wednsday morning. The ground is pretty wet and the ' snow has already absorbed all the water it " can, according to Jane Taylor, MCVA engineering services technologist. If the predicted rainfall occurs, there could be problems. The spring runoff began a week ago when the ice on the Maitland' River began to break up and proceed down river towards the lake. The runoff has been, gradual with medium water levels as the runoff progressed through the week. One ice jam was reported Sunday at Forester's Bridge near Holmesville but there have been no other problems so far, says Taylor. If the rainfall occurs, it does pose a threat of higher water levels, she warns. The authority is hoping for warm temperatures to allow the ice to melt and .no rain. If we get fairly warrp days and no rain, the higher flows won't materialize, •. -but if we ge,t rain there could be a problem~ says Taylor ,who precicts the runoff will continue another week or two as the snow and ice Melts gradually. The, highest . rainfall on record for November has replenished the ground water table and the MCVA has no concern about a low.water table this summer, says turn topage g INSUE THE SIGNAL -STAR h !N Pay equity, equal pay for work of equal value, is the number one issue of concern for women in this province, according to the Equal Pay Coalition. Women Today recently presented a brief on pay equity for women in Huron County when the organization's director Valerie Bolton ap- peared • before the Ontario AdviSory Coun cil on Women's,Issues at their pay equity forum in Toronto. See today's community front for details. YCW supplement The championship trophy prey ntatioris for the Young Canada Hockey Week finals played Saturday appear in a special sup- plement in today's community section. The supplement can be pulled Qut to be 41 - ed with other copies of the YCW Daily News as mementos of this year's tourna- ment. Win title . It was only too appropriate that Mur- phy's Green Machine should win the Recreation Hockey League championship on Monday night. It was St. Patrick's Day. Read Dave Sykes' report of the action and how a third period rally lifted the team to its win.