Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1987-11-11, Page 1ich 139 YEAR — 45 GODERICH ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1987 60 CENTS PER COPY County drafts waste management plan three stages: Public participation and data The Ontario Municipal Act does not lay cept. At present, he said; the only way to collection; Identification of potential areas out the authority for wastemanagement in change, the authority from the municipal to and markets, and analysis of alternatives; the form of a county concept, he said. In- county level is through a private member's Formulation of a document which identifies stead, the concept can be more closely bill or by unanimous consent of all municipalities within the county. Mr. Mer - the preferred system for waste manage- described as municipal,,he added. munici p ment in the study area and how best to im- Mr. Mickle said he is concerned with the rall also said the cost involved with opening plement that system. • possible legalities facing the county in order and closing landfill sites has risen to the Exeter Reeve Bill Mickle said council to proceed, but he was assured that the point where townships and towns can now no should be cautious in its approach to waste county guidelines are well within the boun-' longer handle it through their assessment. management. "It's good to have this infor- daries of the act. Mr. Mickle also was critical of the provin- mation before us, but I feel we have to tread County Engineer Dennis Merrall agreed cial government for legislating programs very carefully," he said. with Mr. Mickle's opinion of the act's con- Turn to page 3 Huron County Council has given its ap- proval to draft terms of reference for a county -wide waste management master plan. At its regular November session, council approved the draft terms of reference based on a recommendation by its waste manage- ment steering committee. The committee was appointed earlier this year to consider the waste management problems faced by the county and its member municipalities. Members of the committee are Grey Township Reeve Leona Armstrong, Tuckersmith Reeve Bob Bell, Stephen Township ` Reeve T.J. Tomes, Goderich Deputy Reeve J.P. Doherty and Warden Brian McBurney, Turnberry Township Reeve. Also on the committee are Planning and Development Director Gary Davidson, County Engineer Dennis Merrall, Clerk -Administrator Bill Hanly, along with Willard Page and J. Burnham. Purpose of the terms of reference is to provide a guideline for consultants wishing to prepare a proposal to develop a master plan aimed at providing a comprehensive, long-term waste management strategy for Huron County. The guidelines define the study goal of developing a plan which in- cludes : A comprehensive review of all reasonable waste management technologies and processes, and their relevance to waste management in the county; An examination of source separation as a waste manage- ment system component; Effective and meaningful public and review agency con- sultation throughout the study process; Recommendation . of a preferred waste management system which is the best alter- native to broad definitions set out in the En- vironmental Assessment Act. The terms of reference call for the waste management master plan to address the county's needs for a. minimum period of 20 years, with long term waste projections for a 40 year period. Wastes to be studied are primarily domestic, commercial and non -hazardous solid industrial wastes, although the genera- tion of other wastes — septage, sewage sludge, water treatment plant sludge, haul- ed liquid industrial, hazardous solid in- dustrial, biomedical, construction and inert wastes — and their effect on the waste managment system will also be reviewed. Preparation of the master plan is to include a public participation program to keep local municipalities informed of its progress, ad- vise the public through public information meetings and the media, and to involve the public in the, collection of data and develop- ment of assessment criteria. The master plan is to be developed in • • tubers of the Royal Canadian Legion Goderieh`Branch' O9 file annual even r'e th Street United Church for services: on Sunday Branch raised duriuj ,iembers and the Laketown Band met at the Legion Hall and. Spooner) raraded'around. the Square`before 'rYT=RR�arriving at the church. This Y xk .w TSdieszl vte '.tAg: dulei:wizLLt 16M1 Council endorses resolution on policing In light of increasing costs of municipal policing, Goderich Town Council has con- curred with a resolution passed by Municipal Police Association Zone 6 and supported by the Goderich Police Commission. The resolution, which calls for the pro- vincial government to review and re- evaluate the current system of allocating grants for policing to municipalities, was presented to council at the Nov. 9 meeting, even though no official action by council was required. "The resolution does not require coun- cil's concurrence, but it might give more it more (weight) at the Solcitor General's door," noted Mayor Eileen Palmer. Since Goderich has a separate Board of Police Commissioners, as opposed to a commit- tee of council, the commission is authoriz- ed to lend its own support to such resolu- tions, she explained. While there was general agreement on the basic resolution, there was some con- cern among councillors about some of the resolution's components. One of the considerations suggested in the resolution as a factor in determing a new allocation system states, "There is a need and a value to preserving existing local municipal forces". Council Bill Clif- ford pointed out that supporting the resolu- tion means accepting this point, which could preclude any future possibility of asking the province to provide Provincial Police coverage in place of a municipal force. Some other Ontario municipalities already have municipal OPP policing, while others have asked the ministry to provide them with a cost study for such a move. "It (tbe resolution does seem to be rather all-encompassing. I have no objec- tion to it, but I just want (the implications) understood," said Clifford. Deputy Reeve John Doherty supported the resolution and said he was in favor of maintaining the current system of municipal policing. "I would hope that this council never recommends that the OPP take over. I think the town police are doing a very good job," he said. Palmer, who is also on the Police Com- mission said none of the commissions con= cerns about policing costs cast any doubt on the performance of the local force. "The actions of the commission would not at any time reflect the quality of polic- ing in Goderich. We are interested ih cut- ting costs in that department, as in any department, as long as those savings don't result in areduction in quality of service," Palmer stated. - Local forces be encouraged to investigate and employ methods of cost-sharing in areas such as court security, specialized equipment and dispatching. - Local forces shall be universally exempt from provincial sales taxes for both capital and operating purchases. - The possibility of eliminating policing as a cost contributing toward the local mill rate be investigated; the natural implica- tion being that funding to a standard per capita rate would come from the province to all forces and only expenditures over that level would be assessed to local citizens. Turn to page 3 • County considers development areas Huron County's planning and develop- proach was originally suggested in an in- ment department is considering the concept dustrial strategy study which the county of establishing community economic conducted last year. The department's review will be ap- proached from three perspectives: - Basic research on the areas to be con- ducted by a University of Waterloo planning class. - Determining the feasibility of co-operative action by approaching several municipalities in the Clinton-Seaforth area for an indication of their interest in such a development areas within the county. At its regular November session, Huron County Council learned of the department's plan to review the possibility of forming the community economic development areas in. which several municipalities would work together to promote community develop- ment in their area. Council learned that the co-operative ap- project. - Seeking financial support for the project from the federal government. According to the county's planning and developoment director, Gary Davidson, in- terest in the concept has been expressed by the Village of Blyth and the townships of Hullett, McKillop, Stanley and Tuckersmith as well as Clinton and Seaforth. The federal , government has also in- dicated it is willing to support this type of co- operative effort. Lights, fireworks to light up park Christmas lights and a low level fireworks finale are sure -to light up the sky over Court House Park in Goderich on Fri- day evening, Nov. 27. Starting at 7:00 p.m., the annual Christmas Lights Festival "Opening Ceremony" gets underway when Santa Claus arrives to greet the children. School choirs will perform during the evening and the Family Christmas Tree Decoration, Fancy Christmas Cookie & Gingerbread House Contest Winners will also be an- nounced. All contest entries must be homemade and received at the Goderich Town Hall - 57 West Street by 12 noon on Thursday, Nov. 26. An entry is comprised of six cookies of one type for the Fancy Cookie Contest. The program finale includes turning on the Christmas lights in Court House Park to the accompaniment of a colourful low level fireworks display. Bring the family to participate in this unique Festival of Lights kick-off. For more information con- tact the Goderich Tourism Office at 524-6600. Santa Claus Parade set Be sure to mark Saturday, November 21 on your calendar because that's the day jolly old Saint Nicholas makes his first appearance in Goderich. Santa Claus, for young and old alike, will be the featured attraction in the an- nual Goderich Santa Claus Parade set to begin at 1 p.m. November 21. This year's theme is "Christmases Past, Present and Future" and Marilyn Manderson, parade spokesperson at the Goderieh Recreation Department, is hoping for a good turnout in parade entries. -We have a few entries now (about 10) and we are hoping for a lot more," Manderson said Tuesday morning. Entries in the parade usually total bet- ween 40 and 50, including floats and . bands. The deadline for entries in the Santa Clause Parade is Friday, November 13. The parade will form at, 12:30 p.m. November 21 at the corner of Elgin Avenue and South Street. The judging of parade entries will take place at this time. Promptly at 1 p.m., the parade will begin to wind its way along the parade route which will see it travel up South Street, around The Square, down West Street, turning left onto Waterloo Street, left onto Elgin Avenue and end at South Street. The parade will take about one hour. After the parade, the children are in- vited to attend "Santa's Court" at the Park Theatre. Here, all children will be able to sit on Santa's lap, tell him what they want for Christmas and receive a bag of candy. Also this year, the Goderich Letter Carriers will be collecting children's let- ' ters to Santa Claus, during the parade. A number of letter carriers will be walking around the crowds during the parade to gather the letters. If your child wishes to send a letter to Santa, haveit in an envelope addressed to Santa Claus, North Pole, HOH „OHO. Couple hits the jackpot Exeter supports Goderich position on roads Goderich Town Council has received support from the Town of Exeter on a brief concerning county countributions to urban municipalities, presented to the Huron County Road Committee on Oct. 16. Exeter is the first municipality to res- pond to the brief, prepared by Goderich Public Works Commissioner Ken Hunter, which will be circulated to all other county municipalities for consideration. Council received Exeter's letter of support at their Nov. 9 meeting. The brief responds to a County Engineer's report and recommendations, presented to the committee in September, currently under consideration at the com- mittee level. The brief concerns itself, in particular, with Goderich's objection to a proposed decrease in the amount paid to urban,, municipalities in order to increase the work done on county roads. "It is as much a responsibility of the county road system to construct and main - Rain urban roads, as it is to construct and maintain county roads," states the brief. One concern raised by the brief, is that if county road contributions to urban municipalities were reduced, it would +esult in a corresponding reduction in pro- vincial funding. The contributions from the county are "matched by Ministry dollars to do the road work within urban municipalities. Without this contribution, in the case of the Town of Goderich, the Town would receive $60,000 less from the county as contribu- tion and would also lose an additional $60,000 from the Ministry and, therefore, we would lose a total of $120,000 worth of road construction within the town. The other urban municipalities would.be faced with the same prospects. If council wished to replace the county contribution in order to match the Ministry of Transportation dollars, council would be faced with a 5 mill increase on top of the regular infla- Urban rebate issue in committee The controversial urban rebate issue will remain with the county roads committee for at least another month, Huron County Coun- cil was told at its regular November session. During presentation of the committee's report council, its chairman, Colborne T lip Reeve J.R. Kernighan, told coun- cil the committee has decided to defer mak- ing any recommendation on urban rebates at this time. At council's October session, the roads committee recommended the level of urban rebates be decreased to the statutory minimum of 25 per cent. The current urban rebate level set by Huron County is 45 per cent. Under the Public Transportation and Highway Improvement Act, the maximum rebate allowed is 50 per cent of the amount levied on the municipality for county road purposes. The committee's rationale for its recommendation is that the reduction in rebates would provide approximately $170,000 in 1988, a windfall which the county. could use to increase the work on its road system. Following an hour-long discussion at the October session, county council sent the recommendation back to the roads commit- tee for further study. At the November session, Mr. Kernighan Turn to page 2 • tionary increase," the brief explains. Exeter's letter of support points out that towns and villages pay 34.59 per cent of the total Highway levy in the Bounty. "This includes the cost of the `rebate' back to themselves, so in effect the reduc- tion is not actually 45 per cent of expen- diture for county roads, but includes 45 per cent of county contribution for urban roads as well. Therefore, the true rate of reduc- tion to urban municipalities is less than 45 per cent, because the urban municipalities - are charged 34.59 per cent of the 45 per cent rebate," said the letter. The Town of Goderich is the highest single contributor to the total Highway road levy, paying 12.5 per cent: Stephen Township is next, with 10.7 per cent and Exeter third, with six per cent. "If County Council did finally adopt ( the recommendation to decrease urban road funding) the action would deeply hurt the road system in the urban municipalities by decreasing their funding," the brief con- cluded, urging the Road Committee to reconsider their recommendation. The brief has been distributed to other municipalities in the hope of gaining their support in opposition to the proposal. A Goderich couple are at least $10,000 richer and have a shpt at winning $1 million thanks to the recent purchase of a lucky lottery ticket. . Susan and Murray Hill, of Goderich, purchased the winning ticket on the On- tario Lottery Corporation's Match Three Sweeps' game on Nov. 4, at Suncoast Craft Corner. The Hills, who have two children, will be among 40 to 60 entrants eligible to win up to $1 million in a draw which will take place on Dec. 17 in Toronto. INSIDE THE SIGNAL -TA Train of Dreams The National Film Board of Canada presented two showings of Train of Dreams in Goderich last Wednesday. The movie, about the life of a young of- fender sentenced to an Ontario correc- tional institution, was partially filmed at the Bluewater. Centre for Young Of- fenders in Goderich. For stories and pic- tures about the movie, see pages 1, 2, and 3 of the Community section. Vikings defeated Both the Junior and Senior GDCI Vik- ings football teams Were defeated by the Exeter Panthers teams in the Huron - Perth football finals held Saturday in Ex- eter and Goderich. For stories and pic- tures, see the Sports section.