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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1976-10-28, Page 12PAGE 2 GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR; THIJRS 1 . AY, OCTOBER 28; 1976 owe wants .BYJEFF SEDDON Goderich town council was offered some local. autonomy Wednesday night at a special. council meeting but hesitated until themerits of the - autonomy. could . be measured -Council met with •a six man delegation from the Ministry of the Environment about the possibilityof taking over' the provincially owned water treatment plant on Si. Christopher's Beach. • The proposed transfer is one. of 23 the government is instigating across Ontario. The delegation; headed up by Charles• Letman, chairman of the transfer committee of the df, „ministry, said Goderich was the fourth municipality ' to which •such a transfer had been proposed. • Mr. Letman told council the trat'ers' -were being SbggeSted• to see • if municipalities could run the operations cheaper than the province. . The• delegation tried to outline financial, legal, operational and personnel. details thdt would have to be worked out if the. town decided to .operate the plant themselves. The province's four employees now at the plant would be kept on at . their present pay scale with benefit plans altered to suit the town's contract. The plant r is now operated by three employees and . a superin- tendent. ADVANTAGES?, Council seemed most concerned with the ad- vantages, if any, of the town taking over the plant. Deputy- reeve.•Bill_Clifford asked Mr. Letman how he would spell out the advantages of a. municipally -owned • .water it treatment plant if he • were selling it to the town. .The manager said.basically the" province is promoting the takeover because provincial treasurer Darcy McKeoiigh is certairt local municipalities can operate the plants. cheaper than the province. He•said• Mr. McKeough and assistant deputy minister of the . environment Everett Biggs have devoted a Con- siderable amount of time comparing the two levels of governments running the plants, but added that the treasurer had • failed to convince the ministry staff that the province was overspending on them. "I can't see much ad- vantage," said Mr. Letman. E.A. Ladbrooke of the ministry's London office told council that there may be some operational disad- vantages to the town's takeover pointing out that the • to las' amo pt of staff and the ex- pertise the province now has may be lost to The town. He said that the provincial operation has a wide range of expertise which in some cases is made available to municipalities to, maintain the plants at no cost or at the cost of labor, no margin: of profit. • Reeve•,Stan Profit said he was getting the impression that the• delegation was ,not tryingto sell the tpwn. on the idea of taking over the plant when he had ed they were there to cony ee them of the advantages " for the town Jtake over the plant: Mr'. Letman said hedidnot want to- leave • that thought with the council, but • the delegation . .vias • merely outlining rthe operation of the plant and the province may well have staff available to handle any problems that may occur and at a cheaper price. He added, however, that it was the province'sintention to keep. these services available to the town much in the same manner as they are now, ' INSTRUMENTATION Maurice 'Wilkinson, superintendent of the Goderich plant,,�told council 'that filters at the•station were Bill Gardner, executive vice-president of Sheaffer Pen Company offers Jim Queen, of Goderich a bite of retirement cake ata special party -held for Jim by the employees. last. Friday' afternoon. Jim was presented with a color television at the party. (staff photo) ... • We are pleased to announce, Sandy Dickson has joined • our staff BONNIE BARBARA -NOW- ,__ _. -November— Spotlit' PERMS,. RE -G._$25_ WITH • FREE STYLING 01,11.921.1.111 BEAUTY SALON 34 NEWGATE st, G00E11.1 Phone pi 2 4 3 3 7 0 being • cleaned and repaired right now by ministry • staff and that the major difficulty at the plant was in- strumentation He said that in the plant's 14.year history the instrumentation had been worked on , about a dozen times, and was a problem handled by ministry staff at least once a year. • Public Utilities Com- mission ` chairman • Ben Sheardown told council that the town may want to in- vestigate automating the plant. He said he had. visited other, plants - that •were automated with no full time staff and noproblems of any nbte.. He said diet an estimate for automation had been given several years ago. While he couldn't `• remember that estirtlate, he figured the cast tochange the plant over now would bci about $30,000, considerably higher than the previous amount. Mark Bell, a member of the delegation, told . council that the Goderich plant may not be easily modified due to the fact that it draws water from the lake rather than.wells. He said that water quality changes overnight in the lake' due to the proximity of the Maitland River. ' In the summer months, he said, the water is heavy with algae and requires a complicated filtration' system to clean it up. He added that someone would have to be on duty all the trine to monitor the water.• MUST SUIT NEEDS Reeve Stan Profit said he. was not interested in eliminating 'jobs at the plant ' but in insuring that it is run to suit the needs of the town. He said he .would like to meet with the PUC on the matter not only to gain some insight into -the possible takeover but to learn more about the workings of the commission and its relation to town council. . The reeve asked if the plant. was capableof meeting -the demands of the • town and what was its future capacity. He suggested possibly the equipment could be installed. as the present employees retire. Ther plant pum.p's• an average of 1.3 million gallons per day in a year, according to Mr. Wilkinson,. who., said that figure is based on a 120 gallon per capita basis. He added that the peak summer period tests the limitations of the plant since the amount changes to 2.5 million gallons per day. The system is designed to handle the needs of a population of 10,000 and :ac- cording to Mr. Bell,. will need to be increased in .the, near future by adding a .second storage tower,, Councillor Bob' Allen said that he was not in favor of eliminating , jobs but was interested in running things• as economically as possible. Reeve Profit , commented • keover and-uu' that people who want to eliminate jobs usually have safe jobs. • .4' . LOCAL AUTONOMY Coun.cillgr Dave Gower. said that it • appeared as though the province had merely picked something out of.. a hat and' offered it to municipalities as part of an effort to establish atutonomy. He said he was not sure of the merit of taking over the plant and was concerned about hidden costsin its operation. Mayor `Deb Shewfelt said council would have to look at the political side of the situation. He said •local governments. 'are "bawling and crying for local autonomy •and • the pr`ovinee 'has a chap saying here, take it, maybe educatipn will be next." ` eeVe Profit said . the autonomy he was looking for was the right to build -an apartment building without having to go to the Ontario Municipal Board for ap- proval. "You'll be dead before you see that," said the mayor.. .The mayor added that the situation was merely one whey -e the town takes the plant and runs it, or leaves it the way it is. He said the town 'would still have the backing of the province for main- taining the site and would still be faced with the same costs. Mayor Shewfelt said the ministry was not going to let the town take over the plant and then iri three . or four years rebuild it with sorne A bachelor explained, why he never wanted a viife to share his life: "Some of those shareholders wind up as directors." "Mickey Mouse outfit". He felt ' the plant would still operate under the guidelines of the ministry of the en- vironment,• ,Mr. Letman agreed, lo pointing out that the province still had "that hammer over the town's head". Council decided to send the matter to the 'PUC and the finance committee for in- vestigation adding that they wanted the two committees to try to find out all the potential problems and costs the town may face if they took over the plant. .. A DIVISION CANADA LTD. 4NNOUNCEMENT The foltowinq proii t 'ions are announced: by Speidel, A - Division of Textron Canada Ltd. Mr. John Austin has been promoted to the position of General Manager, Speidel - Watch Operation in' -Kansas City. Mr. Austin started the Goderich Operation in 1971 and successfully diticted its acceptance and growth in Canada: • His replacement as Plant Manager is Mr. Reginald. Boyne. Mr. Boyne has been with Speidel as Materials Manager since 1973 and brought with him to Speidel• eighteen years of Manufacturing Production Experience. Mr. Reginald Huckins will succeed Mr. Boyne in the position of Materials and Production Manager. Mr.. Huckins has been with Speidel since 1973 in Materials Control. Speidel congratulates these employees and wishes therns•uccess in: their new position. - Anew aspoiq*.admit O0RB0flUSGIFTTOg0U 1.975 BUICK LE SABRE CUSTOM 4 door hardtop, V8, automatic,'power steering, power brakes, radio, electric rear defrost, tinted glass, deluxe bumpers, whitewall radial tires,- wheel discs. Finished in dark green with green cloth interior and green vinyl roof. Only 19,000 miles. JRM140 JIM HAYTER.OLDsMOBILE 524-7314 SALES REPRESE'NTthIVES DON FULLER, IVAN BEAN .40.4p*. APP.'' GODERICH ANNIVERSARY RON ALLIN- MANAGER SUZANNE`.. McILWAIN TYPIST EV E LY N • MIDDEL -TELLER • KAY SARVIS ADMINISTRATION OFFICER , DORIS , WILCOX TELLER Free coffee arn!. do -nuts will he.ID available in the'Bank. Friday,PROM. . Mon., Tues., WedHT3rJ. 1'CR5: - 0:38 THE October 9,:19TbY01.ONTO° . DOMINION BANK BANK Thursr:ri. . I0to • � p.e p,mm. _ .. ' • - .