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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-01-18, Page 18PAGE 1i_THE GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 1979 GECouncil feud topic of special meetin BY JEFF'SEDDON A special council session has been arranged for Monday night to permit Goderich town council and the town's Public Utilities Com- mission to try to settle their lengthy feud. The meeting was set up by council after old wounds between council and the utility were\ opened by former mayor Deb Shewfelt. Shewfelt hurled accusations at the PUC claiming he was deliberately ignored by the utility when several important commission meetings were called just after the November municipal elections. Shewfelt, who had -lost his bid for re-election as mayor, was still officially mayor of' Goderich atthe time of the PUC meetings and claimed the utility seriously breached the Public Utilities Act by its actions. Shewfelt took his complaints to town council asking that council, as the parent corporation, investigate the PUC. Shewfelt asked that council look into his complaints and asked that the town check the financial operations of the PUC as it relates to the Public Utilities Act. - Council did not appear to have a clear un- derstanding of what Shewfelt wanted. Council members expressed some confusion over the letter from Shewfelt and some conceded that they did not completely understand how the PUC and town council are supposed to operate under municlpartegu1attonsotc1ear orrw-liat– the utility was resonsible for and what the council was responsible for council deemed it best to find out before ,any action was taken on Shewfelt's letter. To attempt to settle the issue of what body is • responsible for what a meeting was arranged with a representative of the provincial ministry of intergovernmental affairs. That ministry's duty is to keep government operating smoothly at all levels. It does not exist to tell govern- ments what to do but rather what they are responsible for. The meeting Monday night is expected to be an information type affair. Indications are that the two bodies will sit together and have the Public Utilities Act, which , governs the operation of the PUC, and the municipal act, the guidelines for town council, explainedand any questions Doliticians have about the duties of each body will be answered. Town clerk Larry McCabe said he did not expect the spokesman from the in- tergovernmental affairs to get into any specific issues. He said there probably won't be any personalities discussed or specific concerns raised. McCabe said the meeting should help to clear up the lines of authority between council and the PUC. He said all intergovernmental affairs is doing is sending the town someone con- versant with both the Public Utilities Act and the Municipal Act to help politicians here become just as conversant. Hesaid things like what body controls money, what body owns' what and other such concerns will be cleared up. ABOUT THE LETTER Deb Shewfelt said Tuesday he would not be able to attend Monday night's meeting but said he planned to watch closely to see what tran- spires. He said he did not know what actionhe planned to take over his concerns about the PUC breaching the Utilities Act adding he - would make up his mind after the. meeting. Shewfelt said he hoped the meeting would clear up one portion of the concerns he ex- pressed in his letter to council. He said he presumed both parties were going to find out where they_ stand on the -purchasing of equip- ment or other capital costs. He said he hoped it would be made clear what body is liable for equipment bought and not paid for. "Is equipment bought by the PUC and not paid for a liability for the town or for the utility?" he -asked. "Who owns the town's water tower and who is going to own and be respon- sible for the water treatment plant if the town takes it over? Those are the things I hope are cleared up because I know there are some misunderstandings on both sides," said Shewfelt. The mayor conceded that no matter what the outcome of the meeting it "wasn't going to do a hell of 'a lot for the past but may help in the future". He added that just how much the meeting does help will. not be known until another ownership or responsibility problem arises. "I read the Public Utilities Act and it is clearly laid down but nobody seems to un - Huron. County could be... • from page 7 porarily idling, Piller expressed an interest in said, until The Murder of one of the roles, he said. Maggie Sykes is out of the Much of the film would be made near Toronto, but the company is also million, a difficult looking for °a picturesque amount to raise for a first.. farmhouse setting in Huron, perhaps in the Goderich or Benmiller areas. A second Errant Productions film project, a comedy entitled All Steamed Up, is tem - way. All Steamed Up will cost $3 million to $4 movie. The Maggie Sykes film is intended to boost the company's credibility With potential backers of the bigger one. Meanwhile, Errant Productions also' is staying busy in the field HAC believes... • frompage6 with other municipal matters, it would be very difficult for them to put together enough time to reallydo the necessary research. "They may not have the time, but the com- mittee will find the time," said Wheeler. "I think continual research into what is going on, what is happening, is really beneficial." In a related matter, council learned from PUC ••• • from page 3 meter every two minutes. -He added that some meters are inside houses and he has to make two or. three trips`to the house to catch the people at home or he has to go somewhere, get a key, read the meter and then return the key. ° Commissioner Jim Peters pointed out that it must be costing the utility money to have the meter foreman have to go through that kind of hassle to read a meter. He suggested that the PUC may actually saye money by putting a bit of a shove on the meter conversion and getting it done earlier than plan- ned, Lawson told the commission that it costs about $60 a meter for the conversion adding that if time or money permitted, more than 25 meters to be changed this year they will be changed. He said if the commission wanted the meters to be moved all at once it would have to hire a contractor to do the work since the PUC staff would not have the time to do the job. He ,tided that if a contractor as hired the $60 a unit cost would go up. -He said the meters will be rhbved at the expef15e of the utility. Clerk Larry McCabe that no provincial funds have come through yet for the NIP work. McCabe said he'd -been advised by the Ministry that officials haven't been able to get the needed order in council to release the funds. Reeve Palmer com- thented it was too bad that excellent programs had to be clouded by problems such as this, and complained that the delays make increased costs for the municipalities who must come up with the interim funding. Councillor Haydon asked if McC-abe had been "reasonably for- ceful" in this instance to get some action. • McCabe suggested there could be a motion on Monday to get some local politicians involved in the hope the funds -would be speeded up. of live theatre. Its revue based on _Holl-ywoed___ history, Flicks, is in its 49th week at Old Angelo's in Toronto, and the. derstand it," said Shewfelt. He added that he knew of several other politicians that laid recently acquired copies of both the Utilities Act and the Municipal Act and have been studying them. SOLUTION HAS TO BE LOCAL One important consideration both parties must keep in mind is that whatever solution is arrived at it must be arrived at locally. For years municipalities have been screaming at provincial government for local autonomy. Towns all over Ontario have been persistently requesting that the province permit them to handle their own affairs for better or for worse. To have local autonomy municipalities must remember, that autonomy is more than just a town's right to spend its own tax dollars. If municipalities want the province to stay out of their affairs they have to be prepared to keep their own ship running smoothly. Goderich cannot expect the province to believe it can make its own decisions if it runs to the province to solve an in house problem. The solution may be simpler than the politicians care to think. Members of both bodies often, appear amazed at the actions• of the other and give every indication that it is not them that is out of step but the army. Com - here" or "they don't know what they're doing over there" are fairly common at both town hall and the PUC office. A harmless information letter sent from the PUC to council or vice versa can send some politicians off in a tirade of criticisms and add fuel to the fire that is burning between them.. Al Lawson, manager of the PUC and a relative newcomer to Goderich, said recently that he had never witnessed anything like the bad feelings that run between the council and the PUC here. Lawson said he had no idea how the problem got started or what keeps it going, but he said it made it difficult to get things done in town. PAST DIFFERENCES Politicians presently serving on either the PUC or council aren't prepared to put their finger on one issue that could have caused a rift between the two. They are hesitant to say that a problem in the past has not been forgotten and ill feelings that resulted from that problem are what causes things to be blown out of 'propor- tion whenever the council or utility have to work together. company is looking around fora location in which to open its own permanent dinner - theatre operation. Don't get caught without the most Important piece of equipment for winter THE SHOVEL SERVICE DOMINION HARDWARE 30 VICTORIA ST. NORTH GODERICH 524-8581 SUNDAY JANUARY 2.lst 7:90 P.M. ZURICH OLDTIMERS GODERICH OLDTIMERS But in recent years there have been flare ups between the utility and council that result in the same comments being made that were made the last time the two fought. Just after the town celebrated its 150th birthday a dispute arose out of a bill sent council by the utility for work done on decorations for the Jubilee Three. The PUC had been asked by the town to install decorative bunting and signs on town owned street light standards and the Jubilee Three committee had assumed that the PUC would do the work in the interest of the town. The utility had other ideas. In September of 1977 the Jubilee Three decorating Committee received a bill for just over $9,000 for work done by the PUC on the decorations. The committee, which consisted of two members of town council, vowed not to pay the bill and expressed shock at receiving it. After several months of vocal duelling the PUC quietly suggested that perhaps it could improve its public image by absorbing the bill in the interest of community spirit. But the emotions were still running high at the council table and some comments by council members did nothing to soothe the tempers of com- mission members. Another outburst of tempers occurred recently when PUC manager Al Lawson of- fered some technical advice to merchants on The Square about street lighting proposed as part of the beautification plan for the core area. Lawson was point blank in his comments about the lights suggesting that the decorative units proposed for the downtown were inferior to the lights already on The Square and would be much more expensive to operate. The manager said he was merely doing his job when he commented on the street lighting but some members of council felt he was using the merchants to make his own points. Lawson was Mbey accused of trying to sabotage the lighting scheme and while nothing official was done by either the town or the utility tempers flared again. The PUC felt maligned after town council decided recently not to follow the utility recommendation to give the PUC control of some money received as a result of the sale of a utility owned house. The utility wanted to use the money from the sale of the house to offset the purchase of some equipment. The utility had 'figured to use the money to purchase a ditching machine and when it asked council to comply with the request and council did not angers flared again. Council did not intentionally want to anger the utility but town clerk Larry McCabe discovered that the only way the town could use the money to pay PVC debts was to put it against a debenture. The utility - had no debentures but planned one to purchase some land so council, on a suggestion from McCabe, in -vested the money until such a time the utility planned.to spend it on the land. • The move upset the PUC. They felt the town had dealt them a bad hand and made it clear it had no intention 'of standing still for such a move. It wasn't until the legal aspects of the town's investment of the.. funds were outlined that things returned to, normal. But, what was clear was that there appeared to b& very little understanding of the legal operation of the town or the utility by politicians and by some staff members. It was obvious some, explaining had - to be done to prevent a similar thing happening again. Shewfelt's letter •bro ht matters to a head. The former mayor make it clear he wanted some action and indicated he would not be content for council or the utility to smile• politely as his letter was filed away. Not con- vinced the mayor had a case council chose to - set up the meeting planned 'or Monday. WILL IT WORK Only time will tell if the meeting will be successful) One mould think that any effort to resolve problems between the two groups would be given the royal treatment by both. Extra care would be taken to make sure both parties are aware of the session and what could be accomplished if it is successful- ' Commissioners gave no such indication at the last PUC meeting. Questions were raised about the format Of the meeting, whether or not commissioners would be permitted to ask questions and if commissioners would be granted the same rights as council members during the session with the spokesman from intergovernmental affairs. PUC chairman Herb Murphy pointed out that the only way to resolve differences is to give everyone an opportunity to speak. He said unless both sides are given the chance to state their case things "won't be made clear. Commissioner Jim Peters., the only member of either body, other than the mayor, to have sat on both the commission and council, said at the last utility meeting that after experiencing both council and PUC he felt the only way one could appreciate both was to serve on both. Hopefully Monday's meeting will prove him wrong. ,...............................4............................ i . WAREHOUSE SALEi •••••••i•• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••oe•• •••••• • - ALL -BEEF- CUT FROM -CANADA GRADE` A -'-$E Ef • • 1.49 Ib. i 001040•0000100.00• • DELMONTE FANCY 10 FL, OZ, • • CREAM • !CORN 2FOR79C � RIB ROAST 1.69 Ib. •LISTERINEMOUTH BONUS PACK FRESH ONTARIO :° 1•5 9 • PIG' TAILS • 69 Ib. • WASH 500 ML , , t 125 ML. • SCHNEIDERS STORE PACKED • KRAFT CANADIAN • WIENERS s 1.29 Ib • FOOD SS CHEESE $1 .55 1 LB. PKG, % • C UT FROM CHUCK -BACK STRAP & BLADE BONE REMOVED SHORT RIB OR BLADE ROASTSa • •.•4000.0••• • • McLEANS 2 LB. BAG ',BONELESS LEAN OR FRENCH 3 9 4 •STEWING BEEF POT ROASTS $1.79 Ib, FRIES• " • YOU SAVE TWICE WITH TRIM AND PRICE • • FROM THE CHUCK S • DELMONTE FANCY 10 FL. OZ. • CHUCK ROAST OR CROSS PEAS 2oR791 FRESHCUTFORSOUP• OX TAILS 89 • 225 81 3FoR39c: MAC• BOLOGNA 99; Ib, • CHEESE DINNER .,r• • BEEMAID 2 LB TUBS : FROZEN ',t7i3�, • CANADA NO,1 i J -"fpHONEY —41---ri.—• I` JUMBO • FLUFFED 1 LB. PKG. • SMOKED COb 9.99 Ib. FILLETS • GUTTED LARGE WHOLE • CREAMED • • .. 754 • • ROYALE 100's •• LAKE TROUT $1.49 Ib. • FACIAL KIPPERINES - • TISSUE 6.9 • NOW AVAILABLE • • ••••••••••••••••••t1••••••••••••• • HEINZ - CONDENSED DUNCAN HINES 18'/, OZ PKGS. ;TOMATO SOUP' - 5J1 .00 LAYER CAKE MIXES SLICES SEAFOOD • R MIRACLE2LB,PKG, CORN OIL• • MARGA INE • 2.19 TURBOT •CLOVER LEAF 6'/z OZ. It • FLAKED WHITE , !TUNA 1.2 9a CENTRE CUT -SILVER BRISKET , SALMON STEAKS $3.99 Ib, Z RED ROSS 1 LB. BAG :• ARRIVING THURSDAY IN STORE • � ROASTED $ 2• 79. FRESH FISH SPECIAL • COFFEE • • 794; !initial DRESSING 3500M1. 794 JAVEX , MAXWELL HOUSE INSTANT COFFEE • WHITE SWAN :PAPER TOWELS P OL $1.09 128 FL. OZ. 984* SWANS DOWN BATHROOM TISSUE 10 OZ. JAR $4 99 LOWES CANADA DRY :KITTY LITTER 25LB BAG - $2.9 9 Gi-NGER4-ALE HOSTESS POTATO.� CHIPS • • OLL $ 1 : G. •09! FOR 994 • t DFP. • 79c : • T BASKETS • 694• 12 OZ. 994• PKG. BAGS FOR •,�w ` 750 ML. 3 • 225 G. • DRIED FRUIT — SPARKLING FRESH PRODUCE_ FRUI • CALIFORNIA GIANT SIZE PRODUCE OF USA NO. 1 GRADE ▪ NAVEL ORANGES 6,,,R 1 .3 9 • PRODUCE OF O• NTARIO CANATNA FANCY GRADE RED DELICIOUS APPLES 3LBB. AG• 89° CELERY STALKS PRODU'CEOF ONTARIO NO. 1 GRADE., FRESH MUSHROOMS • PROCUCE OF ONTARIO NO. 1 GRADE - :WASHED CARROTS 2 LB. BAG 2- ®••••••••®•••••••®••••••®�•••••••••••••••••••••'••••® • • z • • .00 J.M. CUTT Limited• RED & WHITE FOODMASTER 0 91 VICTORIA ST., GODERICH WE RESERVE TH'[ RIGHT TO LIMIT QUANTITIES0 PRICES IN EFFECT TILT. eLOSING SATURDAY JAN. 20, 1979 • OPEN NITELY TILL 10 P.M. CLOSED SUNDAY' - 0 00000000000000000000000000000 •