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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-04-12, Page 1This Toyota, belonging to Susan Freeman of R.R. 2 Goderich, was one of the many casualties from last Thursday evening's storm when it was crushed by a falling tree on her Board content with agreement BY JEFF SEDDON The Alexandra Marine and General hospital board negotiated Tuesday for some breathing room and a chance to prove government im- posed bed cuts at the hospital are unjust. Board member Jim McCaul said Wednesday the board had an "excellent" session with minister of health Dennis Timbrell and came away with a saw -off the board is happy with. McCaul said the board plans to send a letter to the health minister to confirm what mem bers thought they heard from Timbrell. The agreement reached between the board and Timbrell basically approves a plan the board devised several weeks ago. Facing bed, cuts that remove 15 active treatment beds the board came up with a plan to circumvent the bed cuts and still permit the hospital to maintain its present efficiency level. ,The chism between the province and the Goderich. hospital board wascaused by a disagreement over the population base served by AM&G. Ministry of health figures were significantly 'lower than the hospital board totals for the population referred to the Goderich hospital by area doctors. AM&G wanted a chance. to disprove the ministry figures but still had to slash active treatment beds to avoid stiff ministry financial penalties. The board decided to increase its chronic care beds and establish a 10 bed day care unit in one wing of the hospital. The day care unit would be available for use when the hospital was filled to capacity and the in- creased chronic bed totals met the needs the hospital medical staff felt wef-e critical. McCaul said Timbrell was receptive to the scheme and promised to fund the chronic bed increase "to some degree". He said the minister agreed to finance the beds but gave no firm com.mittment on the level of funding. The board member said the minister also permitted the board to keep the day care beds open and promised not to "penalize" the board if those beds were used. He added that the beds would only be used when there is nothing else available and their use would be strictly monitored. The board interprets Timbrell's approval of the day care beds and chronic bed increase as a means of lifting a $60,000 penalty imposed recently when AM&G was over the ministry bed allottment. McCaul said he felt Timbrell's agreement was a "way of giving back the penalty" ,. The hospital board convinced Timbrell to reassess the Goderich situation on an annual basis. The ministry bed cuts took 15 beds away from “AM&G this year and another six next year. The board will have its situation analyzed in another year and McCaul is hopeful it can prove the government referral figures wrong. McCaul said he is convinced the board's success with Timbrell was due to the public response to the hospital's dilemna. He said citizen's groups had reached short range goals and now can work with the board to ensure that AM&G is properly utilized for the next few years. He said he hoped the citizens stayed actively involved with the hospital board. parents' property. Winds gusting from 65 up to 80 miles per hour toppled trees and television aerials and played havoc in general throughout the area. Graham Campbell of the Goderich Weather Station says last week's storm has been the most intense one so far this year. (Photo by Susan Freeman) Won't dock pay. if absent from council meettng BY JEFF SEDDON Goderich town council members only discusseka motion to dock councillor's pay for missed meetings long enough to say they didn't want to discuss it. Council scoffed at the suggestion that pay envelopes fpr absentee councillors be lightened. Some councillors were slightly of- fended by the motion claiming it suggested council members weren't pulling their weight. Others felt the absentee rate wasn no higher this year than last. But, all agreed that ab- senteeism is something that councillors should avoid whenever possible. Councillor Elsa Haydon was most vocal about the motion to dock pay which was made by councillor Jim Searls at the last council session. Haydon said the motion was a "waste of time". She suggested that the motion put money on a "pedestal where it doesn't belong". Haydon said the motion indicates council members would do something for money they wouldn't do otherwise. She said she can't even "resent" the motion it is so "ridiculous". Councillor Searls, author of the motion, told councillors they should use their own judgement to determine if they are being fair to taxpayers. He said any type of penalty system would be hard to police but added that some policing of council members should be done. He suggested council members "take a long look at yourselves to see if you are being fair to taxpayers". Councillor John Doherty said he would not support any motion to dock council's pay. He said councillors were responsible to taxpayers but not every minute of every day. He pointed out that the money council receives is not enough for their livelihood. He said councillors are sometimes called out off town on business and can't make council meetings. "I feel councillors should use their judgement about council business but should look after their livelihood first," said Doherty. Deputy -reeve Bob Allen pointed out that while some members of council have been absent for several meetings council has never been depleted to the point it is below a quorum. If nothing else the motion did set the stage for a review of the town's remuneration bylaw. Clerk Larry McCabe told council the bylaw in force was out of date and suggested a com- mittee form to look at other municipal bylaws and update Goderich's. 132—YEAR 15 GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, APRIL 12,,1979 35 CENTS PER COPY Clerk bucks issue on ice-cream stand BY JEFF SEDDON Goderich town council left its administration •holding the cone when it granted Maurice Gardiner permission to operate an ice cream stand on Stanley Street. Council told Gardiner last week that he could operate an ice cream stand on a temporary basis for a five year period. The permission was given on the understanding that Gardiner.. planned to move a building from East Street and The Square to the Stanley Street site. The building, a frame barn shaped structure, was erected on The Square two years ago and was used during the summer months as an ice cream stand. " Council has no quarrel with Gardiner's desire to sell ice cream and in fact feel the idea has merit. The problem is that the building Gar- diner plans_ to use to house the ice cream stand does not conform to the town's official plan. But that non -conformity cannot be proved until application•for a building permit is made and the building dimensions and location are clearly defined. - Therein lies another problem for town ad- ministrators. Council appears willing to turn the other cheek and permit Gardiner to operate the ice cream stand without applying for a building permit. Town clerk Larry McCabe told council he had no intention of overlooking any failure by Gardiner to apply for a building permit. He told council that the decision to permit the ice cream' stand had left he and commissioner of works Ken Hunter in a bit of a dilemna. "We (administration) , have two choices, disobey council or break the law," said McCabe. McCabe hinted that he would disobey council and obey the law. He said if legal action was taken against the town over the issue it would be he and Hunter that would be involved not council. He added that if Gardiner attempted to erect the ice cream stand without a building permit he wouldslap a Stop Work Order on the project. McCabe warned council that it may be treading on thin ice over the ice cream stand. He said the whole thing boils down to council enforcing and living within its own bylaws. He pointed out that if cout},cil ignored the town's bylaws it could find itself facing a situation where more and more people also ignored them. He said council would have lost control of similar projects, proposed in other areas of town, . . Coupled with the need for a building permit is the fact that the building does not meet height and set back requirements stipulated in the official plan. Those facts would be made clear if Gardiner applied for a building permit. Part of the applciation is a detailed description of the building proposed and its exact location on the lot. McCabe ---told- -council' there would be no problems if Gardiner applied for the building permit and altered the building to conform to the official plan. The clerk said he had investigated the matter with the town solicitor and had asked for an opinion from the county planning office. He said the replies from both made it clear the issue was a sticky one. Council understood the situation but . ap- peared willing to let the chips fall where they may. Not only was council not willing to take any action but it defeated a motion to write a letter to Gardiner advising him of the situation and suggesting he not proceed to far with his plans until the matter is resolved. McCabe plans to write the letter without council's blessing.. Reeve Eileen Palmer termed the whole fiasco ridiculous. She said she was "downright angry" pointing out that the outdated 'official plan for the town of Goderich was the reason the whole mess existed.She said the restictions placed on both council and any businessman with a project for the core area were "ridiculous'.'. "With restrictions such as these I don't know how' in hell we can encourage businesses to go into or stay in business in the core area," said the reeve. Rec. offices may move to grandstand BY JEFF SEDDON The Goderich grand i stand could be new quarters for the town's recreation office if town council approves the move at its next meeting. Council reviewed the move at its committee meeting Monday 'might and felt it would do no harm to the recreation department and may ease up crowded con- ditions in the police and fire department headquarters. The location of the rec office, which is now sandwiched between the fire department and the police offices, has "been questioned on several occasions in the past year. Both council and the town's recreation boardindicated the rec office could function as well if not better if it were nearer the arena. Coupled with that was the desire to • make more room in the town owned building at Waterloo and West Streets for ex- pansion of the police and fire department headquarters. Depu.tyireeve Bob Allen told council the rec offices would be close to the action if it were in the grandstand. He said much of the sports ac- tivities in town took place. at Agriculture Park. He added that the much needed expansion at the police station could take place if the rec office was moved. Councillor Elsa Haydon objected to the suggestion that the bulk of the town's recreation activities took place at Agriculture Park. She said the 'arena and playing fields at the park were "only part of the recreation program". She added that there is a "great deal more to recreation thank these two". Recreation director Jim Moore told council moving the rec offices would cause some problems in its daily operation but added that systems could be developed to overcome that. He °said the rec office depended heavily on the town offices on West Street for bookkeeping, com- munications and duplicating equipment. Moore told council present conditions in the rec office were not ideal. He said the layout of the office offered him no privacy adding that at times the noise of other employees at work was distracting. He added that the present location was accessible for foot traffic from The Square. The rec director told council that problems at the present location were not insurmountable pointing out that changes could be made at the Waterloo Street office to achieve the same things the grandstand site would offer. Reeve Eileen Palmer read Moore's comments to be complaints and told council she was "miffed" by the rec director's statements, She said Moore knew the working conditions he would have when he took the job and only now points out deficiencies. Palmer said the move to the grandstand would only be the tip of the iceberg in terms of costs to the town. She said ar good system of bookeeping and sharing of duplicating equipment and other resources had been worked out between the town offices and the rec office. She said it would only be a matter of time until problems arose because of the distance between the two offices. She said the rec director's secretary, who now is within walking distance of the town hall, has no car and would have to walk all the way from the grandstand to do the same work at town hall. She claimed the town would be losing man- power because of the extra distance. Palmer suggested that the town would be looking at more staff for the rec offices because of the move. She said seperate bookkeeping systems and new duplicating equip- ment will be requested Councillor John Doherty said he was not swayed by McCabe's advice nor his feelings about the situation the town was in. Doherty asked McCabe "what R,psition Gardiner felt he was in when he paid taxes on the building". "That's irrelevant to this situation," said McCabe. "It's not irrelevant, the man's paying takes on a building he can't make use of," argued Doherty. "It shouldn't have been there in the first place' but that's before my time," countered the clerk. McCabe said he had advised Gardiner of the situation but did not know what Gardiner planned to do. Goderich Green and Parent Mustang` captain Larry Madge accepts the Ontario Midget BB championship trophy from Ontario Minor Hockey Association representative Al Richardson ln Borden Sunday. Goderich won Inside • Great bike ride Page 2 the fifth game in Borden 6-3 to win the provincial title. After losing the opening game of the series Goderich won four straight games. (photo by Dave Sykes) Election in gear Page 3 GLT hires pro Page • 6 Industry and farming? Page 11A Midgets Win BB title Page 11 Happiness Page 1A