HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1988-08-16, Page 17If
•r,
Rei
Olt ''td
Eire.
g that
tally this
a ane II
fire calls are :II S
year.
Thee-huarre been 40 calls to We end
of July,, 1988 and 107 hours spent
fighting fires, reported Mr. Gaunt:
This compares to 61 calls for the
whole of 1987 and 108 firefighting
hours.
The chief also presented. a;
breakdown .of the cails,,and hours;
Tur ber
'i i ha
Waw
o!d t
occluirenceS hay,
due tn. the excep
conditions. this
-prreper°ty do a is w`
par �ye fret
Firefightingcosts ark
municipalities involved -
$500 per hour..
KIDS' PLACE ACTIVITIES are winding down for another summerdRho . Wingham'ntecostal Church
and the youngsters made decorations for their closing party this Friday, .Aug. 1 9, Last week they made
colorful balloon decorations with glue; and tissue paper.
HCBE takes step toward
fl'daryTeb
An ad hoc committee has ap-
proved a new formula for public
school trustee redistribution in
Huron County.
The new formula — recommended
by the, Huron County Board of
Education at a special meeting Aug.
2 — will see the boundaries of all but
four of the present school board
electoral districts changed at the
municipal elections in November.
The redistribution will result in the
addition of two new trustees to the
board, bringing the total mem-
bership to 16.
A committee consisting of the
municipal clerks of Goderich,
Exeter and the Township of Stephen
— representing the three regions in
the county with the largest
representation of public school
supporters — met in Clinton last
week with Huron County Clerk -
Administrator Bill Hanly and Bob
Allen, HCBE director of education.
The new electoral boundaries are
the result of Bill 125, which received
royal assent in June, providing for
school trustees across the province
to be distributed according to
support population rather than on
the basis of total property tax
assessment — the practice in the
past.
The addition of two trustees to the
HCBE is the result of -,a June board
decision which eamteron the heels of
an amendtnent WSW 125 —secured
by an Ontario .:Public School
Trustees' Associatronlobby group ---
permitting boards to increase or
decrease their total board size by
one or two trustee*,
The loss of two -Of its meiribers in
1987, as a result of full Riling for
separate schools inOntariO4 rated
the HCBE which lost no , tee in
moving to bring its total"up. too 16
members again.
Chairman John Jewitt says the
HCBE has found the work load
especially on the committees -- has
been too heavy with only 14 mem-
bers and thinks 16 trustees will mean
a much fairAr digtrihiitinn of the.
•
load.
The new electoral boundaries for
Huron — expected to be approved by
the municipalities involved as well
as the County of Huron, the Ontario
Municipal Board (OMB), and :.the
ministry of education — will see the
present school board divisions of
Brussels and Grey Township,
Stephen Township, Goderich and
Colborne Townships, and Bayfield
and Stanley Township remain un-
changed.
However, the present division of
Seaforth and Hullett and McKillop
Townships, currently represented
by Mr. Jewitt and Grame Craig, will
be re -organized as two divisions —
Blyth 'and Hullett Township, and
Seaforth and McKillop Township.
At present, John Elliott represents
Blyth as well as the Townships of
Morris and East Wawanosh. Under
the new system, East and West
Wawanosh and Ashfield Townships
will form one division, while Morris
and Turnberry Townships will be
grouped together.
Also under the new system, the
Town of Goderich will be able to
elect two public school tees,
while Wingham, Clinton and'Exeter
will each elect one, and the county's
fifth town, Seaforth, shares its
trustee with McKillbp 1 ovvnship:
The distribution of trustees and of
electoral boundaries has been
worked out in a complicatedformula
which delivers -an "electoral
quotient" factor — where a factor of
1.00 guarantees the apportionment
of One trustee "as nearly as prac-
ticable". hence Goderich, with an
eI ctorrl, quotient of 2.09, will get
twotruttees.
One aspect of the redistribution
system is the possibility that some of
the- present trusteescould, if they
decided to stand for re-election in
November, be forced to run against
each other because of their Wine
addresses and the changed boon-
dories.
An appeal procedure is in place for
any objections which may arise
under the new system, but appeals
must lie in by Aug. 25 in order to be
considered by the OMB.
Facilities °
manager hired
Peter Quennell of Listowel has
been hired as the new facilities
manager for the Town of Wingham.
Mr. Quennell started his employ-
, ment Monday: Of the 14 applicants
for the utilities, manager position,
seven were interviewed.
Meanwhile, , more than 60
applications have been received for
the vacant position of recreation.
director. Clerk -Treasurer Byron
Adams reports that the hiring
committee is expected to begin
interviewing those on the "short
list" this week.
Increased fines under- the Weed
Control Act have been announced by
Agriculture and Food Minister and
Huron MPP Jack Riddell, Through
the huge increases, the government
hopes to improve control of noxious
weeds.
For a first offence, offenders will
now be fined between $500 and
$1,000, while any subsequent offence
will cost from $1,000 to12,00Q, Prior
to the increase, a first offence
maximum fine was $50 and any
subsequent offence carried a fine of
between $50 and $100.
The act was recently amended by
the legislature to increase fines and
allow other changes. The act,. is
intended to reduce the infestation of
agricultural Yd °t1r'. rptopertiees
with weeds from neighboring
properties and help eliminate health
hazards from weeds such as rag-
weed and poison ivy.
It will also help reduce plant
--diseases ..,bye., controlling ` alternate
hosts — for example, cereal rust
caused by common barberry, and
European buckthorn.
OPP warn of
Sportsfest
spotchecks
Commencing the weekend of
August 19, Sportsfest will be held in
Wingham and the surrounding area,
This event usually attracts large
numbers of people.
In the interest of the safety of
these visitors and the safety of the
motoring public ingeneral, the
Wingham OPP detachment and
number six district RIDE will be
conducting RIDE spotchecks all
weekend.
The OPP strongly encourages
people attending events where
liquor will be served to use a
designated driver, -
Through another change in .the
act, municipalities may now pass'a
bylaw designating local weeds as
noxious, with the:approval 01 the Oh-
tarioFood Ministry of Agriculture and
If any inspector is refused entry to
a property, he may apply via justtice
of the peace for a warrantunder the
act. 'A landowner who has received
an order and wishes to appeal it to
the chief inspector,; :roust do so in
writing within seven days.
Mr. Riddell says the changes to
the act were requested-by,more than
20 councils and regions and have
been reviewed and supported by
county and regional weed
anspe tors
r�.fi
will attend
courses in. '89
A total of 17, members of the
Wingham Area Fire Department
have been enrolled in' training
courses at the Ontario Fire College
at Gravenhurst next year.
Thertirenien will be attending the
weekend courses in fire prevention
and basic firefighting, Fire Chief
Harley Gaunt said in a telephone
interview following last week's fire
board meeting.
Board member Ron Beecroft gave
his vote of thanks to the firemen for
attending the fire college courses, as
it is something the board had asked
them to do.
In a related , matter, Chairman
John Jacques said every effort
should be made to enroll Mr. Gaunt
at the fire college as soon as possible
for some courses, possibly in
management or personnel.
Mr. Gaunt reported he was
meeting with a representative of the
Ontario' Fire Marshal's Office, Bob
Beckett, last week and said he would
discuss the matter with him
CONSERVATION AWARDS — Presentation of conservation awards and certificates highlighted the
semi-annual general meeting of the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority last week. Certificate reci-
pients are, from left: Huron County Board of Education chairman John Jewett, Walton -area farmer Ken
Glanville, Clinton -area farmer Elmer Trick, Belgrave-area farmer Gerry Jaretzke, and Howick Central
School teacher Bill Maynard. Absent is David Kilgour.
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