Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1989-05-02, Page 17Agegifl�ti i'c nAFdvbr:9aJcisoraa RETIREMENT PARTY Jack VanCamp, third from left, Wingham's town works foreman and. building inspector for the past nine years, was honored at an'informal retirement party last week. Making presentations to Mr. VanCamp are Wayne Kregar of the works department, Wingham Reeve Bruce Machan and Mayor Ian Moreland, who respectively presented Mr. VanCamp with a tool po ch, a watch and a plaque. Turnberry Cental School • announces expansion plans The Ontario Ministry of Educa- tion has confirmed the award of $241,000 to provide additional space at five Huron County public schools, including a new library at Turnberry Central School. A total of 80 per cent of the amount, or $193,000, represents the share of the expenditure accepted by the Ontario government. The balance of $48,000 becomes the responsibility of the local board. In responding to the grant announcement, R. B. Allan, Huron County director of education, says the funds will be used to provide additional classroom space in five school locations. The approach will include three different options. The most impor- tant goal will be to provide ade- quate library education and com- puter space where such space presently is not provided. Multi-purpose library additions will proceed at Turnberry Central Thieve's work for naught, alarm foils break-in Thieves went to a lot of hard work cutting a hole in the roof of the Zehrs store Sunday, only to see their efforts go in vain. Wingham Police Chief Bob Wittig told The Advance -Times that the attempted break-in occurred some- time Sunday night. Police suspect that two thieves attempted to enter the building through a hole they had cut in the roof, but the first person through the makeshift entry set off the in- store alarm and alerted police. Mr. Wittig said nothing was taken and estimated the damage in the :nof at $1,000. School, Blyth Public School and Walton Public School. Brussels Pub- lic School will see a single class- room added and three additional classrooms will be provided at South Huron District High School at Exeter. Floyd Herman, principal at Turn - berry Central School, expressed pleasure at the announcement. Presently, the school library is housed in a converted classroom. The new plan will enable this space to be used once again as a regular classroom — resulting in reduced class sizes and, ultimately, quality education. The new structure, approximate- ly twice the size of an existing class room, will be attached to the school building. Not only will it provide a larger library, but also will make possible areas for listening stations, viewing of filmstrips, as well as quiet areas for reading, research and for magazines and newspa- pers. The new work space also will house a permanent bank of com- puters and provide space for spe- cial education. The board proposals represent phase one in the implementation of a multi-year plan to upgrade school accommodation in Huron County public schools. RNA. students graduate May 19 Wingham and District Hospital's school for registered nursing assis- tants will graduate its 1989 class on May 19 at 2 p.m. The hospital's board of governors learned at its regular April meeting that this year the graduation exer- cises will be held at the Wingham United Church. "Space pressures for new pro- grams in Huron County schools have been a problem for several years," says Board Chairman John Jewitt. "We are pleased that in spite of the shortage of capital funding, cre- ative solutions to solve space prob- lems are being found." Mr. Jewitt also predicts that similar ventures in the next few years will lead to significant improvements in the quality of school buildings throughout the county. Agency elects 15 to board Election of 15 members to the board pf directors highlighted the 1989 annual meeting of Family and Children's Services of Huron Coun- ty last week at the corporation offices in Goderich. Family and Children's Services is operated by the Children's Aid Society and is responsible for the protection of children under 16 who live in Huron County. The board of directors, elected annually, consists of 15 people —four appointed by the County of Huron which provides 20 per cent of the funding for the agency's $1.4 million budget. The four county appointees are Warden David Johnston, W.L. Mickle, Albert Wasson and George Cantelon. Direct&rs elected by the member- ship are Dorothy Coultes, Marian Doucette, Torn Flynn, Murray Hord, Roberta Kloss, Mary Moffatt, Michael Park, Suzy Symes, Dr. Bruce Thomasson, Norm Tait and Paul •Zurbrigg. HCBE '89 budget me $40 average ta* irterease The end result of the Huron County Board of Education's 1989 budget is an approximate 10 per cent increase after the inclusion of special projects. To the average residential proper- ty, this translates into a tax increase of about $40. The budget was passed at a spe- cial meeting last week and was to be ratified at the board's regular May meeting yesterday in Clinton. In the 1989 budget, an allocation of $500,000 has been set aside for projects which, according to HCBE Director of Education Bob Allan, "make sense and are vitally required:' Mr. Allan said the projects have been decided upon in a thoughtful way and cannot be seen as extrane- ous. Prior to the funding of special projects, the consolidated taxes were up 7.1 per cent. A $44,000 average residential assessment would be $427.24, up from last year's taxes of $398.91. Following a motion by Trustee Bea Dawson, the board decided that administration should make the suggested decisions on what the priority projects will be, then submit their analysis to board members at a future1meeting, along `with a list of projects eliminated or postponed, to assist the board in making its final decision. Ms. Dawson pointed** her opinion, . this is the ilest prioritize projects. "It is far too difficult for -44 peo- ple to decide," shesaid, adding that. there are many schools in the coun- ty in which she has never even been inside. "1 know what my priorities are, but someone else from another municipality may have strong feel- ings in another direction," she said. "I feel the administration is in the best position to handle this." Mr. Allan paid tribute to the bud- get committee and the HCBE staff who, he said, did the best they could to stay within the stringent guidelines set. Mr. Allan also read a letter con- firming the announcement of capi- tal allocations from the board's 1989 capital expenditure forecast for Usborne Central, $40,000 for heat- ing; Central Huron Secondary School, $111,000 for heating; Goderich District Collegiate Insti- tute, $198,000 for roofing; and Howick Central, $217,000 for roof- ing. The announcement of these allo- cations, he said, does not constitute approval. The request is subject to full justification of need. Mr. Allan speculated that follow- ing the usual trends, funding for the project could be approved this year, but actual work will not com- mence until the following year. Hospital board anticipates surplus of over $200,000 Pre -audit financial statements indicate that Wingham and District Hospital will finish its fiscal year ending March 31, 1989'with'a sur- plus of $204,000. Finance and audit committee chairman, Janet Clark, included the statement in her report to the regu- lar April meeting of the hospital's board of governors. The surplus is down from that of the previous year when the hospital realized a $303,000 excess in rev- enue over expenses. In the April 1, 1988 to March 31, 1989 fiscal year, total revenue actu- ally reached $8,107,000, or $250,000 Wingham Lib smartly into c The Wingham Branch Library is entering the age of technology and automation. - The Huron County Library has used compact disc (CD) technology to place the records of all its books on a single CD. Instead of music, however, this CD indexes 500,000 titles and shows the locations of over twc million books in the 21 libraries. which co-operated to create it. ° The Public Access Catalogue will be the first catalogue of library holdings for most branches in Huron County — town libraries have previously had a card cata- logue of books in that particular branch. For all library users in Huron County, it will bring a level of infor- mation service previously expected only at a large city library. A cata- logue of this size will benefit the whole community Because of its speed and sophisti- cation, it will benefit professional, business and farming people. Because of its simplicity and its ready availability, it will benefit the children and students. In addition, because of its completeness, library officials say, it will benefit both the regular and the occasional user. It is called the Public Access Cat- alogue because it is considered very more than the $7,857,000 that was budgeted. Expenditures actually totalled $7,903,000, or $50,000 more than the $7,953,000 budgeted. As usual, the largest share of rev- enue was the $6,703,000 allocation of the Ontario Ministry of Health. On the expenditure side, salaries and wages ate up the biggest chunk at $5,420,000 with an additional $441,000 going for employee bene- fits. The official audited financial statement will be presented at the hospital's annual meeting next month. rary steps omputer age "user-friendly". The Huron County Library has built the database of the compact disc catalogue along with 20 other county and city libraries including Lambton, Middlesex and Bruce County Libraries. A fund-raising campaign will be launched to purchase the computer equipment needed to run the cata- logue at the Wingham Branch Library. The cost of each unit is approximately $3,200 with a color monitor option of an additional $400. The Library is approaching local Service clubs and businesses to ask hem to sponsor a catalogue in the ibrary. The Public Access Cata- ogue will be suitably inscribed if ny one organization or individual tndertakes to sponsor the comput- rr. When a demonstration unit is available in May, it will be set up in he branch libraries so that local residents and library users can see _ how it works and try it out. The Huron County Library hopes to install the catalogues in the larg- er branch libraries in 1989. As soon as the money is raised in any community, the computer sys- tem can be set up and running in that library.