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.