Loading...
The Wingham Advance-Times, 1984-05-09, Page 1Os. months after it decisively' voted down a ofloi# turn over control t11e town • police depart- ment;toapR ieeco ission, Wirigbarn own Co it has changed its mind. In a. surprise move which tante at the very end of a too r a a=ham-hour meet- n?g' 1Vfenda ' night,: half an hour after its usual curfew, council voted 543 to set the wheels in motion to form a eom*nission• All three councillors voting against the motion are members of the present police committee. A fourth member, Mayor William Harris, supported .orted the RP motion, while the fifth, Deputy Reeve Patricia Bailey (who has •rejoined council after resigning at.the last meeting) was *art It all started apparently innocently after council returned from a lengthy session in camera to discuss 44. ah he police matter;; with `bei e tt Oa a Bruce _.a c r Meehan kl Co o a suggesting this might he a th€ good time to put a maim on cot the floor to go to W police `coo commission:" the It ended half an hour later any/ with two" police committee cote members, plainly, furious, charging that councilwas RS l a y tir bJ 'beeenn ,haled""by out 4yth the ier"n 'tle discus- .sionAL;Ie J fl pensession, Mae= per - two e of fed' , councillors:to range their views on . a police commission, .allowing the vote to. pass. However it appears to be connected tel the police committee's problems in contract • negotiations with the local police association, leading to a letter . (which. was cir- culated cttlated fo other coat but never made public) from the association to the mayor. Just prior to this discussion, after spending about 45 minutes behind closed doors, council had voted 6-2 to hire town solicitor John Skinner of Stratford to take over ' negotiations with the police. In raising the proposal to form a commission, Mr. Machan told council he had' been re -thinking for a couple of weeks his decision to vote against a commission at the earlier meeting. He said he had just satfor NEW LODGE OFFICERS-Wingham's Masonic Lodge held its . installation ceremonies for 1984=85 last Tuesday evening. New of- Jicers_are: tack,_Scott Reid, historian, Gord Cowman, chaplain; Dave Curzon, director of ceremonies; P-et-ert6llirrger,-tyter;-centre; Gecsrge Prue, junior deacon; Larry Marzetti, senior steward; Gary McCormick, • . ...,,P',12's'Z,.: . newt: :�. ir..fier guard; Doug McBurney, senior deacon; Kevin FaleOner, junior steward; front, Dave Hynes, senior warden;Gord Bax4r; ,mmediate. "r'- asters am -Mill eT- rshi +fur rx►aster; arid -Fred'' a`- . for. FIRST SECTION bain Wingham, Ontario, Wednesday, May 9, 1984 Increase productivity, flexibility an hour " listening" .to "squabblingoaover the e police" and heariipg that negotia- tions had >enj down, whether b S Qf P - ity clashes or for whatever reason. The meeting he at- tended recently regarding cuts un the police budget also Please turn to Page 3 Single Copy 50e Foundry to spend $3 million updating plant in current year The Western Foundry necks which have left the Cornpany Limited of foundry floor piled high with -Wingham is spending an - castings waiting to be ••estimated $3 million this finished. and boxes and bags year, as part of an ongoing of material crammed into program. to help it compete every available space. in the marketplace and It is not enough just to respond to the changing build the system around the demands of an unpredictable "peaks however, Mr. economy. LeVan noted, since the , The, major changes, which resulting debt could -strangle include the addition of a the company during the third melting furnace, a "valleys" when demand h i h he said is machine and a 5,000 -square- bound to happier sometime. foot building to house core The challenge is to design storage and the pattern:shop, a system sufficiently flexible larger " automatic molding falls off, wc will increase both production ` to cope with both the peaks e fo �: coup nY qs •t ";ng ind' ways to'.stripe a balance Which will keep the em,- it gets an order for a per- centage of a customer's requirements — which can vary considerably depending on how busy the customer happens to be — and it is expected to be able to meet it. If it cannot meet the demand, it may get a smaller percentage or lose the order entirely. In addition to building the plant to accommodate production peaks, the foundry also depends on its workforce to meet changing .demandsa he added, and the Warden. -These h ';�, :vx�*^-" ,,. .,. ,ra"` :.r_ •vJ�.,.•; ✓, a xau3tdryi P.restdellt:i� .•;.cae,^�. E - d(�^ the., undli es er. of ret Pr ns set ,�`'}ai'`. nyi�fu!�i:•itt the•pla,number„.; I� Voices concern re mere Van explained. • does not ge an order for " a are an expansion of the sand: month, he e,itplarnect lnst:ead handling system and the castings cleaning depart - merit to accommodate ■ mThis sproduction. the most money the orhandicappedyear on o serv���s it With only one more year to go before special education is fully in place, the Huron County Board of Education has taken further steps to be ready for the 1985 deadline. Lloyd strike in eighth week A strike by about 140 wood- working employees at the Premium -Lloyd door factory in Wingham is entering its eighth week with no sign when it might be settled. During the past seven weeks representatives of the company and the union have met only about three times, with negotiations remaining deadlocked on the issue of wages. The company's latest offer was an increase of 80 cents an hour over two years, while the union is asking for $1.10 over the two years. The two sides have not met for two weeks, and a union representative said Monday that no date had been set for the next meeting. He said the union has told the Ontario Labor Relations Board mediator it is willing to meet again at any time, but the company has so far ex- pressed no interest. At a recent special meet- ing about 75 parents and teachers watched as the board reviewed its planning guide•for September 1985 for the education of develop- mentally handicapped stu- dents and those students who live in' a facility such as a group home. The plan for the develop- mentally handicapped in- - volves the merger of facili- ties at Huron Home now lo- cated within J. A. D. Mc- Curdy Public School in Huron Park. Huron Hope is currently operated by South Huron District Association for the Mentally Retarded. Don Campbell, executive director for the association, said the merger for school- age children (six to 21 years) is a good move, but he 'does have some concerns. He reminded trustees that children in Huron Hipe are "severely and profoundly handicapped" and consider- ing that fact, require special care. Mr. Campbell outlined some considerations which include the need for special transportation, the future of Huron Hope's present staff, medical support and the need for a public meeting to explain the takeover to parents. Furnace is damaged at Western Foundry A melt -out in one of the electric furnaces at the Western Foundry early Monday morning allowed about 10 tons of molten iron to escape, resulting in a small fire and damaging the furnace's wiring and hydraulic systems. However no one was in- jured in the incident and the furnace is expected to be back in production within a week. The accident was caused by a wearing out of the refractory lining in the furnace, one of the two older furnaces at the foundry, spokesman R. W. • LeVan Mr. ' Carroll said no guarantees can be made re- garding the hiring of staff.as the actual hiring won't be done for another year. He also said the board is buying a specially -equipped van at an estimated Cost of $25,074. 'The board's bus contractors reported. He said this in- cident was not as severe as a similar one which occurred several years ago, although the loss of the furnace will decrease the production capacity while it is being repaired. In the meantime the foundry will continue to operate with the remaining two furnaces, including one which just went into pro- duction 'earlier this spring. Recently the foundry has been running around the dock to meet orders for automotive parts, which currently form the backbone of its business. will also have to provide some speical transportation vehicles; said Mr. Carroll. The preparation of a noon" meal for the students is a major concern said Mr. Campbell. He said the asso- ciation has been providing this service and because of specialized diets the children can't "brown bag it" for lunch.. "Some are on a puree diet," said Mr. Campbell. Special education superin- tendent, Paul Carroll, said the lunch as well as medical Please turn to Page 3 Tax increase held to 2.8 per cent for '84 Despite a 6.5 per cent increase in the taxes to be collected for the town's own purposes, the overall mill rate for public school sup- porters in the Town of Wingham has increased by less than three per this year. The tax increase of only 2.8 per cent, the lowest in many years, was made possible by an actual decrease in the amount of taxes being collected for the Huron County Board of Education this year. In a turnabout from previous years, when the school board was frequently to blame for pushing up local mill rates, this year saw a decrease in its requirements for both elementary and secondary schools. The taxes to be collected in Wingham for secondary schools are down by 2.7 per cent, while for elementary schools they are down by 1.8 per cent. • For separate school supporters, the overall mill rate is up by 4.6 per cent this year, due to an increase of 5.5 per cent in the requisition by the separate school board. The other component of the mill rate, the requisition by the County of Huron, is up by eight per cent for Wingham this year. However it is the smallest component of the total rate so its effect is less severe. In presenting the new mill rates to council on Monday night, Finance Chairman Jack Kopas noted the overall increase is down from last year, when taxes increased by about five per cent. In dollars and cents, the mill rate represents a property ..tax increase of about $25 for a homeowner whose property is assessed at $3,000, to $931:90 this year from $906.30 in 1983. For a property owner paying into the separate school system, the increase is about $40, to $943.33 this year from $901.79 last year on a property assessed at $3,000. For the. public school supporter the taxes break down as follows: $448.98 for the town; $178.64 for secondary schools; $219.27 for elementary schools and $85 for the county. foundry has ever spent in one expansion, Mr. LeVan said, and represents a catch-up for capital expenditures which were not made during the recession of the past few years. The price tag could go still higher if the industry decides to proceed with plans, currently under con- sideration, to add a fourth furnace which would in- crease • flexibility in the melting department. That would cost approiiiniately another one million dollars. The expansion is required to 'enable the foundry to handle the periods of peak demand, such as the ane in which it currently finds it- self. With the automotive industry; its single major customer, now booming, the foundry has been working 24 hours a day six and some- times seven days a week to keep up. The result of trying to put 150 tons of iron a day through a system designed for 100 tons has produced bottle - No watering lawns during repairs to town standpipe Residents of Wingham are being asked not to use sprinklers on their lawns and gardens this spring and summer while the town's water standpipe is out of service for repairs. With the standpipe drained, the Public Utilities Commission has been maintaining water pressure using its pumps and a system of release valves. This has been working well, apart from some reports of "water hammer" in plumbing, but a. large increase in demand to water lawns and gardens would create problems, the PUC says. At a commission meeting last week, Manager Ken Saxton asked Mayor William Harris if Town Council would pass a bylaw prohibiting watering during the standpipe repairs. The bylaw would permit the PUC to patrol the town and shut off any sprinklers, if necessary. In addition, anyone planning to fill a swimming pool should first contact the PUC. Mr. Saxton said he plans to place notices in the newspaper advising of the prohibition and commissioners said they felt most people would cooperate voluntarily if it were Yes liapPy=. I Looking ahead, Mr. LeVan said he is more convinced than ever that North American industries are facing a world market in the future, and unless they can improve both in quality and productivity they will be unable to compete against either the industrial giants such as Japan or emerging industrial powers with lower wage scales like Mexico or Brazil. He said he believes that Western, Foundry, through the use of innovations such 'troI, has 'the nuclof what • it will take to remain "com- petitive. Atlas offers opportunity to 'go down in history' You say you would like to go down in history? to make your mark on life? to have your memory linger on after you are gone? Well, there is one -way to ensure you will not disap- pear entirely, at least from the annals of Huron•County, and it won't cost as much as building a pyramid: send your story to the Huron County Atlas. The new atlas, which is being undertaken en by the county as 'T n. Ontario bicentennial project, aims explained to them. Work on the standpipe has been underway for a couple of weeks. Major repairs to the interior and experior of the structure to stop water seepage and deterioration of the concrete are expected to take until mid- July, Mr. Saxton said. The cost of the repairs is estimated at more than $120,000, with 75 per cent of the money to come from the Ontario Environment Ministry and the remaining 25 per cent from the PUC. In other business at the meeting, com- missioners discussed holding an informal meeting with Town Council to talk about setting up a computer system for both to .use. Mr. Harris said council's management committee has requested the meeting. Council is not necessarily looking at buying a computer this year, but maybe a couple of years down the road, he said. The PUC readily agreed to meet with council and also suggested bringing some knowledgeable computer people into the dis- cussion to offer advice. The PUC has been using a small computer in its office for the past two years. to preserve a slice of life as it exists in Huron today. Not history in the strict sense of the word, the atlas will record a cross-section of the families, activities and businesses that are here in 1984 so that a century front now our descendants or newcomers to Huron can look back and trace family histories or simply marvel at our primitive existence. To be successful, however, the atlas is completely dependent upon individual families, farms, businesses, industries, organizations and institutions to prepare and submit their stories and photographs. Bev Brown, a Bluevale- area farmer and journalist recently hired to coordinate the atlas, calls it an exciting project and a "fun thing to be involved in." It promotes the county, she noted, and preserves a record so that future generations will be able to look back and see who lived where and was doing what in 1984. As well, sons, daugh- ters and grandchildren can look and see their family names or pictures. To make a contribution to the atlas you must contact KISS Brown at 335-6118 or the atlas office at 524-8394 or 524- 2950 by no later than May 15 to reserve a space. You can also pay a visit to the atlas office in the Goderich court- house any weekday between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. If you are unsure what to put in, you can call there for uggestions and advice. There is a space charge for all material submitted for publication ranging between $35 for one -twelfth of a page and $200 for a full page. If you don't feel you warrant a story or photo- graph but you still would like to make sure your name appears in the atlas you can become a patron. A con- tribution of $35 entitles you to have your name and that of "- your spouse as well as your occupation and address listed in the back of the book, and also buysyou a copy of the completed atlas. Organizers hope to have the new county atlas published before Christmas this year and the price is expected to be in the neigh- borhood of $35. The size and format will follow the style of the 1879 historical atlas, which was reprinted in 1972. Resignation withdrawn Pat Bailey returns to seat on council A month- after she walked out of a council meeting and announced she was resigning for personal reasons, Deputy Reeve Patricia Bailey has reclaimed her seat on the Wingham Town Council. In a letter to Mayor William Harris dated May 2, Mrs. Bailey announced she was withdrawing her letter of resignation "as many citizens in Wingham feel I have let them down by quitting." She also noted that she had been invited to attend two important conventions on day care, which she could not attend 'except as an elected representative. Although she was not at Monday night's regular council meeting, having been called to Toronto to meet with Premier William Davis and a number of cabinet ministers regarding day care, her letter was conveyed to council. Little comment was made about her return, although Councillor Jack Kopas ex- pressed concern that during the past year Mrs. Bailey had attended only about half the meetings of the finance and management com- mittee, of which she is a member. He said he hopes she will be able'to adjust her schedule so she can get to more of the Meetings. While he commented that her return would almost certainly make council meetings much more ex- citing, he took issue with some of her recent com- ments which he called "unfair, unfounded and unwarranted". Without being specific, he said he "looks forward to hearing her defend some concerns she has chosen to raise publicly." Council also approved "a motion by Mr. Kopas ap- pointing Mrs. Bailey as its official delegate to day care conventions being held in Sarnia and Toronto. Local Lion is elected dep. governor John. McInnes of Wing - ham, a member of the Wing - ham Lions Club and past zone chairman, was recently elected as Lions deputy dis- trict governor for this region of District A-9. The election took during a Lions convention at Port Elgin in late April. Elected as governor of District A-9 was Orbin Sok- meter of the Mildmay LIMOS Club, who operates Lake Huron Moving Systems at Wingham.