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The Wingham Advance Times, 1987-10-06, Page 01f PENr THIS ORIGINAL PAINTING was purchased by Sharon Long at the Blake Evans, Ducks Unlimited committee chairman. Organizers are first annual dinner and auction of Wingham Committee of Ducks calling the event a success as a capacity crowd turned out to enjoy Unlimited on Friday night at the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community the banquet and bid on the many items of art in support of waterfowl Centre. With Mrs. Long is the artist Frank Northgrave, centre, and conservation. Committee is re -activated to, study Lower Town. Dam, The Town of Wingham has reacti- vated its ad hoc committee to look for solutions to the problem in the Lower Town Dam area which has existed since the dam was washed out in a storm in June, 1984. Announcement of the committee's re -activation was made by its chairman, Wingham Councillor Ron Beecroft in an interview on Satur- day. In addition to Mr. Beecroft, members of the committee who attended its first meeting held recently are Mayor Jack Kopas, Reeve Bruce Machan and Deputy Reeve Bill Harris. Les Tervit, Maitland Valley Con- servation Authority general man- ager, also attended the meeting and the group discussed four basic alternatives for solving the problem. These included: --Replacing a control structure such as the one which previously existed. --Constructing a fixed weir which would be easy to maintain, but had a replacement cost originally of ap- proximately $350,000. Mr. Beecroft estimates that cost would have in- creased to $400,000 at today's prices. --Create a new channel and develop the river bottom as park land. --Take no action at all. Of the four, the development of the river bottom as park land seemed the most likely to the committee as the course of action to be pursued. It was suggested that grants might be available from the Ministry of Recreation and Tourism or -from the Parks Assistance Act, through the Ministry of Natural Resources. Exploring this concept further the committee looked at a number of. related options, including: utilizing MNR to design a park system in that area, hiring a landscape architect, and making use of resources available from the University of Guelph. In addition, Mr. Tervit told the committee there is a small amount of funding available at the discretion of MVCA. If these funds were matched by the town, he indicated a certain amount of development could be provided over a period of several years. Mr. Tervit was asked by the committee to contact Bob Moos of the MNR as well as the University of Guelph to determine what resources the institution could offer. He also promised to get further imformation on the grant structures available under the Parks Assistance Act. Mr. Beecroft said he would call the next meeting of the committee when Mr. Tervit has gathered all the in- formation. Urban municipalities face reduction in road rebates Following a test run during the regular October session of Huron County Council, the hot issue of proposed cutbacks in the level of urban rebates has been handed back to the county roads committee for further study. Urban rebates are considered to be the county's contribution toward road work in its towns and villages. Although the Public Transportation and Highway Improvement Act sets the minimum rebate at 25 per cent of the amount levied on the urban municipality for county road pur- poses, Huron County has set the urban rebate level at 45 per cent. The maximum under the act is 50 percent. The roads committee, in its report to council's October session, recommended the level of urban rebates be decreased to the statutory minimum 25 per cent. The committee's rationale for the move it that it would,000 n IM whirovile ch proximately $ the cmmty could use to increase the work on its road system. ..eduction in provincial funding ,or municipal road work over the past decade have resultedin in roads requiring improvement, County requiring Merrell Mares �inettwwhhicaccompanied the 00mmittsele recommendation. Throughout that report, however, Merrell avoidedmaking fogr the Clear cut recommendation Amy to reduce the urban rebates. Swe ral brant 1n his report he makes it clear that the urban rebRte level is not an engineering issue, but a political one. Mr. Merral's report suggests any additional funding for the county road program would help reduce the backlog fKe% by his department, however, "whether county council increases the road budget through a general increase in the county levy, or through a reduction in urban rebates should not be a concern to the county engineer." Colborne Township Reeve J. R. Kernighan, roads committee chairman, called for some "good. honest discussion" on the issue rather than confrontation. He said the committee's intentiah in making the recommendation was merely to provoke such a discussion. "I'm not a confrontation type of person," Mr. Kernighan said. "Those of you who want to make it into a confrontation go ahead." However, he told council the engineer's report is the most comprehensive ever presented on the issue and outlined several op- tions from which the county could choose. The committee chose this recommendation because it was the one most likely to encourage debate. If council were to reduce the urban rebatea to the statutory minimum, the move would result to higher taxation at the tical level for the five towns and five villages. For the Village of Zurich at least, it would mean a possible five -mill increase, Reeve Bob Fisher said, somethimt the village would be hard-pressed to justify to its ratepayers. Statistics handed out to members of council by Exeter Reeve Bill Mickle gave a breakdown of the increase in taxation which the towns and villages would experience in 1988 should the rebates be reduced to 25 per cent. Goderich would appear to be the greatest loser, strictly in terms of total dollars lost, with $58,853 shaved from a rebate of $131,970 at the present level. At the proposed 25 per cent, the Goderich rebate would be =73,318. For the other towns, the difference in rebates between the present 45 per cent and the proposed 25 per cent would be: Exeter, $28,595; Wingham, $18,216; Clinton, $14,849; Seaforth, $12,649. For the villages, the differences would be: Hensall, $9,267; Payfield, $7,602; Blyth, $4,601; Arussels, $4,493; Zurich, $3,316. Every year, each municipality in the county is assessed for its con- tribution to the county road levy. At Ad deadline this Friday The deadline for classified ad- vertising to appear in next week's issue of The Advance -Times is this Friday afternoon, Oct. 9. The advanced deadline is required due to the Thanksgiving holiday Monday, Oct. 19. present however, the urban municipalities receive a 45 per cent rebate on that levy since most have no county roads — or very few — within their boundaries. This means, as Mr. Mickle's handout states, the towns and villages are contributing 55 per cent of their apportionate share toward county roads. If the rebate is reduced, the urban municipalities will be faced with paying 75 per cent of their apportionate share to the county road system in addition to a 100 per cent responsibility for their own street program. A survey of 10 nearby counties, including Huron, shows that four — Wellington, Middlesex, Lambton and. Elgin — have set their urban rebate level at the statutory minimum of 25 per cent, while just one, -Perth, is at the statutory maximum of 50 per cent. Both Kent and Essex Counties have set their level at 40 per cent, while Grey County's urban rebate level stands at 35 per cent. In Bruce the level is at 30 per cent, although Kincardine is allowed a 50 per cent rebate since its main street has been assumed by the county. Bayfield Reeve Dave Johnston said a reduction in the rebates at this time would be inappropriate.. He urged the road committee to at least consider phasing in any reduction over a period of several years to avoid economic hardship to some of (Please turn to page 9A) 11 4 Fire officials advise board level of protection optional A meeting last Monday evening between two representatives of the Ontario Fire Marshal's office and the Wingham and Area Fire Board clarified several areas, but failed to resolve the larger issue: how to lessen Fire Chief Harley Gaunt's load of assigned duties. o Bob Beckett and Bruce Gougeon of the fire marshal's office attended the meeting. In January, Mr. Gougeon will commence an in-depth study into the recommended staffing and capital requirements of the department. Jim Taylor, fire board chairman, gave a brief background presen- tation. Mr. Gaunt's full-time em- ployer, the Wingham Public Utilities Commission, is concerned about the amount of time the chief must spend at fire -related duties, including inspections, which take him away from his job at the PUC. Earlier this year the commission stipulated that Mr. Gaunt not be allowed any more time off for anything other than actual fire calls and asked the board to come up with a satisfactory solution to the matter by the end of this year. Department is called to car fire The Wingham and Area Fire Department responded to a car fire Sunday evening at Lot 33, Con. 12, of Turnberry Township. Details of the mishap were not available at press time from either the department or the Ontario Provincial Police at Wingham. in a separate incident Sunday, the department was called to the farm of Barry Ireland, Lot 4, Cop. 9 of Turnberry Township at 12:38 p.m. Wingham Fire Chief Harley Gaunt reports no damages in the chimney fire. The department was called to a chimney fire last Saturday evening at 6:30 at the home of Steve MacTavish, 77 Sunset Crescent, Wingham. Mr. Gaunt reports no damage. °' New MOH gets introduction to county council Huron County Council was intro- duced to the county's_ neW medical officer of health at its October session. Dr. Maarten Bokhout was on hand for presentation of the Huron County Board of Health report to council and was introduced by Goderich Township Reeve Grant Stirling, board chairman. Mr. Stirling also expressed the board's thanks to Dr. James McGregor of Wingham, who had been acting medical officer of health since the resignation of Dr. Harry Cieslar. At its September meeting the board decided a full-time fire chief's position is not affordable. "We have a volunteer fire department here and we want to keep it that way," said Mr. Taylor. i John Jacques said the board has discussed various options, including hiring a fire -prevention officer, a building inspector perhaps, to help with inspections. "is the board aware of the chief's responsibilities?" asked Mr. Beckett, who said inspections are just one part of the chief's duties. "Yes, I think we're aware of the responsibilities and what's involved to do a good job," said Ron Beecroft. "Our main problem is funding. Now if the province was willing to put the dollars on the table..." While Mr. Gougeon agreed fire protection is an expensive proposition, he asked, "At what point do you stop paying?" Since fire protection is optional under the province's Municipal Act, he cote tinued, a municipality may offer as little or as much protection as it chooses. "Then we can choose a different level of service," said Howie Morton and Mr. Gougeon agreed. "Who then will do inspections if we don't?" asked Mr. Taylor. The onus is on the owner of the building to comply with the Fire Code, replied Mr. Gougeon, adding that private consultants can be hired, but at a cost. When asked if inspections of public buildings, such as schools and hospitals, are the responsibility of the board, Mr. (Please turn to page 3A) Alzheimer's information night ..... ... .. Page 2A PeeWee Champions , Page 5A a.... Remembrance Day Thoughts ....... Page 1 B Bluevale Mites, Tri -County Champs ....... Page 313 Recreation Master Plan ... , . Page 6B Inside Cragtreads Reflexology, ancient art ...... Page 2A Microwave Magic .. Page 6A H. Gordon Green ... Page 9A Star Gazing ....... Page 6B Show Biz ....... Page 13B Sports for the week ...... Page 14B Special meeting will start a _ annexation fact-finding study The Town of Wingham is about to take its second step in a move toward annexation of lands situated in neighboring Turnberry Township. A special meeting of town council has been called for Tuesday, Oct. 20 when Don Taylor of the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs municipal boundaries branch will begin a fact-finding study on Wingham's annexation concept. At its September meeting, town council passed a bylaw which requested the ministry to appoint a fact -finder to officially start the ball rolling on the town's quest for developmental land. For some time now, development in the town — industrial in par- ticular, but to a degree, residential as well — has been hampered by the lack of suitable land within the Wingham boundaries. Any overtures on annexation which the town has made to Turn - berry Township has been met by courteous but firm opposition by members of township council. Time of the Ort. 20 meeting is 5 p.m. in the council chambers at Wingham Town Hall. Single -car mishap results in damage A single -car accident last Saturday morning sent a Wingham- area man to hospital with minor injuries and resulted. in $3,000 damage. An Ontario Provincial Police spokesman at Wingham reports Leonard J. Sangster, 32, of RR 2, Wingham, was travelling on the B line at,9:30 a.m. when he lost control of the 1982 Toyota he was driving. The police say the vehicle hit a cemetery fence post and a tree. According to the OPP, Mr. Sangster was treated for minor injuries at the Wingham and District Hospital and released. READY TO Cin — Justin McTavish, 5, waits for his parents with Duchess, ready to set out in the Walk-a- doq-athon sponsored by the Winijham lions Club on Sunday. Justin is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Stew* McTavish of Wingham.