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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1985-07-24, Page 21Back to basics. See page A6 LServing the communities areas of ssels, Dublin, Hensali Walton I INDEX Births / B3 Brussels / B2 Classified / A10, 11 Dublin / A4 Entertainment / A9, 14 Family / B4, 5 Farm / B8 Grads i B5 Hensall / A5 Legion / A9 Obituaries / B5 People I B5 Walton / B3 Weddings / B4 Postage -free. See page A3 SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 1985 — TWO SECTIONS — 22 PAGES I LOWERING THE KA 8OOM — Seaforth and area residents, as well as a number of others, were in attendance Friday night as the Seaforth and District Community Centres celebrated their third birthday. In addition to a beef barbecue dinner residents were treated to a little bit of dancing and the traditional birthday party cake and ice cream. As part of the festivities a number of balloons were dropped from the ceiling at approximately midnight to further celebrate the end of the fundraising for the building. Seaforth and area residents came together as a joint force just over three years ago and raised the money necessary to build the facility. (Mcllwraith photo) Cooperation is key in running of Huron County Health Unit Co-operation will be the key word in the running of the Huron County Health Unit. "There'll be more co-operation between the board, the medical officer of health and the administrator." said board of health chairman Bill Elston following a special meeting of the Board on July 24. The meeting was called to go over model bylaws and the roles and responsibilities of boards of health and senior staff as prepared by the Association of Ontario boards of health. The bylaws are considered to be the minimum requirements necessary for boards of health. The meeting started with consideration of a bylaw to provide for banking and finance. The board of health didn't get through the model . bylaw, however. Medical officer of health Dr. Ham Cieslar, said he wanted his role as MOH and his relationship with the board and administrator Bill Hanly to be clarified. Mr. Hardy is the secretary -treasurer of the board and as such, handles thd'Finances of the operation. Dr. Cieslar said he is caught between the ministry of health and the board. The Ministry tells him he is in charge of I everything at the health unit. including finances, and the board gives final financial authority to the county administrator. Mr. Hardy said the only financial matters that don't pass over the MOH's desk would be leasing documents and payroll because these are handled by the county's business office "Certain things I don't like" uMPIIIMISION A fflA YR BMA WA MAN There are certain things i don't think I like. If the board doesn't support me ... " said Dr. Cieslar leaving the statement unfinished. Mr. Hanly quickly responded, "f have never tried to run the health unit nor do i intend to." Several times Dr. Cieslar indicated he was so upset by the lack of his task being clearly defined, he said he would consider leaving the employ of the board. At one point, Mr. Hardy left the boardroom while the board of health went into a closed session. The MOH was with the board for just over an hour in the dosed portion, then the board met by itself and called in Mr. Hanly. The board finally came out of the closed session after almost two hours. From there it proceeded to go over the roles and responsibilities. The administrator's office will continue to do the finances for the health unit with Dr. Cieslar being notified of all financial matters. Board chairman Elston also suggested he be contacted any time, especially if there is a problem brewing in the health unit. Other board members, including Warden Paul Steckle made similar comments. The provincial representative on the board. Bill Morley of Usborne Township, hinted that untrue rumors which are a result of poor communication could also be part of .the problem. The board will consider the bylaws at future meetings. Co-ordinated health services to be studied There is a committee in Huron County looking at co-ordinated health services for the county and a district health council is at least one alternative to be considered. The Huron County community services council, a group which has been meeting regularly for a couple of years, has announced the formation of a health planning committee to study the matter of coordinating health services. The council made the decision on July 2 after Jim Bain, area planning co-ordinator for district health councils for the ministry of health, presented a report on the district health council. The local initiative has no connection with a similar study which may be undertaken in Perth County this fall, sta3ses committee spokesman Paul Carroll. Mr. Carroll repre- sents the Huron County board of education on the council. Mr. Carroll said there is no push from the ministry of health or from the local medical community to look into coordinated health services. The community services council has as its goal, the coordination and cooperation of social services in the county. There are 35 members of the council representing a wide variety of agencies, said Mr. Carroll. He also said the committee wants to stress it plans to look at the broader question of whether health care needs to be coordinated. The idea won't be to see if there is support for a district health council. Mr. Carroll did say a district health council could be one alternative for coordinating health care. The health planning committee has decided to host a public forum in mid-✓ October of this year to give an opportunity for providers and consumers to comment on the need for more coordination, said Mr. Carroll. He indicated a possible outcome would be for the planning committee to ask the Minister of Health to establish a steering committee to formally examine the issue of coordination should the public forum decide that. During the month of August, said Mr. Carroll, the committee will undertake to contact municipal representatives at the local and county level, health providers, community agencies and the general public inviting their input. The questions, he said, will be broad in nature and will seek to examine the nature of heal*h planning as it takes place at the present time. It is hoped that participants will offer suggestions to ensure the citizens of Huron are not losing out on any aspect of health service normally available where some form of coordinating process is in place, said the spokesman. The committee also emphasizes the geographical area under study is Huron County alone. Contact will be established with the Perth County committee as a matter of keeping information current, but no action to coordinate a bi-countyeffort is planned at this time. In the late 1970's, a bi-county committee considered and rejected the idea of a district health council. Information flyers and bulletins will be issued during the month of September to provide background information and gener- ate public interest in the October forum. Members of the planning committee are chairperson Valerie Bolton representing Women Today, secretary Paul Carroll, Gord McKenzie representing community hospital administrators, Paula Pranovi representing the addiction research foundation, Lynne Armstrong -Hayes representing Canadian Cancer Society, Laurie Urb and Tom Hanrahan representing palliative care pro- ject, Dr. Don Neal representing the Huron County medical society, Jim Ham and Doug Hornell, representing the ministry of health. Other members are expected to be added. The next meeting of the planning committee is set for Wednesday, Aug. 21. PUC to fix transformer The Public Utilities Commission is taking steps to upgrade a transformer at its MST sub station. The decision to upgrade came at a recent meeting of the PUC when Mark Sleeves, a representative of Ontario Hydro, confirmed suspicions of the local PUC, that Seaforth stations needed to upgrade in order to meet the needs of the community. According to Seaforth PUC manager Tom Phillips the stations in town are getting to the point they are overloading in the winter months. As a result there is some paranoia the current transformer will not continue to meet the needs in the near future. The plan is to upgrade the current transformer from a 2MVA to SMVA unit. That, according to Mr. Phillips, means replacing one transformer with three existing transformers. "We've been taking oil sample tests to determine the chemical properties and deterioration of the transformer and knew we had to make a decision whether or not to leep the transformer as it is and repair it with treatment. or if it could last a little longer, replace it." he said. Unfortunately there is no guarantee the current transformer, which was installed in 1945. will last much longer, although it could. Initial steps were taken two years ago when the PUC upgraded the fusing on the high and low side of the transformer. "We knew it was coming in time. After we upgraded the fusing we knew the next step would be to upgrade the transformer." said Mr. Phillips. "As soon as a transformer starts working it begins to deteriorate. So after 40 years of use there is bound to be other problems with it as well. We thought we'd be safer to upgrade the unit rather than repair it." Although the PUC hadn't budgeted to upgrade the transformer Mr. Phillips said it is necessary to do so. in order to continue providing for community needs. "There is no guarantee how long the current transformer will last. We are taking action as a remedying situation," he said. As manager Mr. Phillips will now draw up specs on the new transformer. He said he hopes to have it tendered as soon as possible. Once tendered he said it could be a six-month wait for delivery. In the meantime the PUC will continue to monitor with oil samples to see if any further deterioration occurs. W Ell. REPA iRS In other PUC business minor repairs done to Chalk Street wells have brought them up to good running order. The repairs, done by W.D. Hopper and Sons, cost approximately $400 and have restored the wells virtually to perfect runningorder. Replacement of the 40 -year- old wells could have cost between $10 and $12 -thousand dollars. NEW LINES New hydro lines are being installed along George Street East between Victoria and Crombie Streets. The installment is part of a plan to . upgrade the main line with wires, transform- ers and streetlights. CHARGES UP The Seaforth PUC has agreed to increase its truck rental charge for MAR accounts. At a recent meeting of the commission the rental charge for the bucket truck was upped from $12 to $22 an hour. The increased charge will cover operation of the truck and deter users from using the vehicle unneces- sarily. JARViS STREET The PUC will be meeting shortly with B.M. Ross and Associates to discuss tendering for the boring process needed in extending the Jarvis Street line. The PUC said it hopes to get that process underway as soon as possible. The sooner a six-inch pipe is placed under the railway lines the sooner residents living on the south side of the tracks will be assured they will have a constant supply of water. At present there is only one line connecting south side residents to the main • supply. if anything should happen they could be without water for some time. Burnt out property purchased At long last someone has plans for the burnt out property located beside the Superior Grocery Store on Seaforth's Main Street. Just what exactly those plans are .lean and Ken Wolfe would rather not devulge at this time, but they do say they plan on cleaning up the location, building on to it and making it at least a little more respectable. Whatever they do they say they will keep within guidelines given to them by LACAC. "We're not really sure what our plans are at this point," said Mrs. Wolfe. "Were still in a bit of a humbo jumbo state after purchasing the property. W e really have no definite idea about what we're going to do with the property, it all depends on how the money situation goes. We ' 'may open a business or we may just fix up the property and rent it out. It could take up three years or A it could take us 10. " Originally of Seaforth the Wolfes are presently living in Goderich. They plan a move to Seaforth at the beginning of August and say they will live in the apartment in the building they have purchased. The W oLfe property was previously known as the Copper Cafe and the Hesson Haus. The front part of the building was gutted by fire approximately five years ago. Since the fire the property has been sold twice but it was only until six months ago the fire insurance claim was settled so any owners of the property could proceed with plans for restoration of the building. "It's a cute little sit. We liked it and the price was right•" added Mrs. Wolfe. Mrs. Wolfe said she expects she and her husband will have more definite plans for the building by spring.