The Huron Expositor, 1986-03-12, Page 3NEWS AND FEATURES
Big bucks cut from book budget
The controversy surrounding the Huron
County Library Board rages on as a 1985
deficit of $42,890 is cut off the top of its 1986
book budget.
County councillors, particularly last year's
chairman of the library board Grant Stirling,
questioned the actions of chief librarian Bill
Partridge at the March 6 meeting of county.
The Goderich Township reeve asked how
there could be a deficit last year when the
librarian had been told in October not to order
any more books.
In his defence, Mr, Partridge said as of
October 24, 1985. all book suppliers were told
the Huron County library would accept no
more books. Also, in an effort to reduce costs
in general, the chief librarian also cut back on
the number of photo copies made, no records
were bought and no new equipment was
purchased.
However, the librarian did accept $42,000
worth of books sent from Library Services
Centre in Kitchener. The majority of the
books purchased by the library are from this
Kitchener firm.
It was noted Mr. Patridge accepted the
books, but was not invoiced until January of
this year. But according to the library's
accounting firm of Vodden and Bender,
custody of the books is as good as owing on
them.
Library board chairman Tom Cunningham,
speaking for last year's chairman, said the
board didn't know how many books were on
back order last October. He said the current
board also doesn't know how many books are
on order.
"That's what we're trying to dear up," he
said.
Hulled Reeve Cunningham said some kind
of system is being worked out whereby the
board will know every month how many books
are on order. Bayfield Reeve Dave Johnston
suggested perhaps the chief librarian
shouldn't be ordering books.
"Maybe it should be someone else who has
better control over county taxpayers' dol-
lars," said Reeve Johnston.
Goderich Deputy Reeve John Doherty was
the only county councillor to speak in defence
of the chief librarian.
"The only wrong this man (librarian) did,
was to accept books," said the deputy reeve.
He said the Town of Goderich has accepted
purchases and been invoiced for the following
year and that has been acceptable to the
town's auditing firm.
"I guess it depends on who you get to do
the auditing," said Deputy Reeve Doherty.
Reeve Cunningham agreed one mistake
was to accept the books, but another has been
the over ordering of books. Since 1983, the
library board budget has been overspent,
specifically in the area of book purchases.
Also, for the past two years, county counil has
sent back the board's original budgets to
make cuts.
Past chairman Stirling said the board was
not kept informed of book purchases.
"The question is we warned the librarian in
October to not take any more books. He didn't
inform the board he was taking $42,000 worth
of books," said Reeve Stirling.
County council learned the 1985 library
budget was actually $51,000 over spent. The
other $9,000 came from county dollars, Last
year the library had a total budget of $796,519
and of that, $598,217 was to have come from
the county. Actually the county paid
$607,497.
For 1986, the library has a budget of
$816,784. The county is to pay $622,146 and
the province Is to pay$182,638, The rest is to
be picked up in fines and other miscellaneous
fees.
The largest expenditures is salaries which
totals $382,804.
The next largest expense is books, records,
magazines and processing of these. This
portion of the budget totals $214,23$, The
purchase of books alone is budgeted at
$178,227 of which $42,000 (the carry over
from 1985) has already been spent.
The county's share of the budget repre-
sents a four per cent increase. All budgets are
subject to final approval from county council
on March 27.
e
Reserve fund may increase
Over half a million could be placed in
Huron County's reserve fund this year for the
pioneer museum and renovations to Huron -
view.
A total of $540,000 could be set aside for
the two projects if they are approved at the
March 27 session of Huron County council.
The council is expected to give approval to its
1986 budget at that time.
The proposal is to put $300,000 in the
Huron County Pioneer Museum building
reserve fund for renovations to that structure.
There is already $238,865 in a reserve fund
for the museum.
The remaining amount of $240,000 is to go
to a reserve fund for Huronview. Council still
has to give the go-ahead for the renovations
to the Home for the Aged south of Clinton.
Last fall, the former county council voted
15 to 14 in favor of recommending the project
to the current council.
The proposal calls for the county to pay
$716,000 over three years as its share of the
$1.4 million project. The province is expected
to pay the rest of the bill.
At. the end of 1985, the county had a
balance of $2.1 million in reserves. Broken
down, there is a $1 million reserve for
working funds, almost $100,000 in reserves
for planning, a $241,807 hospital reserve
fund, a $287,083 employee benefit reserve
fund, a $38,298 highway reserve fund, a
$205,315 capital works reserve fund and the
amount already stated for the museum.
Museum, foundation to link
The Van Egmond House Foundation is
looking for loser ties with the Huron County
Pioneer Museum.
As the museum itself gears up for its major
capital project, the foundation approached
Huron County council's museum committee
recently.
The Van Egmond House, located just south
of Seaforth on the county road, receives about
900 visitors a year. It was noted the mortgage
to the house is paid off and the foundation is
able to meet routine expenses such as heat,
light and maintenance.
The only restored residence in the county is
looking for a close relationship with the
museum and professional guidance and
administrative assistance.
The county agreed "in principle" with the
working relationship. The museum's project
director, Claus Breede will continue to meet
with the foundation to work out how the two
groups could set up that relationship.
Expanding site discussed as alternative
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second in a
series of articles written, with the permission
and help of the Ministry of the Environment,
to better inform the people of Seaforth and
Tuckersmlth Township.
.. Because the problem of needing a landfill
site has been an ongoing one, these articles
are being published to remind those in the
affected areas, of the steps and process being
followed in the search for a landfill site, as
well as discuss what avenues have already
been investigated and ruled out and why. The
articles are strictly informational, and are not
written with any blas at all.
One of the purposes of the Environmental
Assessment Act is to ensure projects
undertaken by businesses, governments and
individuals will have the least environmental
impact possible. The need for any project
must be established and the various methods
of meeting that need must be reviewed in
detail so that the alternative with the least
environmental impact can be identified and
pursued. With regards to the problem of solid
waste disposal for a municipality, the
problem and need for a solution must be
established. Last week we identified the
problem: our present landfall site is almost
full and is scheduled to close in the very near
future. Since garbage disposal has been
deemed a municipal responsibility, it Is
necessary to identify all possible solutions
and in accordance with the E.A. pursue the
best alternative.
"Doing nothing", although identified as
a possible alternative, was quickly abandon-
ed as a possibility because it created a
number of additional problems and it
became obvious this alternative would have
a number of negative impacts on the
surrounding environment. Once again it is
wise to reinforce the idea that the environ-
ment involves much more than air, land or
water. Environment is also plant and animal
life, including man, social, economic, and
cultural conditions, and a variety of other
areas directly and indirectly related to man's
activities.
After abandoning the alternative of doing
nothing the second and most obvious
alternative to the problem of solid waste
disposal on a site scheduled for closure, is to
leek at the possibility of expanding the
existing site. "Expansion" involves continu-
ing existing landfill operations into adjacent
or abutting lands. The advantages are
obvious. The location is already estabh„sed
and developed with roads leading to the site,
boundaries are established, and machinery,
manpower and other operational necessities
are at hand. However', it is not as simple as it
may at first seem. Because of the history of
garbage disposal in our area, the expansion
alternative can not often be pursued as a
logical and safe alternative. Before the
protective legislation like the Environmental
Assessment Act was established it was
common practice for municipalities to find a
pit and proceed to fill it up with municipal
waste. The pits that were utilized were mostly
abandoned gravel pits. The complexity of the
underlying soil formations often allows
contaminants to be leached down through the
soil and into the groundwater. The end result
is likely to be groundwater contamination
from the leachate and detrimental effects to
our health and safety. Due to the possibility of
groundwater contamination, gravel pits are
not recommended as suitable sites for waste
disposal. Since most of our present sites were
established before the environmental assess-
ment act was in effect, the sites are often
located in areas that would not pass today's
strict hydrogeological tests.
Another problem with thb expansion of
existing sites is that landfills that are
scheduled for closure in the near future were
established 20-30 years ago by municipalities
not concerned about expansion in the distant
future. Therefore adjacent lands are often
owned by several different parties, and may
have undergone various forms of develop-
ment in recent years. Often the neighboring
development will be negatively affected by
the landfill's expansion. If the adjacent
property is high class agricultural land it is
recommended it be kept in agricultural
production if at all possible. The impact of
expansion must be studied in relation to the
social and economic repercussions as well as
the primary concern for health and safety.
The end result is after careful study,
including hydrogeological testing, many
existing landfill sites cannot be expanded.
THE HURON EXPOSITOR, MARCH 12, 1986 — A3
The third identifiable alternative is to use
an already existing site. In other words, take
our garbage to someone else's landfill.
Arrangements can sometimes be made
between municipalities allowing temporary
or extended use of a site for a tipping fee or
some other compensation. Unfortunately this
alternative also has its serious drawbacks.
Because the establishment of a new site for
landfilling is now subject to the environment-
al assessment act, the process is much more
complicated and costly than in past years.
Therefore most municipalities closely guard
their existing sites and try to incase the 1 tie
expectancy of their sites if at all possible. The
acceptance of another municipality's wastes
only decreases the life expectancy and brings
that municipality closer to the situation that
we now face. As a result most municipalities
will not consider taking wastes from neigh-
bors. On the other hand if a nearby
municipality does feel they have the mom to
take on the waste produced by a larger
population, the increased waste and its
impact must be reviewed according to the
RA. If the studymust be conducted it is often
a question of who pays for it? The problem
with paying for an E.A. for another
municipality is that you are still at the mercy
of that municipality after forking out the cash.
Besides the high cost of completing a study,
that may or may not result in approval, there
are increased transportation costs, and a
tentative future to consider.
Most municipalities not only guard their
existing landfills with care but they often
prohibit the sale of land in their municipality
for landfilling. Thus the establishment of a
new landfill in another municipality is highly
unlikely.
W e have now considered some of the
impacts of three alternatives to our landfill
problem. You will note the economic or
financial costs of these alternatives has not
been discussed. The financial impacts are a
very important part of any consideration, as
municipal governments are well aware.
However, it has been noted in recent years,
the people do not want costs to be measured
by dollars alone. Costs to the various
components of the envuontnent are to be
considered first and financial impacts are
reviewed for each alternative once all other
costs and benefits are analyzed.
There are still two alternatives to be
discussed. The final alternatives include, 1.
finding and establishing a new landfill site
and 2. changing the method of waste disposal
eg. heat recoverry�fro (incineration)
CHIMNEY riFE — A chimney fire at the home o Harvey s. McLiwain, of Egmondville, recycling, p etc.
Next week these
brought the Seaforth Fire Department to the scene on Saturday night, around 10 p.m, The two alternatives will be reviewed as Well as
fire was quickly brought under control with a minimum of damage.. Here Seaforth the possibility of combining these two.
firefighters ascend a (adder to get at the source of the fire. Bettis photo alternatives for additional benefits. ,
CHEERING SECTION — Five-year-old Tim Sills, came prepared to make plenty of noise
with his bell to cheer on his brother's team, as the Seaforth Pee Wees defeated Arthur In a
playoff game here on Saturday. Tim had a good vlew of the game from his vantage point on
his mother, Ann Sills' knee. Raftis photo
IN THE YEARS AGONE
St. Pat's big day in 1886
too YEARS AGO
Wednesday next being St. Patricees Day,
the usual annual concert and lecture will be
given in St. James Catholic Church in this
town on that evening. Among the musical
celebrities to be present this year, in addition
to the regular choir, are the following: Miss
Maggie Campbell, of Seaforth; Miss Wynn,
of Goderich; Miss O'Connor, of Brussels and
Mr. T.E. Joslyn, of Seaforth.
Mr. Carswell delivered his popular lecture
entitled, "Laughter” in Dixon's Hall, Bruce -
field, on Thursday last. As a mimic and
story -teller Mr. Carswell has no equal in
Canada. He is justly styled the Canadian
Gough.
We have received the first nurnberof a new
paper entitled "The Canadian Grocer and
Auxiliary Trades Review," published in the
interests of the grocery trade by Mr. R
Spading, formerly a student of the high
school here, but now of Toronto.
75 YEARS AGO
A successful fancy dress carnival was held
in the Palace Heiken Friday evening last. The
attendance of spectators was large and there
was a large and varied assortment of
costumes. The mile skating race for boys
under 18 years of age was won by Ed
Anderson, with Russell Hays second.
Goderich intermediates and Seaforth Jun-
iors hockey teams played an exhibition match
on the rink here on Tuesday. As there is
considerable rivalry between the teams, the
game was played to a finish, resulting in a 6-6
tie. The Seaforth line-up was: goal, H.
Troyer; point, Ralph Reid; cover, D. Reid;
rover, C. Jones; forwards, T. Dick, O. Dick
and A. Muir.
Mr. John elcKenzie has changed the name
of his picture theatre and in the future it will
be known as the "Princess." He has had a
fine large sign placed over the entrance.
50 YEARS AGO
William Robert Johnston, Bayfield, was at
John McClinchey's farm on the Goshen Line,
looking at a horse he thought of buying when
it kicked him, breaking two bones near the
ankle. He was later taken to Seaforth Hospital
where the fracture was treated.
Measles has reduced attendance at local
schools to a large extent during the last two
weeks. At the Collegiate on Monday, 38
pupils were absent -- all victims of measles.
Many close and interesting games were
played at a tournament held by the
Badminton Club on Friday evening: W inners
were Stan Dorrance and Nora Stewart, who
defeated Mary Flett and LH. Weedmark
30-22 in the final game.
25 YEARS AGO
Keith Duncan, of RR 1, Atwood and Lorne
Fell, of Staffa, shared top honors in the Perth
County Junior Farmers seed judging com-
petition.
This year, on St. Patrick's Day, the village
of Dublin is looking to the future. A
committee of three, E.J. Dean, George
Goettlerand Jack Wells, is investigating the
possibility of forming a c hamberof commerce
for the village. The village trustees feel there
is a great need for such an organization and
were instrumental in forming the committee.
Two Seaforth rinks took part in the
Kitchener ladies' bonspiel last Friday. Mrs.
Leo Stephenson skipped the first rink, which
included Mrs. W. Moore, Mrs. N. Scoins and
Mrs. D. Cornish. The other rink was
comprised of Mrs. S. Habkirk, skip; Mrs. B.
Smith, Mrs. L Rowat and Mrs. W . Leyburn.
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
If you're organizing a non-profit event of interest to other Seaforth area residents,
phone the recreation office at 527-0882 or the Expositor at 527-0240 or mail the
information to Community Calendar, The Huron Expositor, Box 69, Seaforth,
Ontario NOK iWO well in advance of the schaduted date.
Space for the Community Calendar is donated by The Huron Expositor.
Wednesday, March 12
9-12 Sports and Games at Arena
1-4 Arts and Crafts at Arena
1-3 Parents and Tots Skating
110-4 Shuffleboard and Euchre
410-5:30 Jr. Ringette
5:30-6:30 Midget Practice
6:30-7:30 Minor Broomball
7:30-8:30 Centenaires Practice
8:30 p.m. Ladies Broomball
6:15 p.m. Seaforth Horticultural Society
meeting at Seaforth PublieSchool. Potiuck
supper, please bring dishes and cutlery.
Everyone is encouraged to wear green.
Members slides shown.
Thursday, March 13
9-10 Sports and Games at Arena
10-12 a.m. Puppet Show "Up a Tree" at
Library
7:30 a.m. North Stars vs Canadians
8:30 a.m. Bruins vs Oilers
9:30 a.m. Penguins vs Flyers
10:30 a.m. Whalers vs Jets l
1110 a.m. Leafs vs Flames
1-3 Public Skating
4:15-5:15 Pee Wee Practice
5:15-6a5 Bantam Practice
6:30-7:30 Mites Practice
7:30 p.rn. Mens Broomball
Friday, March 14
9-12 MIs and Crafts, Sports and Gaines at
Arena
1 4 Swinirning at Vanastra
„ 5,6 Jr. House League Practice
6.7offs) Atoms vs Mitchell (W.O.A.A. play -
7 -8 Ringette.
Saturday, ,March 15
7:30 a.m. Oilers vs Canadians
810 a.m. North Stars vs Bruins
9:30 a.m. Whalers vs Flames
10:30 a.m. Jets vs Penguins
11:30 a.m. Flyers vs Leafs
12:30 - 6:30 p.m. Knights of Columbus
Hockey Tournament Junior Division
6:30-8 Pee Wees
NO STORY HOUR AT LIBRARY
Sunday, March 16
1210-6:30 p.m. Knights of Columbus
Hockey Tournament - Senior Division
7 p.m. Hawks vs Rangers
8:30 p.m. Canadians vs Flyers
Monday, March 17
7-8 p.m. Petites vs Brussels Ringette
8-9 p.m. Belles vs Mitchell
Tuesday, March 18
5:30-6:30 Novice Practice
6:30-8 Bantams
8-10 Midgets