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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1986-08-20, Page 1INDEX Bjrths IA6 Classifieds /A10, 11, 12 Dublin 1A5 Entertainment 1A14 Family 1A7 Farm IA13 Graduates IA6 Hensall I A4 Legion /A14 Obituaries /A7 People /A7 Sports IA9 Walton /A6 Weddings IA7 County residents ill-informed of Home. Care services. See page A3'. Serving the communities and areas of Seaforth, Brussels, Dublin, Hensall and Walton A Huron.. xpositor SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY„ AUGUST 20, 1986 — 14 PAGES Expanded ambulance service for Seaforth The Ministry of Health will provide annual in Seaforth. Both ambulance attendants will funding of $64,000 to cover operating costs of be added to the day shift when the volume of an extra ambulance and two additional calls is greatest. ambulance attendants to serve residents in "There is a need for another ambulance Seaforth and Clinton. The announcement was and more staff because of the large number of made by Health Minister Murray Elston and patient transfers from Seaforth and Clinton to Agriculture and Food Minister Jack Riddell, hospitals in be hiMr. fElston the expanded MPP for Huron -Middlesex. Staff will The Seaforth and Clinton residents are now ambulance service bulance service later e thishbyont . e served by'one ambulance. The extra ambulance and staff will initially be stationed operator, Gary Betties. Communication gap cited for front porch decision A communication gap between Seaforth of council, not a committee of council town council and one of its committees is (LACAC 1, as to whether or not the town being cited as a contributing factor to would pay back the money it received, or council's decision to forego restoration of the pot." .Despite arguments the Heritage Fund town hall's front porch. would be depleted if the town was given an $8,000 grant, Mr. Crocker said there is ' approximately $17,000 in the fund at this time, enough to handle the town's need and any request from the public. "If it had been made clear in the beginning that the money could have come in grant form then council's decision could have very well been different," he said. Regardless of whether council had to pay back the Heritage Fund or not, Seaforth's Betty Cardno, expressed her disappointment in the form of a letter directed to council. Mrs. Cardno said even with the pay back the porch project would only have cost each ratepayer an average of $1,50 per year. "The proposed financing for this project made very good sense. Not only correcting the problem with the entrance which every year is getting worse, it would provide access to the handicapped and provide incentive to others on the main street. The use of the Heritage Fund to finance the remainder of the funds not only spreads the cost over several years, but also ensures the town of retaining the Provincial contribution to the According to Town Clerk Jim Crocker' council members were not aware of the fact the money which was to come from the Heritage Fund, did not necessarily have to be paid back. Had council known that, he said, its decision regarding the front porch might have been different. Mr. Crocker added confusion arose because council had initially understood the cost of the project was only to be $3,000, because of all the grants available. It was not until the final budget meeting council realized the money from the Heritage Find was a loan, and had to be paid back. "All of a sudden a project which council thought• was only going to cost a total of $15,000 (without grants) jumped to $26,000," said Mr. Crocker. Two weeks ago when articles appeared in the newspaper about the porch, council finally realized, according to Mr. Crocker, the money could have been given out in the form of a grant, or partial grant. LACAC, he said, had made the initial decision to offer the money in the form of a loan but because tACAC. was established through a bylaw Heritage Fund. This was why the fund w established through council, council has the established. to assist improvements to final say about decisions made by LACAC designated properties." and has full control over the money handled entrancehopef the only becauseuncilfilltnecoreceonsider the by that committee. ent "it should have been ultimately a decision financial sense." ,1 50 cents a copy .l Walton youth roils car A W alion youth remains in satisfactory condition in Seaforth hospital after ury a single.vehice car accident early y morning on Concession 7 of Tuckersmith Township Goderich OPP say Jeff McGavin rolled his car after he lost control of the vehicle on a curve and entered a ditch. The accident occurred at approximately 3:15 a.m. Mr. McGavin was sent to hospital with head injuries. Brent Robinson, a passenger in the car. was treated at hospital and released. The car, a 1984 Oldsmobile registered to 51cGavin Farm Equipment, received $15,000 damage. investigation into the accident is still underway. BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE — Jay Schwartzentruber and Jeff Watson of Complete Demolition of Exeter clean up some of the debris left when they began demolition of the rear portion of the old Roth building, The buieling, now owned by the McLaughlin Brothers was gutted by fire In January 1985. Approximately 4,000 bricks were brought down during the demolition, which was Initiated with a tractor pulling on a chain wrapped Iwround thee building's door frame. PUC displeased with decibel level Although the electrical transformer instal- led April 22, at Main Station No. 1, is working well mechanically, the equipment is emitting a higher noise level than contracted for by the local Public Utilities Commission. The transformer may end up returning to the manufacturers in Winnipeg, for redesign, repair, or replacement. The contract for the 585,000 transformer specified a noise level of 59 decibels, lower than the normal 65 decibels for similar transformers, because Main Station No. 1 is located in a residential area. However, tests conducted by the manufacturer after the unit was installed reveal decibel readings from 68 to 65 within a foot of the transformer and up to 73 decibels further back. PLIC manager Tom Phillips recently met with a local representative of the Winnipeg Manufacturing firm which built the trans- former to discuss the noise problem and also extra costs incurred when installing the unit. The extra -costs stemmed from a phase-in problem resulting from what Mr. Phillips has termed "a manufacturers shipping error." 'the error meant a rent mobile transformer had to be kept for a few extra days to supply power to the town until the problem was corrected. Additional manpower costs were also incurred. The local PUC has requested a credit note, to be deducted against the cost of the transformer, to compensate for' the extra costs. As for the noise problem, the local representative presented the PUC with four possible solutions. The first two solutions call for the unit to be returned to W innipeg, either for redesign or modifications to correct the problem• Redesign would bring the noise level to the specified 59 decibels, while the modifications proposed would reduce it to 61 decibels at best, according to manufacturing company officials. The other two solutions involve working on the transformer at its present location. Field A motion requesting a community plan- ning advisory branch to provide financial assistance to the town of Seaforth for the development of a Downtown Improvement Strategy aceording to guidelines set out in a work program already completed, was passed by Seaforth town council last week. The purpose of the strategy would be to guide the physical and economic growth of Seaforth's downtown core. The strategy would be based on an analysis of Seaforth's market position and its eommertdal needs and should reflect the opportunities for economic expansion within the town. An integral part of the strategy would be an implementation section setting out how the doWnfown will be marketed, how its image could be improved and the phasing and funding of downtown iiiiprovemenfs. A secondary purpose of the project would be to develop eontmunity improvement policies for the town of •Seaforth. The community improvement polities would focus mainly on the residential, industrial LINE AND SlNRER ` When Pete Kling, left and Graham Sholdles returned from NOOK, e ling "their fishing- trip Thurade fh'ey' lied more than tales to tett. They had evldent:e'�. Mr k .. . h.� snd''Mr Slnoldlce, both employ"esel of Laidlaw spent their day off six miles out of Goderlc fietijrie I= and what success. The t*o men brought ttoirie' a 38 tntih 21 5 pound salmon. lvlofberraith phot° work could be done to bring the noise level down from 68 to 65 decibels or sound walls could be built to reduce the level down to 59 decibels. The last option would be an expensive proposition, costing from 59,000 to 510.000. Mr, Phillips recommended the first option as the only viable solution. "That 's a brand new unit and we want it working the way it should be. The other methods (solutions 2, 3 and 41 are just patch work." he said. The commissioner agreed the unit should be returned to W innipeg and either redesign- ed to meet original specifications or replaced with a new unit, with all associdted costs to he borne by the manufacturer. Mr. Phillips was directed to notify the company of the commission's position and are now awaiting a reply from the Winnipeg office. 'The hall's in their court now," said Mr. Phillips. strategy given okay and institutional uses of the town, and would also analyse the servicing needs of the downtown core. According to the work program the project would be divided into two phases. The first phase would involve the preparation , of community improvement policies and the second phase would involve the development of a downtown improvement strategy. The county of Huron Planning Department would prepare the community improvement policies for the Town of Seaforth and Tom Lemon. the town's newly hired, Downtown Coordinator, would prepaare� the don wn improvement strategy.hould downtown completed im- provement strategy within nine months of its initiation in September. Preparation of the strategy would include: collection of background material; projec- tions of how Seaforth's markets will be growing and changing over the next 10 years; analysis of the background material and projections to determine market trends, short and long term opportunities for expansion, the present image of the downtown, and. the physical feature of downtown that enhance or detract from the success of the area; preparation of a backgrouand report on the findings; preparation of the downtown improvement strategy based on the findings; and presentation of the dowwlifinen ltnprove- ment strategy to the 131A and try Council for their adoption. The total cost of the strategy is estimated at 920.415 with that cost being split as follows: Community improvement policies as per the terms of reference submitted by the county - 55.305; Downtown Coordinator, 50 per Lent time for nine months - 511.250; clerical support, one day per week for nine months - 52.560: disbursements - 51,000; printing, 10 copies of the background report - 5100 and printing, 40 copies of the strategy - 5200. A Community Planning Grant is available to cover 50 per cent of the eligible costs for preparing the community improvement poli- cies and the downtown improvement strat- egy. CornrflissiOflerSrequest explanation Seaforth Public titilities Commissioners have decided to ask _Town Council to r�nsider, or offer justification for council's decision to turn down 3 requested increase in remuneration and per diem rates by the co siou. (eu cil, at their July 15 meeting voted to disallow the requested increase which would have seen comirusstoners' remuneration rates increased to be roughly equivalent to those of council members. The oommissi'en requested the following increases, Chairman, from $0 to $80 per meeting; conintissioners, 8.01'1.565 to 575 per meeting, special- meetings', horn $45 to 555 And an increase for the; per diem rate while on PUC business from 555 t0 560 per day, all ni'rreaces retroactive to I'leoember, i, 1985, Currently, the Mayor receives $100 per council meeting; councillors receive $75 per ad $ 4pedemeeting and the per die rate t p day. Commissioners were upset when they received, at their August 13 meeting, a letter informing them their request had been turned down, with no explanation provided. Mayor Mf Ross noted council had not voted themselves an uicrease in remuneration for this year; and Chairman JIM Sills allowed this may have had something to do with the refusal of the cotfmifssioner's request. "Still, I think the commission is entitled to anexplanation," said Mr. Sills, The request Will be re -presented at the next council meeting. In other business. Mr. Phillips informed the commission that the water tower was drained and inspected both inside and out on August 12. after the inspection had twice before been rescheduled. Tee commission is awaiting a report on the condition of the tower. A subrnersible pump on Welsh Street was used to supply water to the town while the inspection was conducted, said Mr. Phillips, Doting that the water was off for about five minutes during the chai'geover Tuesday morning. A voltage reduction test conducted by Ontario Hydro on July 15, posed no problems in the Seaforth area. said Mr. Phillips, No problems resulting from the test were reported to the PUC. he said.