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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2015-03-25, Page 15Wednesday, March 25, 2015 • Lucknow Sentinel 15 Climate of Increased Private Water Testing Participation Rates Four County Labour Market Planning Board A slight drop in employ- ment in Stratford -Bruce - Peninsula (Bruce, Grey, Huron and Perth coun- ties) mirrored Canada's drop in February, while the local unemployment rate rose by 0.5 percentage points to 5.6% as more people were searching for work. Compared with January 2015, local participation in full-time employment dropped 1%, a loss of 1,200, while part-time employment increased by 900, or 2%. From an indus- try perspective, the local labour market experi- enced a decline of 4.2% in both Professional, scien- tific and technical services and Information, culture and recreation, followed by a 2.6% in Health care and social assistance. The province experienced sim- ilar declines in each of these industries. Lower unemployment numbers for Stratford - Bruce Peninsula (5.6%), compared to the prov- ince's rate (6.8%), could point to a tight local labour pool, but a local increased participation rate, from 65.5% to 65.8%, suggests local employers looking to hire had more candidates to select from in February. An EmployerOne Survey recently asked local employ- ers for input into today's hir- ing challenges. The Four County Labour Market Plan- ning Board's (FCLMPB) sur- vey revealed that employers often find they cannot fill a position because of too few applicants. While they mainly rely on word of mouth for recruitment and hiring, job seekers are still relying on job ads to find employment. "There is an obvious disconnect between an employer's main method of recruitment and job seeker approach," said Gemma Mendez -Smith of the FCLMPB. "It is impor- tant for job seekers in this climate of increased par- ticipation rates to connect with employers. Learning to network effectively can improve hiring chances." Tina Rupert, Branch Manager of vpi Inc., Walk- erton, added, "It's about the importance of first impressions. Creating a strong, lasting impression will not only enhance your chances of attaining employment, but will also open additional doors for networking and connec- tions in your local labour market." Huron and Perth investigate merging emergency services departments Business case to explore efficiencies and service levels Huron and Perth coun- ties are investigating the possibility of merging their emergency services departments, which include EMS and Emer- gency Management. The Councils of Huron and Perth counties have directed senior adminis- trators to develop a busi- ness case exploring effi- ciencies that could be created by operating an amalgamated Emergency Services Department. "Delivering effective public services as effi- ciently as possible is what our rate payers expect from us," said Brenda Orchard, CAO of Huron County. "A business case analysis will reveal if oper- ating a unified depart- ment is in the best inter- ests of both counties." A working group com- prised of senior adminis- trators and Councillors from Perth and Huron will be established to develop a business case for pres- entation to both county councils for considera- tion. Items for analysis will include sharing tech- nology and operating sys- tems, governance, response times, econom- ics of scale in managing a combined vehicle fleet as well as the administrative and reporting require- ments of a single department. "Perth County has a proven record of providing outstanding emergency services to our citizens," said Bill Arthur, CAO of Perth County. "We are committed to main- taining our levels of ser- vice to the County, Strat- ford and St Marys. County Council have said that we owe it to our taxpayers to fully investigate this potential merger. We look forward to working with Huron County to achieve the best and most efficient service for both counties." County emergency ser- vices departments deliver emergency medical care and transportation by par- amedics according to the provincial Ambulance Act, as well as community emergency management coordination, public safety and administrative programs. lucknowsentinel.com Grey Bruce Health Unit If you get your drinking water from a well, the arrival of spring means that it is time to test your water. The warmer weather produces spring -melt and flooding. Lots of surface water and high groundwa- ter can contaminate pri- vate drinking water sys- tems. The Grey Bruce Health Unit advises residents who get their water from a private sys- tem to sample their water at this time of the year. "Testing your water is free. If you find a problem, there are a number of things you can do to pro- tect the health of you and your family," says Safe Water Manager, Andrew Barton. Water bottle pick-up and drop-off sites are located throughout Grey and Bruce. Water samples are sent to London Public Health lab for testing. Lab results are returned within a few days, to let you know if the sample was contami- nated with total coliform or E coli. The Grey Bruce Health Unit website has more information and links about private water systems and what to do if there is a problem. For specific information, you can call the Health Unit and talk to a Public Health Inspector. Reach, Treat and Cure everyone World TB Day March 24 marks World Tuberculosis Day. Every year there are approxi- mately 9 million new cases of Tuberculosis (TB) diag- nosed around the world and 1.5 million deaths as a result of this disease. Another 3 million people do not get diagnosed or properly treated causing further spread of the disease and unnecessary deaths. TB is both prevent- able and curable. The Stop TB partnership is an inter- national group working to eliminate the burden of TB by reducing the inequitable social and economic toll of TB. Their goal to reach, treat and cure everyone. Each year in Ontario, there is about 600 new cases of TB, and Grey Bruce has about one new case of active TB every 1-2 years. TB usually affects the lungs but can occur throughout the body. It is spread through the air when a per- son with infectious TB coughs or sneezes. Children and people with impaired immune systems, such as those with HIV, diabetes, or those on chemotherapy are at greatest risk... For further information, call Public Health at 519- 376-9420 or 1-800-263-3456 or visit our website at www. publichealthgreybruce. on.ca. Unit 1 returns to service after planned maintenance outage Bruce Power Bruce Power's Unit 1 returned to service ahead of schedule on March 9, after a planned maintenance outage. The outage, which con- cluded on March 9, was the first planned maintenance outage performed in Unit 1 since it was brought back to life after its first -of -a -kind refurbishment. The unit had been experiencing a record run of 99 days when it was removed from service for the $58 million investment program. "I commend our employ- ees for the excellent work they did during our first planned maintenance out- age of 2015," said Paul Boucher, Senior Vice Presi- dent, Bruce A. "We have a very busy year of outages on site this year, and the safe completion of Unit 1, while completing an astounding amount of work, has set Bruce Power up for a great year." Unit 6 will enter a planned maintenance out- age in early -April, and then the entire Bruce B station will be taken out of service for about a month for the Vacuum Building Outage, which is a regulatory requirement and occurs about every 10 years. POLICE BRIEFS COURT DATE FOR SPEEDER (ASHFIELD-COLBORNE- WAWANOSH, ON) —A 28 year old driver now has a sched- uled court date after he was caught racing on March 12, 2015. Just before 7:30 a.m. a Huron County Ontario Pro- vincial Police (OPP) officer observed a Ford cube van travelling westbound on Amberley Road near Eighteen Mile Line ata high rate of speed. The officer confirmed his visual observations with a RADAR device. The vehi- cle's speed was locked at a speed of 135 km/h in a posted 80 km/h zone. A traffic stop was completed and the driver was charged with Racing a Motor Vehicle. Michael BOUCHER, 28 years of age from Glencoe will have to attend Provincial Offences Act Court — Goderich on April 21, 2015 to answer to the charge. His motor vehi- cle was impounded for a seven day period and his driver's licence was sus- pended for seven days.