The Lucknow Sentinel, 1997-08-20, Page 11Bruceet news
Majority favor option 2 for restructuring in Bruce
Laeknow Sentinel, Wednesday, Angnst 20, 1997 -- Page 11
by Pat Halpin
Bruce county residents
could be going to the polls
this fall and again a year
rater if a restructuring pro-
posal endorsed
roposalendorsed Tuesday
goes ahead. °
"There is a clear major-
ity desire to restructure
within .the county,"
restructuring chair Stuart
Reavie said as he. antro
duced the revised proposal.
ata special summer ses-
sion of .Bruce County
'canncll'Aug. :f2. But it'
took more than two hours.
of airing arguments for
' and against various
options before. council
endorsed the revised plan
in a. split vote.
Municipalities have.
until October to fill in the
details and approve the
• new restructuring plan,
.which -then goes back -to -
county
county and municipal
councils, far a final vote.
The revised proposal
still .calls far the 30
municipalities itt Bruce to
be reorganized into eight
new units, but changes the
boatndaries for Tiverton
and Bruce Township:
Those tivo municipalities,
slated to amalgamate next
year, will he joined with
Kincardine and
Kincardine Township
under the county plan,
• The weighted vote on
county council has been
changed from one for
every 5,000 electors to.
one for every 3,500, but
the biggest change is that
the time frame for restruc-
turing .has been moved up
by two years to• be effec,
tive on Jan. 1999..
"With all the prepara-
tion work that's been done
around council tables in
the last year to two years,.
I fail:to see why it's going
to take a three year .peri-
od," to implement the
plan, explained restructur-
ing committee member
DavidFox.
Councillor Milt McIver
said moving the imple-
mentation date up "does
.mean one extra election,
:but predicted that cost
could equal the expense of
`extra meetings for a transi-
tional. cot! nci i if the, poral because those ve. David
details
process is.dragged' out. were
lacking.
-" he county's plan is Brant Ree
appromu en
ved, this (.all's Thasitson objected to
(frr
'got on zt a, toe ,6074 't` to v i tern
Ott to' dad with it' Art Eby
7 fail to gee why : it s oz lit ' ttx.
yet., period' ' Davit: Pox
.Ptire have problem's # . r�fxan% to
a 'l frd Ribey
nun ,at elections will.
be- one-year term.
will return" to the.
l in the fall of next:
year to eaect councils for
the new. municipalities.
Those new councils vi►i11
have a three year term.
The revised proposal
provides municipalities,.
with a framework for fill-
ing out details of the naive
and .council makeup of the
new municipalities, and
dispositionof financial
assets and municipal.
boards in the amalgama
tion process: ,
The province :sent, back
the :county's original pro,.:
•
three
o vith
"rushing• through" ,restruc-
turing, and argued council
should stay with the 2001
date originally proposed.
But Southampton Reeve
Art. Eby said' council
"needs.. to get on with it"
and complete the restruc-
turing plan by the end of
this term.
"We can't possibly
,leave a totally new council
to deal with it," Eby said.
The county's Latest pro-
posal fits the amalgama-
tion plans now under dis-
cussion. in Port Elgin,
Southampton and Saugeen
Township, where thegoal.
is to amalgamate on Jan.
1, 1999. But it drew fire
from other quarters,
including Bruce Township
and Tiverton.
"We .do have problems;
mainly to do with the
BMTS," said Bruce
Township Reeve Howard
Ribey.
Ribey said those prob-
lems include potential
conflict of interest because
part of °' Kincardine
Township is served by a
competing telephone co-
operative, and financial
implications . for the
'BMTS,' if. Bruce
Township's boundaries are
changed.
"Are we going to have
to pay land transfer tax
again, are we going to
have tb pay .provincial
sales tax?' Will this trigger
a payment out of the full
conversion pride? These
are things we don't know,"
Ribey said,. adding BMTS
lawyers will be .looking
into .the answers" in very.
short order,"
Other 'opposition to the
plan • comes from
Albemarle. Township,
which calls the restructur-
ing process "flavVed," and
from Arran Township and
Tara, who have called off
an . amalgamation that was
to take place inthe new
year.
Arran Reeve.. Ross
Herron says there's no .
point in going through the
expense if .the county is
going to add three more
municipalities to that mar-
riage a year later.
But.. Paisley ',Reeve
Andy Cormack, whose.
village will join' with
Arran, Tara, Elderslie and
Chesley .under the county
plan, supportsthe propos-
al.
.
'If the. minister had
accepted our first propos-
al, we wouldn't be dis-
cussing any of this today. _ ..
The proposal -that's been
put before us is excellent
and the .timeframe is per -
feet," Cormack said.
And while, .Brant's
Thomson voted against.
the proposal,`•Greenock's
Roland:Anstettgave it full
support.
Provincial estimates
out of .line
Provincial estimates on
the cost of swapping costs
and services' with ,munid
pa'lities, are way out of
1i>Gae�.. according t4 figures
released to Bruce County
4cauncilaors.
"I'm su.gges.tin.g the '
'total additional municipal
expense is. more like $19
million than $1.9 Million,"
said county 'administrator.
Wayne Jamieson about the.
i,tn;pact on `Bruce County
householders. .
;lamieson said :'the.
province's estimate of .a
3.1 per cent to 58per:cent'
tax impact doesn't include
the loss of $12 million in
:provincial grants. :to.
nnunicipalities;
"The municipal support`
grant has not been includ-
ed in.the provincial Calcu-
lations," tions," Jamieson said.
In addition'to the $12'
.'million in dost'grant::rev-.
enue, tOunty figures show
the province failed tocal-
culate. the $5,013,965 cost
.of running municipal
water and sewer .treatment
plants and the estimated
$420,200 cost of taking
over 38,2 kin of provincial
highways Those services
are among responsibilities
slated .to be .downloaded.
from .the : province in
exchange for removing
,Iocal:education taxes:
".Given the. (county's)
total 'municipal taxation of
$62 rnillion, l',m proJecting
a tax increase in the, order '
of 30.8 to 33.5 per cent is
possible;..", Jamieson told a
• '.hushed council chamber.
On `top of that, town-
ship's and villages in the
county ;will start paying
$4,020,924 for policing
'that is now provided free
' • of charge by the OPPS That
figure of $175 a household
is higher than`.earlier esti"-
mated, but lower -than in
.Grey County.
"Nomatter' how bleak
this is, there. are a .number
of areas in the province
that are significantly
worse off than We:.are,'
Jamieson said.
Huron Township Reeve
Murray .Thompson 'noted
thatPremier Make Harris
recently assured; l.arge
urban mayors the swap
won't affect services or
costs , for local nnun.icipali-'
ties:
"1 would hope 'he'd be
prepared to give us that
sameguarantee;" Jamieson_
replied.
Ontario n unieipalities' :•
are expected to, continue
lobbying the province• fora
, amendments to the plan to
trade services and; funding.
In the: ineantiine, Bruce
County residents have tie 'choice but': to brace for
a tax•hike;
"We don't have $20
million 'worth:. of 'cost•
Ings within the current
systema" Jatnieson said. •
Bruce Nuclear Power Development
Deciatiori fo
by Bev Fry
The Bruce. Nuclear
PowerDevelopment, . once
touted as oneof the.
largest energy centres' in
the world,. has been deci-
mated.
Ontario Hydro
announced' last
Wednesday., Aug. 12, it
will shutdown Units One,
Three and Four 'at Bruce
Generating Station A;
beginning in March 1998.
Unit Two was shut down
last:year. •
A casualty of the Bruce
GSA shut down is the
only .commercial heavy
water plant in Canada. It
will be shut down and
dectsmmissioned. '
About 1,500 workers,
including .600associated
with, the heavy water.
plant, face an uncertain
future, although managers
have been told .70 per cent
;of the workers' skill inix
will be needed at, other
plants within Ontario
Hydro.
Along with Bruce
Generating Station- the
four reactors' at Piering
A, near Terohto, `will also
be shut down, beginning
January,. 1998.,
Hydro will close the
seven nuclear reactors and
repair and refurbish its
remaining 12 reactors, at
Bruce ,B, Pickering.:], and
Darlington, near.
Bowmanville; at a•cost of
between'$5-$8 billion.
Hydro hopes this. refur-
bishment will bring the
level of performance at
the remaining reactors up
to "world class excel-
lence." • • •
The decision, made by
Hydro's board of direc-
tors, comes in the wake of
a report that concluded
"over several decades,
Ontario Hydro has not
maintained a consistent,
longterm vision of how
its nuclear assets should
be maintained and operat-
ed:"
Carl. Andognini; an
American .nuclear energy
expert, said his team's
`largest ene
evaluation concluded that
t,hp major 'portion of
Ontario Hydro's problems
are directly related to the
lack of management and
leadership, 'inadequate
training programs; an
below the level of perfor-
mance typically achieved
by the: best. nuclear Utili-
ties. Immediate' attention
is ,needed to .improve • per-
formance so the value of.
n, r 1.
Hydros,! nuclear:as,sets'.
'Overall:;, a or nance offryntar�zo ydro'
naclerar r ivist o is well below tie levet
r .'all r ;aeh eved by the best. nuclear
u zties!
imbalance in resource,.
skills and labor related
problems:
Andognini 'headed the
• review of Ontario Hydro
and is the chief nuclear
officer for Hydro. •
In the report Andognini.
said the Operation of
Hydro's `nuclear plants
were "minimally accept
able. . •
"The over-all perfor-
mance of Ontario Hydro's
nuclear division is well'°'
Carl .401
nuclear e
.CiJf� Vx+
does not depreciate
beyond recovery."
Andogn.ini • said
;Hydro's problem' is "man-
agerial, not technical."
Hydro's board of direc-
' tors- say once the 12 reac-
tors are performing at
peak efficiency; and based.
on a substantiated busi-
ness case, Pickering A
units -could be recovered
beginning. in the years'
2000 to 2002:
Once Pickering A has
.been recovered; the Bruce
A:yinat§: