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The Citizen, 2002-11-13, Page 7Working with Mom For Grade 9 students across the county last Wednesday was Take Your Kid to Work Day. Tara O'Reilly of Brucefield, a student at St. Anne's in Clinton, spent the time with her mother Bonnie, a social worker, at Huronlea. She serves donuts and coffee to Freda Button. (Bonnie Gropp photo) Mandatory package back for tenants of county homes Please drop in and meet the officers for the area and join us for refreshments Further Information Please Contact Dave Gillan (519) 357-1331 IVES INSURANCE BROKERS LTD. Visit us at: WWW.1VESINSURANCE.COM "All Classes of Insurance" DOUG GOUGH, Broker 184 Dinsley St. W., Blyth Tel.: (519) 523-9655 Fax: (519) 523-9793 PARKING NOTICE TO ALL RESIDENTS OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF HURON EAST The Council of the Municipality of Huron East requests the cooperation of the ratepayers regarding the parking of cars and other vehicles, and the depositing of snow on municipal roads during the period in which snow clearing operations are necessary. It is an offense under the Highway Traffic Act, Section 170(12) to: "Park or stand a vehicle on a highway in such a manner as to interfere with the movement of traffic or the clearing of snow frcm the highway". Also, Section 18 states: "No person shall deposit snow or ice on a roadway without permission in writing to do so from the Ministry or the road Authority responsible for the Maintenance of the Road." Parking is not permitted on any street within the built up urban areas of the Municipality of Huron East between the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m., from November 1 to April 15. Violators will be ticketed and may have their vehicles towed and impounded. Neither the Municipality of Huron East nor the "Snow Plow Operators" will be held responsible for damage done to vehicles or mailboxes on the Municipal Road Allowance. Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated. John Forrest Huron East Public Works Coordinator THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2002. PAGE 7. Councillors criticize in-home day care program By Keith Roulston ('iii,-en publisher A $20.0011 program to set up five pilot. supervised home child care sites was criticized by some By Keith Roulston Citizen publisher A mandatory charge for housekeeping and meals will be reinstated for tenants of the Highland apartments in Brussels and Heartland apartments in Clinton beginning Jan. 1. The housekeeping charge of $80 per person plus 15 meals a month for $112. (total package. $192 per month for singles, $304 for a couple) had been dropped on Jan. 1, 2001 under pressure from the Vlinistry of Ministry of Health /filch claimed the county could not ictate to the tenants who would rovide these services. But when the services was iscontinued, unionized staff at the )mes had their hours of work cut, id the union filed a grievance. At a Sept. 30 hearing, arbitrator ichael J. Lynk found that the )unty must continue to provide the .trvice and that the ministry had no egal right to tell the county it couldn't. - As a result of the ministry's actions the county had incurred legal costs, arbitration costs and stall time, he said. The union understood the county's Predicament and didn't: seek -etroactive pay for the time llost by mployees. County council voted, at its members of Huron County Council, Thursday. Carol Mitchell of Central Huron questioned why the county would spend money to set up private child care when there were empty spaces November meeting, to seek reimbursement of the costs of the arbitration from the ministry. Meanwhile the ministry is withdrawing its funding for the housekeeping program. The program -will be maintained for those who are already tenants but will not be extended to new tenants. A meeting will be held with tenants to explain the complicated situa- tion. in municipal day cares. "I'm very concerned. A lot of (municipal) day cares are in trouble," she said. But John MacKinnon, social services administrator said the new program isn't designed to compete with municipal day cares. There are many people who work in retail who need child care after the hours municipal day care centres are closed, he said. There are also people in parts of the county who don't have a municipal day care centre close to their homes. "This addresses the gaps in the service," . he said. "It's not to compete with the local child care centres." Lyn Steiner of Huron East wondered if the $20,000 was "paying for babysitting," but MacKinnon explained the money would go to help the operators meet the standards for licenced day care facilities. His staff would ensure the homes met the standards for what is "basically a mini-child care centre" with up to five children, he said. Steffler suggested the county was funding child care for remote areas at the expense of municipal day care facilities. MacKinnon explained that municipal day care facilities get a subsidy on a per child, per day basis under new rules set out by the provincial- government when it downloaded child care to municipalities. The licenced private CAO hiring team in place By Keith Roulston Citizen publisher A salary range of $95,000 to $120,000 has been set for the hiring of a new chief administrative officer for Huron County. County council approved the salary range at its Nov 7 meeting, also setting up a hiring committee which includes Warden Ben Van Diepenbeek, Councillors Ellen Connelly of Goderich and Joe Hogan of South Huron, Acting CAO David Carey; Rick Hulley, director of Human Resources and Gary Davidson, director of planning and development. Since the hiring process will likely overlap the change in the office of warden, Van Diepenbeek will remain on the committee until its work is completed. home facilities will be eligible for the same funding, he said. But Mitchell objected to the fact money from the Community Placement incentive program was being used for this program but didn't seem to be available for municipal day care facilities. That money, given by the province to the county as a reward for the number of people on welfare the county found work _for, was part of the downloading program, he argued. The county was encouraged to get people back to work but some of those people need day care, she said. While criticism was stronger than approval for the program which could eventually see up to 25 homes - licensed, there were supporters. "I think it's a really good idea," said Deb Shewfelt of Goderich, noting there are already lots of children being looked after in homes and this would provide some supervision in some of those homes. Diane Denomme of Bluewater pointed out there is no day care in Bayfield and many mothers work in retail and need child care outside of the hours of day cares. "This is really an attempt to help the situation. We would be remiss if we didn't." Norm Fairies of H9wick agreed, noting that in the small villages of his township, people would have to go all the way to Wingham or Listowel to find a licencel day care where subsidized support is available. "It's a way of getting subsidized support for parents who use this and having a service close to where people live," he said.