The Huron Expositor, 1998-04-22, Page 1Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 — Seaforth, Ontario
April 22, 1998 — $1.00 includes GST
St. Columban to repair its church
BY GREGOR CAMPBELL
Expositor Staff
The congregation decided
to repair St. Columban
Roman Catholic Church,
which has been closed for
seven months, at a packed
meeting in the school gym in
the nearby hamlet last
Thursday night.
Estimated cost to repair
this "first Catholic Church on
the Huron Tract," is
$398,860, significantly less
than the $696,615 first pro-
jected last fall.
Parishioners also voted to
sell the rectory adjacent to
the closed church, along with
about an acre of land, to help
defray the cost of repairs.
The meeting was attended
by 96 per cent of parish-
ioners. St. Columban parish
dates from 1832 but the
most -recent church they
decided to fix last week was
built after a fire in 1909. It
was closed last September for
liability reasons after a report
by Goderich architect Alan
Avis said "extensive" work
was required and the building
could collapse in a worst-
case scenario.
"Preliminary results dif-
fered," when a second opin-
ion was subsequently,
obtained by a fact-finding
feasibility study committee,
whose final report went to
parishioners March 31. This
committee was chaired by
Jack Lane.
"Estimated repair costs,
provided in a report by C.A.
Ventin Architect Ltd. and Sze
Straka Engineers, Ltd sug-
gests $225,485 immediately
and a further $173,375 in a
staged program," according
Friday's parish press release.
"These costs include pro-
fessional fees. Actual costs
will not he known until the
project has been awarded by
tender."
SIX OPTIONS
The feasibility study com-
mittee presented six options.
Parishioners voted on these
Thursday, and a two-thirds
majority was required for
approval. The options ranged
from building a new church
to requesting khe Diocese of
London to dissolve St.
Columban as a parish within
the diocese and to ,re-estab-
lish the right of the parish-
ioners to merge with the
neighbouring parish of
choice.
The decisions of St.
Columban last week still
depend on Diocese of
London approval. A letter
from the parish seeking this
was sent Friday, says Matt
Claessens, chair of the St.
Columban parish advisory
committee.
Specific diocese require-
ments must also be meta
TO BE REPAIRED - St. Columban parish decided to repair its damaged Roman Catholic
church, for roughly $398,860, at a well -attended meeting last Thursday night.
"One of those is that 'fund-
ing must be in place' before
work can commence," last
week's parish press release ,
states. ,
Clacssens said Monday
morning that thc subquotc
can be interpreted in different
ways, but that normally the
diocese allows work to begin
when half.the funding is in
place.
He said this isn't guaran-
teed though.
The 72 -page feasibility
study report_also dealt exten-
sively with among other tech-
nical topics, thc financial bur-
den of various options on
parishioners, real estate mar-
ket values and directions
within the Roman Catholic
Church; for instance, clergy
projections and effects on
future staffing of parishes.
166 -YEARS -OLD
There are 98 families/wage
earners, with 319 metnbers in
the 166 -year-old parish. ,
"From 1832 until about
1842, a visiting priest from
Guelph would say mass at
one of the settler's homes,"
preamble to the'feasibility
study report notes.
"St. Columban was known'
by our ancestors to be the
building block from which
parishes were formed west to
Lake Huron, north and south,
at least in what is now known
as the Huron -Perth Deanery."
The first Catholic Church
was built in St. Columban in
1858. It was a small log
building.
Parishioners worshiped in
the school gym •until
Christmas after their latest
church was closed last
September. Since then many
have been worshiped at
another church in the three -
church cluster, St. Patrick's in
Dublin.
The feasil:ility study com-
mittee made parishioners
aware of changing rural reali-
ties and demographics in its
report.
RURAL TRENDS
"Important is the need to
project the number of sup-
porters who would be expect-
ed to not only share the annu-
al operating costs hut, as
well, a capital loan undertak-
ing." it states.
"Everyone knows the farm
ing community has been
going through a transforma-
tion which may continue for
some time in the future.
Farming units arc ever
increasing in size, reducing
the number of occupants
except where 'replaced by
tenants. ,
"That trend can not be
ignored." the report contin-
ues. "In addition, there is
increased aging in the local
population.
"For example, at this time
in 1998, 8.8 per cent of
parish, residents arc over
retirement age (65); but that
will double almqst (15.7 per
cent) by 2008, if indeed they
continue to live in the com-
munity."
Board still disappointed over provincial numbers
BY TRISH WILKINSON
CLINTON - Almost one
month aftcr the province
announced its new education
funding model, local board
admihistrators arc still having
trouble finding much good
news.
In a presentation to the
Avon Maitland District
School Board (AMDSB) last
Tuesday, Director of
Education Paul Carroll noted
his disappointment over thc
way the numbers arc adding
up.
"1 am, at this time, discour-
aged at 'what is unfolding as,
Marilyn Marklevitz (superin-
tendent of business) and her
team do their work," Carroll
said, "Wc arc still struggling
to sec if we will have more
money or less money than we
had in thc (previous) hoards."
Carroll added that despite
having the numbers since the
end of March, the job of deci-
phering the province's new
formula is far from over.
"It is an extremely difficult
task," he said, adding that
they arc still waiting for the
ministry of education to sup-
ply the rest of the funding
information,
However, Carroll noted that
what figures have been pro-
vided seem to contradict gov-
ernment claims that the nev.
model would increase class-
room spending across the
province.
"A report provided by the
Deputy Minister for Directors
of Education illustrates that.
the total estimated impact will
actually reduce classroom
spending in the AMDSB by
one-half of one percent and
increase non -classroom
spending by a similar nominal
amount," Carroll stated about
the 1998/99 school year.
Defers to budget process
Seaforth Council stumped by
request for area museum funds
BY GREGOR CAMPBELL
Expositor Staff
Council wasn't sure what to
do last Tuesday night, with'
an open-ended request from
thc "Celebrate. Scaforth's
History" committee that this
town "place funds in its bud-
get for the specific purpose of
funding a community muse-
um."
The question was "referred
to the budget process,"which
is on hold at the moment
until more financial details
arc released by the county
and province, particularly in
regards to the local education
mill rate.
No specifics, no outline and
no plan were proffered by the
history committee, which
prompted Deputy -reeve Bill
Teall to comment this made it
difficult for council to
respond.
"It's hard to get anybody to
support the idea of a museum
like this when they chn't see
it," he said.
Coun. Michael Hak said a
good starting point might be
to find out "what the commit-
tee is looking for?"
Mayor Dave Scott is a
member of thc local history
committee. He said the group
has been meeting for more
than a year and it is some-
times "frustrating" with no
funds to work with. •
"Hopefully something will
come from it," he said.
The group has explored
various possibilities to pre-
serve and display a wealth of
artifacts around town, the
majority of them privately
owned, and has been official-
ly working with Huron
Country Museum co-ordina-
tor Claus Breede for months.
STICKING POINT
No site has been identified
as adequate for a local muse-
um, nor space requirements
identified.
How much money a muse-
um might cost also remains
anybody's guess.
A sticking point for would -
CONTINUED on Page 2.
Following Carroll's
remarks, Marklevitz, who is
leading the work team evalu-
ating the impact of the fund-
ing changes, took trustees
through the hoard's prelimi-
nary findings.
The superintendent of busi-
ness noted that so far, the
AMDSB
BY TRISH WILKINSON
CLINTON - With little dis-
cussion or hoard input, the
Avon Maitland District
School Board (AMDSB) has
'ruhhcr stamped' the 1998
stub year budget.
Trustees at last Tuesday's
meeting voted to adopt the
draft 1998 stub ycar expendi-
tures budget, for Jan. 1, 1998
to Aug. 31, 1998, in the
amount of $78,757,994.
"In many respects it has
been a rubber stamp effort for
team has only been able to
verify $102,669,414 out of
the $127,082,609 the ministry
has profiled for the AMDSB
for the 1998/99 school year.
She noted that as more
information is provided by
the ministry, they hope to
come much closer to the gov-
ernment's numbers, adding it
would be dangerous to set a
budget for $127 million
unless the hoard was sure
they would be receiving all of
this,moncy.
"Wc need to clear those
things up," Marklevitz said.
Questions also remain,
Marklevitz continued, in how
the breakdown of individual
grants will effect the hoard
She noted that there still
appears to he a shortfall over
$392,000 in the transportation
grant, as well as more short-
ages estimated in the pupil
CONTINUED on Page 5.
rubber stamps stub budget
the administration and a rub-
ber stamp effort for the
board," Paul Carroll, director
of eduction, said. "It doesn't
require development, it only
requires that thc hoard passes
it through."
Carroll noted that the
money was revenue guaran-
teed to the board by the
province earlier in the year.
He added that the short year,
or stub year budget was nec-
essary since the government
is altering the fiscal year of
the school hoard from a cal-
endar year basis to one that
corresponds with the school
year.
"In order to make the
change, school boards will
operate on a short ycar or
'stub year' from Jan. 1, 1998
to Aug. 31, 1998," Carroll
stated in his action report.
Trustees noted their disap-
proval at having to pass a
budget they had little influ-
ence on, but noted that prede-
termined figures and time
restrictions left them few
options.
"I know to some extent our
hands are tied." Trustee Atjc'
Tuyten said. "But it's frustrat-
ing to endorse a budget that
because of time restraints we
had little or no impact on
whatsoever."
In a brief presentation
before the hoard voted to
adopt the draft budget,
Marilyn Marklevitz, superin-
tendent of business, reminded
CONTINUED on Page 5.
SPS FUN FAIR - Exchange students from France and their Huron County hosts posed at Seaforth Public School's
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