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Times-Advocate, 1987-10-07, Page 2Times -Advocate, October 7, 1987 1 BALLOONS FOR UCW REGIONAL — Nola Foist, Doreen Lightfoot, Mary Kenney port of the Crediton United Church take balloons/to Tuesday's UCW regional at the Church. ondheanette Lam - Grand Bend United T -A photo. Rec centre inspection shows building is in good shape B.M. Ross and Associates of Goderich have completed an inspec- tion of the South Huron Rec Centre and the report wsa received by Ex- eter council, Monday night. The Goderich firm obtained struc- tural drawings for the various com- ponents of the work, and it would ap- pear that the structure was con- structed in accordance with the On- tario Building Code. The inspection was performed on September 1, 1987, and structural members were reviewed from thL P.U.C.'s bucket truck and ladders. The report continues: In accordance with the re- quirements of the Ministry of Labour, we have done a deterioration inspec- tion concerning our comments with respect to the major structural members and their deterioration since the building was constructed 10 years ago. In the area of the community hal. and adjoining rooms, we found the structural members to be in excellent condition and have no concern. There is some question concerning the Fire agreement Continued from front page - includes Lots 1 to 10 on Concession 1; Lots 3 to 10 on Concession 2,3,4,5,6 and 7 and Lots 2 to 11 on South Boun- - dary Concession. Apportionment of costs will be on total assessment as per list revised assessment roll. Exeter with a 57.55 percentage of total assessment will pay 56 percent of costs, Usborne with 36 percent of assessment will pay 36 percent and Hay and Stephen with assessments of 3.23 and 3.2, respec- tively will be charged the minimum of five percent each. Members of the present fire board are Mayor Bruce Shaw, reeve Bill Mickle and deputy -reeve Lossy Fuller from Exeter; deputy -reeve Margaret. Hern and CouncillorRoss Ballantyne from Usborne; Stephen reeve Tom Tomes and Hay Councillor Murray Keys. Also at the fire board meeting, fire chief Gary Middleton explained about the new direct alarm system and the buildings that have subscribed to the service. He said it will pay for itself by next year and the annual $300 fee will be an income to the board. To a question from councillor Ben Hoogenboom if the alarm service was available to all in the agreement, dep- tuty reeve Fuller replied, "I would think so. I know the Pentecostal Church is connected." Reeve Mickle added that the fire chief has notified all boards about the system. He added, "The system has an immediate response time as it ac- tivates beepers in possession of the firemen". masonry walls as mentioned below. The roof appears to be in good condi- tion and that additional drains have been added. In reviewing the structural members irr the arena, engineers noted that there is some minor rusting at the top of the bottom flanges of the frames and some rusting on bolthead connections, etc. This is not a concern at this time. Touching up and/or re- painting of the frames wll be required at some time in the future (4 to 8 years 1. When reviewing the roof, it was found to be in good condition. The bot- tom edges of roofing materials show some rusting. Touch, up painting should be done in these areas at some time in the future. There were, however, two areas in the arena where the bottom leg of the structural frames was installed in the same location as shower rooms for the dressing rooms. In one of these locations, there was some con- siderable rusting present in the flanges of these steel coloumns. We advised the arena staff that these columns must immediately be mechanically cleaned of the existing rust and coatings and properly painted to prevent further deteriora-' tion of the coatings. We understand that this work is now complete. It is our opinion that an ongoing effort should be made to monitor and ensure that the coatings -are intact to prevent rusting in these areas. The final area of concern are the masonry wins which compose all of the exterior walls of the structure. The walls are of single wythe, stack- ing bond construction. Bond beams are present horizontally at intervals on each elevation. We have noticed both now and in our previous discus- sions in 1985, problems with moisture entering the block wall from the out- side and creating effervescence pro- blems both on interior and exterior wall surfaces. There are also many areas where minor cracking both horizontally and vertically is present and it is most likely that this is also a result of the same moisture problem. While we do not consider this to be a structural concern at this time, we consider it imperative that the Com- munity Centre Board address this problem with the intention to correct it before it becomes of structural con- cern. These discussions are beyond the scope of this report, and we would be pleased to meet with the Board to give our preliminary opinions as to how they should proceed. In summary, we found only one area of immediate structural concern in the building. We understand that; arena staff has already painted two. badly rusted portions of structural steel frames that were in shower rooms. An ongoing maintenance ef- fort may be necesasry to ensure that coatings remain on these beams. We have noted that there is some minor rusting of frames in the arena and that repainting will be necessary at some time in the future. We have also noted again, that there are pro- blems with the masonry walls and collection of moisture in these walls. We, would recommend that the Recreation 'Centre Board should begin to address the .correction of these problems before they create structural problems with the facility and would also recommend that the •structural componentsof the facility be reinspected in five years, which is the maximum under -the Ministry of Labour's guidelines. LIONESS AWARD Liz Bell presents the Exeter Friday's SHDHS Commencement to Patti Love. HEAD FOR YOUR CORNER ON SUCCESS WITH MAC'S You're smart, ambitious, and heading for success. Mac's shows you the way by giving you the opportunity to operate your own Mac's Store Dealership. You'll enjoy the freedom of operating your own Mac's Store Dealership and setting your own working hours. 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MAC'S CONVENIENCE STORES DIVISION Or SILCORP LIMITED 575 MURPHY ROAD RIO We've got the corner on more.1(519) 2 O5ONgl "7s 506 14" lioness award at T -A photo Retirements Continued from front page singers, Ted Gorski with his guitar from St. Michael School, Stratford, Tim Carroll oL St. Mary's School in Hesson with his guitar and Mary Ann Hogan of St. Patrick's School, Kingsbridge. With one song, Mull at Kintyre, the trio was assisted by Sandy McQuillan, principal at Kingsbridge, with his bagpipes. A special song sung was Dare to Dream, written by a group of Huron- rth County Roman Catholic Sepa . to School teachers. This song will be sung at the Ontario Education Week Ceremonies in April 1988 which will be sponsored jointly next year by the Perth County Board of Education -and the Huron -Perth County Roman Catholic Separate School Board. As well this song Dare to Dream is to be recorded by the Listowel Chamber Choir. CHAPARAL FENCING R.R. 1, Lucan Ontario NOM 2J0 ALL 'TYPE'S FREE ESTIMATES Industrial Fences Chain Link 8 Patio Farm Ponces Phone Bob Hardy 277-4160 Further study on urban roads rebate Proposed cutbacks hot issue Following a test run during the regular October session of Huron County Council, the hot issue of pro- posed cutbacks in the level of urban rebates has been handed back to the county roads committee for further . study. Urban rebates are considered to be the county's contribution toward road .work in its toWus and villages. Although the Public Transportation and Highway Improvement Act sets the minimum rebate at 25 percent of the amount levied on the urban mun- cipality for county road purposes, Huron has set the urban level at 45 percent. The maximum under the act is 50. percent. The roads committee, in its report to council's October session, recom- mended the level of urban rebates be decreased to the statutory minimum 25 percent. The committee's rationale for the move is that it would provide approximately $170,000 in 1988 which the county could use to increase the work on its road system. Reductions in provincial funding for municipal .roadwork over the past decade have resulted in'a substantial backlog in roads requiring improve- ment, County engineer Dennis Mer- rall pointed out in a report which ac- companied the committee's recommendation. Throughout that report, however, Merrall avoided making any clear cut recommendation for the county to reduce the urban rebates. Several times in his report he makes it clear that the urban rebate level is not an engineering issue, but a political one. Merral's report suggests any addi- tional funding for the county road pro- gram would help reduce the backlog faced by his department, however, "whether county council increases the road budget through a general in- crease in the count levy, or through a reduction in urban rebates should not be a concern to the county engineer." Colborne township reeve J:R. Ker- nighan, roads committee chairman, called for some "good honest discus- sion" on the issue rather than con- frontation. He said the committee's intention in making the recommenda- tion' was merely to provoke such a discussion. "I'm not a confrontation type of person" Kernighan said. "Those of you who want to make it into a con- frontation go ahead." However, he told council the engineer's report is the most comprehensive ever presented en the issue and outlined several options from which the coup, ty could choose. The committee chose this recommendation because it was the one most likely to encourage debate. If council were to reduce the urban rebates to the statutory minimum, the move would result in higher taxation at the local level for the five towns and five villages. For the village of Zurich at least, it would mean a possi- ble five -mill increase, reeve Bob Fisher said, something the village would be hard-pressed to justify to its ratepayers. Statistics handed out to members of council by Exeter reeve Bill Mickle gave a breakdown of the increase in taxation which the towns and villages would experience in 1988 should the rebates be reduced to 25 percent. Goderich would appear to be the greatest loser, strictly in terms of total dollars lost, with $58,653 shaved from a rebate of $131,970 at the pre- sent level. At the proposed 25 percent, the Goderich rebate would be $73,316. For the other towns, the difference in rebates between the present 45 per- cent and the proposed 25 percent would be: Exeter, $28,595; Wingham, $18,216; Clinton, $14,849; Seaforth, $12,649. For the villages, the dif- ferences would be Hensel!, $9,267; Announcement Norris, Homuth & Taylor Ken Pinder C.A. The partners of Norris, Homuth 8 Taylor, Chartered Accountants Exeter, are pleased to announce that Ken Pinder has joined the firm in the position of manager. Ken is a chartered accountant with extensive public accounting experience and will be responsible for providing accounting, auditing, taxation and management advisory ser- vices in our expanding practice. Norris, Homuth & Taylor is a local firm of chartered ac- countants providing accoun- ting, auditing, taxotion, data processing and management advisory services to a wide variety of clients ranging from agri-business opera- tions to manufacturing and retailing businesses. Bayfield, $7,602; Blvth, $4,601; Brussels, $4,493; Zurich $3,316. Every year, each municipality in the county is assessed for its contribu- tion to the county road levy. At pre- sent, however, the urban municipalities receive a 45 percent rebate on that levy since most have no county roads - or very few - within their boundaries. This means, as Mickle's handout .. states, the towns and villages are con- tributing 55 percent of their appor- tionate share toward county roads. If the rebate is reduced, however, the urban municipalities will be faced with paying 75 percent of their appor- tionate share to the county road system in addition to a 100 percent responsibility for their own street program. A survey of 10 nearby counties, in- cluding Huron, shows that four - Well- ington, Middlesex, Lambton and Elgin - have set their urban rebate level at the statutory minimum of 25 percent, while just one, Perth, is at the statutory maximum of 50 percent. Both Kent and Essex counties have set their level at 40 percent, while Grey County's urban rebate level stands at 35 percent. In Bruce, the level is at 30 percent, although Kin- cardine is allowed a 50 percent rebate since its main street has been assum- ed by the county. Bayfield reeve Dave Johnston said a reduction -in the rebates at this time would be appropriate. He urged the road committee to at least consider phasing in any reduction over a period of several years to avoid economic hardship to some of the municipalities. In the past few years, Johnston -said, more than $2.3 million in extra provincial funding has gone into the county road system. "It seems to me that if this amount of money is not enough to allow us to maintain our roads, then a mere $170,000 is not go- ing to do it," he added. In reply to questions, Mr. Merrall admitted that there had been an increase in provin- cial funding in the past three years, but in general, the funding directed to county and regional roads has been decreasing over the longer term. Although Johnston and Fisher were the only two village reeves to express their opposition, at least to any im- mediate or sharp drop, each of the town's representatives at the meeting rose to speak against the proposal. "I strongly believe it should stay as the bylaw now stipulates (25 per- cent)," Seaforth reeve Bill Bennett said. His municipality depends on the • rebate to help pay for equipment us- ed in maintaining its main street, a county road, he added. Wingham reeve Bruce Machan, Clinton reeve Bee Cooke and Exeter ' deputy -reeve Lossy Fuller also call- ed on fellow members of council to confider maintaining the status quo. Mickle called the five -to -six mill in- crease Exeter would face "unaccep- table". While the provincial govern- ment has been generous in grants for the county, he said, that generosity is not being shown in turn to the towns and villages. In 1981, when the county was get- ting less in provincial grants, county council set the urban rebate at 45 per- cent, Mr. Mickle said. "Now that the grants have increased, you want to cut this back to 25 percent:" Hullett Township Reeve Tom Cunningham said that although the current urban rebate bylaw was passed in 1981, the 45 percent rate was actually established much earlier, "as long as I can remember." Goderich township reeve Grant Stirling agreed and said the 45 percent rate could have been set as early as 1960. Goderich reeve Harry Worsell call- ed on council to "take a hard look at this." The proposed reduction is a "slap in the face" for the county's - towns andvillages, he added. Goderich has no county roads within its boundaries, Mr. Worsell said, yet the town pays $118,000 to the county road system. To a claim that some of the townships have more miles of urban roads than some of the towns, Mr. Worsell "challenged any township" to match the more than 60 miles of roadway in Goderich. Hay township reeve Lionel Wilder, a member of the roads committee, said he made the motion in commit- tee to bring the issue to council and that this particular recommendation was the one which would create the most controversy. Wilder claimed that of all unsub- sidized expenditures made by Huron County on its roads, only 17 percent- comes ercentcomes from urban municipalities, leaving the townships to pay the re • - maining 83 percent. "This is the reason we thought you should look at • this." Tuckersmith township reeve Bob Bell questioned the wisdom of reduc- ing the rebate from 45 to 25 percent and suggested sending the issue back to the committee. "Perhaps they can bring it back to 35 or 40 percent, and phase it in over two or three years," he said. Although at least two of the "rural" reeves mentioned a "rural -urban" split during their discussion on the issue, Mr. Johnston took objection to the reference. Issues often come before council which will appear on the surface to "favor one side or the other", he said. "There should be no suggestion, however, that this should be con- _ sidered an urban -rural split." Accor- ding to Mr. Cunningham, differences - on the issue come about because "the 'urban' and 'rurals' don't understand the problems of each other. An things considered, he said, "I think that things do balance out." It was Mr. Cunningham who said Stephen Township had more miles of urban roadway within its boundaries than some of the towns and villages. He also pointed out that the only access to the Village of Brussels is by coun- ty'roadway. Stephen township reeve Tom Tomes said he would favor a reduc- tion in the urba,rrebates if it ultimate- ly meant a reduction in taxes for residents of his municipality. "We do have more traffc on some of our roads than most county roads," Tomes said, referring specifically to the Centralia .areas. "However, 1 would hate to see it (the reduction). create an urban -rural split". At the end of more than an hour of discussion, council decided to send the recommendation back to the road committee for further -con ider ti Brian & Barry's Barbershop NOW OPEN MONDAY NIGHTS (By appointment only. Ask for Barry) Regular Hours: Mon., Tues., Thurs. 8:00 - 5:30 CLOSED WEDNESDAY Fri. 8:00 - 8:00; Sat. 7:30 - 3:00 Phone 235-0451 The PERFECT PLANT From Casual Industries LARGEST SELECTION OF ARTIFICIAL PLANTS IN SOUTHERN ONTARIO It's hard to believe they're not real. 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