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Times Advocate, 1998-02-04, Page 1SEIP'S valu-mart 4 & 83 Exeter 235-0262 NEW! Top 20 Pocket Novels o/tf11" l 1t'!t•, 11i., 1,'ti• SEIP'S valu-mart 4 & 83 Exeter 235-0262 Film DettelopMg 4.99 24 roll Inside Lucan's heritage iceberg See Crossroads Second front Lucan Novice Lasers - win Silver Stick See page 16 New Year's • baby See page 2 Exeter council keeps donations_ close to home EXETER -•At its Monday night meeting, Exeter council unani- mously passed a motion not to make a donation t( the Huron Country Playhouse in 1908. - Council donated $506 in '96 and • '97 to tlt)Iayhousc for capital im- provements to the facilities. •Councillor Rohcrt Drummond was adamant the Town of Exeter should not give..m(5ney 10 the Play- house. Other cauncillors.agreed. Councillor Peter Armstrong said . while Exeter residents may attend plays there. the Playhouse should be looking at•cost-recovery. CouncillorGcorgc Robertson .• said the_ town Should he'putting money towards its library- instead.. "Our money -should he kept lo- - cal.' Robertson explained "When we gel the library settled: we could go hack to donating." "A precedence has been set for capital donations," said Councillor Joe Hogan. adding.Exeter is facing many unknown costs this year and should defer making donations fur- ther afield: . Council also filed a request for funding from the Blyth Festival School Boards with shortfalls may receive provincial funding By Michele Greene Special to the Times Advocate TORONTO - Administrators with the Avon Maitland District School Board left a Toronto meeting with Ministry of Education and Training representatives last week confident the province is now aware of its" problem. "Our purpose was to show them that we had a problem," said Mari- lyn Marklevitz. superintendent of business and finance, atter the Jan. 28 meeting. She said the administrators with the ministry told her there is sup- posed to he some transitional fund= ing coming availahlc soon for boards facing shortfalls. Marklevitz said the transitional funding represents sorne hope the • hoard. She said Avon Maitland will now have to wait and sec the de- tails of the transition funding. The hoard originally predicted a $6.2 million shortfalltafter learning about its funding level from the province over the next eight months. After budget cuts and more calculations. the hoard brought that shortfall down to $1.7 million. Exeter water supply not all cut and dried Exeter council and the PUC will meet Thursday night to discuss. the town's water supply By -Kate Monk T -A -Reporter• EXETER - How much water capacity docs Exeter have • and how -much will it need:' Exeter's council has discussed the water issue since Last tall. The water supply and rates will he the•topic of a meeting between town Council and the - Puhlic Utilities.Contntission "Thursday night.. - - - • .. When Exeter expanded it. 'water capacity by adding a line from the Ontario Clean Water Agency plant` at Port Blake. it was believed Exctcr•eould grow to 7.600 people.- . However. eople.- However. a number of factors arc -entering into the equa- MTh: elimination of river supply . %voter use by Nabisco. re - 'quests from businesses and individual. outside Exeter boundaries, and the -potential ownership roof the Lake Huron pipeline by the City. of London. _ . - Huron - Motor Products., Tont Prom and Suntastic Hot- .- • house Inc.. all- in lthorne•Tuwnship. have requested .hook- ups to Exeter's water supply. Whilc•the-volurne of watsrre= quircd for Prout and HMP is not large. Burkhard Metzger •._ of Suntastic esti,ii tied 750.(10(1 liters per' day Would- he needed for 3(1 additional acres of greenhouses Suntastic hopes to constrict. • in a report to. council. Exeter Chief Administrative Of- ficer Rick Huntley stated there -a -c several issue. to con skier -hcfi►re• extending water services beyond Exeter' houndaries: possible- municipal amalgamation. •finances.! land use planning...business equity. infrastructure -planning. resource management and environmental issue.. Sherman Roth I'U(' manager and Hundc-y agreed the complexity ol'the request requires policy direction.. tech- nical and. financial• analysis” The PUC has engaged B.M. Ross consulting engineers to do a fcasihility review par- Ocularly in relation to the Suntastic proposal. Another new wrinkle is the issue of the province -trans- ferring the owncrship`of the Tori Blake to London pipeline to municipalities, - • - Under this scenario the municipalities that tap into the pipeline. including Exctcr, would own the pipeline and a hoard would.bc created to manage the pipeline, The intent is to havc'a Stephen -Exeter representative on a 13-memher hoard. Five members :from London would cach'havc„two votes and eight members from -other areas would have one vote each. The City .of London would.own 95 per .cent of the pipeline: - • Hunde 's concern is that. given the majority, vote rests with London,.what guarantee exists that the system -can he expanded in the future. Will.Exeter he able to economically • draw more water from the system in the -future-as needed'' The basis for the payment of operating costs is another mat- . to - - . The devolvement of..Morrison Dam is also on the plalc. The dam -and reservoir wcrc huiit_more than 40 years ago to supply' water for -the canning -factory in Exctcr. When the town hooked up to the-OCWA pipeline. the Exeter .PUC said the Morrison Dam - MacNaughton Park supply of wa- tcr-was no longer needed because Nabisco started using the dornestic supply cif water. - - . Early in 1997, the PUC and Exctcr council told.the Aus- ahlc-Bay 1icld Conservation Authority they would no longer: tinanctally support. Morrison dam and reservoir. Both the - town and PUC refused to meet with the ARCA to talk abbot options for future use -and funding_ The town.'re-• alining the importance of Morrison Dam Conservation Arca • • • to Exeter residents changed its mind in the fall of 1997 and a _greed to.mcet in -December.. Based on further examination of .the town's water supply, . Exctcr council is having second thoughts about- giving up • - thc right to -use water from the Morrison Dam - MacNaugh- ton Park industrial water supply since it may be needed in the future. - • According to Mayor Ben Hoogenhoom, the costs•of im- prov.ing the quality •ol' the Morrison 'Dam- water so that it - -cnuld once again he used by Nabisco are too large -to make this an economic source. With Nahiscn using the domestic supply. it cuts into the 7,60( population capacity for the town. According to Hun- dcy= Nabisco usage was not provided for -on • top of the • 7.600 population capacity. As *ell. supplying a population if 7.60!) depends on the 'health of the town's wells: the quality and quantity of the wells:cannot be guaranteed..The Lake Huron supply alone can not sen ice that population: • = . - Late in f997, the town -purchased land to•czpand its sew- _ • age lagoons which are now at capacity so that -the town can grow to . (hc 7.6(1(1 arc. -The lack of water' supply would once again put the voter' and sewage systems out of hal- ancc.: - Hundcy said historit:ally. the water expansion issue has • been. primarily a town council matter for several reasons. The ultimate responsible for water rests with council and • . the othci major pubes. is.ueS including economic •and land use planning and municipal "organization arc also council matters. The l'UC has the responsibility:of supplying and delivering water in Exeter.- . • Seaforth welcomes Lucan and Biddulph Twp. no closer to amalgamation after joint meeting new school board By Michele Greene Special to the Times Advocate STRATFORD - If the Avon Maitland District School Board wants to move to Seaforth, it will be more than welcome. "We welcome th Avon Maitland board. V• eve -Seafodh has the necessary criteria," Seaforth Mayor Da- vid Scott told trustees Tues- day, Jan. 27 in Stratford. Mayor Scott and Coun. John Ball represented the second community hoping to encourage the board to make it their home. In January, Strafford Coun. Dan Mathieson outlined the benefits to keeping its cor- porate headquarters in Stratford. Mayor Scott pointed out how the Huron County town can also meet its needs. Seaforth is on the major transportation route of High- way 8 and is central to the two counties, requiring the least amount of travel time for trustees and employees He named several facilities •°thc!t could be suitable for' meetings and conventions. Mayor Scott said restaurants and motels within 30 min- utes of Seaforth can ac- commodate people in town on bard business. "In the past year, Seaforth has been the choice of nine new businesses," said Coun. Ball. The board is holding a public information meeting about possible sites on Mon- day, Feb. 9 at the Dublin Community Centre in Dublin at 7:30 p.m. No decision on 1K STRATFORD - Trustees don't want to talk about bringing junior kindergarten to Perth County schools until they. know • about funding. - At the Jan. 27 meeting of the Avon Maitland District School Board. held in Stratford. associate director John Patterson •said the •hoard is facing a -choice between three options. . He said it can maintain. the status-`' quo, with junior kindergarten in Huron schools and not 111Perth schools: add junior kindergarten to - Perth; schools: or cancel .the pro- gram for young children in Huron schools. • "I believe if we support. a pro- gram in our district. it should he available to all schools, but we need to know the funding." said Trustee Atpe Tuyten. • Marilyn Marklevitz. " super- intendent 'of business and- finance. said she did not vet know if the new Wilding will include the addition of programs like junior kindergarten. • Trustee L.eslie - Wood said she would like tithe to consult with her school councils on issues like junior kindergarten. beginning French in-, slructiuti in Grade I and length of the March Freak before making any recommendations. "There is some merit to main- taining the status quo until we (earn about the funding." said Trustee Tuvten. The issue was deferred until the next hoard meeting. to he held on Tuesday. Feh.IO in Clinton. Kells hands in resignation EXETER - Exeter Public Works Superintendent Glenn Kells shocked council on Monday night by submitting his resignation effective April 28. Kells has been a town employee for 28 years. Council accepted his resignation with regret and wished him all the best for the future, em- phasizing his shoes would be hard to fill._ By Craig Bradford T -A Reporter LUCAN - Lucan and •Biddulph Township councillors are no closer • 10an amalgamation deal - after a Itnnt meeting -at the Biddulph coun- iI chambers un Thursday. - - - Rut the general consensus is that Lucan and Biddulph must come to their own agreement rather than have ,Middlesex County or the province force one -on them. Lucan Reeve Rohcrt Bcnncr,'said his aim is.to "protect -our rural'way of life however possible. " "1 am, very- concerned that if we _leave it up to thc,:provincc'thcy will make it a-. city-hased .government. like they did in Chatham -Kent leav- ing us with an unacceptable level"of representation." Bcnncr said. He favors a Lucan-Biddulph mer- ger as a first -step with perhaps .Part. of McGillivray .Township and the former London. Township. • But:Jr. the county or province forces, a much larger amal- gamation, -Bcnncr -favors a singlc- tier. county- wide municipality apart from London "as a last resort to pro- tect our interests." Biddulph Reeve Earl French . said his council hasn't discussed amal- gamatior, in depth since they wcrc installed in December but planned to atyesterday's council meeting after the Times -Advocate wc,nt to press. He said his- staff will in- vestigate •both the Lucan- Biddulph only 'scenario cons of a county -wide single municipal- ity, - . "We know we'd like to .in- vestigatc this further and we'd like this to he as most locally driven as . possible." French said. Lucan councillors ' slut met with county - appointed amalgams- _ .•tion. facilitator Bill - Thinsan . earlier last ething • week. - Bcnncr said he• - table."- and the rest of council • were "impressed" with • Thomson- and feel he is - trying to make -the hest of.a tough' situation. - • "We have strong .hopes Mr. Thomson will -come up with some- - thing palatable.". Benner said. " Thomson has already met with • most other - Middlesex municipal "We have strong hopes Mr. Thomson' will curie up with son pals and the pros and Continued on page 2 More bucks for bytes The Exeter Legion donated $2,000 to the Lease a PC for the Future Campaign at South Hu- ron District High School. Legion president Case Zeehuisen Jr. presented the cheque to Don- na Shapton of the School Advisory Council. Campaign head George Godbolt (left) and SHDHS principal Debi Homuth were on hand for the presentation. Through the program, lo- cal businesses, organizations and individuals have raised funds for computers for the new- ly -renovated library. The Beta Sigma Phi Sorority Council donated $300. Financial advice you can count on! George Godbolt CLA', (IP 496 Main Street Exeter ON 235-2740 When it comes to investment and tax strategies, retirement and estate planning, and more, we have the expertise and technology needed to help secure your financial future. CaII me today for financial advice you can count on! Licensed with Mutual Lite of Canada/Mutual Investco Inc., two companies of The Mutual Group. a Mutual affair The Mutual Group