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Times Advocate, 1998-02-18, Page 2Page 2 Tines-Aduocate, February 18, 1998 Regional wrap up St. Marys bridge repair proposed ST. MARYS - Those in St. Marys can look forward to some major repairs Water Street bridge in in the future. The bad- ly' deteriorated structure will. 'tt ve-about $49,000 -worth of -re— pairs done which will double its load limit from two to five tonnes and "extend its .life span I5-20 years, statedthe St. Marys Journal Argus. A"survey showed that approxi- mately 1,500 vehicles cross over the bridge a day. - Hanover to host first Saugeen Grand Prix HANOVER - From July 23- 26. the Saugeen Municipal Air- port will host the first ever Sau gecn Grand Prix, stated the Sau- geen City News. About 300 competitors will compete and .1,000 people will visit the races, reported the arti- . cle. A .'number of international kart racing competitors will par- ticipate_in the event. - _ The Saugeen Municipal Air- port has made. a commitment- to host the races for. three years: It will host two days of practice and two days of competition. West Williams case re -opened WEST WILLIAMS - A - re- newed police investigation of 20 unsolved Southwestern Ontario murders and__disappearances- in- cludes the case of Glenda Ted - ball; a West Williams Township girl who vanished on Hallo- ween, 1967, stated' the Parkhill Gazette. The -investigation called, Pro- ject Angel, includes 18 con- . firmed murder .victims and two -others who have not been ac- counted for, one of them being Tedball. . , An investigative team of 15 OPP and London Police officers; is interviewing witnesses and survivingfamily members in' connection with the cases. -Since they began the investigation in January, the team has found links between three cases which were not identified. Links are based on DNA testing, databases and behavior profiles. - Four alliance hospitals merge WALKERTON - The Minis- try of Health has approved the merger of four Walkerton arca hospitals into an alliance known as the South Bruce Grey Health Centre, reported the Walkerton Herald -Times. Health Minister Elizabeth Wit- mer approved the amalgamation of hospitals in Walkerton, Kin- cardine, Chelsey and Durham. The target date for the South Bruce Grey Health Centre is April 1, although hospitals have been operating under a single CEO since the resignation of former Walkerton/Chelsey ad- ministrator Guy Kirvan early in 1997. Huron County restructuring HURON COUNTY - Huron County council hopes to have a restructuring option ready by Jan. I, 1999, reported the Wing - ham Advance -Times. Both one -tier and two-tier government options were dis- cussed among Administration, Finance and Personnel Commit- tees at the. Feb. 5 County council meeting with input from the mu- nicipalities. Once a preferred op- tion is selected by County coun- cil, it will have to pass 'a triple majority process before it can be implemented. This means a ma- jority of County council, local • municipalities and the county's population must agree. • Seasonal gaming club talks heat up The possibility of a seasonal gaming club in Grand Bend depends on the support of council, residents and charities. By Chanta ! Van Raay T -A Reporter. GRAND BEND - A public tbrum was held -.in Grand•Bend last Mon day night to discuss the future pos- sibility of: a seasonal charity gam- • ing club in .Grand Bend. . Over 200 people attended the meeting in -the Grand Bend Public School gymnasium to listen to rep- resentatives from Fundtime Corp. discuss the possibility of a seasonal gaming club in the village. Fund - time . Corp. is a ,provincially li- censed operator of charity gaming clubs. The group was =given per- mission by-the`Ontari_o government to establish seasonal charity gam- ing casinos throughout the prov- ince. - - Michael Mant'cl, president 'and CEO of Fundume, -visited Grand • Bend last Monday, first talking to. local charities in the afternoon, and then to residents at night. - : "We plan on blending in with the community, we are not a big, -corn- , mercial casino," Mandel said in an interview with the T -A. .. An opinion vote ballot is being sent to `village residents along with a synopsis of last Monday night's public meeting: -- This will be the second time vil- lagers are being given the op- portunity to vote on a casino. The first time was during the municipal voted -for and 57 voted against a gaming institution. Mayor Cam Ivey said if the ma-" jority votes "no" to a casino, "Jt's. done." But, if.the majority vote is "yes", a -seasonal gaming club in Crand Bend is a great possibility. A number of . questions were - raised at the meeting by .area gold- en agers including thetiming of the meeting. There was concern that 40-50' per cent of..snow birds are away for the winter, therefore not . able tovote at this time: Residents - were • also concerned that VLT's (video lottery.terminals) would have an effect of youth. It • was estimated that- 14 per cent of Canadian adolescents arc problem gamblers. A statement .was made .that one-third of youth must gam- ble to meet provincial revenue tar- gets: It was also said seven per cent of the adult population and 28 per- cent :ol' Ontario's teenagers arc a1- -ready problem gamblers. Residents are also worried the community they are so proud of will be a mecca for crime, family dysfunction and compulsive or. ad dictive personalities if a casino is introduced into the village. It was explained that provincial requirements necessitate significant investment in. surveillance and se- curity activities at all casinos and - ctubs. Further, examples from other casinos in the province has not in -- election n=election. in •November where 43 dicated a significant increase - in crime and/or policing costs. Mandel explained to the T -A the main difference between a' charity gaming club and a- full-time perma- nent casino is size, The proposed gaming club in Grand Bend would only be about 10 per cent the size of a regular sized casino, he said.. He explained while the club has potential to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it will operate to meet the needs of the-- coin - mutiny. Initially the operating sea- son would be 6-7 months. Mandel- said one of the benefits he secs with a casino- in Grand Bend is that it could extend the stay of visitors; "It will extend the season and the length of stay,".he said, referring to Beach -comers who would .end up staying in Grand longer because a casino 'is available alter the sun goes down. "We're bringing money into ,the community that otherwise wouldn't be spent." - Mandel said a casino will employ about 100 people from the local. area, adding the jobs will consist of food and beverage, management; dealers,information. systems and. Security. Fifty per cent of net table revenue. would go directly to local charities, while the other 50 percent would go 16 the government. He added that 10 per cent of VLT revenue would go to local charities and the remaining 90 per cent would go to the governmeats.Mandel added the government would use some of the - money forihe payment of new ma- chines, maintenance; labour, central system, etc. He expects revenue for local charities to be in the- range of $300,000-$3.60,000. per -year. Mandel said depending on coun- cil, local charities and village res- idents a Seasonal.gaming casino could open as early as two to three months.. However, he said this would only be a temporary interim facility until the permanent club is up and running. If the village votes for a gaming club, a fully opera- tional casinOcould be part of Grand Bend by 1999. Initially, the club would have 10 gaming tables with a betting limit of $100 and up to 150 VLTs. The club is expected t� be open from 12 p.m. - 3 a.m.. seven days a week, and would he approximately 1.5,001) square feet: As oI' yet, no lo- cation has been identified. The opinion ballot was .mailed out to residents on or after Feb. 1 1. The question on the . ballot asks: Are you in favor of having a sea- sonal charity gaming club located - in Grand Bend. The response must be postmarked or delivered to the - Village office no later than 5 p.m.' on Feb. 25. • - Administrator questions water system management Hundey claims financial and economic faced the capacity." ' Hundey said the most important factor is a financing plan for the Chang= implications are significant for Exeter' es was notprepared. He is also concerned the merits of the changes,. im- - plications or alternatives were not considered. As well, experts or stak- EXETER - Exeter's Chief Administrative ,Officer Rick Hundey has "adders (including Council and the general public) were not consulted: some very serious concerns about the quantity of the water supply as well- "That the PUC does not know the water supply system appears to be the as the.planning and management of the water system. He raised his con- root cause of many of the problems.- At the February 5 meeting, the PUC cents to Exeter Council on Monday night. The Public Utilities Commission is responsible for. planning and oper- ating the water system and the Town owns the system and is responsible for community development. _ Hundey is questioning the commission's expertise'in light: of the revelation that Exeter only has enough water to serve a population of 5,000 rather than -7,000 the PUC calculated. In a report to Exeter council Monday night, Hundey said the water capacity problem can be classified as a planning, management and. process problem. He asked three ques• - tions. . • I. Were the correct planning processes (i.e. engineering, financial, economic and"community planning) followed? - 2. Should roles (PUC and Council) be- re-examined/ changed? 3. Should planning processes be evaluated and changed? . acknowledged it did not realize the impactsof the Nabisco change to its - reserves. It is perhaps because it was unaware of the size of the system and of the impacts of the Nabisto change, the PUC chose not to consult its engineer. That was a critical error," Hundey,'s re - "That the PUC port stated. does not know Hundey thinks the PUC is working from a short-term per- .: the water supply system appears to be - spective which has "possibly jeopardized long-term Town economic and development goals." - . He would like the management approach to focus on max- imizing the use of resources, conservation, cost control and the root -cause maximizing wealth creation opportunities. Lastly, Hundey recommended the planning and delivery of many of the of related physical services should be put under the policy problems." direction of a single body. "Alternatively, the role of Council should. be elevated 'such that major policy decisions and system management "That there is a problem in planning, management and. processes in prac- decisions are approved by Council," Hundey's report stated. .• tice in matters .of water supply service is now obvious," stated Hundey. Council approved these recommendations on Monday night. "The PUC made: changes in the water supply system that significantly re Water expansion virtually used up . Continued from front page tended to only pay half the cost. Triebner disagreed saying the PUC had given away the water capacity and. should therefore pay to help find a solution. Skinner said he would take the issue of the PUC paying the en- tire cost back to the PUC to try to get their PUC motion amend- ed. Hoogenboom intervened saying it was important .to get B.M. Ross started on the study and the payment issue could be sorted out. Council approved the re- mainder of the recommendations in Hundey's report and passed the motion for major PUC water and management decisions to be brought to council for their ap- proval. In light of the track record of poor communication between the PUC and council, council was concerned it was -not being informed of PUC de- cisions and that the entire coun- cil should have input into major decisions. Water capacity leaves little room for growth Continued from from page has the capacity for more than 2,000 additional people. Using the maximum usage figures, the room for growth is reduced to 670 addi- tional people. In Exeter, peak demands occur during the summer with increased domestic use and in the fall when Nabisco uses the most water. Consequences Hundey said there are three con- sequences to the lost reserve capac- ity. . • I. Exeter has very limited reserve capacity for new growth and the Town's community -and economic plans will be negated unless water supply reserves are increased. 2. The water reserve problem will prompt the Town and its engineer to re -consider its sewage treatment expansion program. 3. There . are undetermined fi- nancial : consequences in re- plenishing reserves and/or -in pay- ing for the water system without the assessment growth expected to have tapped into the expanded sys- tem. Exeter's supply 'of water from the Lake. Huron system is limited by pump size, pipe capacity and the Exeter -Stephen agreement on the common facility. : According : to " Hundey, the PUC was unaware of'. these limits. The next step is to engage B.M. Draft bylaw to be made available to ublicand/or retrieving water capacity. Dayman, By Chantal! Van Raay T -A Reporter HENSALL -. Some Hensall res- idents weren't impressed atlast week's council meeting when coun- cil suggested the draft cat bylaw be kept from them. Reeve Cecil Pepper said council would go in -camera at the end of the meeting, explaining the draft bylaw is not yet public information, Pepper suggested sharing .a copy with people who weren't at the meeting. This remark caused some ir- ritability among the members present who said they have been coming to all meetings and didn't find it fair that the bylaw may be shown to those who haven't at- tended any meetings and not to them. - Hensall res- ident and cat Owner Bonnie Zawalsky ap- proached coun- cil in defence of her own sit- uation with cats: "I have 15 cats," she be- gan. "Two are mine, the rest are dumped off and left on my doorstep." • Zawalsky said she was surprised to receive a phone call from her neighbor, Joanne Moir, saying there was a problem. with her cats when her other neighbors don't find a problem with her cats. "My cats don't leave my prop- erty," she con- tinued. "I never wanted them, but I don't want to leave them out." Zawalsky asked why the issue has been kept from the public: "We told every- one we were going to do research on it. That's alt we've done. We haven't kept any- thing a secret," said councilor Greg "This cat bylaw is a joke. If we can't see this nation-wide survey that other people have done, if you can't tell us what you want, how can we bein compliance?" Town of Exeter Statement of Remuneration and Expenses for 1997 as set out in Section 247, Municipal Act Council Members Stipend Per Diene Group Insurance Conference Registration Meals/Travel/ Lodging Total Armstrong, Peter $85 585.00 Boyle, Wendy $4,049 $75.91 54,124.91 Drummond, Robert $4,049 $1,471.73 585 $5,605.73 Hogan, Joe $85 585.00 Hoogenboom, Ben $7,906 $1,590.93 $273.86 59,770.79 Hughes, Tom $4,049 $1,455.64- 55,504.64 tiIicklc, Rill $4,049 $420 51,569.71 $370 $871.78 $7,280.49 Rider, .toe 54,049 $140 $790.70 5370 $258.12 $5,607.82 Robertson, George $85 $85.00 Triebner, Roy $4,049 $210 $1,715.93 5299 $600.86 56,874.79 Urlin, !)ave $4,049 $90.41 $43.20 54,182.61 Total $36,249 $770 $8,760.96 $1,379 52,047.82 549,206.78 (Per Diem - $70/full day; $35/half day) Mileave - $0.27/kilometer Clerk Luanne Phair agreed. "As far as keeping information from you, we're not doing that. We're just organizing it before we give it out," she said. The residents then left the council chambers in frustration saying they are frustrated about the bylaw. "This cat bylaw is a jokc. If we can't see" this nation-wide survey that other people have done, if you can't tell us what you want, how can we be in compliance," asked Zawalsky. "I'm sorely disappointed. ,I'm !caving," said Ann MacMillan. It was directed by council that the Feb. 6 draft cat bylaw be made available to the public. Consensus reached regarding Motorplex STEPHEN TOWNSHIP - Res- idents of Stephen Township met with township council last Tuesday to appeal the Ontaria Municipal by- law which allows drag racing at the Grand Bend Motorplex throughout 1998. Township administrator Larry Brown explained there was a con- sensus between council, members of the motorplex and residents that the motorplex meet five conditions: A liaison committee be put in place in '98 and meet to discuss issues re- garding the motorplex; sound bar- riers will be erected for the '99 sea- son; jet cars will only be allowed.to run one weekend in 1998; a perma- nent zoning bylaw will restrict Del- aware -style oval track racing; and the motorplex will make every ef- fort to run the loudest vehicles prior to 8 p.m. and complete drag racing by 10 p.m. The first liaison committee meet- ing has been scheduled for June 10 at 8 p.m at the Grand Bend Mo- torplex Tower. A Students have say on new location of the Board of Ed CLINTON - Students will, now have a say on the new location of the Avon -Maitland District School Board At last Tuesday night's meeting in Clinton, Mitchell District High School Student Trustee Holly Beth Mathers was appointed to the head- quarters site review work group, which is investigating potential lo - Cations for the board. Student Trustee Mathers said MDHS is one of the schools being considered for closure. A large number of people at a public meet- • ing on board location in Dublin on Feb. 9 included Mitchell students. "They feel strongly about their school. I want to be there [on the work group] so we're sure students are involved," said Student Trustee Mathers. Trustees also heard three more delegations on board location. Clin- ton Reeve Carol Mitchell urged the board to make the offices of the for- mer Huron County Board of Educa- tion its new headquarters. She said the board is a "local partner in the service industry for Clinton." Clin- ton would feel an economic impact if the board left, in terms of job losses as well as the loss of service jobs. The board's staff also had their say on the issue. Representatives from the Clinton office and the Stratford office hoped the board would choose to locate in one of the current headquarters. Nora Darlington, of the Stratford office, said Mitchell Public School is a "better alternative" if Stratford is not chose. . Mitchell is a fair drive for all employees. •