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Times Advocate, 1998-10-21, Page 41 4 IA bootful for MD Exeter Times -,Advocate In the News Fruitful labour. Exeter Firefighters' Association president Scott Heywood, left, and treasurer Bill Vandeworp, right, hand Muscular Dystrophy representative - Jeff Finkbeiner the $4,300 Exeterfirefighters raised during their Labour Day weekend boot drive. Finkbeiner is a registered member of the MD Association and was accepting the money on behalf of the charity. Firefighters stopped- traffic on Exeter's Main St. to solicit donations for MD on the Friday evening of the holiday weekend. "The reason we slow traffic down on a Friday of a long weekend is for a good cause," Vandeworp said. - Huron -Perth Catholic board ratifies deals with teachers . Secondary .teachers to make sure teachers only . teach the - teachers will .- . six of eight classes. meet weekly Averaged out to a whole school year 1 250 -minute Blanchette said 6.7i requirement' while teaching' 6 of 8 classes teachers will be hired an approximate salary $40,000 each. • . However, Blanche said the board has spent any more mon han it budgeted for a e said he is happy wi he deal. To make the deal _po ible teachers agreed - o salaryincrease:. he two years of the_ co act, which' covers Sep , 1998 -Aug. 31, 2000. "The teachers wer ry reasonable: anchette said, addin ey understood th ard's financial di ulties. Another developmen the new contract is de rtment heads have los air prep time and wil w be in the classroom same amount of time other teachers. lanchette said "nego- ions were very dif- 1t to get done be - se of external uences like the gov- ment and provincial ons." e said the Most im- ant thing is students • at • of tte not ey . nd th s -s to 0 for P n -p t. r e c " p g m e w DUBLIN — The Huron- h Perth Catholic District t School Board and its sec- ondary and elementary s teachers unions have n ratified two-year deals, t which will keep sec- tr ondary teachers working 1 six, of eight classes an- nually while still meeting ve the required 1,250 week- 131 lyminutes. in the class- th room. bo To - meet the 1,250 fic teaching minutes each ' week, director of educa- in tion Gaetan Blanchette pa said teachers will be do- th ing on call work in other no teachers' absence and the doing remedial in- as struction. B He said the remedial tiat instruction, something lieu teachers already do, can cau take place before school, Intl after school, or during ern lunch or recess. uni The board will also be 11 hiring replacement port have not been negatively impacted by negotiations and no credits have been. cancelled and no sched- ules.have changed. The board will also: be setting up a ,re- structuring committee with its teachers to look at different ways of de- livering classes to . stu- dents. The board, Blanchette was quick to add, has no tans of closing any of its. chools, explaining , most f the schools in Huron- erth are running at ca- acity or over -capacity. - The school board also atified a two-year deal overing the same time eriod . with its ele- entary teachers which ill see teachers re- - , ceiving a two per cent salary increase in each t year. Elementary teach- - ers will also see planning t time increased to 200 1 minutes per week but probably not until the last year of the deal, Blanchette said. Describing himself as "very pleased" with the elementary teachers con- tract, he said nego- tiations were easier than with the secondary teachers because there were not as many pro- vincial issues involved. Wednesday. October 21. 1998 Last local hurdle jumped in Lucan-Biddulph merger By Craig R.�wr.._. By Bradford II�1►iS, I Vo(11ItiSTAFF I.UCAN — A little tinkering is all Lucan- 13idd.ulph needs to du: to get the province's rubber r. stamp to tie the knot on Jan. 1. 1999. Luean and Biddulph'I'ownship councils met jointly last week 'to hammer out which two options put before them by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs they would choose. After -sonie discussion option' one was settled on. Option one calls- for the two municipalities to merge • officially. on Jan. 1, 1999 and for the two councils to sit jointly till the regular Nov. - 2000 province -wide provincial election: Only five councillors will be elected: a mayor. a deputy mayor.and three Coun- •p cillors that will represent wards: Option two, which -was favdured by r more cautious councillors like Biddulph o lteeve_Farl French; called foi -2000 amalgamation and a byelection in e Nov: 1999. Those councillors would've held office from Jan. 2000 till the regular m Nov. 2000 election. b If any of theO members of the joint th council decides to step down between the • (:howan'S choice of CAO whomever it is. Reytn t said (Iowan's consulting ser- vices are expected to cost br.twebri $1.500-$2,00(1. : Chowan is to meet' with both councils on Oat. 26 and new CAO' is expected to be chosen by the Nov. 3 round of council meetings. It is also hoped the minister will sign the amalgamation .order by that time. Final decisions en other staff reduc- tions/changes and the .fate of surplus buildings and equipment have not been made: It is expected, though. that Lucan administrative staff will relocate to the_ newer Biddulph offices. It is also expect- ed Lucan public works staff and equip- ment will be relocated to the Biddulph. ublic works offices/yard.' The Lucan .. nunicipal office could be either sold or erited while the village public works: - f$ces .are expected,to, be.'held onto for-a--- lanned Lucari-Biddulph Fire Hall xpansion. • French will be appointed the. new-- Unicipality's mayor and Benner will ecome -its deputy mayor. Both have said - ey won't seek re-election in 2000: Other notes from the meeting: o deal needed- A formal agreement on the Lucan - wer system extension into Biddulph as deemed unnecessary since -the two_ unicipalities will merge -on Jan. 1. ddulph has contacted Dillon Consulting look after the engineering-" require nts to extend the sewer line east to the rdonjoe property that includes Donut, lite. canton included iddulph will ask Goderich's B.M. Ross. . to include Granton in the new•devel- ment charges bylaw it is drafting for can. •- - u'he insured • ucart will- ask Frank Cowan Co. to end its insurance policy to March en Biddulph's policy with Cowan i.res. Lucan's policy expires next the The new municipality will then a new policy out to tender. amalgamation and the election. they will " N not be 'replaced unless more than five councillors step dowp. Se The ministry was to amend the merger w proposal to be ready for ratification at m yesterday's Lucan and Biddulph council Bi meetings. After Lucan's and Biddulph's . to OK, the merger would only need the min- •me ister's signature to become official. He "I'm pretty happy and excited:" Lucan . De ReeveRobert. Benner said. "It's- a great G new opening. It opens up -a lot of new B opportunities." Ltd The -man who drafted the original op amalgamation proposal, Richard Lu Chowan -of the Sarnia area, has accepted Yo Lucan's and Biddulph's offer to choose L the new municipality's new chief admin- ext istrative officer that will be either' wh Biddulph administrator Larry Hotson or exp Lucan administrator Ron Reymer, mon Both councils have agreed to ratify put RotaryTrail - to move or not to. move? GRAND BEND — Concerns about safety have ' caused council to consider moving the Edmunds Blvd: portion of the Rotary Trail back to Highway 21. 1fthe trail is moved though, it won't- be un- til next , spring - after council budgets for it in 1999. Pinedale subdivision resident Bob Tambling shared his several con- cerns with council Monday night about the location of the trail, which is on Edmunds Blvd. to the safety concerns, he said he has noticed a lot of litter along the trail. Coun. Shirley An- draza commented -there are no garbage contain- ' ers on the trail along Hwy. 21 because there is an issue 'of who will pick them up. She add- ed, though, most of the garbage being found On the ground along the trail is coming 'from cars, not from trail us- ers. Tambling rec- ommended the Ed- ' That • part of the 'ta trail, Tambling said, is ba the only part of the trail which is situated w on a main road. tw Tambling said some m bicyclists drive danger- 11 ously on Edmunds, put- ag ling themselves. ve- ide hicles and pedestrians in danger. In addition ca unds part of the Ho ry Trail be move ck to Hwy. 21. Andraza said, i ould probably cost he een $4,000-$5,000. to Ove the trail back to wy. 21 and council reed to revisit the a in its next budget. Coun. Bob Mann utioned that not all of Tambling's concerns — Such as littering — will .be solved by moving the trail.. - Discussion of moving • the Edmunds portion of the Rotary Trail led to talk of moving the postal ' superbox on Edmunds. It has been suggested by the Rotary Club that use of the postal box could endanger ' _people using the trail. . Council, though, de- cided not to move the box, with Coun. 'Brian Knights pointing out a petition among Ed- munds residents clearly d " shows the majority of ' the . postal box users t don't want it moved. Mayor Cam Ivey said the point of moving the ' postal box may be moot • because council may be moving the trail later next year, alleviating the safety concerns.