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Times-Advocate, 1999-04-14, Page 2` tietileilintistAdirotate Wednesday: April 14. 1999 IrtheNews • • Armstrong proposes location for future medical centre Continued from front page are interested in the building. There may be problems with Armstrong's plan, though. Dr. David Hodder, while crediting Armstrong with having "wonderful" enthusiasm and energy for the pro- ject, is concerned the National Trust site is not big enough for additional doctors. fi : - He said it would proba- bly fit Exeter's existing four doctors, but wouldn't be able to hold any new doctors, which Exeter needs. Hodder, chief of staff for South Huron Hospital, said his comments aren't intended to discourage Armstrong, who- "did some beautiful stuff with his proposal. Hodder does agree there is no question Exeter needs a medical Zurich council lends $10,000 for arena study By Scott Nixon TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF centre. He explains a medical centre is the absolute minimum requirement in attracting young doctors .to a com- munity. Most -doctors graduating from school, Hodder said, want to begin practicing in a fully -equipped facility with no overhead. Few doctors start out now by buying an office and opening their own practice, he said. If it turns out the National Trust site isn't big enough for a medical centre, Armstrong sug- gests the doctors look at the: Canadian Tire loca- tion on Main Street after it is vacated. He said that location could actur ally be the best for a medical centre: Hodder agreed that site is big enough for six doctors. He added the doctors have been looking at other proper- ties in Exeter for a med- ical centre. One property consid- ered is the space beside Dr. Steciuk's office on 'T'hey all have to commit to do it." — ARMSTRONG, ON ExETER DOCTORS FORMING A PARTNERSHIP IN A NEW MEDICAL CENTRE Huron Street, That space. For a medical centre to has an advantage work, Arn4strong said.all because it is across the the doctors in Exeter street from the hospital: must be willing to eluni- For that space to work, nate their individual doctors would have to offices and partner up. commit to paying for a "They all have to com- mortgage to construct a mit to it," he says. • new building Hodder said that won't And while Hodder.said be a problem. All four it is important. to reduce doctors in town, he said, common costs among get along well and even doctors — something vacation together. Armstrong's proposal "We're all. friends out - would do — Hodder side of our professional explained that. if doctors fields," actually committed their While the location for a own money into a new new medical centre Is still project it would have a up in the air, Hodder is better chance to be sur- sure there will eventually cessful because the doc- be a medical centre in tors would have more at Exeter, it's just a question stake. of when. ZURICH — Council has agreed to lend $10,000 to its arena fund-raising committee in order to pay for a geo-technical study on the ground beneath the are- na. Coun. Shelley Rodgers -Bedard, chairperson of the Babe Siebert Memorial Arena Improvement Com- mittee, asked council for the :Honey at last week's council meeting, explaining that her committee doesn't have the estimated $7,800 to pay for the work. So far, the committee has raised about $3,500, Rodgers -Bedard said. Council took the $10,000 out of its capital reserves intended for recreation pur- poses. Rodgers -Bedard said until the geo-technical study is done the committee can't go ahead with its fund- raising. The geo-technical study, which should begin in two weeks, will include soil samples to see if the ground underneath the arena. can handle the pro- posed arena expansion. With a cracked cement floor, the • Zurich arena is in need of renovations. The committee needs $500,000 to pay for expanding the ice surface and expanding to. six dressing rooms. The renovated arena will also have a larger, wheelchair -accessible washroom. While council agreed to the loan, Coun. Brad Clau- sius warned that if the geo-technical study costs more than $10,000, the committee will have to dig into its own funds to cover the difference. Part of the loan will also be used to hire an en- gineer to begin plans on the renovation. Rodgers -Bedard also informed council of an April 21 recruitment meeting the improvement committee will be holding at 8 p.m. at the arena. She said the committee needs people to help with door-to-door canvassing, promotions and special events. In other arena news, the roof over the auditorium is leaking. While council agreed it must be fixed, there have been no cost estimates done yet and no" official decision from council has been made. Food ..: at last! Zurich Public School Grade 8 student Deanna Zandwyk takes a big bite out of a slice of pizza Sat- urday afternoon after the school's 30 -hour famine for World Vision Canada. Mandy Fox, a Grade 8 student who came up with the idea of having Zu- rich participate, said the 29 Grade 7 and 8 par- ticipants played games, wrote in their journals and watched a World Vision Canada video to keep their minds off their hunger. Despite their hunger; students said they would do it again because it's for a good cause. Zurich students raised over $1,500. Councils approve `Original Six' amalgamation proposal By Scott Nixon TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF ZURICH — Councils in the Vil- lage of Zurich and Hay Township have narrowly voted in favour of accepting the amalgamation draft of the Original Six. Zurich, while repeatedly ex- pressing a desire to amalgamate with the South Huron group of Exeter. Stephen and Usborne voted 3-2 in favour of accepting the restructuring proposal with its group of six. - In a recorded vote at last Thursday's council meeting, Reeve Dwayne LaPorte and councillors Brad Clausius and Barb Jeffrey voted to accept the motion, while councillors Marg Holmes and Shelley Rodgers - Bedard voted against it. "I think our council has to go with it," LaPorte said. "I don't think we have a choice — we're too small." LaPorte added he thinks amal- gamation will help the village and taxes for Zu- rich residents should go down. Jeffrey also said Zurich had to go with the Original Six and said, "We can only hope we get a • fair shake" out of the deal. Clausius voted "yes, reluctantly." He said repeated attempts by Zurich to persuade Hay Township to amalgamate with South Huron have failed and, since Zurich is surrounded by Hay, it has to go wherever Hay does. He said if Zurich decided to pull out of amalgamation talks and go out on its own, the gov- ernment would simply force the village to amalgamate. Ilolmes expressed concern that all of Zurich's opinions — such as location of a municipal -office and representation on council — have been shot down by, the other five municipalities at the restructuring meetings. The other two villages involved in the group of six — Bayfield and Hensall -- have done noth- ing to help Zurich in its efforts to protect urban concerns, Holmes said. She said she's wondering how Zurich ratepayers will be treated after amalgamation. LaPorte, though, argued that politicians today are more open minded than they used to be and said Zurich is stuck with the Original Six. "Do we have _an alternative other than this?" he asked. Explaining how Zurich became an official corporation separate from Hay Township 40 years ago, Holmes spoke of the village's founding fathers. "There was a reason they split from Hay and now we're hop- ping back into bed with them," she said. Despite voting in favour of amalgamating with the group of six, LaPorte and Clausius both said they preferred to amalgamate with the south. But while Zurich would need the support of Hay and Hensall to move south, La- Porte said, he thinks the two municipal- ities are scared of Exeter. Hay council's de- cision on amal- gamation was also close. In a recorded vote last Tues- day, councillors Fred Campbell, Tony Denomme and Brad Mous- seau voted to accept the deal, while Reeve Jim Love and Dep- uty Reeve Gerald Shantz voted against it. Love, reacting to a study in- dicating Hay taxes will go up slightly after amalgamation, said he can't rationalize- amal- gamating when it will cost rat- epayers money. "I can't go out and tell the people I'm voting for amalgama- tion" when their taxes could go up. Love said. Hay clerk -treasurer Janisse Zimmerman cautioned the fi- nancial study doesn't include fu- ture savings. "The figures don't scare me," said Coun. Fred Campbell, add- ing that there will be savings "down the road" after amal- gamation. Coun. Tony Denomme agreed. Shantz voted no, he said, for two reasons. With. a clear.:, conscience cannot support that." — Hay Twp. Deputy Reeve Gerald Shantz on the amalgamation proposal • "I think our council has to go with it. I don't think we have a choice." - Zurich Reeve Dwayne LaPorte on the `Original Six' amalgamation proposal • posed' to a pro -- posed 30 -member transition board the amalgamation group will have. He said 30 peo- ple is too many for a board, explaining that people who have been through the amalgamation process have told him transition boards should "keep it simple." Shantz's second objection to the amalgamation proposal is the issue of municipal property. As proposed, the new municipal- ity will be located in Stanley Twp., with the other remaining buildings of the former mu- nicipalities to be . sold. Shantz said he has been told it is dif- ficult to sell municipal buildings and said, "I wasn't elected since 1980 to spend money fool- ishly." "With a clear conscience I_ cannot support that," he added. Shantz said he still believes the group of six is the right. group, but he can't support the issues of the transition board and property. Following the vote, council de- cided to suggest the name "Mu- nicipality of Bluewater" for the new municipality. Hensall, Bayfield and Stanley have also passed the " re= structuring proposal. Tuckersmith Township has; asked for an extension on their amalgamation decision until June 30. Zurich -council is against giving Tuckersmith the extension. All six municipalities will dis- cuss their ' amalgamation de- cisions at tonight's meeting -in. the Hay Township Hall in Zurieh. at 7 pin. a