The Goderich Signal-Star, 1975-11-06, Page 7Typical Huron*Covnty reeve is about 50 years old
GODCR1CH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1975-- PAGE1A
Study reveals Huron voters respect elected ofticia
Huron County Council is both
responsible and responsive. So says a
study completed by Dr. C.T.M. Hadwen,
a sociologist from the University of
- Guelph, and presented Friday, -October
31 to county council.
Entitled Local Government' in Huron
County, -the -study was carried out under
a grant from—the-Ontario Ministry of
Treasury, Economics and
Intergovernmental Affairs in co-
operation with Huron County Council.
It showed that reeves and deputy -
reeves are well-known, trusted, ap-
preciated, honest and loyal. It indicated
that while some changes are needed,
residents of Huron County don't want " ,r
anything to change basic life style
found in Huron, ~'
w _. "This attitude of respect and trust, of
co-operation and concern, ' is sadly
lacking in the case of many elected - and
appointed - officials today," the report
concluded. "The fact thatjt exists in
Huron County is a factor to be taken into
consideration when any changes are
contemplated."
The date for the study, was gleaned
from minutes of council meetings both at
the county and municipal level. As well,
57 reeves and deputy -reeves were in-
terviewed in 1973 along with 75
municipal councillors. There were 450
Huron " County voters interviewed o
which 80 percent were from the ru
areas and 60 percent from the urhan
districts of Huron.
All- field work for the study was
carried out by- a team of four Huron
County residents whose work was
carefully supervised and inspected. The
results of all interviews were afterward
Coded.,._punched-on..s;.amp_uter.ards. and_
processed to yield the:results presented
to Huron County and perhaps, more
importantly, to Queen's Park.
The public described their elected
officials as "well -liked, community
minded, competent, honest and
reliable". They feel that elected people•
in Huron run for office "to serve the
Y
community ". Only a small percentage of
Y
those interviewed thought councillor
value the prestige of their positions, or
wish to exercise authority.
People living in rural areas tended to
stress the farming background of a
person who wanted to serve as a
municipal councillor.
There were six main reasons given by
respondents in the study thought to be'
the' motives for elected officials running
for office in Huron. They were (in or-
der) : a chance to improve local living
conditions; a chance to support a
specific cause; prestige; opportunity to
enter political life; benefit to personal,
business; and salary.
It was young people who tended to give
weiht to the. benefit to personal
business for municipal councillors;
about half of them feel this is "very
important" or "extremely important".
Middle-aged 'or older people'do not feel
so strongly on this matter.
All groups believed that the salary was
not at all important in deciding
municipal councillors to ru.n for office.
Those who had lived longer in the county
were more emphatic about this.
Road maintenance and snow removal
was considered to be, the single most
important function of local and county
councils, according to the voters in-
terviewed.
The next most urgent issue, according
to the people, was pollution. Other im-
portant matters ' were thought to be
generaLupkeep of the county, control of
the budget and setting ,the tax rate and
drainage and sewers.
Ingeneral, the voters felt that the area
in which the municipal councils had been
most effective,were roads and snow
removal, generl upkeep and drainage.
Hearing reports first
Respondents from .the public believed
that hearing reports presented and
paying bills were important duties of
councillors. These were followed by (in
order) bylaws, tenders, purchases,
committee reports, grants, severances,
loans and debentures sold.'
Voters felt councils had been suc-
• cessful .-in staying in contact with the
people, 'and said this was done through
reports by the media and by personal
contact. Only a minority mentioned open
public meetings. Urban dwellers ap-
peared to be more dependent on°contact
through the media. Rural dwellers
tended to give personal contact as the
Most important method of com-
munication.
A majority of -.voters felt that the,
',.municipal ;.,b u.._._. does the
council does have
financial resources it needs to�;dol%
• work, but a sizeable minority felt that, it
did not. '
Three-quarters of the respondents
expressed _ themselves as "fairly .
satisfied" with the work of the councils."
Some were very satisfied and only a few
were not very satisfied. More
satisfaction was expressed by life-long
residents of Huron County than ° by
others'.---
Al"most unanimously, respondents
were against --a change; to . regional
government. Apart from, a few who
thought that a .regional government
might be more efficient, the great
,majority 'responded that there would be
"no advantages" accruing from
regional government:
A wide range Of disadvantages was
Mentioned, with the largest single
group, about half the respondents,
• saying that they would lose contact with
those directing their affairs. Others felt
that regional gpvernrnent would be too
expensive and that the residents would
have no local power.
Respondents felt that among the
changes needed in Huron was the
Live in Australia
St. George's Anglican Church at high .noon was the
setting .aturday, September 20 ,for the double -ring
ceremony at which .Deidre Elizabeth, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Arnold LeRoy Fisher, Goderich, became the
bride of Graham ..Harry Taylor, son of Mr: and Mrs.
Russell Harry Taylor, Sydney, New South Wales,
`Australia.
Canon G.G.. Russell officiated for the wedding.
Organist was Joseph Herdman, The Lord's My Shepherd
was sung by wedding guests during the service.
Brass urns were filled with dried flowers on the. altar.
The. guests' pews were marked with dried flowers and
bows of the same material as worn by the bridal at-
tendants.
The bride was given in marriage by her .father. She
wore a wedding dress and veil worn by her mother in
ivory.,satin fashioned with a 'sweetheart neckline, long
sleeves ending in lily points over the wrists and a full.
skirt with peplum. The finger-tip veil of tulle illusion fell
from a coronet of j.ily-of-the-valley. She carried a colonial
bouquet of statice in shades of orchid and rose.
Matron of 'honor was Mrs. Patricia Thompson, -cousin
of the bride, Stratford. Bridesmaid was Mrs. Virginia
Gobien, a friend of the bride, Weston. They were gowned
alike in bicentennial dresses of rust plaid featuring full
skirts and square necklines with rust.pinafores.
Flowergirl Tara Williams, cousin of the bride,
Mississauga, wore a Holly. Hobble dress and pinafore of
the same -materials as the other, bridal attendants.
They all carried baskets filled with dried flowers in
'golden tones. �• • -
Groomsman was Barry Fisher f` other of the bride,
Goderich. The groom and the gr., ..- sman were attired in
diriner suits of forest green, white ruffled shirts,. green
velvet bow ties and yellow carnations in their lapels.
All wedding and floral arrangements were created by
the bride's mother.
Following the ceremony, friends gathered in the
gardens at the home of the bride's parents. The reception
followed at The White Carnation where the tables were
centered with small crockery jars arranged with dried
.fjowers like those carried by the bridal party.
• Guests were received by the bride's mother Wearing a
cocktail length dress of floral printed dusky rose, forest
green accessories and a corsage of white daisies.
Out'of-town guests were present from Ottawa,
Hamilton, Toronto, Stratford, Clinton, Weston,
Mississauga and Bloomfield Hills.
Twenty-two telegrams of congratulations and, best
wishes were received by the bridal couple from friends
and relatives in Australia.
Mr. and Mrs. Taylor are living in Australia. On their
'
return trip home, points of interest they visited were
Disneyland, the Hawaiian Islands, Pago Pago, Tahiti
and the Fiji Islands, On their return home, they were
guests of honor at a party given by the groom's parents
•
attheir home'October 11,.
Prior to her mar'1iage, the bride was honored at att-
terncon tea; attended by friends and neighbors in the
gardens of Mrs, Kitchener Finnigan, hosted by Mrs,
Finnigan and Mrs. Barker. A trousseau tea was hosted
by the bride's mpther.
pt
. i .'�' 'F • ,nf:.,«i• ; Ak. ... 4
provision of more jobs. Rising costs in
agricultdre was seen as the major
problem by rural and urban respon-
dents, but,very few felt the council could
help with that problem, or any of the
other agricultural problems mentioned.
The • avet"age age of the voters in-
terviewed was 51. The largest single
occupational group for female
respondents was homemakers. The
major occupations of male respondents
were farmers (15.3 percent) ; retired
(14.4 percent) ; skilled trades (10.2
percent) ; unskilled labor (8.8 percent) ;
professional and ltechnical (5.1 percent) ;
clerical (5.1 percent) ; managerial (4.2
percent) ; and unemployed (0.55 per-
cent).
The majority°' of respondents had
always lived in Huron County. Nearly
half of those questioned were members
of the United Church of Canada, More
than half the respondents were active in
one organization or another.
Of the municipal councillors in-
terviewed, 31 had served less than two
years, 31 less than six years and 13 more
than six years. Of the reeves and -deputy -
reeves interviewed, 24 had served less
than two years on. county council; 24 less
than six years; and sic more than nine
years.
THE TYPICAL REEVE R
The study provided a profile of the
typical Huron County reeve. He is a
farmer who has lived all his life in Huron
County. He is a man in the fifties, who
lives in a rural area. He has been a
member of county council for three or
four years,
Previous to becoming a county
councillor.l:he has served his community
in an elected public office, and in
community organizations. .0,He is a
Canada.
"The typical reeve is a family man, and.
his family is a little larger than the
average size in Ontario. His wife does
not work outside the household, (that is to'
say she does not work for pay).
He is a reeve because he want's to
• improve local living conditions, and is
willing to give the considerable•time and
effort this involves. There may be a
specific area in which -he wishes to work,
on -county, council, being a reeve offers a
chance to enter political life and there is
a certain amount of prestige attached to -
the office, but a reeve is not really much
concerned about that kind of thing. The
typical reeve is certainly not on county
council because of the token salary in-
volved.
The typical reeve feels that his in-
terests have become broader since
serving on county council. He has gained
in self-confidence, insight and ' un-
• derstanding. He is forward looking and
realizing the crucial' importance of
planning for the future. He believes in ,
keeping in touch -with his constituents, in
being available to the people and in
MR. AND MRS, G.H. TAYLOR
•
BRUCE MACDONALD
ELECTRIC
Domestic -Commercial -Industrial
133 Britannia Rd.
Phone Evenings 5 24_81 46
CORRECTION
On page 7 of our flyer in today's paper, there are three
lines of type which have been transposed, The copy
reads, "Our usual cash and carry price 513.95"
This refers to our Pt'opane Torch Kit which is sale
priced at 511.99. It does riot refer to the Multi•Purpcoe
Tool Set which appears on the same page. , -
DISCOUNT DAVE
., .rr.•.T.fT {
making full use of the- media.
He does. not desire a change to regional
government and deplores that h¢e has
more desire to help .the county than he
has power to control events.•
He knows he has the support of the
voters and enjoys their -confidence as he
° carries out his duties,
There's really not much difference
between the typical reeve . and the
typical municipal councillor, although it
is more likely the typical councillor lives
in an urban area of the county.
The typical reeve is in touch with both,
town and rural municipal' councils as
well as with representatives of the
provincial government. He is in-
creasingly concerned with the broad and
important question of planning for the
area, whereas municipal councillors
.tend to be more concerned with the
maintenance, of existing facilities such
as road' upkeep.
In other words, the typical reeve tends
more" and more to be concerned with the
future of Huron County, while the typical ,
municipal councillor tends to be more
concerned with the present.
While both are respected as in-
dividuals and for the, quality of their
work, municipal councillors may be
slightly closer to the public, while reeves
seem' slightly more respected for their
expertise.
."The report gives a clear picture of
how satisfied, how content people are
with the municipal system," Dr, Had -
wen told council:
About the only negative comment
made by Dr, Hadwen concerning Huron
was ;the "optimism 'com'es hard here".
But he added that Ontario residents in
general tended to be "worryers".
Reeve Gerry Ginn of -Goderich
Township summed Up the study for all of
county council when he said, "It couldn't
have been a more flattering report if
we'd written it ourselves."
tol
The
shape
of things
to come
Sedan -like comfort for two, the bold wedge
line of the great international sports -racers, overhead
-cam power— key ingredients of this breakthrough
machine by the sports car specialist.
4111111110
The all-new Triumph T•R-7.
Test drive it today at
'SOUTH -END SERVICE
578 Main St. South, Exeter 2'35-2322 '
Austin- MG - Triumph - authorized sales & service
BRITISH
LEYLAND
'Paris Star' fashions are contemporary,
ageless. Good designs in that totally carefree
fabric, 'Fortrel' polyester knit Washable,
iron -free , Colours • rust, jade green and
black.
SIZES 8 TO 18
Shirt Jackets and Blazers s 3 3.9 8'
Vests — _ _.._.__ __ _ 2 7.9 8
Skirts s 1 -9 $.....
Pull On Pant s 1 7.9 8•
.612.98
Sweaters - from,
Shirts • Plain and
Printed
from s 1 6.9 8
PRTREL
LADIES WEAR '-LIMITED
p SHOPPE,IVQUARE GODERICH