Clinton News-Record, 1984-08-08, Page 1z
1,
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lyth iudget held to
4.9 per cent increase
By Rod Hilts
THE BAYFIELD BUGLE
incorporating
TM 'MATH STANDARD
Gents 32 Wednesday, August 8, 1984
119t year
Festival celebrate
anniversary in style
Ten years ago, the small farming village
of Blyth was alive with activity as a group of
people worked hard to promote the idea of
converting a delapidated building into a
theatre.
This summer, apart from helping to
organize the usual quality acts for the
festival, publicity director, Phillipa Borgal,
its busy scheduling a list of events designed
to celebrate 10 years of successful operation
of the Blyth theatre.
The weekend of Aug. 11 and 12 has been set
aside for the theatre's 10th anniversary
celebrations.
Phillipa was hired early in January to
begin the arduous task of mailing invitations
(some 250) to those people who were with
the theatre from the beginning incl•to those
who have been involved with it ever since.
"We are very proud to have James Roy,
the original director coming," she said.
Among those who will be arriving from
now until the anniversary weekend are,
Dean Hawes, Mary Ann Coles and Jim
Shaeffer, all Blyth actors. Also promised to
attend are Thomas Hauff and Diana
Belshaw, both actors who named their
daughter, Eleanor Blyth after the theatre.
The • special anniversary weekend will
begin•with a Country Fair:from 10 a.m. to 5
p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 11. This event is
designed to offer second-hand clothes, books
and furnishings. There will also be some
homegrown produce and home -baked goods..
A cake baking contest will be offered as well
as crafts, hotdogs and p pcorn. Fes "val
menibers said there will be a registra ion
stall for reunion weekend s and theyoask
that if you plan to stay the veekend, p se
check in for tickets, i4formation nd
scuttlebut. .
There will be a regula : showing o A
Spider in the House, w tten by B an
Tremblay and directed by Itim;MeGawr
he
showing will be from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and
tickets are $8 for adults and $3 for
youngsters.
The Young People's Workshop will be
presenting Cue for Treason at the Lions
Park and there will be no charge for
admittance. This is scheduled for 4.30 p.m.
the same day. Later a dinner will be served
at the Food Spot, located in the theatre's
basement. Tickets are $6 for adults and $3
for youngsters. The meal will be served
from 6 p.m. to 8 p.rn.
Theatre goers can then, catch 'the
production of Blue City written by Layne
Coleman and directed by Janet Amos. The
curtain rises at 8.30.p.m. and tickets are $8
for adults and $3 for youngsters. After the
play there will be a party for all those who
would like to attend.,
"Everyone who wants to come can, but
the main interest was to get all those who
• have ever been with the festival, together,"
'explained Phillipa Borgal.
• Ms. Borgal said they decided to charge $6
for advanced, tickets rather than having a
cash bar. The price includes beer, wine, food
and music. According to Phillipa, the party
will either have music supplied from a Blyth
performer or some other local talent. .
On Sunday, August 12, kt apprpximately 6
p.m., Festival members will be warming up
at the plate for an "informal" game of
baseball. Everyone is invited .to watch this
complimentary event. The game will be
played at the Blyth Public School' ,ball
diamond. Following the game, visitors can
enjoy refreshments and a presentation 'of
Inside Out by Pam Boyd and Mary Ann
Coles. The presentation is an "opek"
playwrights workshop where professionp
will go over some of the typical nuatecal
that comes to the Blyth Festival.
Cue for Treason will be shown again in the
• Lions Park at the end of the day. eikeer
Si'. Fish, Minister of Citizenship and Culture (left) and Maureen Forrester (right)
C i 's premier opera star attended opening night for the Blyth Summer Festival's
10 ason. In her address Ms. Fish noted that the Blyth Festival, "put a smile on the
fac f all of us." She said that the Myth FeathI1flspfres, people elsewhere to think of
..ariiiitad.theatre.-(ShelleyMePheephoh*
Expropriation issue 4e
By Wendy Somerville
BAYFIEI,D- A majority vote at the Annual
Ratepayer's Association meeting. here on
Saturday, ruled village council go ahead
with expropriation procedures of parts 2,3;
and 4 of Hill Terrace. ••
The expropriation issue began .in July of
• 1983 when Andy Turnbull, who had
purchased the land from Phil Gemeinhardt,
saw a notice: that the village planned to
expropriate the property. He had previously
applied for a building permit to build a' ,
cottage on the site, but the application was
deferred by council.
•' On April 27, in Ontario &trireme Court;the
• expropriation bylaw was.quashed because
the court found it "injurious to the applicant
• (Turnbull) and'illegal in whole or in part."
At a council meeting on May 7, council
• once again derided to proceed with a second
• attempt to expropriate the land.
The Ratepayers chose to give their
support for council's decision on Saturday,
after hearing a number of briefs prepared
by a fact-finding committee. The committee
• consisted of Jack Pounder, George Fellows,
Fred Clift and Ed Oddleifson.
Mr, Fellows presented a brief that was
concerned with the events that surrounded
the beginning of the village's erosion control
• •along, the south bank of the Bayfield RiVer
• between the Municipal Marina and Highway
21.
"This bank erosion was threatening to
undermine the south pier road in certain
areas and hence cut off access to the south
pier,'; stated Mr. Fellows. "In order to have
the initial part of this project funded at no
cost . to , village . taXpayers, your
administration was ' advised that the
property along the south' bank must be
Owned by the Municipality."
George. Fellows 'said that at this time it
became clearly evident that if the river
bank was to remain available to the public
then it should be oohed by the Municipality.
He said this was to avoid a repetition of what
occured on the north bank in 1981.
' , "We are sure that you are aware that we
taxpayers lost public access to the lake
beach north of the Bayfield River and the
north bank of the Bayfield River," he
explained. "This loss was a classic example
of . dominant commercial interests,
determined to acquire this property by any
• means possible. This included the north
Federal pier; paid for by the taxpayer's
money, which was to deny any public access
to virtually all of this very desirablea rea."
• Mr. Fellows said "It is an insult to the
intelligence of the ratepayers of this village
to think that • they can be denied or
frightened from what is rightfully their legal
and moral right to this property."
Fred Clift, another fact-finding committee
member, read another brief concerned with
the compilation .of facts that surround the
issue. The brief read that ,"The present
expropriation is designed to' ensure that this
important public access to the Bayfield
River on the south 'side of the harbour does
not suffer the same fate that the north side
has. It is felt that the Turnbull claim is no
„more legitimate on the south side than .was
the action on the Wirth side."
Mr. Clift said that is the intention orthe
village to develop Part 3 as a treedpark to
retain the stability of the steep banks, and;
eventually Install erosion control along its
' length.
"It is essential to the maintenance of a
safe boating chInnel, and to the long term
preservation of •the Harbour road above it,
that. the 'village owns Part 3 Hillside," he
said. •
• "Such erosion control will be far better
managed by the •village than by private
interests," he stated.
When discussing Andrew Turnbull's
proposals, Fred Clift .said his Mr.
Turnbull's) ,"aggressive moves • to acquire
Parts 3 and 4 are almost a repeat of the
action which led to the takeover of the north
bank." •
The ratepayer said • when the village
completed the erosion control along the
south bank in 1982, they began a program for
the extension of parking, the erection ,of
e 'teen gare ./e
1
The champions came from all over on Saturday to participate in Sharey. Baahrie is the Canadian World Champion Armwrestler
the Bayfield Lions and ,Lioness Celebration Armwrestling and Sharey is the former Canadian World Champion. ( Went,
naent. Here Rick Baabrle (left) battles for first place against Bob Somerville photo)
fences on the ri'verside of Bridge Hill Road
and the Short Hill. •
"The results of these efforts are easily .
seen in. the improved aspect of' South Bank
•,roads, etc., except in .the case of the
somewhat dilapidated aspect of the
Gemeinhardt area in the western part of
Part 3," said Mr: Clift.
In an ealier 'interview with the News -
Record, Andy Turnbull said. he was
continuing to clear the site by cutting down
older larger trees to allow.sunlight to reach'
the younger trees. He said this was to
eliminate extra weight on the river bank. He
also said he was,, willling to • go to any
expense, including erosion control if it is
needed'.
"I don't want to disrupt anything
natural,''he said. "I'm'willing to pay for the
preservation."
At Saturday's meeting, Fred Clift said, "A
tour of the north bank of the riverWest of the
Dry Dockinstallations will convince one of
the untidy, tawdry surroundings we are
trying to avoid on the South Bank.
After the briefs were presented, Phil •
Gemeinhardt questioned the committee's
statement that he had filed claim to 300 feet
of the land in 1980. He said his father had in
fact filed the claim. Mr. Clift said he a
"piece of paper" stating thaMt the claim was
made.
Another • ratepayer was concerned with
the village "buying back" the property.
"I don't understand how it was necessary
for the village to purchase back, or offer to
purchase back, what they already owned,"
she said. "Was the offer to purchase made to
Mr. Gemeinhardt for the building or the
land on which the building is on?"
Fred Clift referred the question to Reeve
Johnston who said, "The village's
contention has always been that the
Gemeinhardt family always had possessory
claim down along that portion where those
buildings are. That was • the village's
contention from day one."
The Reeve said the "cloud" becomes the
Gemeinhardt family who feel their claim,.
extends to the entire part of Part 3. He said
the village were prepared to enter into
negotiations with the Gemeinhardts for
where the buildings were situated. Reeve
Johnston said this was to compensate for
any ,possessory claimthey (the
Gemeinhardts) may have had.
"And I use the word may, because there
wasno guarantee that they had any (claim)
at the time," he said. "There was (also) no.
guarantee they didn't (have a claim), so we
were prepared to, rather than go into a
costly involvement such as we're in now,
negotiate."
Another ratepayer noted she was'
concerned about the cost of lawyer's fees for
the (expropriation) proceedings.
"I am very concerned about who is going
to pay for this," she Added. -
"We already put in the budget this year,
the total expenditures for lawyers for
$12,000, that's in and you're already paying
for it now," explained Reeve Johnston. He
) Torn to page 3
BLYTH - Council here was able to hold their
1984 budget to a 4.9 increase, despite the
increaselageof new projects underway in the
Blyth's financial position has been
bolster0e0d considerably after receiving a
$uio,0
Ontario Neighborhood
Improvement Plan ( ONIP) grant, which is
to be implemented over a three-year period.
Already the additional funds have allowed
the village to begin a downtown
parevviitanglipzarotigornapmrogram and to increase their
'The dollars that have been spent are
showing," Councillor Albert Wasson said
afttenrecirouncilAugusthmeeting.adapproved their 1984 budget
at
Included in the budget is reserves of
$45,000 in working funds; $30,465 in capital
works and a new reserve of $1,000 for the
future purchase of a tanker truck for the fire
department. Some of the working and
capital p
worksroieets.funds have been used for
village
. In dollars and cents, a public. school
residential supporter with an assessment of
$3,000 in Blyth will be paying $825.69; up
$85.80 from last year's figure of $739.89. The
mill rate for that supporter is 275.23,
compared to 262.40 in 1983.
The same commercial supporter will pay
.071.40 in taxes, compared to.$926.10 in 1983.
This represents an increase of $45.30. The
mill rate this year is 323.80 and was 308.70
last
theearTseparate school residential supporter
with a $3,000 assessment will face a 5.5 per
cent increase in taxes. Taxes will increase
$43.20, from $783.93 in 1983 to $827.13 this
year. The mill rate is set at 275.71 compared
to 261.31 last year.
The separate school commercial taxpayer
will see taxes rise by $50.85. In 1984, this
taxpaYer.will shell out a total of $973.11, as
compared to $922.26 last year. The mill rate
has risen from 307.42 to 324.37.
Expenditures in the village are budgeted
to increase $9,308. Expenditures are
anticipated to total $327,801, compared to
$318,493 in 1983.
The largest increased expenditure is in
the area of Recreation, Culture and Health
Services where council has budgeted
$60,450. The figureis an increase of $25,558
over the 1983 actual - total of $34,892. This
increased expenditure is •misleading as a
portion of it is offset on the revenue side of
the budget through ONIP and other grants.
A new expenditure in this area is the
purchase of additional land at the arena at a
cost of $5,000. The village is expecting to
recoup half ($2,500) of the total in future
years. The land .will be used as an additional
parking area.
Another new expenditureip this area is a
$10,000 transfer to the arena for 'an air
conditioner -dehumidification system.This
expenditure has been included in the
village's ONIP plan.
Council budgeted $10,000 to employment
incentive programs. This is an increase of
$4,558 from last year's figure of $5,442.
' Under other grants and expenses, Council
budgeted $4,500. „ This is an increase of
$1,752. Clerk Larry Walsh said the increase
was made to allow for an extra $975 donated
to the cemetery board and an increased
Blyth,Threatre grant.
• Expenditures under General government
are budgeted to increase to $58,200; up
$20,803 from last year's figure or$37,297.'
, Council salaries increased five per cent
and Clerk. Walsh explained that the number
-of out of town meetings attended by
councillors 'increased. This, .in part,
accounted for the increase in this area. Last
year, $6,485 was spent on council's salari s
and expenses. This year, $8,700 was bugetecF
for this expenditure.
,The largest expenditure under General
government came under office
improvements, where council spent $13,500
to renovate the back 'room of the municipal
building . into new council chambers.
Included in the $13,500, is the purchase of a
outneinearly
new furnace, rrienpglacing the one that burnt
•
No increase in reserves
This.year, council put no monies into their
reserve for working funds or reserves for
capital projects. Instead, council will call on
some of last year's reserve of $50,000
($10,000 working funds, $40,000 capital
projects).
Clerk Walsh explained that a portion of
the reserve fund was used to finance the
village's downtown improvement program
and the increased paving program.
Protection expenditure reduced
The 1984 budget includes a $7,787
reduction of the village's protection
expenditure.
The major reason for the decrease is
because of the elimination of payment
toward the share of the new fire truck. Last
year, the village's final payment of $12,730
was paid. In its place, council set up a
reserve of $1,000 toward the future purchase
of a new tanker truck for the fire
department.
More money budgeted for roads
Council budgeted $120,000 toward road
construction in 1984. Last year $92,333 was
spent in this area. Because there is no storm
sewer work to'be done in the village this
year, Clerk Walsh explained council decided
to allocate more funds toward the paving
program.
Environmental services expenditure down
Council budgeted $44,391 under
Environmental services. This represents a
decline of $7,949 from last year's actual
expenditure of 52,340. The reduction in this
area is due to no monies being budgeted for
storm sewer construction. Last year,
council completed construction on the
village's storm sewers at a cost of $19,699.
This year, $48,262 was budgeted toward
the purchase of additional land needed foe'
the expansion of the Blyth-Hullett Waste
Disposal area. Hullett's share of this figure
is $24,131. The village expects to recover an
additional $8,000 in this area in future years.
This year, council hasn't had to include a
reserve of $7,500 for dump expansion inthis
area.
• Planning and development
Council's expenditures in this area will be
almost identical to last year's. This year,
the expenditure is budgeted to be $21,700,
compared to $22,028 in 1983.
The only major difference this year is that
the major project is the downtown
redevelopment program which is budgeted
to cost $18,500. Last year the big expenditure
in this area was the construction of the
downtown parking lot which cost $16,040.
An additional expenditure this year is the
bicentennial celebrations which have a
budget of $1,000; $500'of this total is offset'by
a provincial grant.
Revenue budgeted to increase marginally
On the revenue side of the budget, council
has budgeted to increase revenue $8,417.
The 1984 budget figure is $327,801 compared
to last. year's actual revenue figure of
$319,384.
Province of Ontario grants are budgeted
to increase $2,7409. This year, council has
• budgeted to receive grants of $142,927,
compared to $115,518 in 1983. .
Clerk Walsh explained that the ONIP
grant has increased $15,000 over last year.
• This year, council expects to receive $31,250,
compared to the $16,292 they received in
1983. .
• The recreation grant increased $6,000,
adding to the increase in this area.
Employment incentive grants are also
budgeted, to increase $4,371. Last year, the ,
village received $4,529 in this area and this
year expect•$8,900. '
Under other revenue, council has
budgeted forless than they received in 1.983.
• This year, council anticipates to receive
$45,431 in revenue, compared to $54,351 in
• 1983. • '
•
Clerk Walsh explained that revenue in this
area is expected to decline because this
year, council won't have $30,800 to recoup
from the sale of the former bank building.
Listed under this area as revenue is the
▪ transfer from reserve for hall repairs
($1,000 ), capital' works ( $20,000) and dump
'expansion ($7,500).
Tall ships may come
• to Goderich harbor
by mid August
Town of Goderich officials learned late
Tuesday that four and possibly five of the
famed tall ships will dock here on the
evening of Thursday, August 16 before
heading to Sarnia the next day.
The British brigantine Ciudad De Inca,
the Sheila Yeates and Norfolk Rebel of the
United States and the Canadian Joana I
have confirmed their arrival in the Port of
Goderich August 16 and there is a good
possibility that the United States schooner
Western Union will join the.flotilla.
Originally, the Sheila Yeates and
Norfolk Rebel, two American ships, were
scheduled to visit Goderich Tuesday,
August 21 after a stopover in Sarnia. The
complete flotilla was confirmed for a
stopover in Windsor Sunday, August 12 and
the Inca, Norfolk Rebel, Sheila Yeates and
Joana I were scheduled to head for Sarnia
for an August 18 stop.
•. Town administrator Larry McCabe said
that negotiations with King Boake of
Toronto proved fruitful and confirmation
was 'received. late Tuesday. The flotilla
was expected to leave Windsor Monday,
August 13 and the prospect of some sailing
time on Lake Huron tnGqderich seemed to
appeal to sortie of the captains of the tall
ships.
"The captains wanted to get in isorne
sailing time which they really haven't had
a chance to do on this tour," McCabe said.
"And it seemed that the sail to Goderich
appealed to them."
Barring poor weather conditions, the
flotilla should arrive in Goderich on the
evening of August 16 and dock all day
Friday, August 17 before leaving for
• Sarnia.
A special meetingof the town's "
Bicentennial Committee was held
Wednesday to begin formulating plans for ae---1
the visit of the tall ships. The committee)
may have to work around commercial
shipping commitments and parking and
• busing arrangements will have to be
organized.
The Sheila Yeates, desinged from
vessels of Civil War vintage, requires a 66 -
foot berth and measures 15 feet by 58 feet.
The Norfolk Rebel is 63 feet in height and
has a crew of four.
The other confirmed ships include the 26
metre (85 foot) Canadian Joana I; the 38
metre (125 foot) Inca from Great Britain
and possibly the 40 metre (130 foot)
Western Union from the United States.
From Goderich, the tall ships Will make
the eight-hour voyage to Sarnia and dock
in the St. Clair River near the foot of
George Street.
Details of the arrival times and public
tours for the Goderich visit will be
confirmed