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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1982-11-03, Page 2PAGE 2 GODERIGH SIGN4I STAR, WEDNESDAY, NQV MBER.3 ,1982 HARD 11.MES CALL FOR HARD .DECISIONS. RE-ELEC JEAN FOR FOR FOR BETTER & MORE COM- MUNICATION BETWEEN PAREN- TS, TRUSTEES, & SCHOOL BOARD. FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY THE BEST POSSIBLE EDUCATION FOR OUR CHILDREN. THE HOPE OF THE FUTURE. T USTEE HURON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION RE-ELECT JE-AWADA-MS FOR TRANSPORTATION TO THE POLLS 524-2994 Holly Day is new This year the Huron -Perth Lung Association is initiating something new— "Holly Day". Real holly tags will be sold on The Square and in the malls on December 10 and 11. Larger $2 packages of holly will also ,be available. Most of the, tamers will be student volunteers. Tickets still available There are still 40 tickets left for the Medieval Feast to be held at the Blyth Centre for the Arts on Saturday, November 13 at 7 p.m. The Medieval Feast will feature fabulous food, music and other forms of en- tertainment including a magician. If you are interested in purchasing a ticket for $15, call 524-9300. WILLING & ABLE MARIA -METCALFE FOR TOWN COUNCIL Garb & Gear. for...Great Price, Great Quality, Great Service...and the Best Fit in Town! Fashion and Function! MEN'S & LADIES' SKI JACKETS/VESTS by OLYMPIC We know you want to 'look good. But it's secondary 10 keeping warm. If you i an have hoth, without having to pay an arm and a leg for il. it's like haying Your t ake and eating it too! We think Olympic Ski Jackets will satisfy your hunger. for Funt tion... Olympic offers easy rip on/off sleeves. a stand up collar, stretch knit t offs and waist hand and a rugged construction with Warmpolyester lining and c otton polyester outer shell. 11 all adds up to comfort. warmth & versatility! for fashion—well. seeing is believing! a -` Available in Nass & Gres, Brown & Beige or Black &.Cres blends. Full range of sires for both Men and Women. IT'S A PACKET ZIP! IT'S A VEST! MEN'S ~'u.R.elT'6 .99 Sale $44 'LADIES' Reg. 559.99....Sale e F�onour ii5a anti Ma.Sfer Z`ard Open Daily tiii•6 P.,M., Friday NNites till 9 P.M. GET FIT AND A WHOLE LOT MORE, FORA LOT LESS! 4 THE SQUARE GODERICH 524-2822 Mayoralty can ® from page 1 served as reeve and deputy -reeve, gaining municipal and county experience that he believes is necessary for the job. While admitting the mayor must exercise a degree of leadership he says the position calls more for co- ordination than unilateral decisions. "The mayor is more of a co-ordinator who brings things together and while he must have the ability to decide, unilateral decisions should not be made," he said. "I have the experience and feel I can take to the job. There are fences to be mended and I feel I have the temperament and desire to do the job." The Introduction of the three-year term does not disturb Profit, citing the fact it will allow council to accomplish more, but he suggests it will be a -vital term of office. "There's no doubt the term will be vital to the town and we must make the proper ,decisions," he said. "The financial situation makes it vital and certainly restraint will have to be exercised and council will have to be selective." "Council can't cut services that are on line now but we can't borrow any more money to put bricks on sidewalks. You can cut. frills from the budget and we'll have to be selective but a council can spend money wisely too." Spending wisely means taking advantage of government grant programs if the town can afford its share Profit said, but new projects will have to be scrutinized carefully. "Every service will cost more and there is little we can do about that so it will be a tough job," he said. "All budgets are fat and the finance committee will be important over the next three years. If money is left in a budget the committee will be encouraged not to spend it because it's there." Council must continue to spend wisely on hard services but Profit says there are many frills within the town's budget. "With recreation it's hard to tell where the town's responsibility is and where the individual's responsibility is," he said. "There are some frills in recreation and we'll have to look at them and move more towards a user pay system." -"We must make sure that services are not eroded by restraint but, at the same time, the frills must be jumped on." Profit said he is the kind of personality who enjoys meeting and working for people, a. trait he claims is essential in the job. BOB ALLEN Mayoral candidate Bob Allen feels he has served his apprenticeship on council well and that the time is right -to -run for mayor. - Allen was first elected to council in 1974 and for the past four years has served in the capacity of deputy - reeve and represented Goderich at the county level. A firm believer of moving up through the system idites... gradually, he said it's time to offer his tine,and energy to the town as mayor. Much has been accomplished during his s -ye tenure as chairman of the works and engindeerin department, but he admitted that the timesiictate a new battle strategy. "Every dollar must be spent wisely and we must encourage industry without wasting a dollar," he said. "What we accomplish depends on the times now and council must adjust and be flexible." An employee of Champion Road Machinery for over 30 years, Allen says the mayor's job relates directly to leadership. "The job involves leadership but the mayor, af- ter all, only has one vote," he said. "It is not a oneman show and it won't work that way but the mayor must have the ability to lead when necessary." smaller municipalities in Ontario, Allen contends but he added that possibilities for a good council exist. To be productive for a three-year term, council requires the right blend of people. Long-range planning will be an essential working ingredient of council in the next few years and Allen hopes the town's resources can be pooled to avoid duplication and cut costs. "This is not a job but a commitment and we have a competent staff and a politician should not get in the way. The staff must do the job," he said. "I would like to see a gelling of the town's total assets. We must be cohesive and not duplicate goods or services." The town is a business . and council, while solely monitoring costs, will have to spend in other areas to grow. "The government says it will create jobs and it might cost us a dollar hut we'll have to seriously look at the program," he said. "The same applies to tourism. You don't take your salesmen off the road when times are tough." "We must have a strong tourist committee and push harder but we must also be sensible and create a reason for people to come here. The development of St. Christopher's Beach is one bright. spot." The town will have to hold the mill rate to no in- crease despite the fact that county and school board requisitions will likely increase in 1983. "If we hold the taxes it will mean less services but to"hold the mill rate you have to hold service as well," he said. "The town will have to do less and reach a tolerable balance. A small increase in the mill rate will not be good enough. It will be a year of tough negotiations." The mayor's job in\the next term will require a positive attitude and a tough -line approach, something Allen is prepared to do. It wilt be a tough job and the mayor will have to take close to a hard-line approach," • he said. "Someone will have to make' the tough decisions and I'm willing to get involved and make the tough decisions." County approves two more studies on museum BY STEPHANIE LEVESQUE Huron County Council found out once again that Goderich residentsare opposed to the moving of the pioneer museum, but willing to work with the county on the issue. A. petition with 2,500 names of school children op- posed to the moving of the museum, currently in Goderich, to Vanastra was presented to Warden Harold Robinson by Heather Larson, 11, of Goderich. The' well composed 11 -year-old, along with . a spokesman for concerned citizens of Goderich, Dr. Tom Jasper, spoke to county council at its Oct. 28 ses- sion. There were about 15 people from Goderich in at- tendance at the session. For its part, county council approved two more studies regarding the museum. One, a structural study of the present museum, will be done by B. M. Ross and Associates of Goderich. The Town of Goderich will pay $2,000 for this study, an expen- diture the town has approved. The second additional study, to be done by Museum Programs Collaborative, a museum and art gallery consulting firm, will carry out a preliminary in- vestigation of the suitability of the former Telecom- munications School in Vanastra to house a museum. A report to county council by the special committee - made up of property and development - states, "the cost of $2,000 would reduce the cost of a full scale feasibility study if carried out in the future." County council initially authorized two studies, a structural engineering and an operational cost study. The engineering study indicated the building in Vanastra is structurally sound. At its September ses- sion, council decided to wait for the operational cost study, before any final decision is made regarding the purchase of the building. Now that study will wait until the MPC completes its study of the Vanastra building. Several county councillors agreed suggestions received from Goderich citizens were "interesting". One such suggestion is for the county to purchase three historic homes adjacent to the museum for ex- pansion purposes. "I'm not sure it is economically wise," commented Reeve Fred Haberer of the suggestion, but added, "it's something to look at." Goderich Reeve Don Wheeler said he is "pleased" with the steps the county has taken on the museum.. He believes county councillors should have all infor- mation before them before a decision is made. "When it (final decision) comes out in the final wash, everybody will have had their say," noted Reeve Wheeler and he couldn't resist adding, "we'll probably still have the museum in Goderich." Dr. Jasper said the main reason he was speaking at county council was "to make council aware of the in- creasing public support" to keep the museum in Goderich. He suggested there are three stages of the issue and they are to make the public aware of the situation and public involvement which he says leads to the third step and that is public fund raising. He cited the Town of Seaforth, as the proud owners of a new arena obtained through public fund raising, as an example of how people can support a public building with their pocket books. Speaking on behalf of young citizens in the county, Miss Larson said Goderich is a nice place to live and what makes it even nicer is the museum. She told county council the original school house was built in 1856 and stopped being a school in 1949. Then in 1950 it was founded as a museum and presently has over 1,000 artifacts. "I am disappointed in those who want to move the museum," concluded Miss Larson. The special committee also received a letter from Paul and Mary Carroll of Seaforth who in their con- cern for Huron County asawhole; asked that the pur- pose of the museum be considered. That is, if it is to be for collection purposes, Vanastra isn't a bad loca- tion, but if the purpose is to share the county's heritage, the tourist traffic flow has to be considered. Also relating to the museum, the county will not file any objections to the Town of Goderich's application to designate the lands and buildings of the Huron County Pioneer Museum as a property of architec- tural and/or historical significance under The On- tario Heritage Act. After changes in the wording in the statement of purpose and collections management of the museum, both documents were approved by county council. Deputy Reeve Robert Allen of Goderich who re- quested at the September meeting that the documents be tabled for further study, acknowledg- ed, that Goderich's committee of concerned citizens found the wording changes quite acceptable. Board will receive more funds from ministry Alexandra Marine and General Hospital has just officially learned that it will receive additional funding -of -$178,500-fir6 1lie^Mi i1 n'ybOtHea1th "to be applied to the operation of the hospital during the fiscal year of 198243. These additional funds are to be used to maintain a higlt quality of hesilth tare for the people served by the hospital An assessment of long term needs for the hospital is now underway so that the funds can be utilized to meet growth that is being experienced within_the:hospital care system. ,._:- Hospital administrator Elmer Taylor is ex- tremely pleased with the additional funding. He says the hospital budget will now be revised and some of the additional funding will probably be used to build a reserve for capital expenditures. The funding came as a pleasant surprise for AM&G. It was first thought that the health ministry was only going to give funding—$110-million in total— to those hospitals operating with a deficit. Since AM&G does not have a deficit, it was not expected to receive any money. ---Althoughthe ministry haspielted-up some d hhefts, their across-the-board formula for dividing up the money was based on one of growth and anticipated growth within the health care system. -I ast year, the health ministry warned it was no longer going to tolerate budget deficiencies and -that hospitals would have to live with available funds. The ministry introduced an incentive program geared to encouraging hospitals -to raise some of their own revenues which they would be allowed to keep. The program now known as BOND—business oriented new development plan—for starters allowed hospitals to increase their charges for private or semi -private accommodations. Taylor explains that a smaller hospital doesn't have the same flexibility for increasing revenue as a larger hospital. However, over the past four years, AM&G has made several minor changes to save money and wipe out its deficit.