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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1985-04-24, Page 1Blyth Branch Libmtry Box PO2 Blyth, Oht. NOM 11 Jen. 3 ' 6 BROWNIE COOKIE DAY—Amy Jo Cretier, Tammy Adams, Wendy McBride, Maria Gibbons and Lisa Alex- ander are just a few of the Wingham Brownies and Guides who will be going door-to-door in the town this Saturday, April 27, selling their Girl Guide Cookies. The girls were practising their technique Iast week, getting ready for Cookie Day. Parking meters to disappear from main street of Wingham Bowing to the wishes of the Wingham Business Associa- tion and to the results of a poll taken along the main street, Wingham Town Coun- cil has agreed to remove the parking meters from its downtown business area. After meeting with kefire- sentatives of the business as- sociation last week, council voted unanimously to have the meters removed as soon as it can have two-hour limit signs posted and the street properly marked for parking. Mayor William Harris said that may take "a week or two", however Councillor Jack Kopas pointed out it would be necessary first to pass a new parking bylaw which might delay removal until "the first of June or so." While council agreed to pass a bylaw and, post signs setting a two-hour limit on parking along. the main • street, it was not made clear just how this limit would be • enforced, with opinions split • on whether or not the town police would be expected to provide enforcement. Several merchants present as well as some members of •council said it would be a good idea to have police walking the street anyway, and there is no reason why ti*y-gitatild not be able to enforce the limit. However the mayor and Mr. Kopas, the two members of town council who sit on the police commission, objected to this, suggesting it might be necessary to hire a bylaw enforcement officer. Mr. Kopas suggested it would .be a waste of time to time -a highly -trained police officer chalking tires, but Deputy Reeve Patricia Bailey retorted that the police already check the meters and she doesn't see why chalking tires should be any different. Jim Snyder, a member of the business association, told council he thinks it .would be healthy to get police officers out on the street.. "Personally I think we don't see enough on the street on foot patrol talking to people," he continued, and as a result there is a loss of communication between citizens and the police. "That (more foot patrols) is the trend in the bigger cities," Councillor William Crump agreed. Mr. Harris said he agreed wholeheartedly, but later - added he does not favor asking the police to chalk tires. "Get a meter maid or 'someone." Murray ,Gerrie. another member of the business aesociation, objected that the town already has enough staff and Mr. Crump said. it is "getting overloaded with staff." "That's what you think," the mayor retorted. At the start of the meeting the group heard from Bert Morin on the results of a poll he had conducted among business owners and their employees- along -the main street. He reported that of 209 responses, 89 (42.6 per cent) favored keeping the meters while 107 (51.2 per cent) wanted them removed. Thirteen people were un- decided or expressed no opinion. A discussion followed on the pros and cons of parking meters, with Mr. Kopas observing that the meters were installed originally at the request of local mer- chants. If the merchants now feel otherwise, council must respond and remove the meters, he said. ' It also was noted that while •the town will lose about $5,000 a year in revenue from the meters, it will save the $11,000 it would have cost to have them rebuilt this year and should also save money through easier snow removal .once :the meter posts are gone. Businessman Nelson Frank reported that Clinton recently removed its parking meters and is yery,._ happy with lhe results. However it was em- • Warm weather will help Concern is expressed over problems with hospital wing The warm weather late last week may have come just in time to help allay concerns over problems with construction of the new wing at the' Wingharn and District Hospital, according to a report heard by the hospital board last week. Reporting for the property committee, board member Hans Kuyvenhoven warned of potential problems arising out of the refusal of the contraetor, Refflinghaus Construction of Goderich, to supply heat to the project. Without heat, the moisture inside the building leads to coiensatEon Tn cold weather, he explained, which can lead to problems withsuch things as the dry- wall and medical gas lines -which have already been installed. He told the board that some problems might not show up until well after the project has been completed and the builder paid off, ' adding that the committee plans to get an independent appraisal of the potential trouble spots and file the report with the contractor's bonding company. • However Mr. Kuyvenho- ven later added that if the weather warmed up the problems likely would disap- pear. Dr. Walter Wong ex- pressed concern about the warning, urging the com- mittee to do all within its power to make sure the building is erected to the best possible standard' and that the hospital is covered in the event that problems do crop up in the future. Noting that the architect had eXpressed concern about the way things were being, done, hecOnirnented that, "ti he's not happy, we should be triply unhappy." If problems should crop up with something like the medical gas lines, it would be a "very formidable ex- pense" to set them straight, he noted. Board member Mary Lou Thompson asked , Mr. Kuyvenhoven, himself a builder, how he felt about what had been done, ex- pressing confidence in his judgment. Mr. Kuyvenhoven said that when the architect made known his concerns, "we asked him what we can do. We can't close the job down," he pointed out. However he said that the delays which have stretched the project well beyond its original completion date will probably help to minimize a y damage,' . "If we have a few more warm days the problem will disappear." ' "I don't think we have to worry too much, about it anymore because the job has been delayed so much," he added. He also noted that the hospital has been able to pick up an additional $46,000 in interest earned as a result of the construction delays. phasized that the key to controlling parking will be strict enforcement of a two- hour parking limit. "Let's take the bloody meters out and get it over With once and for all," Mr. Harris exclaimed finally. "1t. come boo( 10,4 few years and aay you wish they were back in." After approving a motion to remove the meters, council also voted to establish a •committee logether with the business association to study the possibility of providing more off-street parking in or near the main business district. ,au FIRST SECTION ht tn Wingham, Ontario, Wednesday, Apr. 24, 1985 Single Copy 50c • Project delayed at least a year Council plans to hold vote on replacing the lower dam Wingham Town Council plans to test public opinion on the matter before proceeding any further with a proposal to replace the washed-out Lower Town Dam. At a special meeting Monday night, council voted to put a question on the ballot during the municipal elec- tion this fall asking residents of they favor replacing the dam at a cost estimated to be $310,000. A similar question will be asked about the Howson Dam, which is also believed to be in need of replacement Local firemen are called out to refuse fires Firefighters from the Wing - ham department responded • AO two minor calls Sunday, both involving grass and re- fuse fires. Wingham Fire Chief Dave Crothers said the - depart- ment sent a tanker and a, pamper to a mutual aid fire • at approximately four o'clock Sunday afternoon at the Morris Township dump. The chief said a refuse fire at Th, damp got put of hand and eat;Pitacl -lregF WmgIXam firemen Were on the scene for two hours. A call was received at 6 p.m. Sunday to a grass and refuse fire in Turnberry Township, Lot 111, Con. B or Lower Town. The call was made by Mrs. Julie Hull. Mr. Crothers reported no damage in either fire. • at a substantially higher though still unknown cost. The decision to await a vote on the fate of the dams - effectively means that nothing will be done this year about replacing the lower dam, which collapsed during a period of high water last summer. HOwever council did ask its public works committee to investigate what can be done to clean up some of the "eyesore" which has been left behind. Council also agreed to allow a volunteer fund- raising committee to start raising money toward the the lower dam replacement, with the understanding that any donations would be returned if the dam is voted down this fall. Deputy Reeve Patricia Bailey declared she has no doubt that replacement of the lower dam will receive about 75 per cent support on the ballot and she was eager to get underway with fund- raising, though some other council members were noticeably less enthusiastic. Councillor Jack Kopas reported to council on a joint meeting of the public works, finapee, and ad hoc dam Canna:tees held list Wed; t� discuss the dam replace- ment proposal. He concluded that despite the possibility of some government funding as a make-work project, the "stark reality" is that the town must be prepared to as- sume about 75 per cent of the total cost of the project, equivalent to about $232,000. Councillor Tom Miller was even more pessimistic, saying the town cannot count on getting any grants and so could be faced with footing the whole bill, which -he calculated would boost local taxes by some 10 per cent. Mrs. Bailey argued strongly in favor of replacing the dam, saying she feels it will be a benefit to the town both now and in the future, while Councillor James A. Currie, noting that he owns property facing the lower pond, declared a conflict of interest and did not take part in the discussion. Councillor William Crump said he feels it is more im- portant to spend money on the upper dam, since it is the first thing people see coming into town. "If it were just the Lower Town Dam I would say get on it right away," he said, "but the condition Of the upper dam scares me." Council eventually agreed to put the question to the voters on possible replace- ment of the upper dam too. The town still has no . firm estimates on what that pro- ject might cost, though fig- ures in the .range of Si mil- lion have been tossed around for rebuilding the dam and bridge. However previous projects on the upper dam have received about 80 per cent funding from the Ministry of Na*al Resources and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications. Council hopes to have figures to present to the voters by the time the election rolls around Nov. 12. Fire claims barn and all its contents A Tetawater-area barn and its contents were lost to fire last Saturday evening. The Culross Township farm is owned by Allan Ritchie of Wingham. Teeswater Fire Chief Bob Meyers said his department arrived. on tifE4.6eneistit— approximately 10:10 p.m. and by then the barn was totally engulfed in flame. Even though the barn could not be saved, Mr. Meyers said, the firemen Managed to save the nearby house in spite of a strong south-west wind which made their efforts all the more difficult. The firemen also managed to save a driving shed which housed a propane tank. Mr. Meyers said fipe or six pigs were lost in the fire, as was a large amount of hay and straw, some of the •spritag-seed .and taw,. plements. • •The chief said he has not' yet put a dollar value on the loss. • As, for the cause, , Mr. Meyers said he believes the fire started upstairs where —1 the Hydro entered the barn, but he intends to investigate the cause more fully. SAVE OUR DAY CARE CENTRES—A large crowd of youngiters, supported by parents and day care workers, marched from the Wingham Nursery School on Josephine Street to the Wingham Children's Centre on Milan) Street Tuesday morning in protest of a plan to cut prbvincial day care subsidies for the centres. At the William Street centre the children released a flock of colored balloons bearing the slogan "Vote Day Care", after hearing an impassioned plea from Deputy Reeve Patricia Bailey to fight to save the local day care pro- grarrt Candidates in the provincial election had been invited to attend,. but a scheduled radio debate in Owen Sound kept them away. It Is feared that loss of the indirect subsidy, which is scheduled to be with- drawn at the end of this year, will raise fees at the teritres tO such a level that local parents will no longer be able to afford to send their children and the centres will close. . •