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Zurich Citizens News, 1975-01-09, Page 1[rkg NO 1 - FIRST WITH THE LOCAL NEWS THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 1975 15¢ PER COPY No fire protection The outbreak of a fire in western Hay Township in the next few weeks could spark a battle between the Village of Zurich and the township. It also might be a fire which no one is willing to fight be- cause of a dispute between the two municipalities and neighbor ing Stanley Township over the sharing of fire fighting costs. Technically, the three south Huron municipalities have been without a firefighting agreement site e January 1. The townships and the village were close to signing a new pact in December but Hay Town- ship's opposition to the agree- ment --because of its share of the cost --produced a stalemate. In the meantime, affected property owners in Hay Town- ship will have to rely on the goodwill of the Zurich fire department to fight any fires until a new pact is signed. The proposed pact would see Hay contributing 52.5 per cent of the costs of the fire area, while Stanley would contribute 20.4 per cent and Zurich 27.1 per cent. The plan was to assess each of the municipalities a fair share of the area's firefighting costs (in 1974, about $4, 600) based on the total assessment in each municipality. Hay's higher assessment was due to the string of cottages just north of Grand Bend. The pact was designed to replace an old agreement under which Hay and Stanley paid the village a flat rate of $125 an hour per fire. Leroy Thiel, a Zurich counc- illor and member of a commit- tee which drafted the proposed pact, said Monday the village would "likely" help Hay town- ship in the event of an emerg- ency. But, he added, the village Unpaid taxes lowest in years The amount of unpaid munic- ipal taxes for 1974 in three area townships is the lowest for many years. In Stephen township clerk - treasurer Wiltnar Wein said Monday that 90 percent of a total tax roll of about $490, 000 had been received. Clerk -treasurer Wayne Horn- er said 1974 tax collections in Hay township were even better with about 95 percent received. The total amount of taxes receivable in Hay is $390, 000. The same trend appears in Usborne where tax collector Harry Strang indicated the amount paid of his total roll of $314, 000 was 93 percent. The percentage of taxes paid continues at about the same rate as 1973 when the amount of unpaid taxes decreased for sev- eral reasons. Beginning in 1973, taxes had to be paid in the current year to qualify for a basic shelter grant on the federal income tax return Also, farm taxes must be paid to qualify for the 50 per- cent provincial government tax rebate of 50 percent. is anxious that an agreement be signed as soon as possible. !'It's getting to the point where our thread of patience is running out, " he said. Hay Township Reeve John Tinney said an agreement would probably be signed with- in a week after the township council's inaugural meeting, January 13. "We should be able to get down to business after we get everything sorted out, " he said, 0 Hensall c � uncal Reeve John Baker and Counc- illors Murray Baker, Harold Knight, Paul Neilands and Leonard Erb held the first meeting of Hensall Town Council in 1975. They were all returned to office for a two year term in the December elections of 1974. Building permits were grant- ed to J. palsa to erect a one - car garage; to Harry Schaufler to renovate a kitchen, to Hyde Bros. to put steel siding on their main building and to Hen- sall Co -Op to erect three silos, two of them 36° x 100' and one 24'x100' E.R. Davis was instructed to have the streets cleared of snow when he considered it necessary. Approval was given to Tuck- ersmith'Township to sell share - (continued on page 2) APS L wut n NT aiva tien tE +3040010 GRAND PRIZE WINNER - Mrs. Martin Mommersteeg, R.R.3, Bayfield, was the lucky winner of the $50 (2 $25 merchandise cheques) Grand Prize in the Seek Santa Contest. Shown here presenting her with the cheques are Lori Turkheim and Lori Heunrich. B of E inaugural meeting At the inaugural meeting of the Huron County Board of Ed- ucation in Clinton Monday the trustees voted oaf".:,i:;1) to confirm the election of Wilfred Shortreed, of R.R.1, Walton, as chairman for 1975 and Herb Turkheim of Zurich as vice- chairman. They had been acclaimed at an organizational meeting in December. The steering committee comp• ose of Alex Corrigan, of R. R,1, Bluevale, Clarence McDonald, of Exeter, Mrs. Marion Zintn, of R.R,2, Lucknow, and chair- man Shortreed presented the following committees which were approved by the board; Educatior. Committee; Robert Elliott, Blyth, E. Cayley Hill, Goderich, Mrs. Mollie Kunder, Seaforth; Charles Rau, R,R,2, Zurich; Charles Thomas and Robert Peck, and spoke of the improv- ed relations with teachers during Bayfield councIl take oath The Inaugural meeting of Bayfield Village Council took place in the Council Chambers on Monday evening, January 6. Following the Declaration of Oath of Office taken by Reeve Ed Oddlei,fson, Councillors, F.E. McFadden, Donald Warn- er, Milvena Erickson and Frank Burch; blessings were bestowed upon council by Rev, James Reddoch, Rev George Yournat- off and Mon. Bourdeau. Several residents were present for the ceremony. The reeve then thanked those who had taken part welcomed the new councillor Frank Burch and greeted the older council members. He outlined the Agenda followed at each meet- ing and presented each council- lor with a copy of the agenda and listed the committees on which they would be serving. Several pieces of correspond- ence were read by the clerk; from the Ontario Building Offic- ials Association, stating each Municipalityshould appoint an official to carry out duties provided in the building code, 13111 62, which will replace all others in existence; Ministry of Environment re: Holmesville Land Fill Site with a complaint regarding the covering of house- hold waste; Ministry of Labour in respect to Arena construction with a report to be filled out and returned to the Ministry; received the Annual Report from the Ausable-Bayfield Conservation Authority; rec- eived a letter from the Ministry of Envirorunent acknowledging the Village's support of a resol- ution from the Township of March with respect to the ban- ning of non -refillable containers accepted an invitation from the Ministry of Treasury and Inter- governmental Affairs to attend a Seminar in Goderich on Thursday, January 30 which is intended to provide Municipal Officials with information with respect to Provincial Ministries that have operations that affect municipalities within each County; persued a booklet from the Association of Municipalit- ies of Ontario dealing with Policy Guidelines, Resolutions and Constitutions; a copy of a letter from Dry Dock Marina to Mr. Moffatt, Environment Canada, in respect to their dis- satisfaction over some of the aspects of the South Shore dev- elopment; received a letter from the MTC that an extra $2, 000 for supplementary con- struction. and $600 for mainten- ance had been allocated to the Village. In other business, Councillors McFadden and Warner will inspect the Bayfield Library following a complaint in resp- ect to the heating system rec- eived from John Berry, secretary treasurer of the Huron County Public Library Board; signed a contract for 1975 with Mr. Bud Chamney, Auburn for the rem- oval of waste from the Village; accepted two letters of request for zoning changes from resid- ential to commercial from Bayfield Building Centre and Mr. and Mrs. Stotesbury-Leeson for part of their property bord- ering Cameron and Victoria Streets; appointed Councillor McFadden to serve for 1975 as Village representative on the Ausable-Bayfield Conservation Authority; passed by-law 89/75 appointing Mr. Pat Graham to the Committee of Adjustment for another three year term to January 1, 1978. The committee also consists of Brig. Morgan Smith (Jan. 1, 1976) and Mr. Ernie Hovey (Jan. 1, 1977); authorized the reeve to present a brief re the Mustard Report at a Cabinet meeting to be held January 22 in Centennial Hall, London; granted permission to Mrs. LeRo) to enlarge the shelves in the Archives Room and gave permis- sion to the Bluebird Society for the use of the Kitchen in the Old Town Hall for constructing birdhouses. the past two years giving credit to a small group of teachers and a small board committee workin€ well together. He said policies must be under review and up-to-date, special education classes for those with learning difficulties continued and he hoped to committee could be named to study what can be done for those students with exceptional abilities to promote their skills and capabilities. Mr. Shortreed said the chair- man's advisory canmittee was important and helpful and he said he would like to see it enlarged to five members, with the immediate past chairman or the board which would give some continuity to the commit- tee. Mr. Shortreed said there were still problems with communic- ation between the board and the public. He commended the weekly newspapers' press report- er for the work she did in prov- iding a detailed report on what happens at the meetings. Mr. Shortreed said, "I don't know how we're going to inform the public of what we do if they don't read the papers and if they don't come to meetings to hear what we do." Mr. Shortreed suggested that perhaps the editors of the week- ly papers and the daily paper be invited to attend one or two meetings a year as a possible solution of the communication problem. Mr. Shortreed suggested that the format of the,meetings should be considered as last year's chairman, Cayley Hill recommended in his farewell address as chairman at the December meeting. The next regular meeting of the bard will be held on Jan- uary 20 at 2 p.m. An informal discussion in camera following the adjourn- ment of the meeting.