The Times Advocate, 2008-07-23, Page 3Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Times—Advocate
3
Bluewater defers Blue Water Rest Home grant request
By Pat Bolen
TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF
VARNA — The Municipality of Bluewater will make a
decision Sept. 15 on whether and how much it will help
fund the upgrades to the Blue Water Rest Home
(BWRH).
The decision to wait until September was made
Monday night after a request from rest home adminis-
trator Martha Craig and project manager Malcolm Ross,
who briefed council on the state of the project.
Craig said that in 2007 Minister of Health and Long-
term Care (MHLTC) George Smitherman announced
that BWRH would be the pilot project for 35,000 long-
term care beds to be redeveloped in the province over
the next 10 years.
Craig said the redevelopment is divided into two linked
projects with the first the renewal of its 65 long-term
care beds by building 32 replacement beds in new con-
struction and renovating 33 beds in the existing west
wing.
The second part will be the development of a rural
community support centre to deliver services and pro-
grams to meet county health and social needs.
The cost of the long-term care redevelopment portion,
said Craig, is $10,575 million with the majority of the
amount financed by a $7,997,000 loan from
Infrastructure Ontario which will be repaid by the rest
home over 25 years via increased operating funding
from the MHLTC.
Craig said the balance of the funding requirements are
anticipated to come from fundraising, BWRH equity, an
existing request to Huron County and a request that the
BWRH was making at the meeting.
Craig told council BWRH was requesting a grant for
$333,434 from the municipality which would cover
$12,850 for project construction permit refunds; the
installation of underground water tanks at BWRH for
fire fighting; $200,000 for assumption of a sewer line
and pump station and $50,000 for the assumption of a
water line.
She said that while the grants could occur over several
years, a funding commitment was needed as soon as
possible.
Bluewater Mayor Bill Dowson told Craig and Ross,
"what you're doing is tremendous," and said "if
Bluewater doesn't help, how could it ask others to?
"It shows leadership that we are prepared to support
this home," said Dowson.
Asked by Coun. George Irvin why the underground
tanks were needed, Ross said due to low water pressure
in Zurich, water pressure from hydrants wouldn't be
enough to fight a fire at the facility under new codes.
Coun. Tyler Hessel asked with BWRH drawing resi-
dents from the southern part of the county, how much
money South Huron would be putting
into the project.
Dowson noted that South Huron
was "very close," to Bluewater in
terms of how much it had put in
through the county.
Dowson added that Bluewater
would be putting in infrastructure
that it needed to anyway.
Coun. Jim Fergusson noted that the
amount being asked for "was
unprecedented...we've never given
that much grant before."
Fergusson said he supported the
request and said "it's up to us to
An explanation Annual Decoration
Service
I have been patiently waiting for someone
to come forward and explain what this per
cubic metre nonsense is and put it in real
English for the people. (Since this is yet to
happen and many of the general public are
still asking, here is my personal explanation.)
If you check the computer conversion table,
one cubic metre is the same as 1,000 litres.
If you look at your last water bill it will show
how many cubic metres of water you used
for three months. For example, my home
bill is 24 cubic metres per three month peri-
od or 96 cubic metres per year. This is for
our two person home. For that 24 cubic
metres we now pay $75 plus $13.68 for a
$88.68 total or $29.56 per month.
Under the new "proposed" system I will
pay $47.33 plus $12.24 for a total monthly
water bill of $59.57, double, just like we
have been told for years. This means my
cubic metre or 1,000 litres cost me $7.45 per
cubic metre.
In the grand scheme of life is this bad?
The way I look at this is we pay $1,349 for
the same 1,000 litres of gas. I had a case of
bottled water on sale in my grocery cart.
Isn't that the same as $250 per cubic metres
of water, and the early morning cup of "pick
me up" we just seem to have to have is equal
to 4,000 cup per cubic metre or $4,000.
Take a little test for yourself. Count the
number of times you use water
a day and a week.'
Shower, dishes,
laundry, toilets and " Letters
sinks, then put it to the
over 30 days. The Editor
286 times per
month we use water
is equal to 21 cents per
time.
Twenty-one cents to have clean clothes, 21
cents for a clean home, 21 cents so you don't
smell. It's a cheap price to pay in mind.
The hard pill to swallow is for tenants.
Their apartment is their home. There is
kitchen, bath, some with laundry. One could
presume the daily needs are the same as
those in an individual home. With that said,
under the current systems, 20 homes pay 20
times the $75 to keep the system going,
where in the apartment the single payment
of $75 was for the 20 individual apartment
homes. The proposed systems is looking to
have everyone pay an equal share but this is
yet to be determined.
I hope this information helps all residents
of our community.
PETER ARMSTRONG, Councillor,
Municipality of South Huron
This Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Hensall Union
Cemetery the annual Memorial and
Decoration Day Service will be held.
(Hensall Union Cemetery is located at 40219
Rodgerville Road, RR 1, Hensall.) Our guest
speaker this year will be Trish MacGregor of
Seaforth with musical guests Betty, Maggie
and Lauren Jinks of Hensall. If the weather
is inclement, the service will be held at
Carmel Presbyterian Church in Hensall.
Hensall Union Cemetery is run by a board
of directors, chaired thoughtfully by Robert
Bell of Hensall for the past several years.
The board members are all volunteers and
put many hours of unrecorded work into the
upkeep of the cemetery property. Only the
lawn maintenance is professionally done and
that has fallen into the capable hands of the
Penn Brothers of RR 2 Hensall for the past
two years.
Sadly, many small independent cemeteries
like Hensall Union are facing some extremely
tough times financially. Due to regulations
set forth by the Cemeteries Branch of the
provincial government the monies that have
been set aside with the Public Trustee for
Care and Maintenance cannot be touched.
We are only entitled to our annual interest
payment which, with declining interest rates,
has been getting smaller and smaller. This
payment used to pay for most of the lawn
maintenance expense. Now it barely pays
for half.
The law says we cannot touch the capital
and while many of our small local cemeter-
ies are rich with money in their trust
accounts they are cash poor - some facing
an uncertain future. The board of directors
of Hensall Union Cemetery wants this ceme-
tery to remain an independent cemetery.
They do not wish for it to be taken over by
the local municipality which already has its
hands full with small abandoned cemeteries,
all requiring maintenance. We need finan-
cial support from the public for this cemetery
to ensure it will continue to be well main-
tained: that monuments will be straightened
and foundations repaired as needed, that the
grounds will be well cared for and that
flower beds be planted. The men and
women at Hensall Union take pride in their
volunteer work but worry that without the
public's support the future for this historical
cemetery may be in jeopardy.
We will look forward to seeing you at our
Memorial and Decoration Day Service on
Sunday.
JOANNE ROWCLIFFE, Secretary Treasurer,
Hensall Union Cemetery
make it work."
Asked by Dowson what kind of a time frame the rest
home needed, Ross said it would be 2010 before it's
done.
"Knowing you have support leverages more money
elsewhere. If it's not there you have to look elsewhere or
cut back."
Dowson said the municipality needed a little time and
he could support the delay of a month.
Irvin said a month wasn't enough time and proposed
that the municipality make a decision Sept. 15.
Asked if South Huron and Goderich had been asked by
BWRH for funding, Craig replied "only at the county
level."
Dowson noted, "I'd rather say that we look after our-
selves."
It was then passed that a decision would be made on
the funding Sept.15.
HANOVER
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