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Whitby Freei Pres, WednplÇdaY, SepteMber 20l, 94.Pge 3 Staff, bcd cut at psyCh hospita Items from Whitby Council agenda(s) Mondai Setember Recommenda- tions from the Planning and Development Committee That a site plan application from Wlliams Chocolate for a 3,451 -square-foot chocolate factory and retail store ai 440 Hopkins St. be, approved. Williams currently has aplani and store on Beech Street. Carried Recommenda- tions from the Operations COMMittee That an intersection Island ai Winterberry Drive and Waller Street be remnoved and a three-way traflic stop be installed In is place. The Island was Installed afier a nine-year-old girl was killed by a truck while crossing Waller Street ai Rolling Acres Drive lasi November. But area residents claimed the traffilc-calming device did not *slow down speeding cars 10 any signif Icant degree and petiiioned council for is remoVal. Carried That the next board of management for the Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA) be glected by a voie of DBIA members. The composition of the board, which Is now appoinied by council, has been a major cause 'of concern of critics of the OBIA. Ail retail stores and offices ln the downiown core belong t0 the DBIA whi!ch operaies 10 attract shoppers 10 the downiown. Carried That a no parking restriction be placed on the north side of Harriet -Street beiween Henry Street and Annes Street beiween 8 a. m. and 5 p. m. Monday t0 Friday and thai the Durham Board of Education be requesied*10 provide additional on site parking for Henry Street High School students. Area residenis have continually complained 10 council about students parking on the street and causing problems for homeowners. Carried New Business That Ontario Healih Minister Ruth Crier be urged 10 reconsider plans 10 reduce funding 10 Whitby Psychiatric Hospital until such lime as community support services are in place within the catchmont area of the hospital Carried That an additional ice pad ai Iroquois Park and a new library in downtown Whitby be the next major capital spending projecis of council. A financial report will be made bof ore project tenders. Carried By Mark Reesor Whitby Psychiatrie Hospitâl. (WPH) plans to lay off 100 to 120 staff and eut up to 100 beds to cope with a 10.6 per cent reduc- tion in provincial funding., The plan will be submhitted to the Ontario Ministry of Health for approval bLPridayWP administrator n Balantyne told about 800 staff members and patients Monday. The hospital found out recently that it will receive almnost $2.6 million less than its 1993/94 budget allocation of $44 558 100 in 1994/95 and ]ose another Ï2.1 million in 1995/96. .Besides reducing staff, includ- ing administrators, and cutting beds, the strategy would also see delays in hinnig staff, early retirement, reduction in supplies and program costs and an in- crease in . contracted services, said Ballantyne.' ThIe plan aims for salary and benefît cuts of $1 million and $200,000 in operating expense reductions in 1994/95; $7. 3 mil- lion in salary and benefits and $300,000 in operating expenses are to be slashed in 1995/96. The sound of construction crews working on the new $133- million hospital building could ho heard as Ballantyne, clinical director and psychiatrist-in-chief Dr. Peter Pren dergast and finan- cial offlcer Ross Haytn went over the plan, which aims ta reduce spending by $4.7 million. "You can't tale 1il er cent or $5 million frorn our budget and still end up with the sanie faci- lity that we had last year,» war- ned Prendergast. "You can't take that much out of our budget and still end up with, the; saine ai lity that we wer4 all,ýxpecting te move into next year. , The plan eud see cuts to every departînentq f the hospital excpt he eu~-pycholoy and psyco-griaricunits he explfainýed.«We don't feel tlere's any way we can outline savinge in these prograrns in the im- mediate future.» Services affected include the: * Centre for Develo nientally Handicapped - bed ana nursing staff cuts and a new emnphasis on outpatient services. * psychotherapy unit, which would be scaled back frorna seven-day, 24-hour operation ta aa daytime-only, five-day-a-week service. The residential part of the innovative prograin, which was profiled on CBC TVs 'Man Alive,' rnay be kept, but staff would no langer be prest.:: on a 24-hour basis. Somne cuts have -to corne fairly quickly «because we're expected ta achieve somne savings in this fiscal year,» said Prendergast. Others would ho more gactua, although "gradually only means over, say, six to nine months rather than one to three months."' OPSEU local 331 president Joan Gates says the cuts are s0 great, "we will fail below the 30 beds per 100,000 which is recom- mended in the government's new mental health. reforni document 'PuttingPeople First,' she said. Thedocument should be titled Ptting Peol Inta The Streets,' sug esjtd Ga% s, who worried t3hat ithe uts go ahead, «we won't have înuch of a hospital ieft.» Pro ut will mun FROM PAGE 1 Whitby.» She says her top priority will be «responding to th e concerns of the electorate,» prnmising to work fuil-time, and be open and responsive to east ward and town residents. She wants ta "ýminimize» in- carnera sessions of council and have an "open" budget process. Prout, a Witby residont for 16 years, is a former Durhamn separate achool board trustee. She was forrnerly area, mana- ger for. an employment service in the Durhamn and Northumber- land regions. JOANNE PROUT ROTARY CM., 1018 071* 152 She wants business and resi- dential developrnent that "com- plements rather than conflicts" with the natural environment. She- and husband Barry have three teenaged children, B.J., Gavin and Nci as well as Janis, a teenage friend of the family. She is the co-founder of the 3rd Thursday Breakfast Network, member of the Whitby Court- house Theatre, Scugog Choral Society and Holy Farnily Parish choir, and spokesperson for *the Association of Mature Cana- dians. GREEK TYCOON RESTAURANT 1101 Brook Street South, Whty Sunday,: October 2nd * -.2 4 PM Whitby Geàe.ral Hospita 27,içévent mksponsoré-4by Ch onnte onmnt YD IF 7Poid.lP.Cnidt If you would Ilke to donate an auction item please oeil Lynda at 430-8187.