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>. pot A NF LU Saat SI fa Mant F APA INE es NRRL Sr Sets b da THA AU a SIR AR AES A a AFSL ARAM Lea LER PEE ¥ Ai an Soe OTERO I BS RE TAN gpd Bi HEIR CK AA PR 3 ATR SY PE hd BR ) re Rd Sh id Scugog Roads "budget set at over *] million The Scugog Township Roads department budget for 1979 has been set at slightly over $1 million, of which $537,000 is covered by direct subsidy from the provincial government. The actual total figure this year is $1,001,5 the total spent in 1978 of $943,000, of which $510,000 was covered by subsidy from the province. The Township's share of the 1979 budget is $464,000, a slight increase over Scugog's share in 1978 of $433,000. However, it is expected that the increase in 1979 will not push up the mill rate; but rather will be covered by the anticipated growth in. the overall . assessment in Scugog this year. TWO CATEGORIES Roads department super- intendent Ron MacDonald told the Star last week that the total budget for 1979 is broken down into two cate- gories: construction and maintenance. The total construction budget this year has been set at $251,000, of which $176,000 is covered by subsidy from the province. Included in this figure is $40,000 for general culvert work, and $80,000 for re- placement of a bridge on the 9th. Concession in Ward 1. Other construction pro- jects budgeted for in 1979 are $40,000 for grading and paving on MacDonald Street in Ward 2; $20,000 for im- provements to the 4th line west of Blackstock in Ward 4; and $40,000 for re-sur- facing roads in Ward 3, and east of Blackstock in Ward 4. The Township has applied for. an additional $80,000 from the province in subsidy to help cover the cost of replacing the bridge north of Nestleton. The total cost is estimated _at $100,000, and the replacement of this bridge will be done this year only if the $80,000 supple- mental is approved by the province. This Ward 4 bridge on Congession 7 and 8 has been declared deficient in width and safe loads by the provin- cial government. The bridge approved for replacement in Ward 1 has also been de- clared deficient by the province. MAINTENANCE The grand total for the maintenance portion of the 1979 budget is $750,000, of which $375,000 is covered by subsidy from the province. Of this $750,000 total, the , up from - ee two largest chunks will go for winter control at $230,000 and loose-top maintenance at $260,000. The budget figure for hard-top is $70,000, (T urn to page 3) Wednesday, January 31, 1979 28 Pages On tie breaking procedure Durham moves to pluglegal loop hole Lawyers from Durham Region have been instructed to come up with recommen- dations on how to change the wording of the Durham Act to prevent the Chairman from casting a tie-breaking vote during election of the Chairman by the 30 mem- bers of the Regional Council. The motion, which carried by a wide margin at the council session January 24, was introduced by Oshawa Mayor Jim Potticary, as a result of the controversial election of incumbent chair- Girl dies after fall from horse A 13-year old Port Perry girl died of head injuries suffered when she was thrown from her horse Satur- day morning at the Pine- wood - Place Equestrian Centre on Highway 12 south of Port Perry. A spokesman for Durham - Regional Police said that Shelley Ann Houthuys, of 358 Lilla Street, had been riding her own horse for about half an hour, when the animal apparently spooked and threw her to the ground. } The injured girl was taken to hospital in Port Perry and then transferred by air ambulance helicopter about 1:30 p.m. to Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto, where she died later that day. man Walter Beath at the inaugural meeting last December 6, in which Mr. Beath cast a tie-breaking ballot in favour of himself and defeated Oshawa coun- cillor Allan Pilkey. Speaking on the motion at Regional council last week, Mayor Potticary said that interpretations of Section 9 and 12 of the Durham Act which allowed Mr. Beath to cast the tie-breaking vote amount to an "anomoly"', and this '"'caused embarass- ment of elected people of high integrity." Mayor Potticary said he hoped the changes would be made within the next two years so that a similar occur- rence cannot happen when the Regional council votes for a new chairman in December, 1980. . The change in the legis- lation would have to be made by the provincial legislature, which drew up the Durham Act to create the Region five years ago. At the December 6 in- augural meeting, the 30 member council was split 15-15 for Mr. Beath and Mr. Happiness is eee A maze of gauges and levers confronted young Todd Bowen as he took the Captains seat in the cockpit of a jumbo jetliner recently at Toronto International Airport. Todd was just one of a number of Pilkey at the end of the first ballot, and a legal inter- pretation of the Durham Act allowed Mr. Beath to break the tie in his own favour. The Act allows the Region- al chairman to break a tie vote during regular sessions of council, however, Mr. Pilkey and his supporters argued that this does not extend to an inaugural meet- ing because the incumbent chairman is no longer a member of the council. Mr. Pilkey, as an elected member of Durham council was allowed to cast a ballot in the voting for the new chairman. Mr. Beath"s election created controversy and bitterness, among members of council who supported Mr. Pilkey. The Oshawa alder- man initially suggested he would seek to legally have the election declared void. Little Brothers who were shown through the Air Canada facilities when the Big Brothers of Scugog took the lads to the airport. See story on page 8. Photo by Doug Suppelsa However, he decided a couple weeks later to not pursue this course of action. While the bitterness may still remain, it has not notice- ably affected the regular business sessions of the Durham council in the first six weeks after the election. However, in the first few sessions of council, Mr. Pilkey appears not to be taking his usual active part in council debates. Union seeks parity A move to bring the wages of Scugog Township's out- side workers closer to those earned by workers with Durham Region is expected to be the main issue in contract negotiations between Scugog and CUPE local 1785 which got under- way last week. CUPE representative Russ Whitney who is bar- gaining on behalf of the Township's 15 full-time out- side workers, described the one-hour meeting in Port Perry last Friday as "a good one", as the union presented 'its position to councillors Jerry Jackman and Reg Rose. Mr. Whitney said the wage differences between Town- ship employees and those doing the same job for Durham Region are 20 to 30 percent less in some cases. and the union is working towards wage and benefit parity for employees in Scugog and other munici- palities in the Region. Scugog Township's out- side workers joined CUPE last year, and the first con- tract negotiated during the summer, expired on Decem- ber 31. While admitting that reaching full parity with the Durham Region employees may be unrealistic this year because of the wide discre- pency, Mr. Whitney said the union is hoping to narrow the gap substantially with a new contract. A second meeting between the union and the Council bargaining committee has been called for February 8. % eR A Thea 2 - a = --~ Ema a - ye De TR en