The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Ôrono Town Hall Volume 66; Number 5 GST Included Wednesday, February 6,2002 Serving Kendal, Kirby, Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonville, Orono, Starkville and Tyrone since 1937 I Strong winds following Friday's heavy snowfall vtnade for very rough waters along the Lakeshore in Newcastle. Council dealt with a very awkward situation Monday --■ the long held practice of setting setting their own pay,increases. They approved a report whereby they would set the " pay increases for the next term of council. "Setting councillors' salaries is probably one of the most difficult things we have to do," stated Councillor Schell at Monday's General Purpose and Administration Committee meeting. "It puts us in an embarrassing situation," situation," he Said, "The public has a perception of what our incolne should be. By doing this today, councillors will know when they run (for office) what their incomes will be." The current rate of pqy for the mayor and councillors was set in November 1998. In à three hour debate behind Closed doors the council of the day approved a pay increase for themselves and non union municipal staff. Prior to the 1998 increase, the Mayor's salaiy was $35,000 a year, and councillors received $15,889 per annum. By the year 2000 the Mayor's salaiy was up to $50,000 and councillors councillors were • receiving $20,000 each. These rates still apply today. In his report Monday to the General Purpose and Administration Committee, Frank Wu, Clarington's Chief Administrative Office stated that the work of the Mayor of Clarington is more than a full time job. Plus, other members members of council have to devote increasing hours in the munie-. jpal office to deal with the workload of a fast growing municipality. Wu recommended recommended that pay increases adequately reflecting the mandate and responsibilities of various council positions were in order. However, Wu states, "Current members of council should not be placed in a position position to raise his/her own rate of remuneration and benefit directly from such aetjon." • This practice could leave council open to negative critic cism from the public, hé says'. Wu suggested using ,the same rate of adjustment awarded to, the .Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Local 74 - a 3% increase for each of the next three years. That would increase the Mayor's salary by $4,640 by the year 2004, and councillors salaries by $1,860. Councillors will not receive that rate of pay till January 1, 2004, the next term of council. • Councillors also approved a policy to set all future rate adjustments for remuneration and travel allowance beyond the year 2004 to be the rate as negotiated settlements for CUPE Local 74. In a 1999 report to council, also dealing with the issue of establishing wage ihcreases for politicians, Wu stated,* , "Notwithstanding' any good intention of any member of council to fix the salary structure structure for'future councils, there ,is absolutely no guarantee that any future council would adhere to such a policy." (continued page 3) SiiMiililir chariil liter pilitielasi A 3 1/2 km. police pursuit of a snowmobile resulted in charges being laid against a 33 year-old Newcastle man early Sunday morning. A Durham Regional Police officer had to swerve to avoid hitting a 1987 Yamaha Snowmobile exiting the parking parking lot of JP's Sports Bar on Highway 2 in Newcastle. The snowmobile driver crossed the road and continued in an easterly direction, apparently unaware of the police presence. presence. The officer activated his emergency equipment and pursued the snowmobile which was travelling on the shoulder of Highway 2 at approximately 80 km. per hour. ' When the snowmobile driver attempted to make a northbound turn onto Morgans Road, he lost control of the vehicle and tipped it into the ditch. . At that time he was arrested arrested and charged for .fleeing from police and dangerous driving. Subsequent investigation investigation revealed he was impaired and was carrying a small • quantity of marijuana on his person. Charged is Joseph Raetsen of 109 King Street West, Apartment 7, Newcastle. Raetsen is to appear in court in Oshawa on February 18th. Take Your Best Guess , Drop into, any participating participating business in downtown- Orono this week and guess the correct number of cin- namo.n hearts on display. You could • win, the container of Hearts and and other goodies. jr