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re S&F AR aN fo } RT Bg A aA a rR Ce - Yas Sl Cas ey vn L e ; -~ "PAY, La ee eT NE I a LR SATS = Re Yen SE NA f) ph a pat " pL ALA Ne a UTNE LN SE RE es & FELINE RRA : eo ANAL PAN He ERY at ANTE E, Reh eh Me Te AS RAY SE CN MA FEoh : Pad ne CERES 25 Grau ASE ES: x Re SE, RI IN RA BR RA SN WN eS TAT pe MRS SON 12 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Wed., March 28, 1979 Region's finance department movin After a long and at times heated debate that lasted more than two hours, Durham Region council last week voted to move the Region's finance department out of the Durham headquar- ters building in Whitby and into a new office tower in downtown Oshawa. While almost all members of the council agreed that the finance department and its 90 employees are presently labouring under difficult working conditions in the Durham HQ building on Rossland Road, the vote to move to the Durham Towers in Oshawa carried only a 16 to 9 margin with five council- lors absent. Scugog Mayor Jerry Taylor voted in favour of the move, while councillor Reg -Rose voted against. < Just after the motion 'carried on a recorded vote, many members of council expressed surprise when it was disclosed that Durham Towers building at the corner of Bond and Centre Street recently went into receivership and is now up for sale. Councillor Rose wanted -assurances that the Region's management committee, which will negotiate the lease, is not locked into the rental cost of $7.15 per square foot, the price cited in a report to council earlier "this year. Councillor Rose suggested that in light of the fact the building is in receivership, Durham Region should be able to negotiate a more attractive lease arrange- ment. SAVE $$$ Purina Dog Meal 210.50 YOU CAN COUNT ON PURINA ) } rn Wallace Marlow Co. Ltd. Blackstock - Ontario 986-4201 a J SN SU SE SUNS SS SRS CHANGE 0 Whatever the final terms work out to be, the move is going to cost Durham at least half a million dollars and likely more. The original motion from Management Committee recommended that the 20,000 square feet in the Durham _ Towers be leased for five years. However, council last week agreed to an amend- ment changing this to four years. During debate on the issue, finance committee chairman, John. Aker estimated that the total cost, including the rent and moving expenses would reach $1 million over the five year period. The finance department, + with 92 employees is present- ly operating in 12,200 square feet of office space. How- ever, efficiency is severely affected because the office space is not integrated, and part of the department works out of two portable classrooms set up at the rear of the main Regional Buil- ding. Of major concern to the department is the computer room, which is not climate controlled. There have been power shortages when the computer and air conditioner are working at peak capacity, and during the hot summer months delays have resulted in the computer being off for as long as two days at a time. Also, the computer room in the basement of the Regional building presents a security and fire risk, both of which OWNERSHIP LAKE SCUGOG MOBILE CONCRETE PORT PERRY A * Fresh Mixed Concrete on the Job, * No Waste - just the quantity you need, * Radio Dispatched. 985-2502 are potentially disastrous to the Region. CONFRONTATION The debate on whether to move the finance depart- 'ment to the Durham Towers brought about an open confrontation between Oshawa Mayor Jim Potticary and his counter- part from Whitby, Jim Gartshore. Potticary argued strenuously in favour of moving the department to Oshawa, while Gartshore did his best to block the move, and have finance re-locate in - Whitby. The Whitby mayor first suggested that the Region use the approximately $1 million towards an expan- sion of the present headquar- ters building, while at the same time moving part of the finance department operation into- some 7500 square feet of office space now available in the Whitby municipal building just to the west of the Regional complex on Rossland Road. While Gartshore did not 'get any motion on the floor over that suggestion, he did get an amendment before council that came within one vote of being approved. That amendment called for the finance department to move not to downtown Oshawa, but to a new office building in. downtown Whitby. Gartshore argued that moving the finance department for four years to that building would. . give downtown Whitby a needed shot in the arm, the same ~. argument that Potticary and - For All Your OFFICE SUPPLY REQUIREMENTS . call Pattersons | of Port 197 Queen Street 985-8332 ELEN TTRR OLR AERO ONROREOR RRR ET O URO RRR R RUROINI RR URE RROD ERO ARORA ) Oshawa alderman Allan Pilkey were making as.to why the department should move to Durham Towers. At one point during the debate, Pilkey told the council that the move to Durham Towers could provide the stimulus for construction: of another office tower in downtown Oshawa, that would bring $225,000 per year in munici- pal taxes,' of which about $120,000 would. go into the Region's coffers. After the final vote was taken to approve the move to Durham Towers, Oshawa alderman Ed Kolodzie, who was adamently opposed to the move, tried to push a motion through council to re-examine the whole issue. He failed by a couple of votes to get the necessary support to re-examine the issue, but his efforts led to a sharp confrontation between Potticary and Regional chajrman Walter Beath. Just moments after Kolodzie introduced his motion to re-examine, Potticary got to his feet and . moved a motion to adjourn the meeting, claiming that a motion to adjourn takes precedence over all. other motions under the rules of procedure. However, chairman Beath ruled that the Kolodzie motion could stand as he had already asked for the vote. When Potticary challenged Oh Lr ----" the chair over this, members of council easily upheld Beath's ruling. The vote on the Kolodzie motion was taken, but fell short of the necessary majority. The decision to move the finance department out of the Regional HQ building means there. will be four departments operating outside the Rossland Road building. Social services has just entered into a five-year lease for offices in Oshawa, and both public works and planning are located under lease in offices on Con- sumer's Drive in Whitby. It was estimated last week that to move all the Regional departments under one roof would require an additional 130,000 square feet of office space at the Regional building, and there has been a report prepared by Chief Administration Officer Bob Richardson recommending that Durham begin construc- tion of this extension in 1983, at a cost of $7 million. The over-crowding at the present building is partly due to the fact that the provincial government leases space for courtrooms and other provincial agen- cies. However, the provin- cial lease expires at the end . of 1982, and the Ontario government is apparently prepared to build its own building in Durham Region. Manchester news * by Ruby Fielding Church Sunday, April 1st at 11:15 a.m. Rev. E. Lin- stead in charge. A speedy recover is hoped for Mrs. Aletha Holtby who is a patient in Port Perry Hospital. Sincere sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Bill Lamb and family in the sudden passing of Margaret Ann's Mother, Mrs. Ray Masterson of St. Catharines last week. : Mr. and Mrs. L.B. Roberts have 'returned home after enjoying 2% months in Mexico. Mr. and Mrs. Harley John- son, Diane, Gregory, and Julie of Fenwick visited 'his parents Mr. and Mrs. Frank Johnson and Wesley on Sat. Both families enjoyed hearing from Doreen and Jim Torrens who are holi- daying in Hawaii. Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Marcotte of Sudbury visiting Mr. and Mrs. George Mar- cotte recently. Mr. and Mrs. John King- stone attended the annual Supper at Greenwood United Church on Sunday. Mr. and Mrs. Fred Lamb visiting at St. Catharines last week. : Ra JAMES RANKIN & ELECTRIC Residential - Farm - Commercial - RR. 1- PORT PERRY - BOX 1148 - EPSOM 985-8537 FREE ESTIMATES - REASONABLE RATES | ©