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Rad AP eitiiand A 1 + § - AH iL hdr lds Fick dal EIA AISIE UHL PORT PERRY STAR -- Wed., April 1, 1981.--- 35 "DURHAM ROAD 7 & CONCESSION 11 NN ~ Scugog island - 985-3410 WHILE IT LASTS! (Beef From Our Own Farms.) ry » CHILDREN'S HARDCOVER - 812" x 11' BOOKS From the Educator Classic Library Complete and Unabridged. While Limited Supply Lasts!! *The Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling * Call of the Wild, by Jack London * Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson * 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Vern * The Legends of Paul Bunyon ....and more. $1.49. Frozen Lean Boneless $1.90. Stewing Beef pls -- | -- | | e---- | co-- | | co---- | | co-- | | co---- i ( 7 ISPS SA NE -In answer to man ry Board: Mr. Earl Cuddie, - Clerk Administrator, Township of Scugog. N Municipal Offices, oPart Perry, Ontario LOB INO Dear Mr. Cuddie: Thank you for your letter of March 5, 1981. | have pondered the request of Council for the past two weeks and find that as a matter of conscience, my resignation must stand. . 'In an earlier letter, | indicated that Mould reduce my reasons for resigning to writing and this is a summation of those reasons. A. At the time in early December when | indicated that | would stand for appointment to the Library Board, the new Council was against the Water Street site. So was I. Council later reversed its position after | was appointed to the Board. B. The Library Board took the OMB decision as one approving the proposed new building, when in reality it was only an approval of a rezoning. C. Shortly after being appointed to the Board. | discovered that Council was not receiving any Minutes from the Library Board, and apparently had not received any at least through 1979 and 1980. Council in other words was not being informed of what was going on relative to Library affairs. On top of this major oversight, the build ing committee never kept any Minutes of any meetings. Everything was reported verbally. D. 1 could not find any written justification for the size of the proposed new building, or the size of the rejected expansion on the current library site. Rejection was bound to happen .... the addition was too large for the lot, and a decision had been made months before to attempt to build on Water Street. E. The total cost of the proposed new facility has never been dis- closed to the public. The only figure that has been quoted is $315,000. which may or may not be correct. However the eventual real cost, forgetting the land, will likely be closer to $500,000 when additional furniture, shelving, equipment, audio visual equipment, parking lot preparation and paving, sidewalks, curbs, landscaping, additional books to fill up the space plus videotapes and film are considered. Add to this, the loss of revenue from the Griffen house. F. I believe that a 2,000 to 2.500 square foot expansion on the present site is affordable. The front of the lot could also be used. The War Memorial aspects could be preserved. G. Ideal as it may be. we cannot duplicate the services of larger raising program which resulted in the building of our . libraries in metropolitan areas. We do not have the tax base. As it is. the funding of the operations of the present library are tight ..... with the Ontario Government supplying about $22,000 annually by population grant, and this Township supplying virtually all of he rest, about $50,000 annually. This amount is rising. If the pro- posed expansion goes ahead in its present form, it is my belief that the additional tax burden will be substantial. H. Planning for expansion seems to me to have been based upon what we want rather than what can we afford. Any questioning by myself for information on background met with either resistance or hostility. Most of my requests were in writing and were not met with answers. I. Under the Public Libraries Act, the Library Board can expro- priate. Was the building housing Sears, The Pink Dot and David's Beauty Salon considered for Library conversion, along with its back- yard for parking. Was the backyard only considered for parking, thus removing the main objection to expanding on the current site. Was the property known as the Murray House consideredfor the '2 same purpose. and would this avoid the so-called flood plain poh, lem. Simple questions ..... no answers. J. As most of you know, | was Chairman of the sccessful fund w hospital a number of years ago. We planned on the basis of what We needed. not what we would like to have. We planned on local experience and good local records. We did not plan on the basis of what com- parable populations in the United States did, or what larger jurisdic- tions did. We planned on the basis of what we could justifiably afford. Trying to place this in perspective to the Board in February. mel with, to put it mildly, insulting rejection. K. On January 12th this year when | appeared before Council, | said that there was no reason to rush into contracts for the Library. | stated that the May 6th deadling for Wintario would in all likeli- hood be extended until the end of the year. | said that this would give us all time to rethink our various positions. | explained this a few days later with the Board. | was given assurances by the Board and the Mayor that | would have the opportunity of seeing the final Lease Agreements between the Board and Council before they were signed. Needless to say, they were signed without informing me. | was in Ottawa at the time, which both sides well knew. It was from Ottawa that | phoned the Chairman and said that the end of the year Wintario deadline was a reality, and there was no great rush to do" anything until the air had cleared. It was she who informed me of the signing. The so-called May 6th deadline was a red herring. and y requests the following is the text of my letter to Council last week, concern ning my resignation from the premature signing breached an understanding. | did not expect any thanks for being highly instrumental in this extension nor was any received. L. For some reason Library records are not maintained at the Lib- rary for the taxpayer to peruse at reasonable times. No Minutes. no Wintario agreements. no financial statements. no plans or drawings of the former proposed addition or the new building. Under the Act, they are meant to be available. M. At the January 26th Board meeting. held while | was still in Ottawa, instructions were given that Board and Committee Minutes wert to begent to Council from now on. At least my efforts resulted in something we can all live with, namely that there will be some dissemination of knowledge of Library business to those who need it most. However the Librarian has expressed concern as reported in the Minutes of that meeting, that hese are for information only and that this is not a step for Library affairs to be taken over by Council. My comment is simply that the people who are in charge of our tax rates had better spend more time on Library affairs. par- ticularly when such tremendous sums of money are involved. In conclusion, | appreciate one Board member's comments about me as published in the Oshawa Times. February 26th. My reply is that someone had to ring the doorbell and say that the party is over. Council must make its decision about whether or not we can afford display aras for crafts. photography. theatre aris, child ren's theatre, theatre stage for concerts, puppet shows. concerts. plays. speakers, etc. There are other facilities in town for that sort of thing. Therexappears to be vast room for co-operation between the Public School Library, High School Library and the Memorial Library to avoid duplication of expense and services. | am sorry that Mrs. Hammett felt it necessary to resign. My efforts were tem- pered by the taxpayers interest. My efforts were not counter pro- ductive but designed to get as much background information as possible so that | could fulfill my function. As one of the signers of the dreadful Library Board letter to Council concerning myself. with all due respect, she must have known that our views did not necessarily coincide. May | reiterate that | have never opposed expansion of Library facilities when economically justified. Most taxpayers | have talked to believe the same. We do not need a white elephant. Yours Sincerely. Joel W. Aldred Ar--D € --s $b ER ST -- --_ 4 -- KK T+ em -- EE HK MK MK HK = HK--HK MK SPREE meme chemi O01 i i RA silat ' i Lg . KO Cie = HK KK See HEH KK ALTA TEONAISS RP ARIBRIAE 3 3 ER IN 4 REN 0) {Apts Re a TR ¥ Ae SLL TT Te 1 HICK Ks hp -- S-- | --" cv -- | ev -- Ya -e, ant a on ANT Sey, HN