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Re TPL No CER Bf oe ry Rd i hn NR Vol. 129 PORT PERRY, ONTARIO - TUESDAY, MARCH 28,1995 Es UH COPY 65¢ @1e-4eGsT) ~~ 36 Pages " Luck of the draw Pearce lands regional seat By Kelly Lown Port Perry Star It was literally y the luck of the draw for Marilyn Pearce on Monday as the Ward 2 Council- lor's name was drawn out of a box making her the township's new Regional Councillor. A tie between Councillor Pearce and Ward 3 Councillor Ken Gadsden was decided by placing both candidate's names into a.hat with an audience member drawing the winning name. Eleven people appeared be- fore council stating their case as to why they would be the best candidate for the Region seat, which was declared vacant after the death of Yvonne Christie - earlier thisyear. - After a motion by Councillor Pearce to have all 11 parties - vidually. Councillor Pearce gar- 'nered votes from Councillors Doug Moffatt, Karen Puckrin "and herself, while Councillor "Gadsden had the support of" Countillor Joyce Kelly, himself and Mayor Howard Hall. The Durham Region Act states that in the case of a tie the two names are put into a hat and the winner will be declared . by a draw. Many stated that the process for the appointment of the new Regional Councillor showed two things, one that both Council- lors Gadsden and Pearce are re- spected by their peers and that the municipal system is some- 'what flawed. Township Clerk Earl Cuddie apologized for the system, say- ing it was not the township's nominated for the position, : gos to hold. such a session, councillors took their yote indis... Truste es. Turn to page 4 ittle away at budget By Kelly Lown Bort Perry Star The Durham Board of Educa- tion Trustees were back at the table last week for round two of . the budget talks and have again wittled away at its tax hike, this time comingin at 1.19 per cent. The board began talks over a budget looking to carry a six per cent increase and brought that down to a 3.5 per cent hike earli- er this month. Although the board did not pass the budget at Thursday night's meeting, the board went through the second draft line by line and there were no motions to change anything in the draft, according to Mrs. Drew. "I don't think we'll see a terrif- ic amount of movement from this. But, it is not over until it's over," said Durham trustee Bob- bie Drew. Several areas which have seen cutbacks in recent years will see some extra funding this year, while the trustees still aim to keep the increase at a mini- mum. Block budgets for schools will see a boost of three per cent if the budget passes. The individ- ual school budgets, which allow for spending on textbooks, sup- pli ies and computer equipment ave been lean the past few 'years, according to Mrs. Drew. "This is good news for the schools. We had been forced to cut back there the last couple of years with the recession and provincial cutbacks. But schools were suffering, and the text- books and classroom materials canonlylastsolong," she said. To ease the pressure on the schools' individual budgets, items such as small mainte- nance projects and gym equip- ment inspections, which previ- ously came out of the block budgets, will now be looked af- ter centrally. The bottom line is the block budgets had to be increased to lighten the load and to provide the items necessary at the schools for both the students and the teachers. Another long-standing issue is to have the last of the schools, still working with core room sys- tems, have the work complete to close them off. Additional funds in the board: budget are allocated for addi- Turn to page 4