Former mayor and council being sued, A former mayor and coun- cil of The Town of Whitby as well as· the 'clerk and a town-employed architect are all being sued for breach of contract by a Toronto con- tracting firm. The lawsuit claims dama- ges and expenses because the plaintiff, Lynview Con- struction Ltd., says that a breach of contract occured whén the town.decided not to build theý municipal offices on Rossland Road in Septem- ber, 1972. Named as defendants in the suit are: former mayor Des Newnan ,councillors: Tom Edwar4s, '-John Goodwin, Gerald Emm, Robert Heron, Ken Hobbs, Vernon MacCarl, Robert White; the clerk.(now clerk- administrator) ~-William Wallace; and architect William Saccoccio. Lynview Construction has claimed that the company incurred the loss of profit, overhead expenses, and the expenses of hiring sub-con- tractors and cancellation charges for,the job. The statement of claim by the company, swore tiat the "defendants were-guilty of misrepresentation and were in breach of warranty and negligent " because the town had told thein to proceed with the construction of the $593,961 building. However, the company said, that the town had failed Municipalities with appro- ved official plans nay, after Sept. 1, use new procedures to allow zoning bylaws to come into force without Ontario Municipal Board approval, jIousing Minister Claude Bennett 'announced August 30. The regulation, outlining options open to municipali- ties when passing new zoning bylaws, has been forwarded to local authorities by the Ministry of Housing. Bennett said that those municipalities with -appro- ved officip1 plans who use the new reg*Uon will have the option of bypassing the OMB when no objections- have been received on new zoning bylaws or amendments to existing bylaws during a 21-day publie-,notice period. Municipalities may, if, they to tell them that the bylaw authorizing the work would not take effect until it recei- ved Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) approval; failed to tell them that they did not intend tô proceed with the contruction before the com- pany had run up 'considera- ble expenses and the town had eXceecled their authority and jurisdiction. The company is -claiming monetary damages for the alledged breach of contract, expenses and costs of the action. The members. of the former council have claimed that no written contract was ever awarded to Lynview Construction by the town. The defendants also said that they acted properly as members of the council and had not acted.in bad faith or with malice. The bylaw accepted a revi- sed .bid by the company on May 1,1972 was never appro- ved by. the OMB and was repealed by the council in September. The councillors said that the company knew the bylaw had to'be approved by the OMB and "if the plaintiff incurred any expenses, i, did so at its own risk and without any liability on the defen- dants." They said that the action is not warranted and should be dismissed with the couf awarding costs to them. wish, continue to have the OMB approve such bylaws. "Those municipalities which lack an approved offi- cial plan must still submit all zoning bylaws to the OMB for approval,"' he said. Bennett noted that the new approach should reduce the administrative workload of the OMB since an estimated 2,000 bylaws annually will no longer need to be reviewed and approved by the Board. "I would anticipate that these changes could expedite the Board's consideration of other planning matters," he said. Bennett pointed out that these latest steps are part of the province's ' continuing effort to speed up the plan- ning process and to have local planning issues resol- ved at the local level. Tinbreli itsWPH Ontario Minister of Health Dennis Timbrell was at the Whitby Psychiátric Hospital last Thursday to officially open the hospital's 60th Anniversary celebrations. In his openihg remarks Timbrell said that mental illness is like any other disease ard should not be ignored by the community. He praised the hospital because it ·"does meet the real niental illness needs in our community." Timbreil also sais that while where is no definate starting date, the $28 miillion reconstruction project at the WPH should start sonetime in 1981. Timbrell also congratulated the staff and patients of the WPH for putting on such a fine'carnival for the celebrations. Free Press Photo by MikeKnell Van poolings savMg gas an travellers are saving over It is viewed by the Ontario government as a major step in energy conservation. It's called van pooling, that's il people sharing a ridè to work. The program is under tQe government's sponsorship and ministry of transporta- tion and communication spokesman Doug Smith says, "One van taking il people to work can take seven to l cars off the road." Van pooling is gaining fur- ther acceptance across North America. Smith says that there are over 200 companies in Canada and the United States operating van pools, taking more than 100,000 people to and from work every day. The figure does not repre- sent a large~per centage of the work force, Smith admits, but the number of people participating in the plan doubles yearly. The program was started by the ministry in April to serve their ernployees in the Whitby, Newmarliet and Burlington areas. The fare for 10 passengers is $11 and the driver, who is responsible for maintaining the vehicle does not pay but he has to make the gas purchases and recruit more drivers. "The van pool is compara- ble in cost to a three-person car pool and its cheaper than GO ~Transit or driving alone," Smith says. The service is intended as an example to other commu- ters, in the hope of getting them to think about getting rid of that second car, Smith says. The employees who take part in the program are expected to save 18,000 gal- lons of gasoline and about $600 a year in'travel costs. The ministry is also encou- raging private companies to use the program. Chrysler's Ajax trim plant is using the program, run by manage- ment and obtaining the ne- cessary funding through payroll deductions. Smith says that "the pro- gram offers many benefits to $600 the community, by making better use of existing facili- ties (notably parking). Strike incident resuits i weaponscharge A chargeof possession of a dangerous weapon has been laid against a Bell Canada employee after an incident on Hopkins Street on August 27. Durham Regional Police said thatabout 5 p.m. on that day Peter Bartkiewicz, 26, of 1221 Simcoe Street North, Oshawa, was picketinga manhole where two woric- men were on the job. Police'- alledge that Bartkiewicz dropped a lead pipe down the manhole. The pipe was about eight inches long and two inches in dia- meter and weighed about two pounds, police said. Police also said that no one Zonig won't need OMB approval Umm" R)L PRES