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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2019
VOL. 130 NO. 51
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BUDGET BLOW UP
CARMAN HOUSE SURPRISE BY TOM SCHOCH reporter@winchesterpress.on.ca
IROQUOIS – The latest surprise in the Carman House saga left several councillors frustrated as the final cost of the Ontario Building Code (OBC) renovations and work required surfaced at budget deliberations Thurs., Feb. 14. Director of building, planning and enforcement Don Lewis presented his case for $75,000 in repairs to the historic building as part of the recreation and facilities department’s budget. It was a number Councillor Lloyd Wells had an issue with. “$75,000 is way too high,” he said. Wells went on to outline his perceived costs, including the required fire shutter, an exterior egress, hard wired smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, emergency lighting and exit signs, and a steel fire door for less than $18,000. At issue was the “guesstimate” $15,000 engineering invoice to Architecture 49 Inc. and EVB Engineering.
SLED STARS What better way to spend Family Day (Mon., Feb. 18) than to slide down a freshly ice and snow-covered hill? That was the choice of countless revellers of the holiday who took to “Doc Gray” Hill near the Joel Steele Community Centre for a sunny afternoon of sledding. To top it off, firefighters from the Winchester detachment of the North Dundas Fire Department were at the base of the hill serving up hot dogs and hot chocolate. Uhrig Photo
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Council ‘good for the gamble’ on campground building BY TOM SCHOCH reporter@winchesterpress.on.ca
MORRISBURG – Place your bets! South Dundas council was willing to gamble that tenders for the new airport and campground building would come in lower than the new over budget designs. Council was faced with yet another financial mirage when director of recreation and facilities, Ben Macpherson, revealed that the design for the new facility has come in at $25,000 more. The municipality had originally budgeted $350,000 with local entrepreneur John Ross contributing another $200,0000 at a council meeting last fall for the seasonal
building. With Ross’ involvement, it went from a 1,500-square-foot building containing basic washrooms and showers, storage and a campground office to a more than 2,400-square-foot multi-use facility. “I think the planning is shortsighted and budget based,” said Ross last October. CAO Shannon Geraghty noted that Machperson presented the information to council because, “it is not our practice to go out to tender when we have estimates saying it’s coming over [budget].” Macpherson presented council with a plain choice. “Are you going to go forward with a tender that’s over budget and
if it does come in with a bid that is over amount, are you going to pay that amount as well?” he asked. Mayor Steven Byvelds shaded in some of the grey areas saying that he had sat down with Ross to discuss the plans. “He’s got this down to as far as he would want to go. He did cut some things out. Some things that I wasn’t comfortable with because it has long-term implications down the road,” he said. “However, John did offer a bit more money to try to make this happen. He’s fairly confident that the bids will probably come underneath this number.”
Fall arrival for burn bylaw WINCHESTER – Some three years of heavy lifting has translated into an open air burn bylaw to appease not only municipal authorities in North Dundas, but the region’s agricultural community, too. At Mon., Feb. 11’s council meeting, township politicians got yet another look at the draft legislation aimed to curb obnoxious burning patterns throughout the area. This follows a mid-January meeting where the Dundas Federation of Agriculture offered its own input on the tobe-passed bylaw. The process was first kick-started in 2016 due to the North Dundas Fire
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Department’s desire to curb the number of calls coming in from passersby suspecting they’d been witness to an emergency. In actuality, it was a farm operator burning a pile of debris. It’s common practice among agricultural landowners to clear the property, and burn in open air. Complaints from nearby homeowners have also increased, given that the burning has persisted, in some cases, for weeks on end. Inclusions in the bylaw are now headed for review with the township’s legal team. Mayor Tony Fraser indicated that the legislation is expected to be implemented by September.
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