SERVING MAPLETON AND MINTO
THE
COMMUNITY NEWS VOLUME 52 ISSUE 21
1 Year GIC - 2.75% 3 Year GIC - 3.00% 5 Year GIC - 3.35% Daily Interest 1.50%
638-3328
THURSDAY, MAY 23, 2019
www.jackfinancial.ca
Township contributing $17,000 for accessible washroom in park By Aryn Strickland MAPLETON - Township council has approved the donation of $17,000 to the Drayton Rotary Club for the completion of an accessible washroom in ABC Park. Through the municipality’s 50/50 funding program the township agreed to donate $5,000 for the construction of the washroom. On May 14 council approved donating a further $12,000 to provide hook ups for sewer and hydro. The additional $12,000 will be drawn from the township’s capital reserves. “We would like to go forward and ask council to put the sewer in and help with the water hydro trenching and hookup for the wheelchair accessible washroom which we are planning to be installing in ABC park,” explained Rotary Club member Christian Giffin. The accessible washroom will be a 12-by-12-foot build-
ing with one toilet, a fold down change table, a sink and a sensor light. “All the walls will be washable for any possible graffiti, also the back part of the building will be used for connections, etcetera,” said Giffin. She added the washroom could also have a urinal. In total the approximate cost of the building will be $22,030. Giffin’s delegation came just as staff received a quote for the sewer/hydro work. “Yes, we received a quote this afternoon. Previous estimates were just best guesses but we did receive a quote this afternoon,” said director of public works Sam Mattina. “For the sanitary to the street and to connect the water and hydro from the existing utility building that is there for the splash pad now, we are looking at about $12,000.” Finance director John Morrison confirmed the
township could provide $12,000 through capital reserves. “For the balance you would just draw down the capital that we have established,” said Morrison. “The money is there.” The remainder of the approximate $22,030 will be raised through Rotary Club fundraisers. The Drayton Rotary Club hopes to have the accessible washroom finished sometime this summer. “We would like to get it done. This summer is our goal,” said Giffin. “We are working as hard as we can to get to there. We have some delayed fundraisers which we had planned which may throw us off our goal a little bit. We have a good part of [the funds] but not all of it. We have about two-thirds.” Councillor Marlene Ottens said, “I am in favour of this. I think it’s a valuable project that is needed.”
Winding up - Centre Peel Public School Grade 8 student Peter Hildebarm won first place in the softball throw at the 18th annual Special Olympics Track and Field Day on May 15 at St. James Catholic High School in Guelph. Elementary and secondary students from the Upper Grand District School Board and the Wellington Catholic District School Board competed in the event, with the slogan “Track and field of dreams.” Additional photos on page 8. Photo by Jaime Myslik
Mapleton expedites reconstruction of Hollen area roads due to winter damage By Aryn Strickland MAPLETON - Plans to reconstruct sections of Hollen Road, Leslie Lane and Concession 5 have been brought forward to the 2019 budget due to “severe damage” caused last winter. “We had some difficult
weather conditions last winter which caused some severe damage to these eight sections of roadway,” director of public works Sam Mattina told council on May 14. Six portions of the roads were already included in the 2019 budget. However, damage to two additional sec-
tions - 1,091 metres of Hollen Road and 770 metres of Leslie Lane - originally planned for reconstruction in the township’s budget for 2021 and 2029, are being brought forward. “Six of them were in the 2019 capital budget for reconstruction however the two
that were not there in later years so we’ve started design to rebuild these areas,” said Mattina. Bringing two additional road sections forward means that staff will not be extending the platforms of the six roads to eight metres wide (from six metres) to help
reduce the increased cost. “We were not aware that they were six-metre platforms until we started our design work, so we did have enough money to pursue an eight meter wide platform design,” said Mattina. “However the funding for these other two road seg-
ments is further out into the future so we are accommodating these two road sections with the money that we have, therefore we are trying to make this work with the funding that we have available to us.” Originally $333,000 was set SEE ROAD WORK » 3
Council defers consideration of plan to park buses at Harriston arena By Patrick Raftis
Barn fire - An undetermined number of cattle were lost as fire destroyed a diary barn in Mapleton on May 20. Mapleton firefighters were called to the blaze on Concession 6, south of Moorefield, at around 5pm. Fire Chief Rick Richardson said the fire was accidental and started in the upper level of the barn. Richardson said the farmer was able to release some cattle from the burning barn and firefighters got others out. Wellington County OPP initially estimated around 50 cattle were unaccounted for, but in a May 21 update the OPP estimated 12 had perished. Richardson said on May 21 some of the freed cattle suffered smoke inhalation and later had to be put down. While a complete damage estimate was not available, Richardson said the bank barn was completely destroyed, though the milk house portion and some surrounding silos may be salvageable. Photo by Patrick Raftis
POKEMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU RATED PG
104 MINUTES
Fri 8pm, Sat 11am & 8pm and Sun 7pm
MAIN ST. W. PALMERSTON 519.343.3640 www.norgantheatre.com
WEEKLY WAG
‘‘
SHOWING MAY 24-26
MINTO – Town council has deferred a decision on a proposal to allow a bus company to use the parking lot at the Harristion-Minto Community Centre. Cook Bus Lines, which provides transportation services for elementary schools and the high school in the Town of Minto, is looking for a location to park four buses on weekdays and weekends, explained recreation services manager Matt Lubbers in a May 7 report to council. The report notes the company requires a site with access to hydro. A portion of the parking lot at the Harriston arena has been
“I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific.” - Lily Tomlin
identified as a possibility. Lubbers told council the company is proposing to pay the town $2,000, which he said would be used to offset the cost of offering free skating and shinny sessions at the arena. “This fall they’re looking for a spot to park four buses over the course of the school year,” said Lubbers, adding a location near the ball diamonds near a pole with hydro access is being considered. “It would probably be something that wouldn’t work in September and June when we’ve got baseball, but that would probably be the months where the hydro service isn’t necessary,” he pointed out.
BILL’S
Councillor Ron Elliott asked Lubbers if the company would move the busses if the parking spaces were needed on some occasions. “For any major event … they wouldn’t be permitted to park there. They would have to find somewhere else. That might be one of those days where they’ve got to take the busses all the way back to Mount Forest,” said Lubbers. “Essentially this is for some of the drivers that reside in Harriston. It would just ... save them having to go to Mount Forest to pick up their bus there each day.” Councillor Mark McKenzie asked if the town would need to upgrade the SEE BUS PARKING » 4
PAINT and COLLISION Specializing in... Collision and Complete Re-Finishing, One Mile East of Moorefield.
519 638-2048