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05 | 04 | 2017 VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 18
ROCKIN’ THE FIDDLE IN HEIDELBERG ARTS PAGE 19
COMMENT PAGE 6
WYNNE FAILS TO BALANCE BUDGET, FAILS ONTARIANS
Average residential property likely facing $75 cost in St. Jacobs drain project
THE KINGS OF STORYTELLING
DRAIN | 32
Harris proposes Slow Down, Move Over to protect waste management and construction workers on roads LIZ BEVAN
STEVE KANNON THE AVERAGE RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY owner is looking at a bill for about $75 if Woolwich goes ahead with repairs to a drain that runs under a portion of St. Jacobs. The township has identified 307 properties in the catchment area of what’s known as municipal drain #10. Each is deemed to benefit from work on the drain, and will share in the costs of the $200,000 project based on assessment. For residential properties, that could range from $10 to about $440, with an average impact of $75, said Jared Puppe, the townships acting manager of engineering. Commercial and industrial properties face higher, in some cases much higher costs. Costs were the biggest issue at a public meeting last week in St. Jacobs, where there was a full house. “People were upset about the idea that there was any cost,” said Puppe, noting many people felt this was a township responsibility. Under the provincial Drainage Act, the costs are shared among benefitting properties, he explained, noting staff deems the act the best way to
www.OBSERVERXTRA.com
Elmira Sugar Kings Jake Brown and Jeff Jordan were the mystery readers of the week at Riverside Public School on Apr. 28, surprising Grade 2 students as they entered the classroom near the end of the school day. The two Junior B hockey players read There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Puck and answered questions from the students about hockey and their lives off the ice. [LIZ BEVAN / THE OBSERVER]
THE NATIONAL DAY OF Mourning for workers killed or injured on the job was an appropriate day for KitchenerConestoga MPP Michael Harris to showcase his private member’s bill aimed at boosting safety for those working on the province’s roads. Harris met with representatives of the Ontario Waste Management Association and the Emterra Group at their Elmira location Apr. 28 to highlight the his Slow Down, Move Over legislation. The legislation proposes to increase fines and demerit points for drivers who don’t make room and slow down for waste management, recycling and construction workers and vehicles on Ontario’s roads. Don Wickie is a waste management worker with Emterra in Elmira, and he has seen the horrors of workplace death firsthand. About 20 years ago, he lost a friend and coworker to a distracted driver. “He was 30 years old. I had trained him to drive the truck, He had just gotten his license and I had gotten him a job and everything. I still feel that guilt to this day. The driver was distracted and she wasn’t looking. I heard a bang and I got out of the truck and half of him was in the back and the other half was on the ground. She hit him that SAFETY | 5
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