NEWS

Local news in and around Aylmer and Elgin County

Bayham hires new administrator

April 4, 2014 | 0 Comments

Bayham council has hired Paul Shipway to replace former Administrator Kyle Kruger. The final details of hiring Mr. Shipway, currently the deputy clerk of Uxbridge, were decided upon after a closed door session of the April 3 council meeting. Mr. Shipway’s first day with Bayham will be May 6. Mr. Kruger left Bayham for a…

Complex public meeting set for April 24

April 3, 2014 | 0 Comments

The public participation meeting when local residents can have their say on the operational review of East Elgin Community Complex and the consultant’s recommendations has been set for Thursday, April 24 at 7 p.m. The meeting will be held in Imperial Room C at the Complex. Recommendations by LeisurePlan International of Toronto included no summer…

Wine sales at farm markets good or bad idea?

April 3, 2014 | 0 Comments

Elgin St. Thomas Public Health officials worry that allowing the sale of locally-produced wines at farm markets could mean increased alcohol consumption. But health board members, particularly St. Thomas Alderman Mark Cosens, want to open up new markets to small wineries that have effectively been blocked out of Liquor Control Board of Ontario stores. He…

Five more OPP officers on Sunshine list

April 3, 2014 | 0 Comments

The $100,000 annual salary “Sunshine” club of Ontario public sector workers increased by about 11 percent in 2013 over the year before. The 2013 increase was about the same as the one from 2012. Locally, five more Elgin County Ontario Provincial Police officers made over $100,000 in 2013 than the year before. There are now…

Wolfe running for deputy mayor

April 2, 2014 | 1 Comment

Malahide Councillor Mike Wolfe will run for deputy mayor in the October municipal election. He told the Express his primary focus was “keeping costs under control,” both at East Elgin Community Complex and throughout the township’s own departments. Incumbent Deputy Mayor Jim Jenkins has already filed his nomination papers, seeking re-election.

Express best Farm Edition in Canada

April 1, 2014 | 0 Comments

The Farm Edition of The Aylmer Express has won the best agricultural section award for newspapers under 10,000 circulation in the Canadian Community Newspapers Association’s Better Newspapers competition for 2013. In other awards, an Aug. 27 story by reporter Craig Bradford about how an essay contest to win a house in Malahide was falling short…

Library tenders opened

March 28, 2014 | 0 Comments

Tenders for the construction of the new and expanded Aylmer library were opened on Thursday, March 27 and the bids came in close to the staff estimate of $2.6-million. The lowest bid of $2.419-million was submitted by Graceview Enterprises of Belmont, the company that constructed the Aylmer Trillium Park condominium building on the southwest corner…

Public to have their say on changes at Complex

March 28, 2014 | 0 Comments

A public participation meeting will be held within the next two weeks after the operational review of East Elgin Community Complex was presented to the Aylmer-Malahide Liaison Committee. No decisions on changes to the Complex’s operations were made during the committee meeting that was held on Thursday, March 27. The recommendations by John Stevenson of…

Playing with Molotov cocktails

March 25, 2014 | 0 Comments

St. Thomas Police reported Tuesday, March 25, that sometime over the past week someone had been experimenting with Molotov cocktails behind the former St. Gabriel’s School on Parish St. Molotov Cocktails are bottles filled with a flammable substance with a soaked cloth or rag stuffed in the top. The rag is lit and the bottle…

Complex review: no summer ice, no community hall rentals

March 25, 2014 | 2 Comments

An operational review of East Elgin Community Complex is finally in, and it recommends two major changes: eliminating summer ice; and leasing the Imperial Hall to a tenant such as a library or museum, rather than continuing to rent it out for special events like banquets and wedding receptions. Click here to download the full…

Malahide gives nod to 5% tax levy increase

March 24, 2014 | 0 Comments

Malahide councillors, sitting as finance committee, on Friday, March 21, recommended that, as a council, they adopt a proposed $11.65-million 2014 budget that would increase the township’s property tax levy by five percent. The levy collected by the township would increase by $275,000, from $6.3-million last year to $6.6-million in 2014. Financial Services Director Suzanna…

Pursuing science after school

March 24, 2014 | 0 Comments

Cadyn Hewbank, left, Jessica Wieler, Emma Nute, Fisher Ward and Ryder Stokley participated in a demonstration of magnetism led by Lee Winegardner of Mad Science at McGregor Public School in Aylmer last week. It was the start of a six-week afterschool program where pupils explore science for an hour each Wednesday.