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PAGE 12 â€" WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, The fashionable window treatment... e Functionally elegant e Beautiful colours and textures e Traversing vanes rotate 180° for "in the mood" lighting. From February 2nd till February 28 each valance ordered with the matching VERTIFLEX drape made to measure will be supplied FREE OF CHARGE. Carpet e Noâ€"wax Flooring e Wall & Floor Tile eHardwood e Wall Coverings e Benjamin Moore Paint eDraperies e Blinds e Bedspreads e Amerock Fixtures e Host Carpet Cleaning e mairt _ DECORATING CENTRE 382 KING ST. N. WATERLOO 885â€"3200 â€" for further information about these meetings, please phone 745â€"0901 FREE PARKING â€" CHILDOREN WELCOME ADULT RECREATION CENTRE 7:30 pm INFORMATION MEETING (corner Allen & King in Waterloo) Kâ€"W HOUSING COâ€"OPERATINE â€" see designs for the housing units â€" discuss how the coâ€"op will be run â€" find out about your future involvement Thursday, February 10 Tuesday, February 22 Little input into major decisions says _â€"finance chairman The chairman of the Waterloo County Board of Education‘s fiâ€" nance committee feels his commitâ€" tee is hamstrung by the lack of direction the board has given and therefore has been left with little to say in major decisions. Ray Martin Chronicle Special Herb Altman said Thursday that it is time to let his committee get involved in the financial aspects of matters coming to the board or "terminate the finance commitâ€" As an example of the finance committee‘s featherâ€"weight position at the board table, Altman pointed out the committee which is to approve the initial draft of the annual budget is unable to do so because of a lack of direction. "All we could really do is set the dates for budget discussions, and that isn‘t right, when you consider we had a $150 million budget last year," he said. The Kitchener trustee charged that in many cases the board makes its decisions based on administraâ€" tive concepts without the benefit of the input the financial committee could provide. _ As a case in point, Altman cited the recent move by the board to move Operation Open Door (classes for adult education) into Waterloo‘s Alexandra School. The move, he said was made simply to kee$ the school open with no real consideration being given to the financial implications. In the past year the only projects the finance committee has really been able to sink its teeth into have been minor matters. These include Keatsway public school auditorium in Waterioo fgse_mbleq a zoo Friday as students were treated to a display of reptiles and exotic birds. Reactions were mixed. Some enjoyed an opportunity for some ‘"handsâ€"on‘‘ experience, others were content just to watch â€" at a distance. Jack Pollington, (right), a breeder of snakes and reptiles displays a savana monitor. TENTATIVE TOUCH the capital forecast, the board‘s courier service tender, taxâ€"exempâ€" tions, mileage allowances, insurâ€" ance, staff benefit packages and the feasibility of debenturing rather than spending from current funds. ‘"Right now, all we‘re doing when we undertake a project is making a barn door guesstimate. If these projects were sent through the finance committee, we could fully investigate the costs before the project is brought to the board. The board could then make its decisions based on hard facts, rather than estimates," he said. In order to give his committee more clout, Altman made a motion that any matter which will have some impact on the budget be brought to the finance committee for input on the money implications before being brought to the commitâ€" tee of the whole for approval. "This proposal will create a colossal log jam for the whole board. If anyone has any questions about the costs involved in any of our projects they can be asked at the meeting of the committee of the whole,"" MacDonald said. Kitchener trustees Grant Macâ€" Donald and John Darling saw the proposal as a roadblock to the normal flow in the board‘s decision making process and attacked it. Darling argued that the proposal would mean the administrative offiâ€" cials of the board would end up doing twice as much work, first making up a presentation for the finance committee and then having to make the same presentation to the whole board.