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m mivmim audit released for separate school board juuecaspersen staff reporter a provincial audit of the york region roman catholic separate school board showed areas where the board could increase its revenue and cut spending but the report released to the public by the board is far different from the actual report released from the office of the provincial auditor last winter the cited inconsistency between the official report and the boards interpretation is being used by separateschool board trustee candidates as part of their campaigns but the board said its summery was intended for internal use only and as a reference document by staff the provincial probe found that purchasing procedures were not adequate in particular the awarding of school bus contracts and some ministry grants were not spent for the purposes intended the audit kicked off in november 1989 and lasting eight months attributed much of the boards financial burden to the strain placed on the system by explosive growth in york region where student enrollment has doubled since 1984 even so auditors uncovered areas where improvements could save millions of dollars purchasing in checking 52 purchases from the 1988 and 1989 fiscal years to test for compliance with board policies auditors reported staff did not comply with 27 and additionally staff did not document why price quotations were not obtained public tendering was not done of 14 purchases over 25000 four of these computer purchases totaling 335000 the board summary states concerns were expressed over the fact that some purchasing decisions were not documented sufficiently to demonstrate compliance with board policies school bus transportation according to the auditors report the board did not award busing contracts based on the lowest tendered prices in fact some tenders okayed were priced as much as 20 per cent higher than the lowest price of the 823 routes 83 were reviewebtand if the board had given the contract to the lowest bid 55000 would have been saved 3the board did not award bus contracts based on the low- est tendered price the boards summary states the difficulty we have in tendering is were dealing with seven bus companies board spokesperson don oshaugh- nessy said he explained that tendering process could lead to the one company able to cover all routes in the region handing in the lowest tender which could effectively put other smaller companies out of business therefore erasing any competitive bidding the board chooses bus companies on based on their history of responsibility and vehicle main tenance it is a worthy investment for the safety of the chil dren that the tender that may not be the lowest is contract ed overpayments to six bus companies from september 1989 to march 1990 was uncovered totalling 71000 which the board was aware of in october 1989 as of march 1990 16000 had been uncovered with a promise to recover the outstanding overpayments with interest the boards summary states overpayments to six bus companies totalling 71000 were made by the transporta- tion department a board response says this error will not be repeated the audit found that 380000 could have been saved on seven bus routes by eliminating unnecessary buses that were not fully utilized at a board meeting earlier this week trustees voted to implement an empty seat policy to make sure all seats on all buses are used ministry grants according to audit findings ministry grants were not spent as approved in 1989 the board asked for 791000 for computers in elementary schools and 266000 for secondary schools instead 245000 was spent on computers at the elementary level and 812000 at the secondary level vv if the ministry had received correct information the board would have received 400000 less in grants and of the 25 portables bought by the board in 1989 six were installed at schools hot approved by the ministry one of these at a school specifically declined by the ministry the board was not entitled to 125000 provided by the government for these six portables the boards summary states that ministry grants for microcomputers and the purchase of portables were not spent according to terms provided by the ministry the board said that in future computer grants will be spent according to ministry guidelines the board said the portables were placed where need ed to house students and that the government formula for allocation of portables is hopelessly outdated the areas of payroll transactions and the capital plan ning process did not receive negative reviews comments by director of education frank bobesich and board chair joseph virgilio on an information sheet attached to the board summary of the report both give a positive impression of the provincial probe 1 think we did well in this audit as a matter of fact i think it is a good report bobesich said i am both satisfied and pleased with the audit said virgilio a markham trustee for the milliken area he added that the areas needing improvement will be addressed it is a fair reports and we intend to use it in a constructive manner almost all the areas cited to be deficient and ineffi cient have been addressed oshaughnessy said sour economic conditions force york brick to stop producing line tough economic times are forcing york brick to shut down part of its operations according to manager mike grace a downturn in the the construction industry is behind the move cease brick production a few employees will be laid off while others will be transferred to other plant operations at the stouffville facility were just stopping production of the brick line grace pointed out an upswing in the economy could easily result in brick production being restarted he added production is scheduled to close down within the next two weeks emmerson sainsbury square off mayor fran sainsbury and councillor wayne emmerson squared off at the chamber of commerce breakfast last tuesday there was little debate but the heat was put on whitchurchstouffville mayoral candidates last tuesday at the whitchurchstouffville chamber of commerce breakfast held at angles in the farmer jack s plaza the meeting between mayor fran sainsbury councillor wayne emmerson attracted a crowd of 75 residents following statements by the candi- dates moderated by chamber presi dent larry rogalski volleys of ques tions were lobbed at the two politi cians mostly concerned with the state of the economy in town emmerson said it was disturbing that markham richmond hill aurora and uxbridge have prospered whilestouffville have depleted our growth in many areas over taxing was another concern he said and he would work to stabi lize the business tax base he also pledged to upgrade roads in the town and devote good manage ment practices to the operations of the town he said he would meet with busi ness leaders once a month and vowed to not bow down to regional council sainsburypresented her platform based on her record she stated that stouffville was not being taken seriously at the regional level where the town has one seat and added someone with experience must maintain the position so as not to lose ground she noted that she has always shopped stouffville and didnt even know the way to tonawanda the mayor explained some of her past work and her immediate goals police seize drugs money in main st bust plant never contemplated at the mayoral candidates breakfast tuesday candidates fielded questions on why stouffville turned down a million dollar pipe plant to be built by standard aggregate the plant is now being built across the town line in uxbridge both candidates said the application to build the plant was never brought to council however wayne emmerson said there may be the possi bility of standard building two other plants in the town according to brianbuckley a spokesman for the company the only reason the plant was located in uxbridge was because it was the only parcel of land in the area with enough depleted land a full 25 acres to build the pipe plant stouffville was not contacted because the company established the land was not suitable a friday night drug bust at a whitchurchstouffville house netted police marijuana hashish and money two residents were arrested by york regional police after a narcotics control act search warrant was carried out on main st stouffville at 815 pm oct 25 police seized four ounces of hashish six grams of marijua- na a five foot marijuana plant as well as 4580 cash a 26- yearold man received two narcotics possession charges and one for possession of drugs for trafficking a woman 32 was charged with two counts each of nar cotics possession and possession for the purpose of traffick ing and a charge of living off the proceeds of crime candidates meet to address ward 2 issues from page 2 row said lyons youre not a hydrologist or merlin the magician sainsbury was grilled as to councils response to the musselman lake pollu tion problem one questioner asked her how she pro posed to get assistance from the ministry of the environment when the ministry wasnt even aware of the problem until recently sainsbury replied that several viable solutions have been proposed but that the cost factor had to be considered where are we going to get the money asked sainsbury i have every hope the problem can be corrected but its a 40yearold problem just as we were pioneers in our dump fight hope fully we can be pioneers in the mussel- man lake clean up she warned though that council had to be prepared to provide the same remedial treatment to all seven lakes within the boundaries of whitchurchstouffville and couldnt fix just one sainsbury responded to several questions regarding councils perceived inactivity by insisting council was doing the best they could but that their hands were tied yes we realize people are angry but transfer payments from the province have been cut and theres just not the money we require but we have started to fix things she added that only 21 cents out of every tax dollar stays in town you cant even buy a chocolate bar for 21 cents sainsbury suggested the region was responsible for the lack of residential and industrial growth in town with the region refusing to allow the town access to the big pipe while at the same time scuttling potential industrial sites the sit uation has become one of frustration she said emmerson echoed his campaign con tention that he would use a more con ciliatory approach when dealing with the region i feel i can work with the people at the region not against them kss kids earn extra money become a carrier today call 6402100 stouffville 8529741 uxbridge or 2948244 markham attention flyer advertisers we can deliver your flyers for as little as a a piece so j far this year we have delivered 27976596 flyers door- todoor in markham unionville milliken stouffville i uxbridge claremont dickson hill locust hill gormley goodwood victoria square brougham whitevale rrs markham unionville we can deliver 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