Erin council moved ahead very slowly with water system

Last week’s column traced the history of Erin’s water system up to a public meeting on May 19, 1947, which resulted in a burst of enthusiasm for the project. Few realized that the evening would be the high point of the plan.

During the summer of 1947, Erin’s council lost its enthusiasm for the proposed water system, and dragged its feet in calling for a vote to approve a debenture issue. Instead, the village council turned its attention to other improvements. First on the agenda was a new sidewalk for the main street. That project was completed in September of that year.

During the fall of 1947 council reviewed the data on hand regarding the proposed water system. In addition, councillors discussed putting in a sewer system at the same time. In October, council decided to shelve the water system in view of rapidly rising construction costs.

During the latter months of 1947 there were rumours that several industries would locate in Erin if municipal water was available.

Among them was the Labatt Brewing Company, which published newspaper advertisements in favour of the Erin water system. A furniture maker from Kitchener also showed interest in Erin.

By the time of the nomination meeting in early December, the water system seems to have disappeared from the public agenda, and the voters of Erin had lost interest. The meeting was poorly attended, and the old council retained their seats by acclamation.

A peculiar player in these developments was the Erin Advocate. It’s publisher, R.W. Hull, did not publish accounts of any council meetings, or report council decisions or comment on them. He maintained that policy until March of 1949. Erin Township meetings were also ignored until the clerk began submitting abstracts of the minutes of meetings, though often several weeks after they had taken place.

Occasional tidbits of council news did appear in an unsigned column, This and That Around the Village. Virtually every week during the first months of 1948 the author of the column had a sentence in support of the water system or a nudge to council to get moving on the project.

Meanwhile, other smaller towns, such as Teeswater and Elora, were proceeding with water systems, and Georgetown and Mount Forest began installing sewer systems. Streetsville installed both. Erin councillors made vague promises that the waterworks was still under consideration, but made firm plans for a new municipal building to house the village offices, post office, and the library.

A number of ratepayers continued to press council for action on the proposed water system. In early May, council invited Reeve J.K. MacDonald of Elora to a public meeting to explain his experience in getting a water project started. He offered much information and encouragement, while warning that dealing with the provincial government could be time-consuming and frustrating.

He strongly advised Erin to proceed at once, because final approval from the province could take much time.

Reeve MacDonald’s words stirred enthusiasm that had been dormant for months, but council continued to sit on its hands. The Ontario Municipal Board approved the municipal building the last week of June 1948, but council took no further action on proceeding with that project either. Cost estimates received in August put the price of the building in the range of $20,000. That may have spooked them.

For the balance of 1948 the water issue lay dormant. The matter came up again at the nomination meeting for the 1949 council, and several pro-water men entered the race. Clayton Justice took over as reeve by a slim margin, and he was joined by three new faces at the council table.

The new council wanted to push ahead with the water system, but was alarmed at the probable cost escalations. They began to study the issue carefully, and much too slowly to suit some of their critics.

In March, Reeve Justice addressed a businessmen’s meeting. He revealed council had been discussing the system with the Department of Municipal Affairs. He wanted to bring the issue to a plebiscite as soon as possible. Later that month council hired an engineer to work out some of the technical issues.

On May 10 and 11, technicians from the provincial Department of Health were in Erin, taking water samples from the private wells, or at least from those whose owners allowed samples to be taken.

The new fire truck, ordered more than two years earlier, arrived in Erin on May 27, to the delight of the fire department, which had been completely reorganized in 1947 and 1948. The final price tag on the vehicle was $6,500, of which 35% was covered by a provincial grant.

The equipment included 2,600 feet of hose, sufficient to reach the river from virtually anywhere in town, and six fogging nozzles which conserved water. The pump could handle 600 gallons of water per minute.

While councillors continued to dither on the water question, they pushed ahead with the creation of a local electrical utility. They lost no time in putting together a proposal, based on a price of $14,000 from Ontario Hydro for the poles, wires and transformers in Erin. The ratepayers were enthusiastic. On July 14, 1949, they approved an issue of 15-year debentures to pay for the system by a margin of 92 to 12.

Though there was little real progress on the water issue, the indefatigable author of the Advocate’s This and That column continued to push the matter virtually every week. Water system proponents enjoyed something of a victory in September 1949 when council hired a firm of civil engineers to do a study for a water system.

Their work duplicated that of Proctor, Redfern & Laughlin done in 1947, but the new survey was more detailed.

The engineers did not seem fully satisfied with the water survey done in May. The new Wellington County Health Unit conducted a second one in October 1949. Interestingly, the results of neither survey were made public, though there were vague statements that most of the villages wells were acceptable.

The nomination meeting in December 1949, unlike that of a year earlier, was a dull affair. The old council returned for another year by acclamation. Ratepayers seemed satisfied that council was moving ahead cautiously with the water project, backed up with a shelf full of surveys, studies, and careful cost estimates.

Next week: the Erin water issue comes to a head in 1950.

 

Stephen Thorning

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