Although a majority of members of county council might have supported it, Mono's impassioned plea for an extended safety zone on County Road 9 was lost by the weight of Orangeville votes.

The vote on extending the existing community safety zone on Mono's 5 Sideroad (County 16) from Highway 10 west to the rise on the hill west of Hawthorne Drive came after Mono Deputy Mayor David Baldwin asked that an item be separated from the minutes of the Public Works Committee.

That item was a resolution denying Mono's request for that extension, as well as specifying that the safety zone hours be restricted to 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

That item had been moved by Amaranth Deputy Mayor Walter Kolodziechuck and seconded by East Luther Grand Valley Mayor (and county warden) John Oosterhof.

Having separated the item, Deputy Mayor Baldwin introduced a counter motion, calling for the extension, and said the community safety zone is needed east of Highway 10 not only for the school and its playground, but as well for the Orangeville Baptist Church.

On the west side of Highway 10, he noted there are additional playgrounds, and the same need for traffic enforcement.

Mr. Baldwin said the time restriction would not be appropriate, as Mono Amaranth Public School is a community school, and there are activities there well beyond the 6 p.m. time suggested by the committee's resolution.

Ge said the safety zone, with its doubled speeding fines, "was never meant only for the school zone."

Similarly, he said there is increasing activity at the playgrounds on the west side of Highway 10.

Oddly, no one at the council called for a recorded vote on the issue, but the count appeared to be 16-14 - which would be Orangeville's 13 plus three.

At one point in the debate, someone at the table intimated the safety zone would be something of a cash grab for Mono. The unidentified speaker envisioned the OPP enforcing the 50 km/h speed limit at 2 a.m., and overlooked the fact that the police and the courts would usually apply discretion in their enforcement.

In other Public Works resolutions from March 20, adopted by county council, the county has denied a request from Norpeel Motel, Wesleyan Church and Albert Post to fund a new access to the South Arterial Road, and the director of Public Works is to meet with recreational groups to discuss their summer use of the former CP Rail line.

Dufferin's ownership of its portion of the Orangeville-Owen Sound right-of-way is leased on a year-to-year basis by a snowmobile club.