WHITBY FREE PRESS. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1975, PAGF 11 Head ofPUC celebrating 25th year sumrtfnaeaeu by BRIAN WINTER Staff Writer On Jan. 1, 1976 Harry Simpson, secretary-treasurer and gene&al manager of the Whitby Public Utilities Com- mission will have completed 25 years of service with the PUC in this town. The PUC and its functions have changed considerably in the past 25 years, but those 25 years have been the years of the most important devel- opments in utilities in Whitby. Of all the events that Mr. Simpson remembers from that period, Hurricane Hazel and the amalgamation of Whitby town and township stand out as the most out- standing for their results in development of utilities. When Hurricane Hazel struck in October 1954, most of the hydro lines in town were destroyed and parts of Whitby were without electri- city for five days. The town had just started a program of converting from copper to aluminmu wirimg when the storm struck. "Scrap copper was at a very high price, so we remnoved the copper wires, sold the scrap, and went to aluninum con- ductors with four to five times the carrying capacity at the same price we were get- ting for the scrap copper", says Mr. Simpson. "We were one of the first municipalities ';o go strong on aluminum as a conductor, and this was caused by the loss of lines in Hurricane Hazel. We had started out with five years to do the whole town, and through changes in staff, etc., we got it done in four and a half years" With amalgamation in 1968, the Whitby PUC took over all Hydro in the old Township of Whitby at a price of $870,000 and had to bring this rural system up to a municipal standard, says Mr. Simpson. 'Ihîs involved constructing a $400,000 substation on Rossland Rd. E., tree trim- rning, tying in lines to form a grid, and installing fusing and switching to make the system more operational Also, the rural hydro rates were reduced to commission rates. Mr. Simpson sees the amal- gamation developments as a wise move, for the formation of a grid system prevents the type of wide-scale destruction experienced in Hurricane Hazel. Mr. Simpson was born in Copper Cliff, Ontario, near Sudbury, and in 1940 he joined the Sudbury Hydro Commission where he worked as a trainee in practically all departments. He spent four years during the Second World War in the Royal Canadian Navy, and, after the war, returned to the Sudbury Hydro. In the faîl of 1950 he was accepted as secretary-treasurer and assis- tant superintendent of the Whitby PUC, and began work here on Jan. 1, 1.95 1. In 1956, he became general manager. When he started at the PUC in Whitby, Mr. Simpson worked under the direction of the late Herbert Pringle, whom he describes as a "very able man". The office staff consisted of three people, Marcia Ross, the accountant; Gertrude Lynde, the billing clerk; and Arin Armstrong, the secretary. Jim Wilde was in charge of sewers and water, the late George Brown was foreman of the line gang, Art Wigston was foreman of the meter department, and Harold Watters, the present superin- tendent of the meter depart- ment, did all the meter reading in the town. "In 1951 the only source of transformation was a 2,500 kilowatt station at Brock St. and Highway 401, and by May 1976, we will have a capacity for 90,000 kilowatts in eight substations". The PUC relinqu"hed oper.ation of the sewer systemu to the municipality in the 1950's "and rightly so be- cause the town does the finan- cing", says Mr. Simpson, and in January 1974 it turned control of the water systemu to the region. "We still do hydro and we bill forI he water departnment Mr. Simpson. Mr. Simpson points out that the Whitby PUC has fewer staff than any utility of its size in Ontario "because they are all extremely well trained. Someone is on course most months whether it be in the line department, meter or office". "It is because of the con- scientiousness of good em- ployees that the place operates as well as it does", says Mr. Simpson. "A total of 29 staff run a business with asset of $12 million and a cash flow of $3½ million. The total staff in 1951 was 28, but it peaked during the su mmer to an average of 40 in the 1960's and early 1970's". Mr. Simpson hopes to stay on at the PUC until his retirement cornes in 6, years. "I think I've made it my life and l've always enjoyed the work. It's very interest- ing", he says. "No two jobs are ever the same. As the town changes, the job changes. Technology changes practical- ly by the month". The latest change, says Mr. Simpson, is from aerial to underground services. Mr. Simpson is a former director of the Canadian section of the American Waterworks Association, a past president of the Eastern Ontario Waterworks Associa- tion, and secretary-treasurer of District One of the Eastern Ontario Municipal Electric Association. "A lot of my time is taken up by meetings", he says. Mr. Simpson is also the charter secretary of the Whit- by Kiwanis Club, and a past president of the club. He is a member of the Legion, and is interested in fishing, boating hunting, cross country skiing and curling bonspiels. He is married, with three children, Peter, Cheryl and David. titi the end of this year when it goes to the region". While the PUC still main- tained the water system, therevere several major de- velopments, says Mr. Simpson. .In 1956 a new 36-inch pipe was put 2,900 feet into Lake Ontario at a low level depth of 29 feet, and in the early 1960's a new filter plant was built beside the old pumphouse. "This did away with slow and filters which we converted into a million gallon reservoir", says Mr. Simpson. When Dunlop (now Dayton Tire Ltd.) was established at Whitby in 1955, the PUC got into the raw water btisi- ness, and according to Mr. Simpson this was sornewhat instrumental in bringing Du- Pont to Whitby. LASCO Steel also negotiated with dte PUC for a raw water supply, and Mr. Simpson comments that he always got good co-operation from these three iarge industries whçn PUC easements were required. In 1972-73 the PUC was faced with co-ordinating a crash program to supply water to the Corridor and Almonds areas when wells were disco- vered to be polluted. "When it was known the region would take over water, a five-year progran was done in three years, and water is complete in the Corridor", says Mr. Simpson. "Consult- ing engineers had some 72 people working on Whitby at that time". The Thickson road South industrial lands were also pro- misted water, and the last contract was signed at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 31, 1973, eigh t and a half hours before the region was to take over. "This completed the commissions obligations to install water in the former township", says k Harry Simpson, on January 1, will have served the Whitby Public Utilities Commission for 25 years. As secretary-treasurer and general manager, he has supervised construction of water and lighting equipment in the town and at one time was in charge of the town's sewer system as well. Since regional government took over water and the town took over the sewers, the PUC is left in charge of Hydro operations for the Town of Whitby. Mr. Simpson has seen the Whitby PUC grow from a small utility to one with a budget of $31/2 million a year, and recalls Hurricane Hazel and amalgamation as being the most significant events of his career. Free Press Photo UNT L DECEMBER 31""e9 Right now your Toyota dealer has a wide selectiOn of Toyotas in stock. If you buy bef ore December 31st, you'll get a great deal on a great car as well as save the 7% Ontario sales tax. Terrific!nOYhTA "à HEVTDMV0TA,V0URE TERRIAC!." W