Don’t forget there is going to be Remembrance Day Ceremonies this weekend at Milton Town Hall on Sunday November 6th at 1:30pm.  Join myself and other members of council as we honour those who have served our country, fought for freedom here and around the world and thank those who came back.

I will also be at Metro this evening from 7PM to 9PM on my Poppy detail for the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 136 so stop by, say HI and grab a poppy to support our veterans.

On Saturday there is the Volunteer Fair at the Milton Sports Centre from 10AM to 1Pm.  You can find out about a number of organizations in Milton that are looking for help and volunteers and get a good feeling of the work that is being done by Miltonians.  You can contact Carol Fuhrer at 905-878-0955 or email cfuhrer@cdhalton.ca for more details.

Also on Saturday is the Milton Seniors Centre Christmas Craft Sale at the Milton Seniors Activity Centre from 9Am to 12PM.  The Seniors’ Centre’s Creative Fingers Craft Club and Fund Development Committee invite you to drop by their annual Christmas Craft Sale and Bazaar.  There will be a wide selection of crafts, baking and preserves, jewellery, Christmas crafts, white elephant table and much more!  You can call the Seniors Activity Centre for more details at 905-875-1681.

After the Remembrance Day ceremonies, head on dow to the Italian Canadian Club of Milton (104 Tremaine Road, north of Steeles) at 5 pm for a spaghetti / meat ball dinner with special guest, the world’s most famous “hockey dad”….Walter Gretzky!!!  Call 905-878-3462 for more details.  Costs ONLY $10!!!

So, lots happening in Milton this weekend as we ramp things up toward the Santa Claus parade on November 20th.

Also, you can stay up to date on my Movember activities on my page http://mobro.co/MikeCluett I have decided to try to grow a handlebar mo’ so we’ll see how this one goes.  Should be a blast.  All for a good cause so I’m glad to donate my mug to help change the face of men’s health in Canada.

I’ll see you this weekend.

NEWS RELEASE

July 26, 2011

Milton’s first indoor walking/jogging track opens at the Milton Sports Centre

 On Tuesday, August 2, 2011 the indoor walking/jogging track at the Milton Sports Centre will be open to the public, marking the completion of Phase 1 of a 3 phase project at the Milton Sports Centre.

The track, located above Rink C and accessible by the new elevator to the second floor, is approximately 200 meters in length and offers three lanes for different speeds.

“The new walking track will be a great way for Miltonians, along with family and friends, to stay out of the heat this summer and be more active,” said Milton Mayor Gord Krantz. “This expansion offers our residents even more recreational opportunities and we are very grateful to our partners at the federal and provincial levels of government who have provided funding for these amenities that our community will enjoy for years to come.”

From August 2 to September 4 the public will have free access to the walking/jogging track. Starting Tuesday, September 6, a yearly pass can be purchased for $5 per person.

Along with the addition of the walking/jogging track, Phase 1 of the Milton Sports Centre expansion included a renovated banquet room, Rinks C and D, which are currently being used for summer camps and will be ice ready on August 15 and September 24, respectively and an activity room for children and youth programming that is also available for rent to the public.

Phase 2, to be completed in early September, boasts a double gym, a multipurpose room called the Optimist Room, a studio and a new customer service desk.

The project will be completed in the fall when Phase 3, a leisure pool and eight lane pool, will open to the public.

Phases 1 and 2 of the Milton Sports Centre expansion were possible thanks to funding assistance from federal and provincial grants of approximately $13.4 million from the Building Canada Fund Infrastructure Stimulus Fund.

For more information, visit milton.ca or call 905-878-7252 ext. 2211.

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For further information, please contact:        

Jennifer Reynolds

Director, Community Services

905-878-7252, ext. 2180

Liliana Busnello

Communications Specialist

905-878-7252, ext. 2154 

The Town of Milton has a variety of cooling centres open for the current and upcoming extreme heat days.  As you know, its been pretty hot the last few days and its going to get even more intense today and Thursday.  The following is a list of places you can go to beat the heat.

If you know of anyone living on their own, seniors or anyone else vulnerable to the heat check in on them from time to time.  Keep cool Milton!  More information can be found here.

Designated Cooling Centres:

• Milton Leisure Centre – 1100 Main Street East
• Milton Seniors Activity Centre – 500 Childs Drive
• Milton Sports Centre – 605 Santa Maria Drive

Pools

• Indoor:  Milton Leisure Centre – 1100 Main Street East
• Outdoor:  Rotary Park – 100 Garden Lane (until Sept 5th)

Spray Pads (from 9AM to 9PM)

• Beaty Neighbourhood Park – 670 Bennett Avenue (next to Guardian Angels Catholic School)
• Bristol District Park – 920 Kennedy Circle (Thompson Road / Louis St Laurent Ave)
• Clark Neighbourhood Park (South) – 1170 Laurier Avenue (north of Bruce Trail Public School)
• Coates Neighbourhood Park (North) – 776 Philbrook Dr (east of Tiger Jeet Singh Public School)
• Dempsey Neighbourhood Park – 187 Dixon Road (beside Chris Hadfield Public School)
• Lions Sports Park – 77 Thompson Road (by Milton Memorial Arena)
• Scott Neighbourhood Park – 143 Scott Blvd (between Main St. & Derry Rd)
• Optimist Park – 881 Savoline Blvd (next to P.L. Robertston Public School)
• ROTARY SPLASH ZONE *UPDATE* IS NOW OPEN AS OF July 26th

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Smith via Twitter

Last night was the first of hopefully many budget input sessions that myself, Rick Di Lorenzo, Zeeshan Hamid and Sharon Barkley put on for residents in wards 1, 6, 7 & 8. 

We were also lucky enough to have fellow councillor Rick Malboeuf and Region Councillor Colin Best attend as well.  That’s 6 sets of ears listening to peoples input on important issues that Milton faces in this years budget talks.

As I mentioned when we started the meeting opportunities for residents to provide input to town councillors have come few and far between in the past.  The last session I remember happening in this format was back on a rainy night in November of 2009 held by Colin Best. 

Last nights session was nothing short of great.  As we were ending the discussion between people continued…which is awesome. I hated to cut it off at that point.

There were a number of topics discussed from Fire, Transit, Parks, Roads, Taxes etc that we could have a full town hall meeting on its own but we were limited to only 2 hours.

Thanks to everyone who came and for those who didn’t come who sent me and other councillors feedback that we will incorporate into a report we will send to staff. These comments and concerns will be included in the budget discussions for the 2012 year and I cant thank you enough for having your say.

I know I’d like to have another one sometime soon as we get closer to November and items from other departments come out in reports and garner more discussion. The only difficulty I see is that the provincial election is gearing up and I don’t want this to fall by the wayside (plus I’ll be going around bugging party leaders with my GROW MILTON HOSPITAL signs )

Thanks to my colleagues who came out to answer questions, get involved in discussions and helped make it truly a team effort last night.

Don’t forget to mark your calendar on July 11th starting at 7:00pm for the first of what I hope will be many informal 2012 budget input sessions.

In addition to yours truly, the local councillors from Wards 1, 7, and 8 will be joining me in an informal budget input session for feedback from the community on a number of issues ranging from transit, taxes and the hospital expansion levy.  This will be a time for YOU to tell US what you think.  This is a natural extension from the Town of Milton online survey (which I hope you’ve taken the time to fill out – usually about 5 minutes) and will dive a bit deeper into some the issues raised.

The meeting will be in Room 4 of the Milton Sports Centre on Monday July 1th, 2011 starting at 7:00pm.

We hope to see you there.  If you have any questions, please email me mike@mikecluett.ca

I have also begun to deliver the “Mike Cluett – Ward 6 Report” and hopefully over the course of the next month or so, each household will get a copy (and hopefully personal visit from me )  If you cant wait for me to come over, email me your address and I’ll have one dropped off for you.  In order to stay current on Milton news and town council updates, just stay right here

Here is the Champions take on the meeting last Monday. When the title says taxes could rise by 4.4%, it means that staff has assessed current services already provided combined with the MPI (Municipal Price Index) could result in a budget increase of 4.4%

This total doesnt include new services that will be debated throughout the year and at budget time by the budget committee/council.

Some of the other items I brought up at the meeting was a request to staff to not only consider the MPI, but also to take into consideration the CPI, inflation etc that is being projected for the next year as well.  The US economy isnt moving forward (in fact in some cases seems to be moving backwards) fast enough and could easily slip into a further recession putting extreme pressures on our economy as well.

There are way too many factors in play to consider Canada’s economy and local economy’s out of the woods yet.  This is why we have to tread carefully in our 2012 budget process and keep taxpayers in mind with potential budget increases and the effects on their pocketbooks.

I also confirmed with staff during the meeting that the hospital tax levy installed on your 2011 tax bill IS included in that amount.  Should the budget committee and in turn town council decide to remove the levy from the tax bill and find other sources of funding for the hospital expansion fund, the overall increase in current services will be lower.

Its important that taxpayers know of all the options available to council during this process and send their input to their respective councillor.  This measure passed with no public input whatsover during the 2011 budget debate and I, along with a number of my collegues heard from you.  Some supported the measure and many opposed it.  The common theme I heard from taxpayers was they were not told about it and they voiced their displeasure.  As reported in the survey 40% of respondents supported the levy (actual number 71) while 38% opposed (actual number 68) leaving 21% (actual number 37) unsure, it by no measure is a mandate for council to continue this levy without extensive feedback from the community.

You will see at the end of the article, an announcement of the informal budget input session slated for Monday July 11th at Milton Sports Centre (Room 4) starting at 7pm.  If you cant make it, please email me your comments, questions and concerns to mike@mikecluett.ca

http://www.insidehalton.com/community/milton/article/1033206

Taxes could rise by 4%

Christina Commisso, Milton Canadian Champin

A 4 per cent tax hike, but no increased services.

That’s the gist of the budget call report presented to the Town’s administration and planning committee Monday.

Town staff have estimated a 4.41 per cent tax hike is needed next year to maintain existing service levels in town.

The report aims to provide guidelines and direction for preparing next year’s budget, and if this week’s meeting was a preview of things to come, the 2012 budget deliberations could be heated.

The first question posed to Town Treasurer Linda Leeds following her short presentation was what the impact of removing the 1 per cent hospital levy, introduced in the 2011 budget, would have.

“The hospital tax levy was a pretty contentious issue,” said Ward 6 Councillor Mike Cluett.

He was one of five councillors who voted against the levy, which narrowly passed by a 6-5 vote in January.

Leeds said the report assumes the 1 per cent levy would continue in 2012 and it wouldn’t result in a tax increase. She said if the hospital tax wasn’t carried forward, it would result in a tax decrease.

Councillor Cindy Lunau quickly reminded those in attendance that funding the local share of the Milton District Hospital expansion, when it’s approved by the Province, is a reality council will have to one day deal with.

“To remove the hospital levy would result in a decrease in the overall tax rate, but we certainly had comments around this table that there’s nothing more important we should be putting our tax money towards than the hospital…As we get to that point, let us hope we have some idea where the money for the hospital will be coming from.”

Added Councillor Rick Di Lorenzo, “I can go down the list and if we remove everything we added last year, every program and service, that would also mean the tax increase would be lower than 4.41 per cent,” he said.

Councillor Sharon Barkley reminded council members the point of the report is to provide Town staff with budget direction, “and I’m not sure if we’re doing that,” she said. She asked Leeds what a 4 per cent increase in municipal taxes would mean on her tax bill. As the Milton share of the property tax bill represents 29 per cent of the total, Leeds said a 4 per cent local increase would have a 1 to 1.2 per cent impact on the total tax bill.

The report points to the Main Street grade separation and construction of the new Milton fire headquarters at Derry Road and Savoline Boulevard as the two highest-priority items on the 2012 capital budget.

The projects, slated for completion next year, are estimated to cost $18.4 million and $2.9 million respectively in 2012 and $35.6 million and $5.2 million in total.

Staff included comments on a budget survey — available on the Town’s website until the end of August — in the report.

Of the close to 200 responses received so far, the majority said they’re satisfied with the current level of service the Town provides and 72 per cent said there are no new services or programs that could be offered.

For new services or to increase existing service levels, 40 per cent of respondents don’t support a tax increase, 38 per cent do support an increase and the remainder of respondents were unsure.

The survey asked about support for the hospital levy — 40 per cent were in favour of the tax, 39 per cent weren’t in favour and 21 per cent were unsure.

Hosted by councillors Zeeshan Hamid, Cluett, Barkley and Di Lorenzo, an informal budget input session is set for July 11 at the Milton Sports Centre (Room 4) at 7 p.m.

As I have mentioned many times in this blog, I feel its important that the community get involved in our budget process.  I cant begin to count the number of times during the last municipal election I heard from residents that they dont know whats going on and want to have a say.

We as a new council wanted to make sure this changed.  The changes started recently with our online survey, which is still active, to get a feeling of what Miltonians want from their local government.

The full budget call report with the summary of comments can be found here.

During the last campaign, I promised to be as open and accountable as possible when it comes to feedback from taxpayers on our budget and along with other councillors in the “Hawthorne Village” area, we have scheduled an informal “Budget Input Session” to hear what YOU have to say.

The date has been finalized and the room has been booked.  Monday July 11th at 7pm at the Milton Sports Centre (Room 4) we will sit down and listen to your opinions on what services you would like to see.  The topics will range from transit, community services, parks, taxes, and the hospital levy that was implemented by council in the 2011 budget.

The online survey gave an overview of what Miltonians were thinking.  A majority of those surveyed felt that council should keep potential tax increases to 1-2%, maintain many services at their current levels and was pretty much split on the hospital levy.  Given the fact the response was down the middle regarding the levy, many of the comments showed that more public input was needed before passing such a measure.

Also, if you have not been able to submit your thoughts through the survey, it is still open at the Milton site for you to complete.  The deadline was for submissions to be included in the Budget Call report, but they will keep the survey online until August 18th.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FNVPFC8

If you have any comments or questions before hand, please email me mike@mikecluett.ca

We look forward to seeing you on the 11th

As I sit here and go through my calendars (yes more than one) scheduling in meetings and other work related items, I just remembered that February 21st is Family Day (ie: a day off)  We haven’t had a shortage of days off in February with our snow day last week and the PA Day’s from school…we have Family Day off.  I’m sure that no one will send me an email complaining about that.  Well, you never know.

From the Milton website, here is a listing of things to do on Family Day in Milton.

Between the Milton Leisure Centre, Milton Sports Centre and John Tonelli Arena there are lots of events for the family to enjoy.  Family Yoga, Zumba (I have NO idea what that is, but it sounds like FUN) and dodge ball (Anthony would love that!) is going on at the Leisure Centre from 9AM to 12PM.

There will also be free public skating at John Tonelli Arena, sponsored by RBC, CIBC, and Halton MPP Ted Chudleigh.

Milton Community Resource Centre (MCRC) will also be having a FREE Mom & Baby Zumba event at 10AM at their location (410 Bronte Street South) Again, call the numbers to register as space will be limited.

Check out the schedule and get more details by calling the locations and pre-register (if necessary) and make Family Day in Milton on the 21st a great day.

Last night was the first two of four information sessions put on by Milton Transit at the Seniors Activity and Milton’s Sports Centre.  According to Transit Coordinator Tony D’Alessandro the first session was well attended with over 25 people showing up.  Last nights session at the Sports Centre had roughly 10-15 people attend to find out about the newly designed routes through town (the files are about 3MB so if you have a slower internet connection be warned) and the plans for the future.  Jan Mowbray, one of our current town councillors who is an advocate of transit in Milton, was also in attendance last night

There are two more sessions tonight (Thursday August 19th) and they will be held at the Milton Public Library (Beaty Branch on 4th line) from 2-4pm and Town Hall will host the final one from 7pm to 9pm.  If you have time, make sure you come out.  There will be lots of people from Milton Transit, the transit advisory committee and the company who runs the buses and they’ll love to answer any questions you may have.

As I brought up before here on the blog, I told Tony some of my concerns about each of the routes.  The routes that run through Hawthorne Village, while they cover the area very well, all revolve around the GO Station as the main hub.  For instance if someone from Ward 6 wanted to go downtown Milton to shop or eat would have to take the bus to the GO Station, transfer there (waiting approximately 10-15 minutes) and then take the bus to downtown.  Going through the schedule that trip would take roughly 30-35 minutes if everything is running on time.

The alternative is someone from Ward 6 getting into their car and driving downtown Milton which at non rush hour times takes roughly 10-15 minutes.  Where is the incentive from a time and convenience aspect for someone to say “I’ll take the bus instead of my car.”  Nothings perfect of course and the transit system is still in its infancy but these are concerns that are brought up at the door when speaking with voters.

These routes are constantly being reviewed and alternatives can be considered depending on usage.  Tony mentioned that ridership is up 15% since the new routes were put in place which sounds encouraging but I’d like to look at the numbers from a paid ridership point of view.

As our town continues to grow over the next several years, the need for a vibrant and efficient transit system is a must.  If we get the Wilfrid Laurier campus on the west end of town and as the Derry Green Corporate Business Park is developed there will be added pressure to ensure the transit system works, is efficient and able to meet the needs of the public.

I won’t be at the Transit meetings tonight as there is another public meeting at the Sports Centre about Milton Hydro’s proposal to install 2 vertical wind turbines in front of that same sports centre.  I was the first to bring up the meeting back in July and while I have been out at the doors the last few weeks, this issue has been on the mind of many voters.  They have concerns about how they will look, possible sound pollution and what benefit the Town of Milton will get from such a proposal.

There will be a presentation made followed up by a question and answer session where members of the public will have an opportunity to get answers.  Following this public meeting a report will be sent to council for review and approval.  I don’t know about the timing of the report and when the decision will be made, so it might be this council that makes that decision or it could be the next after Oct 25th.

I hope to see some of you out at tonight’s meeting and at the transit meetings later today.  This is an opportunity to have your say…so get out and speak.

Until then, I’ll see you at the doors.