Here is the line up for Saturday June 4th for Tigerfest 2011.

PLUS a special Main Event Match TO BE ANNOUNCED LATER.

The Town of Milton has issued a report outlining the new traffic calming policy for our roads.  

The Town’s Traffic Calming Policy provides guidelines, procedures and criteria to initiate, investigate and implement traffic calming measures within residential neighbourhoods. Its purpose is to address safety concerns related to speeding and excessive volume in a fair and efficient manner.

Guidelines in the Policy apply to local and collector roadways within primarily residential neighbourhoods.

Traffic calming measures can be effective in addressing issues related to vehicle speed, excessive traffic volume and overall neighbourhood safety. Commonly used traffic calming measures include speed humps, traffic circles, curb extensions, curb radius reductions and raised median islands.

The Policy was developed by staff and approved by Milton Council. Residents will be notified about the implementation schedule and procedures.

Here is a link from the Town of Milton website.

This coming Monday May 16th is the Administration & Planning Standing Committee meeting at Town Hall starting at 7pm.  

This Committee consists of five Councillors and the Mayor. Committee members review all reports, formulate policy and make recommendations to Council on matters over which Council has authority under the Municipal Act, the Planning Act and other legislation. Recommendations are made in the areas of corporate administration, personnel, legal issues, planning and finance.

The Administration and Planning Committee reviews the operating and capital budgets as well as various financial matters affecting the Town of Milton.

The agenda for the meeting can be found here.

Some of the highlites include:

• The 2010 Municipal Performance Measurement Program (MPMP) results;
• April 2011 Capital & Operating Financial Statements;
• Interim Control By-Law regarding Power Plants;
• Recepit of the Boyne Survey studies which include the Functional Stormwater & Environmental Managment Strategy & Milton Urban Expansion Conceptual Fisheries Compensation Plan;
• and a report for the Main Street Streetscape Design Proposal. 

There should also be an update on the proposed cycling race that was first discussed at our last community services standing committee meeting and some other housekeeping items.

As always, you can link to the live feed from the Town of Milton website to watch online starting at 7pm if you cant make it there in person.

That was the question last night at the Community Services Standing Committee meeting.

This item was the “barn burner” issue of the night as the committee discussed the upcoming Canadian Cycling Road Championship on June 25th, 2011.  The staff report along with the map of the route can be found here.  Area residents, including the owners of Springridge Farms had concerns of safety issues and lost revenue as the 25th of June is THE biggest day for the popular farm in town.

After lengthy discussions with the parties involved and the race organizers they will head back to table to find a solution that will meet everyones needs.  Councillor Huffman suggested that the starting times of each of the two races be spread further apart and begin earlier/later in order to accomodate Springridge Farms hours of operations and hopefully also address concerns raised for safety of the cyclists.

Councillor Lunau took some pictures of Bell School Line which showed some pretty heavy erosion of the road, with some patches here and there which causes a lot of concern seeing how these riders will be going anywhere from 80KM/HR to 90KM/HR (speed limit is 60…should we give them tickets?)  The organizers feel that given the experience level of the cyclists and the semi professional status, they will be able to handle it.  Time will have to see.

Committee deferred the report until we get an update which will hopefully come this week, and we can get this matter resolved to everyones satisfaction.  This is the biggest sales day for the Springridge Farms and it would be a shame to see their sales drop (as well as the frustration of their customers not being able to get in) and of couse, the safety of the cyclists involved.

One of the pleasures of my council job is to sit on the board of a number of organizations. Milton Community Resource Centre (MCRC) is one of them.

From the MCRC website:

Milton Community Resource Centre (MCRC) is a Not–for-profit, multi-service organization that provides services to children and families of Milton and the surrounding communities. Through our Ontario Early Years Centre and our Family Resource programs we provide early learning programs for children, their parents and caregivers at minimal or no cost to participants. MCRC’s parent resource library offers a variety resources and workshops including access to our parent educators.

Through our Licensed Child Care programs, MCRC provides quality early learning and care at an affordable cost and subsidy is available for eligible families. Collaboratively with Halton Region Children Services, MCRC operates The Halton Resource Connection, which provides training, support and resources to individuals and organizations working with children and youth.

This June 4th they will be holding their annual FUN FAIR day at Victoria Park (by Milton Town Hall) and they are looking for door prizes and silent auction items.  If you are a business owner or employee looking for a good organization to support and would like to donate some goods or services to the FUN FAIR day, please email me mike@mikecluett.ca

The FUN FAIR is held on the same day as the Downtown Milton Street Festival and Im sure there will be HUNDREDS of people attending and it will be a blast.  Bring your kids for a great morning of fun before the street festival starts. 

Thanks in advance everyone!

Citizens rally for Milton hospital expansion

(Photo Courtesy of Milton Canadian Champion, Graham Paine) – By Christina Commisso, Milton Canadian Champion

The signs are up, the signatures are in and the will is strong.

The time for Milton’s hospital expansion is now — that message was heard loud and clear Saturday morning.

About 30 people huddled under the gazebo at Victoria Park, sheltered against the rain and wind, to show their support for the expansion.

“We’re a small group, but we’re mighty,” said Halton MPP Ted Chudleigh.

He, along with citizen’s group Grow Milton Hospital, has collected more than 5,000 signatures of support for the expansion over a six-week campaign.

The petitions were delivered to Queen’s Park yesterday.

The urgency of the expansion was outlined by Milton District Hospital (MDH) surgeon Dr. Jeff Kolbasnik, who spoke during the morning event. 

“When I started (at MDH) we had lots of ward beds. Anytime I needed to admit a patient there was no issue. In the emergency department there would be a few people backed up, but routinely people would get seen within an hour. We never had surgery cancelled because no beds were available and getting a patient in urgently was no problem. Things have really changed.”

According to Kolbasnik, it’s not just the population spike that has placed mounting pressure on MDH; the infrastructure at the hospital is showing signs of deterioration.

He pointed to a leaky roof last summer that led to the evacuation of the medical surgical ward for almost a week. MDH recently received a “state of the art” surgical sterilization machine, which Kolbasnik said took a week to install because the hospital’s infrastructure was too old to support the new technology.

“During that week we had to ration surgical equipment…that’s not the sort of thing that should be happening in a growing community like ours.”

He continued, “As much as there’s a gradual deterioration, we’re worried we’re going to reach a breaking point when things just start to fall apart.”

Organizer and Ward 6 Councillor Mike Cluett took some time to dispel common rumors circulating about the MDH expansion.

Pointing to the new north Oakville hospital, Cluett said: “The Oakville hospital is designed for Oakville’s growth, not for other communities. We need a made-in-Milton hospital expansion for Milton’s needs now.”

Cluett added that he’s unfazed by naysayers.

“We’ve heard, ‘It’s great you’re doing this but it’s not going to make a difference.’ Well we’d rather go down swinging than not do anything at all. We want to let the provincial government know that it starts with them. Give us the go ahead, and we’ll figure the rest out.”

Playing MC for the event, Scott Fox of Z103.5 said when he moved to town seven years ago he would brag to his friends about the zero wait times at MDH.

“Now the tables have turned,” he said.

“All you have to do is look around at a town that’s bursting at the seams and a hospital that was built decades ago. The fact that people are waiting, they’re being sent to other communities for critical care, surgeries are being postponed because there’s not enough beds — this screams expansion.”

Chudleigh said he hopes the message comes through loud and clear at Queen’s Park. The petition was delivered mere weeks before the Province is expected to release its 10-year infrastructure list for high-priority projects.

Despite what transpires in the next few weeks, Cluett said the momentum for the expansion won’t slow down anytime soon.

“It doesn’t end today. It’s going to continue until the spade is in the ground and we have our hospital.”

Here is a copy of the agenda for tonights Administration & Planning Committee Meeting at Town Hall starting at 7pm.

There is also a public meeting on a zoning by-law change for an area at Lower Base Line & RR 25 (Ontario St) for a possible cemetery/crematorium.

There are also 2 technical reports for properties in Nassagaweya (Covenenant Families) and a potential change to the Town of Milton official plan for land on 3074 Main Street West.

As always you can click on the links to the right “Watch ONLINE” and view the meeting via www.milton.ca

See you then!

Here is a link to the agenda for tonights meeting.

Some of the items up for discussion is Milton’s participation in the 2011-2013 Metrolinx Joint Procurement Initiative for purchasing transit buses, the memorandum of understanding with the Town of Milton & Wilfrid Laurier University for the Education Village, and a technical report regarding a possible zoning change for the intersection of Harris Blvd and Main Street to permint mixed use condominium development.

As always, you can follow the links to the right and click to watch the meeting streamed live on www.milton.ca  I, along with a few other councilllors will do our best to “tweet” updates from the meeting for those who cant make it.

See you tonight.

Reported today in the Milton Canadian Champion.

House ransacked in break-in – Crime Stoppers of Halton

Halton Regional Police are investigating a break-in at a Menefy Place home. 

Sometime after 2:30 p.m. January 27, a Milton resident arrived home and noticed the front door had been pried open.

An investigation by police revealed the unknown suspect(s) entered the house and searched through the kitchen cupboards, closets and the upstairs bedrooms.

Numerous items were stolen, however the total loss is unknown at this time. 

Anyone with information on this or any other crime is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or go to the website, www.haltoncrimestoppers.com, or text ‘Tip201’ with your message to 274637 (crimes).

From the Milton Canadian Champion

Trucks, wire stolen

Between 7:45 a.m. and 5:26 p.m. Monday, the Hydro One site was broken into by thieves who climbed the firm’s Lower Baseline fence.

F250 pick-up truck with 2366 RW plates and a Ford Ecoline truck with 161 MF plates were taken.  Also stolen was about 1,000 pounds of copper wire.  The estimated value of the property is $40,000.

 Wire stolen from scrapyard

 Overnight Sunday, 43,000 pounds of copper wire was taken from a First Line scrap recycling site.  The estimated value of the goods is $5,000.

Man charged in break-in

The Rock Universe shop on Main Street was broken into Saturday at 11:45 p.m.  The front door was smashed.  Loose change was stolen.

Later in the evening, a man was arrested by plain-clothes officers in the area and charged with break and enter and breach of probation.

House broken into

A home on Nassagaweya Puslinch Town Line was broken into sometime between 4 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday.  Entry was gained by forcing open the door to the home, which was under construction.

Stolen was 50 to 60 pounds of copper wire worth an estimated $225.   

Cars broken into

Between 8 a.m. and 6:40 p.m. Tuesday, three cars were broken into at Glen Eden Ski and Snowboard Centre on Kelso Road.  In the first incident a wallet was stolen containing identification.

The second break-in resulted in a wallet containing ID and credit cards being taken.  In the third incident, a purse containing ID was stolen.

Police are investigating.