In order to allow more time for public comments, the Town has postponed the approval of the proposed Development Charges By-law until the Council meeting of September 26, 2011.

The public consultation process has been extended to Tuesday July 19, 2011. Interested persons may express their comments in writing to: Sheryl Hill, Senior Manager, Finance; Town Hall, 150 Mary Street, Milton, ON, L9T 6Z5 prior to July 19. The Development Charges Background Study is available at this link for more information.

The next meeting of Milton Town Council is on Monday July 18th starting at 7pm at Milton Town Hall.

The governing body of the Town of Milton is Town Council, consisting of the Mayor and 10 Councillors who represent Milton’s eight wards.  Milton residents elect members of Council for a four-year term of office.  You can find a link to watch the Town Council meetings here.  The meetings are also broadcast on TV Cogeco (Channel 14).

Town Council deals with:

• Matters requiring policy direction
• By-laws or by-law amendments
• Responses or actions to pertinent issues

Council also makes decisions on the recommendations of Milton’s two Standing Committees of Council:

• Administration & Planning Committee
• Community Services Committee

The link to the agenda can be found here.  Some of the highlites of tonights meeting include:

• Implementation of All Way Stop Signs at Scott Blvd & Landsborough Avenue
• Public Meeting Re Durland Properties for location at Tremaine Rand “NEW” Main Street
• Staff Report on Status of Milton Education Village
• Staff Report on Future Use of Bruce Street Library locations

Hope to see you there at the meeting and if you cant make it click here for the live link to watch. 

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

The next meeting of Milton Town Council is on Monday June 27th starting at 7pm at Milton Town Hall.

The governing body of the Town of Milton is Town Council, consisting of the Mayor and 10 Councillors who represent Milton’s eight wards.  Milton residents elect members of Council for a four-year term of office.  You can find a link to watch the Town Council meetings here.  The meetings are also broadcast on TV Cogeco (Channel 14).

Town Council deals with:

• Matters requiring policy direction
• By-laws or by-law amendments
• Responses or actions to pertinent issues

Council also makes decisions on the recommendations of Milton’s two Standing Committees of Council:

• Administration & Planning Committee
• Community Services Committee

The link to the agenda can be found here.  Some of the highlites of tonights meeting include:

• Recognizing Yolanda McCann as 2010 Milton Senior of the Year
• An update from staff on Emerald Ash Borer & Black Knot fungus on trees
• A report & recommendation from CSAC on Community Fund Allocations
• Supplementary Report on Region Official Plan Ammendment No. 39

Hope to see you there or watch ONLINE as well via www.milton.ca

The next meeting of the Community Services Standing Committee is this coming Monday June 13, 2011 at Milton Town Hall beginning 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. These matters are related to Community Services, Fire, Library, Transit and other operational programs. If you wish to be a delegation at the Community Services Committee, you must register in writing with the Clerk’s Office by 10:00 a.m. on Monday, the day of the meeting.

The following Council Members sit on the Community Services Committee:

• Gordon Krantz, Mayor
• Councillor Tony Lambert, Wards 1, 6, 7 & 8
• Councillor Greg Nelson, Ward 2
• Councillor Rick Malboeuf, Ward 4
• Councillor Arnold Huffman, Ward 5
• Councillor R. Di Lorenzo, Wards 7

Here is a copy of the agenda for you to review.  Some of the items to be discussed include:

• Healthy Community Fund – Youth in Motion Project Update
• Savoiline Blvd / Pringle Ave ALL WAY STOP Implementation
• The renaming of rural halls including feedback from the public

If you cant make it to the meeting, as always you can watch online.  Just click on my links to the right and enjoy!

During the last municipal election campaign, one of the most common themes I heard from voters was that they want to be kept informed and have more of a say in budget matters.  That message was heard loud and clear by myself and other councillors and we are happy to announce that there is an opportunity for you to have your say.

The Town of Milton has set up a survey that you can log into here, to have your say and answer questions about the upcoming 2012 Milton budget process.  This is an opportunity for you to tell US what YOU think the town’s priorities should be for the upcoming year and years beyond.

Although this survey is set to finish on June 8th, the town will continue to take input from residents, as well as through your local councillor (yours truly) to come up with priorities you find important.

Public input sought on 2012 municipal budget

Christina Commisso, CANADIAN CHAMPION

This year has yet to reach the halfway point and the Town is already looking ahead to Milton’s 2012 budget.

The public is encouraged to provide their input on the next year’s budget in an online survey (at www.milton.ca) until June 8.

The survey, open to residents and business owners, asks participants if they’d like see increased, decreased or the same level of service in respects to: fire service, winter snow control, transit, road maintenance, municipal parking lots, traffic signals and streetlighting, parks and open space, recreational programs and facility conditions.

The survey asks if there are new services or programs the Town should offer, existing services/programs that should be eliminated and if participants would support a tax increase to increase or add services.

Participants can indicated what per cent tax increase — between zero and five per cent — they’d support and whether or not they’re in favour of the dedicated tax levy for the hospital expansion implemented in this year’s budget.

The survey is one of the first steps in preparing Milton’s 2012 budget. During Monday’s council meeting, the Town’s senior manager of finance Sheryl Hill touched upon forthcoming budget pressures and new capital infrastructure to carried out next year.

The ongoing sports centre expansion and community park development, the completion of the Centre for the Arts, new staff positions, annualizing the 2011 transit enhancement for 2012 and the construction of No. 3 fire station and new headquarters are pressures Hill incited during her presentation to council.

The 2012 capital forecast includes 119 projects worth $72.5 million that are split fairly evenly between growth and non-growth projects. Hill said about 70 per cent of the expenses are pegged for road work.

At the meeting resident Kim Macdonald asked council to include the renewal of community parks in the older areas of town, including downtown, Timberlea and Dorset Park, in next year’s budget.

She said a lack of shade isn’t uncommon in some of the older parks and she often runs into parents from old Milton who drive out of their way to the new parks.

Councillor Rick Malboeuf said he’s heard similar concerns from Ward 4 residents and expects to see some movement in bringing the older parks up to date in the 2012 budget.

A budget call report will be presented to council this month. 

Going old school wrestling…here’s my promo for Tigerfest 2011 this coming Saturday at Miltons Downtown Street Festival!

Does anyone remember the movie BIG? Tom Hanks and the famous giant piano scene?

Would you like to see those similar piano keys on the steps of the Milton Arts Centre? Councillor Huffman asked staff for a report on the viability, cost, etc of installing these piano keys on the steps of the Arts Centre. That report can be found here.

The picture here is of something similar, but not to the spec’s of the Milton Centre for the Arts.  The cost is approximately $92,000. The staff recommendation is to approve the project once there is a sponsor available to pay for it.

After speaking with some people around town, some feel it will look tacky and cheapen the look of the Arts Centre that we just spent MILLIONS of dollars on and its not even open yet and we will have to tear up the steps removing the tile and replace it with this.

Do you think this would be a draw for tourism? Would you come from out of town to see this? This installation is apparently popular overseas and this would be the first one in North America.

Feedback?

There has been a lot of feedback on the Hawthorne Villager Forum (which is administered by ward 7 Councillor Rick Di Lorenzo) and you can find the comments on that thread here.

Here are some of MY comments:

This process is backwards as far as Im concerned. We have the approximate costs for the stairs done, which is fine. Council can receive the report for information.mike@mikecluett.ca with your comments/input for Monday’s meeting.Any other comments?

Next part of the process should be feedback from the Arts Centre. Does this “fit” into the vision of the MAC or does it take away from the feel of the building. For those who havent been inside, despite the outside appearance, its really well done and elegant on the inside. If I can get in or if anyone has any pics we should show them for sure.

After feedback has been received and given an “OK” that the MAC would support something like this, THEN we go out to the business community and search for a sponsor. That way we have the approx cost of the stairs AND the thumbs up from those who will be running it.

If we cant find a sponsor or sponsors for the full amount then the project should be shelved. Im not comfortable as a CSAC member and as a councillor suggesting these sponsor(s) make an application to the community fun for the difference. I’d hate to be on CSAC and have to deny funding for someone who qualifies under the Community Fund guidelines because $X was given for the piano steps.

If the private sector cant come up with the funding for this, I think we should pass. That wont be known until we hear from that business/arts community which is the reason why council (IMO) should wait before giving the project the green light.

We can receive the report for information, consult the people involved and address any maintenance issues/safety issues etc that might be on peoples minds, then go to the business community and get the full cost.

There are more important things for council to be considering right now like the 2012 budget call reports, hospital expansion funding, building/maintaining our roads and traffic calming policies.

Feel free to post here or email me mike@mikecluett.ca

I have received a few postings on my Facebook page (Click on the Facebook logo to the right and join up!) about the status of Thompson Road and Louis St Laurent.

During the last municipal campaign, we talked about trying to get a signalled pedestrian crosswalk in front of the Metro mall so it would make it easier for people on the east side of Thompson to go to the splash pad and soccer fields instead of getting in their vehicles, going across Thompson Road, park and enjoy the wonderful area there.  Likewise, people on the west side of Thompson told me that they have to get in their cars, cross Thompson Road and then park to go shopping at the mall.

We were notified by town staff recently that the intersection of Louis St Laurent and 25 will be completed soon and traffic will flow east and west now, which will help alleviate some congestion on Britannia Road.  Paul Cripps brought this up at one of our recent meetings and in response I asked about traffic lights at Thompson and LSL.  He informed us that they are pushing to make sure the lights are installed at the same time LSL and 25 is complete.  Once that intersection is complete, traffic along LSL will increase which will require

At this coming Monday’s town council meeting there is a purchasse that will be authorized to get the materials needed for Thompson and LSL traffic lights, which shows its on the move.

HOPEFULLY this will help pedestrians cross the road safer.  There will be lines for pedestrians to cross at this intersection and I urge EVERYONE instead of crossing mid-traffic to the park to use the intersection and cross there.  I will continue to monitor this intersection after its done to see if it helps the problem of pedestrian traffic.  If not, I’ll be asking town staff to look into the possibility of a signalled crosswalk.

Thank you to everyone who has emailed me their concerns and I hope we can continue the conversation as these changes happen.  I’ll keep everyone in the loop as to the exact date we will have the lights installed, but it looks like late June as a possibility.

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.