Its sinking in

After taking a very long time to return emails, voice mails, tweets and posts over the last couple of days, I can honestly say its finally sinking in.  What really made it apparent that life has changed was the beginnings of the regular courier from Town Hall with information on meetings, seating arrangements and schedules for the next month or so.

In the coming weeks there will be orientation meetings, briefings from town staff, arrangements for the inaugural council meeting on December 6th and many more “things to do” that quickly make your fingers sore updating the Blackberry and of course more to come after that.

I am really looking forward to the challenge of working for the residents of Milton.  With the overwhelming amount of support I received on election night, its something that I do not take lightly.  Of course, I will be relying on a lot of support from Ward 6 voters when it comes to these decisions.  I want to get as much input as possible from you and help grow the interaction we started many months ago.

These decisions wont be easy and it will require a lot of work, consultation, feedback and possibly some disagreements from councillors and residents alike.  But the main thing is that there will be a dialogue…a conversation that has been lacking over the last several years.

I also want to thank publicly the outgoing councillors who didn’t make it this election.  The rough part of elections is that there has to be winners and losers but that doesn’t discount the impact that these people had on our lives in the years throughout our growth.  Paul Scherer, Jan Mowbray, Mike Boughton and Brian Penman all should be commended on their years of service and dedication to Milton.  Other retiring councillors Barry Lee, Wendy Schau and Rick Day also should be congratulated on serving Milton residents.  While we didnt agree on some issues and decisions that were made, I never once doubted their commitment to Milton, and the taxpayers.  Thank you everyone.

I would also like to find out from you what you would like to see on this website, as I will be continuing to use it as a source of information.  Would you like a listing of Town press releases, information on public meetings, openings on town committees, budget meetings etc?  This is going to be your site as well, so I would love some input on what I can do to make it the best source of information in Milton.

In closing, the last couple of nights have been funny in the Cluett household as Pat sees me either running around after dinner looking like I’m getting ready to go canvassing or I’m about to catch up on some much needed sleep.  Im sure things will begin to get more “normal” as we adjust to the new job at hand.

I am humbled by the support I received and very excited at the challenge for the next four years.  I will do my best to listen to as many people as possible and use my skills and abilities to make the best decisions I can for us here in Milton.  I hope that we can all work together to get that job done.

Thanks for your support and I will soon see you again at the doors (mainly because its Halloween this weekend 🙂 )