As I posted in my recent entry for the Administration & Planning Standing Committee, there are a number of issues to be discussed this coming Monday night.
One of them is a public meeting regarding a proposed zoning bylaw amendment for a property at Thompson Road and Louis St Laurent. There is an application moved by the owners to allow the construction of a Tim Hortons restaurant on that land, located at the north west corner. Right now its vacant land, not well kept up and lacking a sidewalk to allow for pedestrians to safely cross the street.
Here is a link to the application.
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to attend the meeting at Town Hall this coming Monday March 19th at 7pm to have your say. As always you can email your questions to me mike@mikecluett.ca and I can ask them on your behalf.
Some of the concerns that I will raise at the meeting is the possibility of traffic concerns in the area. As with many drive through restaurants there is a concern of overflow traffic at peak times coming on the road, which can lead to potential issues. After meeting with the designers of the property a few weeks ago, they showed me diagrams of what it will look like and hopefully will address those concerns. If the zoning bylaw change goes through, there is still a lot to be done before the shovel hits the ground. There will be traffic studies done to gain some insight of what might happen if the restaurant goes through.
Another item that will be discussed (in the consent agenda) is the report from staff on Milton Town Council’s salaries and expenses for 2011. Ive attached a quick snap shot of the report listed by individual councillor.
There is also a technical report that will be presented by staff on a recomendation of a zoning bylaw change for the property located in the area around Ferguson (north of Clark Blvd) , Armstrong and Derry Road. If you live near the area its where a number of homes will be built soon and its getting ready for construction. Also in the area is the property that will be a future public school at Sauve Road & Ferguson. The report is outlining why the bylaw should be changed from Holding status to RMD which is residential medium density development.
Ive attached a map of the area from the report.
And finally there will be presentation from staff on reaction to the provincial governments recent release of the Drummond Report. If you have had a chance to review the close to 500 page report, you will know there are many recommendations made to the provincial government to reduce the over $16 billion deficit. These recommendations arent guaranteed but many of them have caused the ears of municipalities like Milton and Halton’s ears perk up.
Here is a link to the staff report on Drummond.
If you have any questions on these or other matters at this meeting, feel free to call or email me and let me know.
This is awesome Mike. Thanks for the information.
Quick questions about the councillor expense report. It shows all the local councillors with one salary and yours is lower by a few hundred dollars. Why is that?
The other question is about mileage. I can understand the mayor has to drive to meetings around the region and the province but why does Cindy Lunau and Sharon Barkley have mileage expenses and no one else has & why is Cindy’s so high in comparison?
Thanks again for all your informative posts. Youre doing a great job in keeping people informed.
What is the professional development column for? Is that training you guys go on through the year? Im fine for the mileage but Cindy’s is up high for sure.
Why is Huffman’s professional development so high? Its almost $5000. Im a little confused, isnt this council supposed to be at least trying to reduce these expenses?
From what youve posted in the past Mike, Huffmans amount is the highest Ive seen for professional development.
Thanks Sarah,
My salary is a little lower because I didnt accept the 2% raise we were given last July. We are looking at councillor compensation in the coming months and a citizens committee has been looking at what we should be paid compared to a number of other municipalities and other factors. Ive said many times in my blog that elected officials shoudlnt be put in a place where we are giving ourselves pay increases and I didnt feel we should be accepting a 2% raise mere months after being elected.
As for the mileage I dont have the detailed breakdown per councillor on this but I havent submitted mileage expense in 2011. Rural councillors as far as I know have an arrangement where they can sumbit mileage for travel to and from town hall for council/committee meetings. Im pretty sure this will be reviewed as well.
Professional development is courses/conferences we attend on behalf of the Town of Milton. Last year I attended a “new to council” conference put on by AMO in Toronto as well as attending the AMO Conference in London.
You would have to ask other councillors why their PD expenses are where they are. The mayor attends many events/conferences/meetings for Milton and does travel extensively and seeing how he is the only full time representative on Milton council, I dont have an issue with his mileage or PD expense.
Regean, you are right. Council SHOULD be looking at ways to save money everywhere. There was a motion recently at council to limit the number of councillors attending these conferences and it failed.
Say what you will about politicians in Canada or the US. There are a lot who are slimey, lying, snakes in the grass.
http://www.insidehalton.com/community/milton/article/1322058
Reading this article about councillors salaries says a lot about Mike. Over the years he’s talked about the fact its wrong for councillors to raise their salaries and even though its only a few hundred bucks, Mike walks the talk. He didnt take the 2% pay increase like he could have and no one would have said anything. The amount may be small but the gesture is big and shows leadership.
Kudos Mike. Thanks.