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Lawn Signs Will Be Ready Soon

Mike Cluett

I have been getting a number of emails recently from people who are looking for lawn signs.  As a candidate I find this very encouraging because it means people are engaged and interested in what is going on. 

As I talked about yesterday, town council tonight will be considering a report from staff that recommends a potential, stress potential, increase in the mil rate by 6.91% for the 2011 budget year.

Nothing is written in stone as that decision is made (by the new council) in the December budget meetings.  This is a time where council makes comments and asks for further information and to give staff direction on where they would like it go.

Needless to say tonight’s council meeting should go long with the majority of council members now registered to run in the election.  I hope to hear so positive comments tonight and maybe we can hear from council that 6.91% increase is unacceptable.  There are some questions on how they arrived at this number and staff will also be making a presentation tonight.

Stay tuned to my Twitter for updates.  If you haven’t been following yet, click on my Twitter feed on my home page and send me messages on how the night progresses.

I know staff is looking at the costs involved in streaming the meetings online through www.milton.ca and this is one of those meetings I know would get a lot of interest from taxpayers.  If you can make it, bring a lunch and head down to Town Hall.  The meeting starts at 7:30pm.

If you would like to be put on the list for a lawn sign, email me mike@mikecluett.ca or leave a comment in this post and when they are ready, I’ll have one put on your front lawn.

Thank you very much for your support!  Until then, I’ll see you at the doors.

Potential 6.91% Increase To Be Discussed Monday

Mike Cluett

Well it looks like I have some reading to do.

The agenda for this coming Monday’s meeeting was online this past Thursday which includes a number of items that will keep both the councillors and us “shadow cabinet” candidates there for some time.  There is also going to be a couple of public meetings regarding 230 Ontario Street and Cancast Inc as well.  Click to see the agenda for those items.

Quickly reviewing the Budget Call Report CORS 063-10 it looks like it will be the hottest item of the night.  Staff report shows that they will be recommending a 6.91% increase in the mill rate to pay for a number of new items that have come online, including the Milton Centre for the Arts among others.

Being an election year, you know the show will be out in full force.

Here’s a quick breakdown from the report.

Take some time to review the document and if you would like to make a presentation, you can email the town and let them know you would like to be a delegation to the meeting.  Make sure you let them know by Monday at 10am.

If not, email me your questions and I will present those to the council members at that time.

Remember, this is just a suggested amount and the final decision will take place at the budget meetings in December 2010, after the new councill is elected.

Follow me on Twitter  and I will also provide updates from the council meeting as I have been doing for some time.  There will be candidates from other wards doing it as well, so you can get an idea of who might be representing the town come December 1st.

I look forward to hearing your comments, and until then I’ll see you at the doors.

Transit Information Sessions

Mike Cluett

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.

 

Ask & You Shall Receive

Mike Cluett

*QUICK UPDATE*  I’ve updated the IN THE NEWS section of the website with links to news articles that have covered my campaign and some updates on the “Milton TigerCats” situation.  Over the course of the next couple of days, I’ll be putting together a page on my site devoted to news, talk and updates on the TigerCats and their possible move to another location.

NOW..Just yesterday I posted about how nice it would be if we had some “connected” councillor from Milton to give us a status update on the AMO Conference.  Ask and you shall receive.

The Association of Municipalities in Ontario are holding their annual conference this week in Windsor and one of the major issues on the minds of Milton and Halton regional councillors is the expansion of the Milton Hospital.  In the Champion last week, some of the 5 councillors that are attending the conference made mention that they will be lobbying hard with provincial and fellow municipal representatives to see if we can get the ball rolling and raise awareness that Milton is in dire need of hospital expansion.

On the ever popular Milton forum, the Hawthorne Villager, Regional Councillor Colin Best posted an AMO update with some feedback on what the status in on their agenda items.

For anyone interested in the Association of Municipalities Conference I have a short update on the conference and our meetings with ministers and their staff.www.amo.on.ca

I am at the conference as a regional delegate along with Chair Carr and councillors from Oakville and Halton Hills.

On Monday we met with the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing regarding the new official plan which still has to be approved by the province and various housing projects which Chair Carr and the delegation requested further help with seniors housing which is a real need throughout the region.

Next the delegation which included Donna Danielli our school board trustee met with the Minister of Education regarding the Best Start program, school construction regulations and surplus school sites which the Board, Towns and Region will be submitting a resolution to the Ministry soon regarding our concerns with delays in the process and having surplus school sites like the Laurier Avenue site in Milton kept as parkland for the neighbourhood.

The group which also includes Councillor Lunau the Town representative on the Halton Health Care board met with the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy regarding the funding for the hospital expansion which the Minister requested a detailed funding request from the board to fit into their 10 year capital plan a good sign as this Ministry has the lead role in allocating the billions of dollars of requests for provincial funding.

Next the group met with the Minister of Transport highlighting the need for funding and action on the #401 corridor, Tremaine Road interchange and GO transit upgrades as well as concerns over the proposed GTA west highway that may cross the middle of Halton Hills. The minister and staff indicated they would review our requests as part of the Big Move plan to improve GTA traffic and transit infrastructure.

Lastly on Monday we met with the Ministry staff of Correctional services requesting their support for the hospital expansion as at any one time Maplehurst residents account for 2-6% of the bed use at the hospital and they indicated they would raise the issue with the Ministry of Health.

On Tuesday the group met with the Minister of Health regarding the hospital expansion and she indicated that they would seriously consider the request as part of their 10 year capital plan based on Milton’s growth and needs for various services. Mayor Burton of Oakville also raised the request for turning the current Oakville-Trafalgar hospital into a long term care facility with would help relieve some of the pressure off all the halton hospitals as about 20% of the beds are currently used for chronic care use that would be more suitable in a long term care centre which the existing hospital would be suited for and this change in use has been done in other communities such as Guelph.

Lastly the group met with the Minister of Natural Resources and Chair Carr and Councillor Lewis of Halton Hills stated the groups concerns with quarry applications in the region and the affect on the community from quarry activities such as heavy truck traffic and the need to reform the existing royality payments from quarries to communities to maintain roads in the immediate area of quarries.

Throughout the conference there has been a number of sessions regarding energy efficiency, the new Green Act, municipal services and policies that I will be raising at the next Council meeting.

Sorry that this was a long post but it is a quick summary of over 3 hours of meetings which the mayor indicated was the most he has ever seen in 45 years of attending these conferences of behalf of Milton and Halton.

You can also see more details on the conference at the AMO website.

Colin Best
Local & regional councillor

Thanks for the update Colin.  Its much appreciated and we look forward to hopefully a few more over the course of the week.  There are a few more councillors there and hopefully they can provide their perspective on the AMO Conference.

Until the next update, I’ll see you at the doors.

AMO Status report

Mike Cluett

Keeping in tune with a previous article by Christina Commisso from the Milton Canadian Champion last week about elected officials and candidates being “online & connected” it made me wonder about the AMO conference that is going on this week.

She had also written an article about our 5 councillors who are attending the AMO Conference in Windsor this week.  She spoke with a number of them and they all mentioned they would be pushing for the expansion of Milton District Hospital.  You can read the article here.

Seeing how this is an important issue to many Milton residents it would be helpful if we got some updates from those councillors at the conference.  Problem is, we dont know whats going on.

Just imagine if they posted updates on Twitter for instance saying “discussing Milton hospital with provincial officials at the AMO Conference…things going well” or something to that affect.  Those of us who follow on Twitter or on the candidates/councillors websites can from the comfort of our home get an understanding of what is happening and the status of those talks.

I know that at least one of the attendees at this conference is on Twitter so hopefully they will get the message and let us know how things are going regarding the Milton hospital issue.

One of the most common concerns I am hearing at the doors during this campaign is making sure residents are kept up to date on issues that face Milton.  Does it have to be instantaneous?  Not at all.  But something is better than nothing.  My promise to you as your councillor after Oct 25th is to keep that flow of information going so that residents are kept in the loop. 

It doesnt take that long to post a 140 character message on Twitter or quickly update a website/blog so that people know their concerns are being looked after.  I know its summer and the last thing on the minds of many residents is politics but quick postings here and there can go a long way.

I look foward to the councilors report on this conference at the next council meeting and how discussions went with other municipalities about a united front to lobby the provincial government to allow the use of development charges to fund the local portion of the hospital and discussions with provincial officials that are there about the importance of and the need for expansion of Milton District Hospital.

Maybe a quick update from one of the attendees is in order.  I’ll keep checking Twitter and see.

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

 

Bob Young talks about “Milton Tiger Cats”

Mike Cluett

Earlier today on AM 900 CHML, Hamilton TigerCat Caretaker Bob Young was being interviewd by Bill Kelly to talk about the next steps in dealing with Hamilton City Council’s decision for the west harbour location, what the future holds for the TigerCats and possible locations if they have to move.

Young mentioned that his goal is STILL work at keeping the team in Hamilton.  There is way too much history of that franchise in Steeltown to let it go easily and he will do what he can to work with council provided they come with a viable option that is acceptable to the TigerCats.

Here is a link to the CHML story with audio of the interview with Bill Kelly today.  Bob mentions Milton TigerCats roughly 7 minutes into the audio.

You can check out the Fan Page of “MILTON TIGERCATS” on Facebook as well by clicking on the logo to the left.  There are over 60 members so far and growing daily and you can stay tuned to www.mikecluett.ca for more updates on the situation.

You can also find some more local and national coverage of the TigerCats possible move to Milton here with a recap of Bob Youngs interview with TSN on Saturday night (The Cats WON by the way!!)  That link is from the National Post.

OSKEE WEE WEE!  I’ll see you at the doors.