hawthorne village

Milton Street Festival June 5th 2010

Mike Cluett

I just wanted to give you a quick update on the status of the new look www.mikecluett.ca among other things.  The new site should be ready to go within a week or so as we have some small things to iron out and making sure all the previous posts from this highly successful blog make it over to the new domain.

That way your source for Milton news and updates as it pertains to town council and the fun things that happen within our borders can be located in one spot… www.mikecluett.ca

I also wanted to let people know that summer is coming…(it is???) and that means the Downtown Milton Street Festival!  It will take place on JUNE 5th 2010 in the only place to be…downtown Milton.

Check out the link for all the details.  The Downtown Street Festival came about during the planning of Milton’s 150th Anniversary celebrations, of which I was part of that committee, and its become an annual event ever since.  The organizers of the celebrations are always looking for volunteers to help plan, set up and take part in making this party a success.

http://www.milton.ca/commserv/streetfestival/index.php

Click on the Volunteers Tab and fill out the application form.  Remember, tell the kids that they can earn volunteer hours, have a blast and enjoy the summer day in downtown Milton.

Dont leave your cars running

Mike Cluett

As a few residents of the area found out last week, its not good to leave the cars running to warm up in the morning.  Here’s the story from the Milton Canadian Champion about what happened at several homes in Hawthorne Village.

If you must warm your car up in the morning, make sure the doors are locked or have an automatic car starter.  These thefts were really close to home for me and we have to make sure we are aware of whats going on around us.  If you park your car in the driveway, make sure you lock your vehicle.  These crooks are fast and smart.  One will drive the car around the neighbourhood looking for cars that are running.  The other will get out and quickly check the vehicle to see if its unlocked.  They can also drive around to see if cars are unlocked to get credit cards, cash, wallets, purses etc.

The best thing we can do is make it difficult for these crooks to make a living.

Be safe!

Police are warning motorists about the dangers of leaving cars warming up unattended after several vehicles were stolen from driveways.

The first such incident occurred on Lancaster Boulevard last Friday between 7:30 and 7:42 a. m., police said. An unknown suspect drove off in a grey, 2004 Lexus with licence plate BFVW617. It’s worth $20,000.

A 2009 Toyota Corolla left unlocked and idling in a Bussel Crescent driveway was stolen at about 6:30 a. m. Monday. The grey, four-door car has licence plate BEWT488 and is worth $20,000.

Just before 7 a. m. Tuesday, unknown suspects drove off in a 2006 blue Toyota Tacoma that had been warming up on Barr Crescent. It was recovered a short time later on Burgess Gardens, north of Hepburn Road.

At about 7:15 a. m. Tuesday, a white, 2009 Toyota Rav4 SUV left running was stolen from a Fourth Line driveway. Its licence plate is BEVC598 and it’s worth $25,000.

Milton Walk of Fame Grand Opening

Mike Cluett

From www.milton.ca

The Walk of Fame honours Miltonian’s past and present who have earned significant national and international recognition through their enduring achievements.  Each Walk of Fame inductee is recognized in the glass corridor linking Town Hall west and Town Hall east.  The first 27 inductees will be recognized at this event.

Event to be held on Thursday October 29th at 7pm at Milton Town Hall

Was it really that long ago?  It seems like forever when the 150th Anniversary master committee started back in 2006 to come up with some ideas to commemorate Milton’s 150th anniversary.  I was honoured to be part of that committee and throughout 2007 there were a number of events to promote the town and celebrate such a substantial achievement as being 150 years old.

During that year we had the first street festival in the summer, which has now grown into an annual event.  There was also Milton’s Amazing Race, an idea born from and organized by the committee chair Karin Muller which received rave reviews as dozens of teams raced across Milton to answer questions, pick up clues and win prizes.

One of the definite highlights of my time on that committee was being part of the creation of the Milton Walk of Fame.  With the help of the Milton Historical Society and countless volunteers, we came up with a list of 27 people from Milton, who through the years reached a high level or national and or international success in their fields.  Many people are unaware that there are many famous Miltonians in different fields and the cream rose to the top with our first class in the Walk of Fame.

You can see the full list of inductees here .  Many of these people are well known, but their connection to Milton came as  a shock to many.  Mr Dressup,  Ernie Coombs was a big surprise to quite a few people along with Dr John Wallace, one of the cofounders of Blue Cross.  There are many Milton favourites such as Lt. Col. Chris Hadfield, PL Robertson, John Tonelli, Peter McDuffe and international wrestling icons Tiger Jeet Singh and his son Tiger Ali Singh.

These great Miltonians were announced at the Canada Day Celebrations of 2007  to quite the bit of fan fare in a day I wont soon forget.  Here is the brochure from the Canada Day event that lists each inductee and their bio of what made them the first members of Milton’s Walk of Fame.

Milton Councillor's Give Themselves a Pay Increase

Mike Cluett

I thought I was in a time warp when I read this…but alas its real and recent.  The pay increase being talked about isnt a cost of living adjustment but rather an annual review of the salaries. 

As Ive talked about in the past, ad nausem apparently, the optics of this is off the chart.  I understand that town staff’s salaries need to be reviewed.  When youre talking about union adjustments, thats fine, seeing how theyve been negotiated in the past.

Where MY problem comes in, town council is put on the same pay grid as town staff.  WRONG!  Plain wrong!

Added to that, town council has already increased their pay just after they were elected in 2007.  Only one councillor at that time voted against it, and that was someone who attending their first council meeting after a bi-election.

Town councillors should not have the opportunity to increase their salary by votes.  Most municipalities, like Milton, use citizens advisory committees to come up with what their increases should be.  But, in the case of the councillors, the pay increase should take affect the when the NEXT council sits. 

Politics is perception and this wont sit well with Milton taxpayers.  The last 3 years we have had higher than normal increases in our mill rate with what to show for it?  More Milton Transit buses that run empty throughout town that we spent over $3 MILLION dollars in the  last 3 years?  Have there been more roads developed for that money?  Who knows.  But its wrong for town council, not shortly after their LAST increase, to have their salaries increased….AGAIN.

When will it end?  What council needs to do (and maybe someone can help me with the legality of this) is have councillors taken OFF that pay grid and into a grid seperate and distinct from everyone else.  This way, they WONT be able to vote for increases in salaries that would benefit themselves.

Does there need to be an automatic increase in town council’s remuneration?  Should it be on performance based rankings?  IE  They do they job they say theyre going to do?  Hard if not impossible to do that.  But changes on how our elected public representatives need to be made. 

Some might say these increases are minor and they would have an arguement.  Problem is, in case no ones noticed, we are in some pretty tough economic times right now and municipalities need to focus on saving taxpayers dollars not spending more when they can wait.

Here’s Tim’s article in this weekends Champion!

Councillors, staff to get 2.5 % pay raises in June

 Tim Foran, Canadian Champion Staff

Published on May 29, 2009

Town council voted Monday to give themselves and the municipality’s 183 non-union staff, including managers, a 2.5 per cent raise at the start of June.

The pay hike isn’t a cost-of living hike but rather a market adjustment, which is done annually and is based on comparable increases given to non-union employees at other similar municipalities, according to staff. The Town’s non-union staff have received an average 2.7 per cent market adjusted raise over the past three years, slightly below increases negotiated with unionized workers.

Generally, such increases for white-collar municipal workers fly under the radar, but due to the economic recession the issue has received more attention from the media. The City of Toronto’s Mayor David Miller announced recently that municipality would be freezing any hikes to non-unionized staff and he, along with some other councillors, would be returning their own pay increases to the City.

Only one Milton councillor decided to discuss the issue Monday night. Ward 3 Councillor Jan Mowbray responded to an e-mail she received from a local resident asking her to vote against the council and staff salary increase.

“I do believe we have an obligation to approve this report because the unionized staff have already received their raise in March,” said Mowbray, arguing she didn’t want to create a problem of inequity between the Town’s workers.

The councillor was referring to three three-year agreements recently bargained by the Town. The 29 unionized staff of the Town’s fire department will receive annual 3 per cent pay hikes this year and the next two years. The 27 staff in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers negotiated annual 2.5 per cent hikes over the same time period, as did the 37 library staff represented by CUPE.

Tim Foran can be reached at tforan@miltoncanadianchampion.com .

Yates Drive and March Crossing

Mike Cluett

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Just the mere mention of that intersection causes many residents in the area to roll their eyes.

Why? We have seen many near misses of vehicles driving down Yates from Thompson Road with cars coming out of March Crossing. This weekend was no different.

Lets go back in time to this past summer around the dinner hour. Local residents were brought out of their homes with the sounds of screeching tires, loud thumps and a big bang. What had happened was a car traveling north on Yates Drive towards Bennett Blvd. at what witnesses describe as “over the speed limit”, narrowly missing a vehicle coming out on March Crossing into the intersection. This car swerved to miss that car, lost control and jumped the curb on the opposite side of the road and smash into a house. Luckily there was no one hurt, the car sustained some damage and the bay window of the home was damaged.

For those of us who live in the area know, kids are walking up and down the sidewalk heading to their friends homes or to the local parks and thank God no one was there was this happened.

Now, we go back to this past Saturday and the almost exact situation happened again. A car traveling up Yates Drive from Thompson Road heading towards Bennett Blvd. driving up the street, narrowly misses a car coming out from March Crossing, loses control and jumps the curb on the opposite side and hits the same house in almost the identical spot.

Enough is enough. Im not one person who favours putting stop signs at every intersection or reducing speed when there is no justification. Something has to change before any other home or God forbid, someone is injured or killed.

The speed limit on Yates Drive is 50km/hr. During last falls election campaign, I spoke with many people about community safety and what we as citizens can do to make our streets safer. Many of you favoured reducing the speed limit on streets. Is that enough?

Would a 40km/hr speed limit saved this home owner from yet another insurance claim and time away from their lives to repair the damage to their home that someone else caused? Maybe.

If the speed limit was reduced it might be cause for the driver to make sure they slow down. Who really knows.

Would a stop sign have done the trick? Again, who knows. If drivers know there is a stop sign approaching at that intersection, would they reduce their speed before they come to March Crossing?

Possibly. Only if people open their eyes and realize our residential and town roads are not speedways.

It’s frustrating to live in an area such as this with such amazing neighbours and people living in the subdivision to have to deal with this. The only thing we have left is to turn to the town of Milton and see what can be done.

For years now, residents have complained about speeding on our streets. To the town’s credit they have done some studies about excess speed on Yates Drive and have concluded it doesnt warrant a stop sign at this particular intersection.

My message, that I plan on delivering with the help of the local residents, is simply this.

Reduce the speed to 40km/h and / or put a 4 way stop at this intersection. By doing nothing, is simply condoning this behaviour and endorsing what has already happened.

The safety of the people in the area, their homes and our children are more important than worrying about if people will be inconvenienced by an additional stop sign.

Whats more important to you?

Councillors Pay Increase

Mike Cluett

I just wanted to preface this with a statement. I am in favour of paying our politicians well for the work they do. I have no qualms with the amount of the pay increase recently approved by the Milton town council. I do however, have a problem with the way its done.

A councillor should not be able to vote themselves a pay increase. They do vote on all budget matters but this current council should not benefit from this decision. When it comes to pay increases we should have these decisions made effective the date the NEXT council is elected.

There’s an old saying “politics is perception” and it rings true here. What are the citizens of this town to think after hearing taxes this year going up and now, very quickly and quietly, a pay increase for the people around the table. It doesn’t look right.

Greg Nelson was the only one to vote against the increase seeing it was his first time sitting around the council table and “had reservations about voting myself a pay raise on my first day on the job.”

Pay increases are fine. Paying politicians of all levels what they are worth is something that we need. The debate grows at each level to seek out what we should be paying our elected officials. My only problem is that when they vote to increase pay, it should be effective the next council.

I was a candidate for election this past November as all the others who sit around the table were. When we received our candidate information packages the salaries were posted. If anyone had a problem with the amount they were going to be paid, they could have made the decision not to run. Not that the salary be the only factor in a person putting their name forward for election, but it does make a difference.

They ran on the fact their salaries were going to be $ 21,000 and it should remain at that level until the next election. What the town needs to do is working in some sort of a cost of living increase at predetermined times, and it would take the issue of councillors voting themselves pay increases out of their hands and much more palatable to the taxpayers.

This is from the June 29Th Milton Canadian Champion

Councillors get hefty pay hikes – Melanie Hennessey
Published on Jun 29, 2007

Town council has approved giving its members some pretty hefty raises.

The decision was made Monday night after staff recommended the increases to make council’s remuneration in line with municipalities of comparable population and proximity to Milton.

This means effective Sunday, Mayor Gord Krantz’s annual income will go from $49,133 for the year to $60,480, while the rest of council will see an increase from $21,096 to $25,096.

Although there was no discussion among council members about the raise at Monday’s meeting, the Champion asked a few of its members what they think about the extra money.

Mayor Gord Krantz said his raise is a “reasonable amount,” pointing out that compared to the other municipalities on the list staff prepared, Milton’s new wages are still far from being the highest or lowest.

“I personally don’t have a problem with it,” he said. “And if you don’t (allocate for raises), sooner or later you’ve got to play a lot of catch up.”

Ward 3 Councillor Jan Mowbray had no qualms with the raise either, explaining she’s discovered being a councillor is an expensive proposition.

For example, she said she’s always buying tickets for community events.

She also highlighted the long hours she puts in as a politician. “It’s supposed to be a part-time job, but it’s a lot more,” she said.

Mowbray said she starts at 6 a.m. on her computer, responding to residents and researching information for them until noon. Then, she’s out many afternoons and evenings at events and meetings.

Ward 4 Councillor Paul Scherer also spoke out in favour of the raises.

“I think the salaries are fair now,” he said. “Looking at the comparison to other communities, we’re where we should be.”

He added that the comparison method is a good way to keep salaries on an even keel.
Scherer also said he thinks this type of raise should be dealt with before an election, not right after.

As the newest member of council, Ward 2 Councillor Greg Nelson did oppose the increase, since Monday’s meeting was his first after being elected in the June 14 byelection.

“I had reservations about voting myself a pay raise on my first day on the job,” he said.
“I couldn’t justify it for myself. I’m keenly aware that I have to earn every dime.”

The hikes will cost $25,673 for the remainder of this year and add $51,347 annually onto the operating budget hereafter.

Council also supported retaining the one-third tax-free allowance for the 2007-10 term of council, meaning one-third of council members’ income isn’t taxed.

Melanie Hennessey can be reached at mhennessey@miltoncanadianchampion.com.