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Have Your Say On Milton Transit

Mike Cluett

If you are interested in providing some input towards our Milton Transit Master Plan Study, here is a date and some times to keep in mind and mark on your calendar.

Wednesday October 24th at Milton Seniors Activity Centre 500 Childs Drive from 1:30PM to 4:00PM and at Milton Town Hall Main Foyer 150 Mary Street from 6:00PM to 9:00PM

Your voice counts and your input is important.  If you’re already an active user of Milton Transit or if you’ve wanted to try it out, please let us know.  If you can’t make this date, please forward your questions or concerns to mike.cluett@milton.ca

Halton Region Announces 311 Service

Mike Cluett

Halton launches 311 service

Halton Region is making it easier for residents to connect to programs and services.

It has launched the 311 non-emergency service online, which allows residents to find, pay, register, report or request services from the Region, Halton Regional Police, or local municipalities.

Residents can now either dial 311 or visit www.halton.ca/311 to access all eight Halton government partners (Regional and local municipal governments, Halton Regional Police Service, Halton District School Board and Halton Catholic District School Board) and find out more about recycling and waste pick-up or register for parenting or parks and recreation programs.

Customer Service is a priority of Halton Region’s Citizens’ Priorities (2011-2014) Action Plan. Last year, more than 290,000 residents called Access Halton for information about programs and services.

What is 311?

  • 311 is an easy-to-remember, three-digit, non-emergency telephone number that offers a single window of direct access to Halton government services.
  • 311 provides free, multilingual assistance to anyone calling from within Halton.
  • It allows citizens to request a service or receive general information.

Whose services can I access by dialing 311?

  • Halton Region
  • City of Burlington
  • Town of Halton Hills
  • Town of Milton
  • Town of Oakville
  • Halton District School Board
  • Halton Catholic District School Board
  • Halton Regional Police Service (non-emergency calls)

Why do we need 311?

  • 311 means you don’t need to know which Halton government provides a particular service. You don’t have to sort through dozens of telephone numbers to find the people you need to talk to.
  • 311 also provides an easy-to-remember telephone number for non-emergency police calls which will reduce the burden of non-emergency calls made to 9-1-1.

How does 311 work?

  • 311 calls will be answered by customer service representatives in Access Halton.
  • While 311 is a program of Halton Region, callers will be able to access the programs and services provided by any of the eight partner organizations:
    • Regional and Local Municipal governments
    • Halton Regional Police Service
    • Halton District School Board
    • Halton Catholic District School Board
  • The customer service representatives will use a powerful database of about 1,500 records to respond to your inquiries on a vast array of Halton government services.

What are some examples of 311 calls?

  • reports of potholes
  • questions on site plan applications
  • location and hours of libraries
  • requests to register for parks and recreation programs
  • complaints about parking bylaw infractions
  • reports of stolen property after an event has occurred
  • requests to hire police officers for special events
  • reports of motor vehicle accidents
  • queries on police security checks
  • reports of suspected food poisoning
  • queries about well water
  • requests to book travel health clinic appointments
  • reports of dog bites
  • requests for financial assistance
  • queries on child development
  • queries on road construction projects
  • reports of sewer backup
  • reports of missed garbage collection
  • queries on acceptable items for recycling

What are the hours of operation?

  • You can dial 311 any time and speak to a live person.
  • Regular business hours of 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.
  • After regular business hours, only those of an urgent nature will be handled.

Will 311 work from cell phones, payphones, etc.?

  • Yes.

Can I still call the city or town directly using the ten digit number I have previously used to reach them?

  • Yes, and if you know the name of the person you wish to speak to, you should always call the ten-digit numbers.

Champion Editorial Comments on 3 Bag Limit

Mike Cluett

Unloading baggage

We fully support Halton Region’s plan to reduce the bi-weekly number of garbage bags residents will be able to place curbside before a user-pay system kicks in.

Next spring (April 1, 2013), residents will be provided with complimentary bag tags to affix to any garbage bags beyond their three-bag limit (currently residents enjoy a six-bag limit) they place at the curb on their regularly-scheduled waste collection day.

Five months later, on September 9, 2013, after having had ample opportunity to monitor and adjust their waste habits, residents will be asked to pay $2 for each tag they affix to garbage bags beyond the three-bag minimum.

There will be some exemptions granted, to those living in townhouses with common collection pile areas, those with diaper/medical condition-related waste as well as a two-week exemption for everyone immediately following the December holiday period.

While some municipalities have similar limits to free waste collection — Durham’s bi-weekly limit is three bags and Peel’s weekly limit is two bags — other municipalities — like Wellington (Guelph) — charge residents for every bag collected on garbage day.

We believe the Region’s tag concept is an incentive for Halton residents to be less wasteful and more thoughtful when deciding what should and shouldn’t get thrown out. The goal is to reduce the amount of Halton waste ending up in the landfill and, by doing so, extending the number of years before the landfill will be full. Regional staff say a three-bag limit could extend the landfill by as much as four years, creating an overall savings of $15 million.

Halton has been a leader in waste diversion among GTA municipalities with a rate of 57 per cent. That success is due, in part, to 85 per cent of homes already placing three garbage bags or less to the curb.

Only five per cent of Halton homes don’t participate in the Blue Box program each week, while 70 per cent of residents have been regular users of GreenCart since its Halton launch in mid-2008.

In order to help Halton homeowners reduce their waste, the Region is also planning to expand its Blue Box program to include mixed plastics like clear clamshells and yogurt and pudding cups, empty steel paint cans and cardboard spiral cans, which are commonly used for products such as refrigerated dough, frozen juices, chips, nuts and other snacks, powdered drink mixes and baby formula, shortening and powdered cleansers.

With this boost to the Blue Box program will come a larger 22-gallon container to hold the additional recyclable items.

Hopefully these initiatives will convince more of us to divert our waste and maintain Halton’s place among the greenest communities in the GTA.

Attention Residents in Louis St Laurent / Hwy 25 Area

Mike Cluett

Just received an email from Town of Milton staff informing us that MADD Canada will be filming a documentary called “After Party” of a car crash. Details are listed here.

This will be in the area of Diefenbaker Street / Louis St Laurent just west of 25 in Ward 7.  Please pass this information along to people you know in this area.  Traffic shouldn’t be disrupted while filming too much but people will get worried if they don’t know whats going on.

To: Milton Council

Please be advised that I am working with MJM Productions for the filming of a MADD Canada Documentary entitled “After Party”

They are looking at filming on Louis St Laurent Avenue between Diefenbaker Street and Bronte Street South/First Line. They will be doing overnight filming of a car crash and the filming is proposed for October 25,26 and 27th starting at 6:00 p.m. – 6:00 a.m.

Halton Regional Police and Milton Fire are aware of this filming and will be on site during the car crash.

Advanced Road closure signs will be installed at some time next week. Area residents are now being papered and the filming company will be getting signatures from any resident that faces Louis St Laurent Avenue. Detour signage will also be installed when the closure is taking place.

Local access will be maintained to the subdivision on the north side of Louis St Laurent Avenue.

At this time filming permits have not been issued and I will advise you of when this has been completed.

Thanks
Heide Schlegl, C.E.T., MITE, Dipl. M.M.