town hall report – Mike Cluett

Before the last council meeting of 2012, members of Milton Town Council were invited for a sit down meeting with the Milton Youth Advisory Committee. Its become an annual tradition with this committee to meet with council members, ask questions that are important to the youth in Milton and get to know each other.

As with previous years, I was very impressed by this group of students. They are engaged in our community and want to find different ways to take part in our town and give back as well. The questions they asked were fair, but challenging as well and they pulled no punches either. Its exactly what we need to make sure we’re getting honest feedback from the youth in town.

They made their annual report presentation to council last night and I’m convinced that before long we might see some of these students sitting around council’s table in the future. (Watch out everyone)

It was great meeting everyone last night and I look forward to speaking with you throughout 2013 and beyond. As I told many of them last night, we need to hear from them on what direction the town should be taking with its priorities. What should WE be doing for the youth of Milton.

If you have kids under the age of 25 who would like to get involved in the Milton Youth Advisory Committee send them a tweet @MiltonYAC Its only through discussion and getting feedback directly from the youth in town, will we at council have a better idea of how we need to shape Milton for the years to come.

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.