Here is a video from Milton’s own Ann Kornuta/Stuart Service with comments from yours truly, along with others talking about the impact that library’s have on our community.
Great video…take a look.
town of milton
Happy Canada Day Milton
Thank you to everyone who came out to the annual Veterans Breakfast at Victoria Park this year. Every year the Knights of Columbus hosts a pancake breakfast in honour of our veterans. Its not just on Remembrance Day that we honour those who have fought for our country, those who returned and those who didnt, and it couldnt have been a more perfect day to do so.
MPP Ted Chudleigh (pictured here) as well as Halton MP Lisa Raitt joined members of council Mayor Gord Krantz, Clr’s Greg Nelson (who did some of the cooking) Colin Best, veteran Rick Malboeuf and myself to honour those brave heroes, who without their efforts we wouldnt be able to stand proudly and celebrate our freedom that many take for granted.
After the breakfast there was a brief remembrance ceremony at the cenotaph followed by a parade of veterans leading us to the gates of the Milton fairgrounds. It was heartwarming to see the support of the community as they marched along with the veterans, applauding them and thanking them for their service.
We then assembled by the bandstand where those in attendance (including myself) reaffirmed our oath to Canada. Normally there would be a swearing in ceremony for new Canadians, but this year its been done regionally and not locally.
After the formalities concluded, people by the dozens lined up for a piece of Canada Day cake and cupcakes to start off what was to be an amazing Canada Day in Milton.
Another big THANK YOU goes to the crew who organized the days events. I know many of them personally and many, MANY hours went into preparation for this day and they should be thanked over and over for a wonderful day. Great job!!
Milton Town Council Salary Increase
Last night Milton Town Council approved a citizens committee & staff recommendation to increase the salary of councillors by $5000 to be phased in over a three year period. First third retroactive to Jan 1, 2012 and the other two thirds on Jan 1, 2013 and Jan 1, 2014.
As Ive stated many times as private citizen, and here again, and then as a candidate for public office and as an elected official, I am not in favour of increasing our salary for the current term. There was a motion put forward by myself and Councillor Rick Malboeuf last night asking for an amendment to the recommendation to in essence “defer” the increase until the next council. This way our current council wouldn’t benefit from a decision like this and be as transparent as possible.
This motion was voted down 8-2, with myself and Rick Malboeuf being the only to support the amendment.
You can follow some of the discussion happening on the Hawthorne Villager here. Many on that forum are in support of such an idea, and oddly enough some of my fellow councillors, while they were private citizens, agreed with me.
Now dont get me wrong. The increase is small in the grand scheme of things. I do believe that politicians at all levels should be paid fairly for their work. There are some days I joke to myself “they dont pay me enough” but I knew that going into this job.
The process was designed to “take the politics out of it” but as council raised their hands to increase their own pay, politics jumped right back in. I have informed the HR department of the Town of Milton to not apply the salary increase to my pay. Its a choice I made last year at this time, when no other councillor did the same. I haven’t accepted a pay increase because I feel so strongly that we shouldn’t be doing so. You can see in the chart below that my salary for 2011 was the same as in 2010.
This amount is small $5,000 per councillor but amounts to a 17% pay increase for us. Granted its phased in over 3 years but it still amounts to the same.
What each councillor decides to do is up to them. I have been consistent through this process from day one and I plan on continuing to be consistent with my belief that this is YOUR money and we should treat it as such.
Now if I chose to run for the next election in 2014, I will accept the salary as it is. I will let the voters decide whether or not I deserve an increase in pay. That’s how it should be done.
I’d appreciate your feedback and comments here or on Twitter at @Mike_Cluett
I’ll see you at the doors.
Optimist Walk In The Park
Happy Fathers Day everyone! I hope all the Dads, Grand Dad’s the Dad’s to be had a great time on Sunday.
Speaking of Sunday, it was the first annual Optimist Club Walk in the Park in Milton and it was a great success. Many people came out to enjoy the great weather and the fun activities as well. There was some cricket for those willing to try…tougher than it looks folks…some great races for the kids, playground and splash pad as well as one of the newest Toronto Blue Jay (and Milton’s own) Nathan DaSousa was on hand to toss the ball around and help kids with some baseball skills. Councillors Colin Best and Rick Di Lorenzo also attended and had a great time.
Many thanks to the organizers of the event (Kim, Joanne, Steve, Angelo et all) for putting on a great time for the kids AND the Dad’s as well. Looking forward to next year being even bigger!
Where are the splash pads?
Ive received a number of emails and inquiries from Milton residents to find out where their nearest splash pad is. I posted about this last year but its a good time to post again with the forecast for this weekend to be very warm.
These locations are a great way of cooling off on a hot day for our kids (and the parents too).
Here’s a list of Milton’s splash pads.
Rotary Park Spray Pad: 10:00 am – 8:00 pm
Open weekends starting June 21 to September 1st
Neighbourhood Spray Pads: 9:00 am – 9:00 pm
Spray Pads
Clarke Neighbourhood Park – South (1170 Laurier Ave.)
(9:00 am to 9:00 pm)
Open Sunday, June 1 to Saturday, September 6
Other Spray Pads (9:00 am to 9:00 pm)
Open from Saturday, June 28 to Saturday, September 6:
• Beaty Neighbourhood Park – North (670 Bennett Blvd.)
• Bristol District Park (920 Kennedy Circle)
• Bronte Meadows Park (165 Laurier Ave.)
• Coates Neighbourhood Park – North (776 Phillbrook Dr.)
• Dempsey Neighbourhood Park (187 Dixon Dr.)
• Laurier Park (756 Laurier Ave.)
• Lions Sports Park (99 Thompson Road)
• Milton Community Park (805 Santa Maria Blvd.)
• Optimist Park (881 Savoline Blvd.)
• Rotary Park (100 Garden Lane)
• Scott Neighbourhood Park East (143 Scott Blvd.)
• Sunny Mount Park – opening summer 2014 (255 Ruhl Drive)
Here is a link to our community maps from www.milton.ca