Administration & Planning Standing Committee February 13 2012

This coming Monday night February 13, 2012 will be the Administration & Planning Standing Committee meeting at Town Hall starting at 7pm.

This Committee consists of five Councillors and the Mayor. Committee members review all reports, formulate policy and make recommendations to Council on matters over which Council has authority under the Municipal Act, the Planning Act and other legislation. Recommendations are made in the areas of corporate administration, personnel, legal issues, planning and finance.

The Administration and Planning Committee reviews the operating and capital budgets as well as various financial matters affecting the Town of Milton.

The agenda for the meeting can be found here.

Some of the highlites inlcude:

  • Public Meeting for zoning amendment for property owned by Zag Properties,
  • Public Meeting for zoning amendment for property owned by Victoria Hill Finance Group
  • Public Meeting for proposed condominium plan owned by Camcast Inc.
  • Technical report for proposed amendment of zoning bylaw for property owned by Durante Enterprises.

As always you can watch online on Monday night at 7pm.  If you have any questions or comments for any of these reports, please email me mike@mikecluett.ca

Velodrome Public Session Last Night

On behalf of Regional Councillor Colin Best and myself, I would like to thank everyone who attended the public session on the velodrome last night.  The turnout was a lot better than many other sessions Ive held and that just goes to show people want information on the future of this endeavour.

We tried our best to provide as much up to date information as possible and answer questions of residents.  There is still some concerns we have and over the next few days I will be diving into the business plan and posting details on my site as I go through it.  Its an important decision to make and we as a council have to be fully informed before we make that decision.

If you would like to review the online version of the report (both links are about 9MB) you can check them out for some light reading 🙂

http://www.milton.ca/MeetingDocuments/Council/agendas2012/rpts2012/Milestone%20005-001-12%20Velodrome.pdf

http://www.milton.ca/MeetingDocuments/Council/agendas2012/rpts2012/Milestone%20005-001-12%20Velodrome_%20Part%20II.pdf

Here is a couple of articles from the Milton Canadian Champion courtesy of Christina Commisso & Matthew Van Dongen of the Hamilton Spectator.

Velodrome Concerns Raised

Make Velodrome A Go

Here is some coverage from CHCH News who came out to the Milton Sports Centre.

2012 Town of Milton Budget Documents are HERE!

It’s that time of year again Milton.  No, not the long lines at the shopping malls, the honing of Christmas lists of your kids and the never ending list of holiday parties to attend.  Its budget time at the Town of Milton.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this is a fun time for your local councillor as well.  Over the last year I have talked with you on what your budget priorities are.  This past summer myself along with a number of other councillors sat down with you to discuss the issues you found to be important.  I have received close to 100 emails over the course of the year of you letting me know what you would like to see.

All of the comments received were sent to staff and what you will see here is a list of the budget documents.  This budget will come before council on December 12 and 13th for review/debate/approval.  Members of the public are more than welcome, and encouraged to take part in this process as well.  If you’d like to know how you can be a part of this important process, please email me mike@mikecluett.ca for more details.

Over the course of the next week or so as I dive into these documents, drink lots of coffee and find more dark circles under my eyes due to lack of sleep, I will be posting more details, my thoughts and attempt to get as many of your comments ready for the budget committee meeting on the 12th.  If you want a hard copy of the budget, they can be purchased at Milton Town Hall as well.  Email me for details.

A quick overview of the budget will find that it recommends at 4.18% increase in the tax rate.  That doesn’t mean your taxes will go up by that amount, its the rate of increase in budget spending.  In the past I have stated I wouldn’t support a budget with an increase over the rate of inflation and I look to keep that same commitment here.  That rate doesn’t include education, the Region of Halton, the Library levy or DBIA. 

I’ll post more details on what can be done to reduce the impact of the tax increase in the coming days.  Again, if you have any questions at all, please email or call me anytime.  With over 400 pages in the budget document, odds are I will be up late reading it.

Here are the links online from www.milton.ca for the 2012 Budget Documents

Operating and Capital Budgets

The Town’s annual budget is developed by staff in consideration of the guidelines approved by Council in July and input received from the public. Council deliberates and approves the budget in December of each year ensuring an approved budget is in place for the start of the new year.

2012 Proposed Budget Documents

Louis St Laurent & Thompson Road

The intersection of Louis St Laurent and Thompson Road now has the hardware installed for the all way lights as of today.  Its a few days behind schedule but I have been assured by our engineering department that the lights will be energized shortly after its complete and the 4 way stop signs will be removed.

Since this project has been announced, there have been a number of ward 6 and 7 residents who have emailed me asking for updates and “whats going on” over the past several weeks and many of you have credited this blog and other postings on forums around town with providing information to them.  Thanks for those comments as they are very much appreciated.  It goes to show that if council members use this technology like our website, Twitter and Facebook posts, residents in the area can be informed and it takes away from the “What the Heck” factor from people as changes continue to happen in and around Milton.

Thanks again for the continued input into this site and I appreciate all the feedback I get.

Council Meeting August 15 2011

The next meeting of Milton Town Council is on Monday August 15th starting at 7pm at Milton Town Hall.

The governing body of the Town of Milton is Town Council, consisting of the Mayor and 10 Councillors who represent Milton’s eight wards.  Milton residents elect members of Council for a four-year term of office.  You can find a link to watch the Town Council meetings here.  The meetings are also broadcast on TV Cogeco (Channel 14).

Town Council deals with:

  • Matters requiring policy direction
  • By-laws or by-law amendments
  • Responses or actions to pertinent issues

Council also makes decisions on the recommendations of Milton’s two Standing Committees of Council:

  • Administration & Planning Committee
  • Community Services Committee

The link to the agenda can be found here.  Some of the highlites of tonights meeting include:

Hope to see you there at the meeting and if you cant make it click here for the live link to watch. 

Indoor Walking & Jogging Track Opening at Milton Sports Centre

NEWS RELEASE

July 26, 2011

Milton’s first indoor walking/jogging track opens at the Milton Sports Centre

 

 On Tuesday, August 2, 2011 the indoor walking/jogging track at the Milton Sports Centre will be open to the public, marking the completion of Phase 1 of a 3 phase project at the Milton Sports Centre.

The track, located above Rink C and accessible by the new elevator to the second floor, is approximately 200 meters in length and offers three lanes for different speeds.

“The new walking track will be a great way for Miltonians, along with family and friends, to stay out of the heat this summer and be more active,” said Milton Mayor Gord Krantz. “This expansion offers our residents even more recreational opportunities and we are very grateful to our partners at the federal and provincial levels of government who have provided funding for these amenities that our community will enjoy for years to come.”

From August 2 to September 4 the public will have free access to the walking/jogging track. Starting Tuesday, September 6, a yearly pass can be purchased for $5 per person.

Along with the addition of the walking/jogging track, Phase 1 of the Milton Sports Centre expansion included a renovated banquet room, Rinks C and D, which are currently being used for summer camps and will be ice ready on August 15 and September 24, respectively and an activity room for children and youth programming that is also available for rent to the public.

Phase 2, to be completed in early September, boasts a double gym, a multipurpose room called the Optimist Room, a studio and a new customer service desk.

The project will be completed in the fall when Phase 3, a leisure pool and eight lane pool, will open to the public.

Phases 1 and 2 of the Milton Sports Centre expansion were possible thanks to funding assistance from federal and provincial grants of approximately $13.4 million from the Building Canada Fund Infrastructure Stimulus Fund.

For more information, visit milton.ca or call 905-878-7252 ext. 2211.

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For further information, please contact:        

Jennifer Reynolds

Director, Community Services

905-878-7252, ext. 2180

Liliana Busnello

Communications Specialist

905-878-7252, ext. 2154