Sunday February 24, 2008

Things are quieter around the Town this week. The “Good Roads Conference” is on in Toronto and many of your Councillors are in attendance. A good opportunity to hear what others are doing.

Accordingly, the Council meeting has been rescheduled to this Thursday at 7pm. (“Deputation Only”). Some items on the agenda:
- We will review our budget deliberations. It looks like we are headed for a Town increase of 3.2%, with an overall increase of 3.6% when County charges are included.
- The meeting will discuss a pilot project to put more bicycle parking stands on King Street (initially near Gianettos).
- And finally we will vote on recognizing “Earth Hour” - an opportunity on March 29 from 8pm to 9pm for everyone to turn out their lights and help the environment.

The Council meeting will also discuss our need for planning – strategic, economic and Little Lake. Planning is becoming more important for the Town because of the increasing pressures we face. Take building permits. The Town has issued $67.2 million in permits last year, well above historical averages. Good planning is essential.

And lastly, we had over 70 people come out this past week to hear about our need to better plan our waste management in Simcoe County. There is a big issue here for all of us. More on this to come.


Gord McKay