Sunday, March 3, 2013

Sunday March 3, 2013


Ladies and Gentlemen

I have been talking to a lot of sledders over the last few days and don’t know when I have ever seen them this happy. I didn’t have the heart to tell them Spring is just three weeks away.

Monday March 4th will be a day of meetings. At 4:00 pm at the Town is the Police Service Board budget meeting. As you may recall we are still trying to put the 2013 police budget to bed.

Then at 7:00 pm is the March General Committee meeting. It’s early this month because of March break.  Items include:
-       Community Services is in planning mode with three major studies underway:
o    Parks and Rec Master Plan – Public Meeting on March 21 at 7:00 pm
o    Cultural Plan has started. Steering Committee set to meet by April
o    Area tourism study funded by the four municipalities will start shortly
-       A tracking document will be presented to help Council stay current with progress on the many KPMG recommendations
-       Discussion of the intended scope of our “surplus land assets” review
-       2012 Council remuneration and expense report
-       Report showing that our Building Department has a “book surplus” of $112,000 for 2012. Much of this attributed to departmental revenues being 133% over the previous three year average.

On Tuesday March 5th at 7:00 pm is a closed meeting of Council to discuss the Town’s interest in the Unimin property.

Wednesday March 6th at 9:30 am sees the next Unimin Steering Committee meeting at the Town offices. We will be directing our consultants to start organizing the good ideas presented to us by the public.

At 7:00 pm that evening is our Planning and Development Committee at the Town. Items include:
-       Proposal for improved public consultations on planning matters
-       A draft plan of condominium for Marina Park (the partially finished building on Harbourview at Vinden)

I will be at Lakehead University on Thursday March 7th to discuss the development of North Simcoe’s “healthcare” economy.  This Lakehead initiative fits into our own healthcare strategy, as developed by the Huronia Economic Alliance. You can expect more action on the healthcare strategy front in the next two months.

Friday March 8th is the annual Garfield Dunlop lasagna dinner in support of Wye Marsh.  There are three sittings starting at 4:30 pm.  Please contact Wye Marsh for tickets. Always fun.

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This past week has been a busy one for collecting data from communities around Georgian Bay about the impact that they are seeing from low water levels. Our political leaders at Queens Park are still a long way from understanding the situation that we face. The Georgian Bay mayors will be hosting a public information meeting on Thursday March 14th at 7:00 pm at NSSRC.  It will update you on our status and ask for your support for the campaign ahead.

Gord McKay


Be part of Midland’s Year of Getting Involved - 2013.

                                                                                              




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