Sunday, February 7, 2016

Ladies and Gentlemen

I hope you were able to get out and enjoy WinterFest. While it was a bit cool with the wind down at Little Lake, some of those hot chilis served up at the downtown square more than made up for it.

This past week saw many of our area’s large manufactures come together to discuss their challenges and how we can grow the area’s manufacturing economy. The outstanding news is that virtually every one of them is now hiring. Their challenge is finding skilled individuals to fill these well paid positions. One of the conclusions of the meeting was to reach out to area high schools, to make students, teachers and parents more aware of the rewarding career path involving the science/technology disciplines.

                                                                  *****

Monday February 8^th starts with a closed meeting of Council at 6:00 pm to discuss labour and personal matters. At 7:00 pm is the General Committee meeting featuring:

-       Recommendation for traffic calming on Norman Cres.

-       Overview of the Town’s new Operations Centre

-       Discussion of the request to not install sidewalks on Taylor Dr.

On Tuesday I am at the County for the regular County Council meeting at 9:00 am.  That evening, starting at 5:00 pm, is a special visioning session hosted by Wye Marsh. This is a public discussion of where the Wye Marsh is headed and how it should relate to the rest of the community.  If you plan on attending, please contact Sara at  sstreet@wyemarsh.com

A pretty quiet “rest of the week” as far as public meetings go.

Weekend

Saturday

11:00 am   Penetanguishene Winterama parade  - always a fun event but bundle up

7:30 pm   Masquarade Dance at Brian Orser Hall. Proceeds to support “We Are the Villagers”. Call 529-1247 for tickets

8:00 pm   Enjoy the Beatlemaniacs at MCC

Council Issues Update

Budget

Council provided direction to staff last Monday about what should be included in the 2016 budget. Expect a public budget meeting next week, and if we can come to agreement, the budget should come to Council for approval in early March.

GBGH

GBGH has held additional public meetings to explain their recently released operations report. Various citizen groups are organizing petitions to protest the changes to services identified in the report. Patrick Brown, our MPP, has agreed to make the sustainability of our hospital one of his major issues. The four mayors continue their work with the North Simcoe Muskoka LHIN and GBGH to ensure we retain our service mix (including obstetrics) and also fix the long outstanding funding problem faced by our hospital.

Gord McKay

Your Year for Getting Aboard – Midlands on the Move - 2016