Sunday September 13, 2015

Ladies and Gentlemen

I hope this grey Sunday is not indicative of the cold weather that awaits. Sunscreen in the morning - sweaters in the afternoon. Hard to keep up.

Monday September the 14^th will see Council back to its regular schedule with a special closed meeting starting at 5:30 pm. The topics include labour relations, and potential litigation on two matters. At 7:00 pm is the General Committee meeting including:

• Revising the Towns’ Indemnification By-law – how the municipality will cover the legal expenses of Councilors and employees caught up in legal disputes
• Reducing the fee to allow merchants to extend sidewalk cafes and displays onto the downtown King Street sidewalk
• Review of the Town’s many (35 plus) committees. Possibly moving the Council meeting to Thursday.
• Start of the discussion of where snowmobiles will be permitted in the Town
  
  
  On Tuesday the 15^th, the Housing Working Group reconvenes at Town Hall at 2:00 pm to advance ideas for new affordable housing projects in our area. In addition to looking at secondary suites and rental units at the PGH site, the group is considering “WWOOFing’, a communal style of housing for rural/farming areas.
  
  
  Thursday is the busy day. It starts at 8:30 am at the Kempenfelt Centre in Barrie where County Council will convene to discuss governance – how we need to be organized to effectively run this half billion dollar a year corporation. From noon to 5:00 pm you are welcome to attend the grand opening of Body Line Collision at 245 Whitfield Cres. And at 6:00 pm the Town starts the public budget process with a meeting on our 2016 capital budget. That takes place at Town Hall.
  
  
  The Syrian refugee crisis has been brought into sharp focus over the past few weeks. Elizabeth O’Connor and Richard Wakerlin have been leading a Midland initiative to bring a Syrian refugee family to our Town. If you would like to help out or simply want to hear more, they will be holding their next meeting at the Midland Library at 7:00 pm.
  
  
  On Friday the18^th one of our local manufacturing success stories, NEBS, will be celebrating the 100^th anniversary of its parent company Deluxe. So if you should see a large party at Little Lake Park, give them a friendly wave.
  
  
  Weekend
  
  
  Saturday
• We Are The Villagers is holding a fundraiser and recognition ceremony for the 100^th anniversary of our old library building on Hugel. WATV is a very worthy children’s charity that started here in Midland. Tickets available from Julianna at watv@bellnet.ca  
  
  
  Sunday
• 10 am the Terry Fox Run starts at Mountainview Mall
  
  
  
  

Gord McKay

Be part of Midland’s Year of Bold Action - 2015