Ladies and Gentlemen
A beautiful sunny day, and a week before Easter. The prognosticators
have us down for a warm busy summer in Midland. You can see the excitement building
with two items from the transportation file.
1)
The Town has just received a grant from the
Ministry of Transportation for new bike lanes on Midland and First streets.
This project is one of the major 2016 deliverables of our Downtown Master Plan.
Please see attached documents.
2)
The County has released the results from its
recent inter-urban transportation study. The top recommendation – bus service
between Midland and Barrie. The
recommendation is for hourly service and a fleet of three new buses. County
Council will now review the report.
On Monday the 21st Councillor Oschefski and I
will meet with Minister Jeff Leal and a group of area youth to talk about youth
services in our community. Over the last year the Towns of Penetanguishene and
Midland have launched youth initiatives.
The meeting will inform the Minister about what we have accomplished and
explore how we can leverage the province’s interest in better supporting local youth.
At 5:00 pm the Community Healthcare Steering Committee meets
to review its recent public meeting on health. The agenda also features are
report from Karen McGrath on GBGH. The meeting
takes place at GBGH, Meeting Rm 1.
Tuesday the 22nd starts at 9:00 am with County
Council. At 3:00 pm it’s the regular NS Housing
Working Group meeting at Town Hall. The North Simcoe group works closely with
the County to coordinate the development of affordable housing in our area. This
past week the County met with developers from our area and across the County. As
a result, 58 requests for further information have been received from developers
to work with the County in building rental accommodation. This is an
unprecedented level of interest.
5:30 pm at the MCC, the SSEA presents Bob MacDonald, the
CBC host of Quirks and Quarks to tell you about “environmental conundrums”. Tickets are available at the MCC. Then at 6:00
pm at the Brooklea, the Southern Georgian Bay Chamber hosts its annual business
awards. A chance to recognize exemplary businesses
and business people in our area.
On Wednesday the 23rd I have been invited by
the Red Cross to assist them in delivering meals to shut-ins with their Meals
on Wheels program. That afternoon our Town Interview Committee starts the process
for selecting our Interim CAO. We have 6 good candidates to be interviewed over
the next two days. Hopefully a decision can be announced by the end of the
month.
Wednesday will also see a special meeting of Council at
6:00 pm to discuss the budget and our strategic plan. The agenda has not been published
yet, so please check the Town website next week for further details.
Thursday the 24th starts with an introductory
meeting with the OPP to kick-off the police service costing process. Look for
dates for public meetings on the costing process to be announced shortly thereafter.
It is Good Friday on the 25th. Town offices
will be closed today and on Easter Monday.
Weekend
Saturday
-
Be downtown from 11:00
am to 1:00 pm to meet Buster Bunny. Make sure to ask him for an Easter treat
-
10:30 am it’s a “Munsch Mash” – Theater for
Kids at the MCC
-
8:00 pm a Pink Floyd tribute at the MCC
Council Issues Update
MPUC
It may appear quiet on the MPUC front but there is a lot happening.
Our MPUC Board is contacting an extensive number of other LDCs to see if they
can locate an appropriate sale/merger partner. Also an increasing number of
communities are exploring the sale of their LDC – the latest one being Peterborough.
The Town will be providing background information on this
complex decision in the days ahead. I expect the sale/merger decision to return
to Council this spring.
GBGH
Our hospital continues with the implementation of many of
the 108 recommendations from its recent operational report. The contentious recommendations
affecting service levels continue to be parked.
The four mayors have held three meetings this past week
with GBGH, the LHIN and other mayors from communities with hospitals. Our intention is to get to the root of the
funding problem that is bedeviling mid-sized hospitals across the province. We need
to put new hospital funding measures in place to secure appropriate hospital services
in smaller communities like Midland.
Gord McKay
Your
Year for Getting Aboard – Midland is on the Move - 2016
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