Jennifer Smith

I must admit, I was expecting some fireworks at Monday's council meeting.

There were a lot of important items on the agenda - the annual Library Report, the selection of councillors for various board and committee positions, proposed changes to the committee structure. But the one causing the most buzz over at the Hawthorne Villager Forum was the staff recommendation to replace the Lord's Prayer with a 'moment of silent reflection'.

From all the sturm und drang being generated in some quarters over this issue, I was half expecting a mob with torches and pitchforks to turn up. Happily, sanity prevailed and the motion carried without a single comment or objection raised from council or the gallery. Although I did note that Greg Nelson did not raise his hand in favour. Fair enough.

The down side is, that same motion included a decision to start council meetings half an hour earlier, at 7:00. That's going to seriously cut into my dinner time.

In other news...

A proposal to combine the two standing committees into one large 'committee of the whole' was soundly rejected. Currently, council has two standing committees - Administration & Planning and Community Services - with five councillors each plus the mayor. These committees meet on Mondays in between Council meetings and usually involve more detailed discussions of specific issues.

I'm not sure why it was recommended that the town consolidate these two groups into one that would essentially mirror Council in its composition and purview, but Mike Grimwood did his usual excellent job of pointing out the flaws in the plan. He expressed concern that the larger group would be intimidating to citizen delegates. and his analogy that this new committee would have to deal with a "fruit salad" of unrelated issues drew some laughs and ended up as the running gag of the evening. But I think most councillors had already decided that it would be best to leave things as they are.

A host of year-end reports from various departments and committees were accepted by Council. There are links to all of them on the meeting agenda. Two were presented by delegations: the Youth Advisory Council, and the Library Report. The latter skated deftly over the Bruce Street facility issue, although my ears perked up when board chairman Stuart Charles referred to the new Main Library having a catchment radius of 3 km, which conveniently encompasses all the area served by Bruce Street.

Funny, but all the previous documents talk about a 2 1/2 km radius.

Surprisingly, nobody made any comment about the Library Report either - not even those councillors who promised to Save the Bruce Street Library during their campaigns. I guess we'll have to wait for that debate another day.

The most interesting part of the whole evening was the assignment of councillor positions on the town's many boards and committees. Some of these were allocated before the meeting, including the two standing committees. But wherever there were more councillors expressing an interest than positions available, a curious election process took place. Each councillor would stand up and name (for example) the two people they wanted for the Hydro board, including themselves if they liked. The votes were tallied, and anyone who received a majority (6 votes) was in. If no one got a majority, the last place person was dropped and the process was repeated.

What made all this so fascinating was what it revealed about potential alliances and rivalries among our councillors. Some were obvious in who they favoured, while others were quite enigmatic. The perceived 'conservatives' on council are tending to be mutually supportive, but not always. The dynamic between Malboeuf and Huffman is proving to be... interesting. Colin Best continues to think and act strategically in all things. Hamid and Di Lorenzo remain strongly allied, although I'm sure we'll start seeing some air between them as the year progresses.

Sharon Barkley seems to be the real wild card here. I thought it was just that I hadn't paid much attention to her campaign, but I've asked a number of people about her and nobody seems to be able to get a handle on where she stands or what her philosophical tendencies might be. I certainly couldn't perceive any pattern or bias to her votes on Monday, unless I'm just missing something.

Or maybe I'm just reading too much into all this.

The full list of committee members probably won't be online until January, but you can find the uncontested councillor appointments on the staff report and most of the contested vote results on my Twitter feed from the evening. Overall it worked out to 4-5 committees and boards per councillor, except for Cindy Lunau who is on everything. There were also a few organizational changes, including the absorption of the Trails Advisory Committee into Community Services, and the addition of one regional councillor to the DBIA.

The one I was watching most closely was the Interview Committee, which is the group that decides which citizens will be on the various committees and advisory groups - like the ones I've applied to. It ended up being Best, Barkley, Hamid, and Di Lorenzo, so at least there'll be a few familiar faces.

One final note: apparently Councillor Tony Lambert had his car stolen in Toronto that day along with his wallet and had to beg cash off of various councillors and staff to pay for his cab back to Milton. It's a terrible thing and I feel bad for him, but I also couldn't help but laugh. After all his talk of problems with street parking during his campaign, the first thing I thought was that maybe he'd been towed.

That was my running gag for the evening.

UPDATE: My letter to the editor about the Lord's Prayer finally made it into the Champion. I've had one rather angry response but many, many more positive comments, so I feel pretty good about it.

 

The final two reports presented at last Monday's council meeting set the stage for the budget deliberations that will consume our new councillors for the next two months. I must say, as anxious as I was to being elected, I don't envy them right now. It's a monumental task to be thrown into right off the bat, but fortunately most of them have been paying close attention for at least the past year and are still keen enough to enthusiastically read every one of the thousands of pages of documents they get handed every week.

Well, I know at least Zeeshan does.

I actually found the presentation by the economic consultant to be quite fascinating, probably because the man himself was an enthusiastic speaker (gotta love an accountant who loves his work).

It's a lot of material (316 pages total), but several points were made in the summary presentation that put a lot of it into context:

• Total growth-related capital costs over the next 10 years for the Town of Milton are forecast to be $945 million dollars which includes roads, parks, arenas, libraries, the fire department, expansion of Town Hall and the arts centre, etc. About $524 million of that is recoverable through development charges (DCs) - the rest will be covered through property taxes, debentures (debt) and direct contributions from developers.

• Municipalities used to be able to cover all growth-related capital costs through DCs. That was the case when the Town first formalized its growth plan, but shortly after (circa 1997), the Province changed the rules and disallowed many items from being covered - including hospitals. These days we can only cover about 60% through DCs

• The debt capacity of the Town is limited by law to 25% of expenditures. Town policy is to limit it further to 20%, but given our rate of growth we would exceed both those marks within a very few years without developers agreeing to cover some capital costs. Without those agreements we would be forced to slow down growth. Oddly, that was completely dismissed as an option.

• Residential growth always costs more than it brings in in terms of DCs and property taxes, whereas commercial and industrial development brings in more than it costs. And because our residential development actually has a bit of catching up to do over the next few years - until Derry Green starts up - our cost/revenue ratio is going to be a bit out of whack for the next little while.

There were also a few line items in the capital forecast from the fiscal impact report that caught my eye. One was $40 million for the local share for the hospital. Another was $25 million for Phase 2 of the Town Hall expansion. And then there is a little over $1 million accounted for under "Bruce Street Facility Renovation", which makes me wonder when that was added.

My favourite was the $62,500 for upgrades to the 'Spice of Life Parkette', which is a patch of grass at Main and Charles about the size of my livingroom that already has a bench, a mural, and some rather elaborate landscaping. I'm not sure what they have in mind for that. Perhaps a hot tub and martini bar?

  

It's been a busy week, but I finally have a chance to write up my notes on the first meeting of Milton's new council last Monday. I hope you had a chance to follow the proceedings on my Twitter feed. I have it displayed on my sidebar, or if you are a fellow Tweep you can follow me at smithward2

It was a long meeting that consisted of the presentation of four background reports: one on the Derry Green Business Park, one on the Boyne Survey Secondary Plan, and two very detailed long-term forecasts on development charges and the fiscal impact of growth.

Derry Green and Boyne are both proceeding apace, with details emerging on the land use distribution. I was glad to heard the "prestige office" locations will be included at prominent locations within Derry Green, although I would have liked to see more. If we are serious about employing Miltonians in Milton, we need the kinds of jobs sought after by new residents who currently commute to Mississauga and Toronto - and they aren't looking for warehouse jobs.

One highlight of the discussion on Derry Green was the commentary by new Local & Regional Councillor Tony Lambert who, true to his campaign priorities, brought up the impact of this development on traffic on Britannia Road. He was very worried that the widening of Britannia wouldn't be completed in time to take the added traffic and wanted the Town to delay until guarantees were obtained from the Region - Britannia being a Regional Road.

He was so concerned, in fact, that he called for a recorded vote and ended up being the only vote against. He did this twice more during the course of the evening, all on the same issue of Britannia road traffic, all ending in the same 9:1 vote.

This had more than a few people scratching their heads since a) Lambert is on Regional Council and would be in a better position to secure such guarantees there, and b) the items being voted on were reports "received for information" and didn't really amount to approval of any specific action. In the case of Derry Green specifically, Colin Best pointed out that not only would access not be chiefly through Britannia, but also business parks like these are notoriously slow to fill up, so by the time traffic became an issue Britannia would be long completed.

The Boyne Survey Secondary Plan hasn't changed much since the last update, except that they now have a draft phasing in place. In fact it's so 'draft' that it's almost comical: Phase #1 will be the western half, Phase #2 the eastern half.

Really?


The first question was, why do the west first? It seemed counter-intuitive, but apparently the pumping station and most of the other water and sewage infrastructure is on the west side.

My bigger concern is that given the size and layout of these lands, I would have hoped to see a little more control over phasing so we can avoid the sort of patchwork development and 'donut holes' we've had to deal with in the past. Hopefully the phasing will be further refined as we move forward.

Other issues: Colin Best questioned the existing policy on garages given that the vast majority of people use their garage for something other than keeping their car in. He mentioned that he's seen everything from rec rooms to hot tubs in people's garages, and suggested (amusingly) that nobody needs to 'stable' their car like people used to stable their horse and carriage - so why do we still have garages? An excellent question, I thought.

Councillor Huffman expressed concern over the recent discovery by the school board that there are 'pockets' of neighbourhoods in some new developments where there are many multi-family / multi-generational households with much higher numbers of residents - especially children - than had been accounted for, and wanted to know if this had been taken into account with the Boyne Survey.

The consultant said that they were aware of this phenomenon in Milton and some other municipalities, but that their data indicates that while such 'pockets' exist, they are the exception and that the number of residents per household overall has remained fairly predictable. He mentioned that new detailed data from the 2011 Census should really help to further clarify the situation - but of course if we don't get the long-form census, we won't get that data on the finer scale that we need it in.

I'm starting to get a little concerned at the tone with which this issue is being raised. Not by Councillor Huffman specifically, but certainly several residents I've spoken to who have brought it up seem to be concerned about more than just adjusting population estimates. I've heard some suggestions that we 'do something' about it, although what exactly that might be is left unsaid.

I would suggest that people try to remember that up until relatively recently, many North American households were multi-generational, with grandparents and often adult siblings sharing a single house with half a dozen or more children. And while this sort of arrangement puts a strain on property tax funded services and throws nuclear family-oriented planning for a loop, it also has many advantages such as reduced utility and vehicle use per capita and reduced need for child care.

I would also remind them that complaints about large families and calls for control of household size have been made many times before in our history, and it's always been ugly. Let's not go there, shall we?

Next up: The Fiscal Impact of Growth and Other Tales of Adventure
 

It was gratifying to see so many people turn out for the two public input sessions on the fate of the Bruce Street Library yesterday. There were about 150 who attended the afternoon meeting and another 40-50 in the evening, so obviously this is still something people feel passionately about.

The meetings were part of the feasibility study being undertaken by a consulting firm hired by the Town of Milton to examine potential uses for the buildings. Each meeting started off with a half hour presentation on the various options identified by the consultants and the costs associated with each. Then the floor was opened up for questions and comments.

I did feel a little bad for the consultants. There was a lot of anger and frustration in that room, and they ended up taking the brunt of it despite the fact that they are not the ones making the final decisions. Those who will be - the councillors and library board members - were safely in the back and largely silent, which I found a little odd. Of course they were there to listen rather than talk, but people had questions they could have answered which the consultants could not.

The consultants' draft report identifies the following options:

1) Maintain some reduced form of library services.

A branch library of about 6,000 square feet (i.e. the main floor, or 1/3 of the current square footage), which would cost about $600,000 per year, mostly to pay staff. It would also cost over $1 million to replace the books, shelves and furniture which will be moved to the new library. 

I would be very interested in seeing the details of these numbers. For one thing, I find it hard to believe anyone is going to want all those old chairs, desks and shelves in the shiny new facility. I also have trouble swallowing those staffing costs, unless they are planning to have seven or eight librarians on site at all times for a library about half the size of the Beaty Branch.

Alternately, they suggested some sort of 'book nook' or reading room which would cost almost nothing since it wouldn't be staffed. That option wasn't very popular with the audience, but now I am concerned that those councillors who promised to keep "some form of library services" at Bruce Street as part of their election campaign will try to use this option as a dodge.

2) Lease out some or all of the space to one or more non-profit organization.

Several groups and organizations have expressed interest in using the space for a youth centre, a multicultural centre, vocational training, child care. The Town could get about $200,000 a year by leasing out all of both buildings, or about $150,000 if they shared with a small branch library.

In either case, if the Town maintained ownership they would have to do about $1 million in renovations to bring the buildings up to accessibility standards, plus spend about $65,000 a year in maintenance costs.

While several in the audience were enthusiastic about the idea of a youth centre, one gentleman who works at the seniors' building next door was quite adamant that he didn't want any youth using the facility, insisting that they had "no business" in that area at all. I half expected him to say something about staying off his damned lawn. Happily, his sentiments didn't seem to be shared by many others.

3) Sell one or both buildings.

Estimated total property value: $3 million. This option wasn't very popular either.

All of these things could be done in combination, of course. For example, they could use some of the main building for a branch library, lease out the rest for office space and evening programs, and sell the smaller administration building to partially cover the renovation costs. But one thing is clear: everyone attending those meetings wants to have at least a branch library maintained at that location.

Not a 'book nook'. A library.

There is another option that wasn't mentioned but that I have heard a couple of people propose now: to sell the properties for redevelopment into a mid-rise condo building on the condition that the main floor be leased back to the Town for a branch library and possibly other community uses.

One of the people who suggested this told me that he didn't want to bring it up at the meeting for fear of being run out on a rail, which I suppose was a reasonable concern. I certainly balked the first time I heard it suggested, and I'm still not convinced it would be a good idea. After all, while it does take care of the renovation and maintenance costs, we would still apparently have to pay upwards of $500,000 a year for library staff. Still, I do think it is worth investigating further.

I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say on this subject in the coming months. For now, there is at least one question that I would very much like an answer to: Why is it that we are only now thinking about what to do with the Bruce Street facility?

The consultants mentioned that there has been no money budgeted for even the basic maintenance of these buildings. Why not? Were they always planning to sell them off? If so, why is there no mention of their disposition in any of the reports or planning documents up to this point?

Something to ponder.

UPDATE: Coverage of the meeting is in Thursday's Champion. Also, the Town has now posted the consultants' presentation on their website, where you will also find a link to submit your comments and suggestions.

   

I attended the inaugural meeting of Milton's Town Council last night to watch our new councillors get sworn in. It might have been a bittersweet moment, but I was so happy to see my friends Zeeshan Hamid and Rick Di Lorenzo up there that I had no regrets.

Photo by Brian Best (not shown: Sharon Barkley, Ward 1)

Our new councillors are certainly going to have their work cut out for them. They will have very little time to adjust to their new positions before they find themselves thrown into the deep end of budget deliberations and other vital decisions. But while I obviously have more confidence in some councillors than in others, as a whole I am optimistic that most of them will find their feet quickly and find a way to move Milton in a more positive, sustainable direction.

The first Council meeting is on December 13th.  I'll be watching.

Rick Di Lorenzo with his campaign manager