Mayor’s State of the Town Address

Members of the Chamber of Commerce, Members of Council, Town Staff and Guests:

Once again, it is a pleasure to be with you at the Halton Hills Chamber of Commerce Christmas Luncheon to bring greetings on behalf of the Town and Town Council for a very joyous holiday season and a healthy and successful 2013. This marks the 10th year I have been privileged to deliver the State of the Town Address to the community through the Chamber, and I sincerely appreciate that annual opportunity and your attendance.

Let me begin this year by introducing my colleagues, without whom this State of the Town address would not be possible.

I cannot say enough about the respect that I and Town Council have for the excellent Town Staff who provide, what I believe to be a very well-run Town that offers good value and service for your hard earned tax dollars.

With me today from Council are: Jon Hurst, Moya Johnson, Dave Kentner, Ann Lawlor, Bryan Lewis, Mike O’Leary, Joan Robson and Clark Somerville. In addition to the Members of Council that are here, there are a number of Town staff including our new Chief Administrative Officer, David Smith. David is an experienced administrator who has come recently to us from the City of Waterloo as the Deputy Chief Administrative Officer and General Manager of Community Services. I am confident that he will do a great job for the Town as the CAO. He will be assisted by our experienced and talented Senior Management Team consisting of: Terry Alyman, Ed DeSousa, Jane Diamanti, John Linhardt, Brent Marshall and Chris Mills.

At this time I would also like to congratulate President McDonald on his new role to head the Chamber. Congratulations, as well to the other Members of the newly elected Executive. The Chamber is an extremely important part of the fabric of our Town. Its work, on behalf of the businesses of this Town, is important work. Our businesses are part of the lifeblood of this community. They provide vibrancy to the Town and provide the Town with a good local economy, let alone the tax dollars that enable the Town to provide the services it delivers. Thank you to the Chamber for its ongoing contribution to the Town and to the Community. Your contribution is much appreciated.

The theme of my address this year is taken from the current Town motto “Working Together Working for You”. That motto summarizes the work of your Town, Town Council and Town Staff over the last year.


2012 Accomplishments

In terms of the accomplishments for the Town in 2012, I am pleased to say there were many, but first let me mention two major accomplishments that I believe are quite exceptional.


Major Accomplishments

The Town has a long term Strategic Plan, an Official Plan for the planning of the Town, a Council Strategic Action Plan which are the key strategic actions that this Council has agreed to complete successfully by the end of its term in 2014. One such action completed to 2012 was a very important long term plan for the community as a whole, not just the Town but the entire community. That is the Integrated Community Sustainability Strategy. It is a fifty year strategy developed by the community including representatives from this Chamber.

The Strategy describes the important themes that will make a community such as ours sustainable for the longer term. It also sets the goals and performance metrics for achieving that strategy over the next fifty years. The completion of that Strategy is a tribute to the entire community.

Hundreds of people working and living in this community contributed to the creation of that Strategy through online surveys, in person surveys, in person focus groups and through public workshops. As Mayor it was very gratifying to see how many people from the community are committed to seeing this community thrive and sustain itself as a beautiful place to live and work for the long term future.

As in any exercise of this magnitude there were a number of significant leaders and they included many members of the public and Chamber members. The Steering Committee was headed by its Chair Bob Knox. We identified the four pillars of sustainability – Economic Prosperity; Environmental Health; Social Well Being and Cultural Vibrancy.

2013 will mark the beginning of the next step in the Sustainability Journey; implementation. The implementation will be just as challenging as the creation of the Strategy but I am confident this community will meet the challenge.

However, so much of the ICCS is within the jurisdiction of other governments, government agencies, businesses, residents and volunteer groups in the Town. So, today, as part of this address I call on you, the Chamber, to continue to show leadership and do what you as a Chamber can do and to urge your Members as individual businesses to help implement the goals.

If this strategy is to be a success it cannot simply be a Town effort, it must be a true community effort with everyone doing what they can to achieve long term sustainability.

Another major accomplishment this year was that the Town, once again, aided by an exceptional community effort, and persuaded the Province to change its proposed transportation strategy for the G.T.A. Area West Corridor.

When I last appeared in front of the Chamber, the Province had announced a draft GTA West Corridor Transportation Strategy that would have seen the creation of a brand new six lane (to start with ) 400 series highway cutting across the heartland of Halton Hills. It would have devastated a large part of our rural area; it would have changed the intended land use for that area from a primarily agricultural and rural land area to residential area and would have undermined the growth plan the Town has just adopted as well as the Sustainability Strategy I just spoke to before.

A brand new corridor through the heartland of Halton Hills was not necessary.

Last year at this time, I spoke to Minister Chiarelli and gave a sound case why the 4-3 should not go ahead. It was based on facts and figures, not on emotion. As a result of my meeting the Minister ordered a reassessment of the draft Transportation Strategy as it affected Halton Hills and I am pleased to say that the logic, reason and perseverance of the Town and its community won out the 4-3 is killed.

Other accomplishments in 2012

As to other highlights of note in 2012 , is great to see the construction of the hospital renovation and expansion underway. The Town was a major contributor to that project with its grant of $2.6M complementing the funding from the Province, the community and the hospital itself.
Another accomplishment for 2012 is the virtual completion of the renovation and expansion of the Main Library & Cultural Centre in Georgetown. It is a magnificent facility and will reopen early in 2013.

When one combines the Main Library and Cultural Centre in Georgetown with the new Acton Branch Library, Halton Hills is second to no other community this size in this Province in terms of the literacy, learning and cultural opportunities available to those living and working in their community.

Fred Helson did it again. He kicked started the hospital fundraising with a one million dollar donation. On November 5th, he gifted a most incredible art collection to the people of Halton Hills. This collection of art is valued at over $800,000. Included are works from the Group of Seven, Kreghoff, and A.Y. Jackson to name a few.

A gift of this magnitude and significance is an incredible cultural gift to the community. Hence council has renamed the new refurbished gallery the “the Helson Gallery”.

Another great milestone for 2012 is the start of the quading of the Moldmaster Arena. All being good, by next September the Town will have a modern replacement ice pad for the Memorial and an additional ice pad to meet the present and future arena needs in winter and summer.

When Council made their decision to move forward on this construction program, we looked at both the capital construction impacts, and the operating budget impacts.

I wish to inform you that on the capital construction side of things, the project is being funded by $5.4 million dollars in development charges, $4 million dollars from arena users, and the balance of $9.5 million from reserves. As such, there is no direct impact on your property taxes. Certainly current and past tax dollars set aside for large capital expenditures such as this are being used. The twinning of Acton will have an impact. But that will complete our needs.

On the operating budget side of things, you should know that the current single pad arena (Memorial Arena) operated at a deficit of approximately $135,000 in 2011. The new twin pad project is budgeted to break even, so in turn will have a positive outcome on the operating budget.

I reported last year that 369 hours of out of town ice was rented on behalf of our users. This number does not include any out of town ice rented directly by user groups, skating clubs, rep and house league or other organizations.

This season the hours booked by Town staff has now climbed to 511 hours of out of town ice being booked. It is estimated that almost 1000 hours of ice this year will be booked out of town. That is a lot of dollars flowing out of Halton Hills.

At this point let me just take a moment to praise the diligent efforts of three fundraising groups who are doing such a splendid job in our community of contributing to public facilities and helping to ease that impact.

These are the fundraising groups for the hospital expansion, the renovation and expansion of the Library and Cultural Centre and the quading of the Moldmaster Arena complex. As Mayor, it is very heartening to see the efforts of so many citizens stepping up to the call for help to build these facilities not only with tax dollars but also with volunteer donations.

To the Georgetown Hospital Foundation and auxiliary, to the Halton Hills Arena User Group (HHAUG) and to the Library and Cultural Centre Funding Group my sincere thank you for the enormous effort that you are putting in on the organization of these fundraising campaigns. TransCanada $200.000 donation to the Arenas.

Another accomplishment for this year is the reconstruction of the Acton GO Train Station and the return of GO Train Service to Acton after some 20 years. It is a service that should never have been cancelled in the first place.

The Town was instrumental in making the return of GO a reality by working out acceptable leasing and licensing arrangements with GO Transit, now called Metrolinx and the Hide House with respect to use of the Town parking lot adjacent to the GO Station location.

2012 has also marked the completion of the relocation and expansion of the tennis court complex from Moldmasters to the Gellert Community Centre as part of the quading of the Moldmaster Arena. With these new tennis facilities in Georgetown, the people of Halton Hills now have excellent facilities for tennis.

Council was pleased to see the name change for the tennis club at Gellert to the Halton Hills Tennis Club, emphasizing that Gellert and the facilities surrounding Gellert are available to all of the community whether they be in Acton, Georgetown or Esquesing.

Trafalgar Sports Park is now 90% complete.  The Trafalgar Sports Complex has a beautiful ball diamond and 11 beautiful soccer fields of which 3 are lighted.

I am told that the Trafalgar Sports Complex is now one of the prime outdoor soccer facilities in communities of our size anywhere in the Province and that soccer teams from other communities are very jealous when they come to our Town to participate in soccer tournaments. They can’t say enough good things about how great the Trafalgar Sports Complex is. When one adds the indoor soccer facility at the Dufferin Acton Agricultural Society Building in Prospect Park to all of the other excellent soccer facilities throughout our Town including the “Field of Dreams” as an artificial outdoor facility, the Town is truly blessed.

This year, as well, Town Council was pleased to see the completion of a new trail bridge and more trails throughout the Town for increasing our active transportation network and our recreational service to our citizens.

The old Acton Town hall will become accessible. This was made possible by the Town providing a prepaid capital lease payment which will commence whenever the Town moves forward with its Acton Youth Recreation Centre.

The placement of the elevator in the old Acton Town Hall along with the eventual placement of the Acton Youth Recreation Centre will sustain the renewed vibrancy and sustainability of that heritage institution.

With respect of seniors, the Town made a major policy decision this past year that the provision of the much needed expanded Seniors Centre facilities in Acton and Georgetown would have to come by way of buying, leasing or partnering with existing facilities to provide the additional space requested rather than the building of brand new or expanded larger Seniors Centers in both Georgetown and Acton.

Town Council made a difficult but I believe wise decision financially by not proceeding with the $16 Million phase II Gellert expansion and the $2.4 Million Dollar Acton Seniors Centre expansion.

With the variety of capital projects recently completed or currently under way, Council has taken a pause to understand the Town's financial ability to build "new space". Particularly those new spaces required for seniors and youth. Council knows that additional space is required for both groups and we have asked staff to look at alternatives to building new facilities at this time.

While this is not ideally what our seniors are looking for, Council is looking at more affordable options through a "Buy, Lease, or Partnership" model - that will satisfy their immediate needs for more space until such time that we can better afford to build new space.

With Town Staff, I along with the councillor liaisons met with the Board of Directors of each of the two Seniors Centres to inform them of the policy choice made by Council and to ask for their cooperation and input into where Town staff may look for existing facilities that could be obtained by purchase, lease or through partnership to satisfy the needs for seniors for years to come.

As to the other highlights for 2012, they are as follows:

Economic Development Strategy

Another major step forward by the Town in 2012 will be the adoption of a new 10 year Economic Development Strategy to replace the old 1998 Strategy.

The new Strategy highlights are: A menu of Action items that will assist the Town in promoting economic growth for the next ten years.

Over 170 businesses responded to the online survey, forty one-on-one interviews were conducted with people from all business sectors in the Town of Halton Hills.

A public interactive forum was held in October with over 50 attendees and the final plan will be presented to the Town’s Economic Development Committee on December 10, 2012 with implementation commencing in 2013.

Another Highlight was the ground breaking of the Toronto Premium Outlet Mall which will be opening next summer. There will be a job fair for Halton Hills residents. 73% of stores are leased.

The OLG announced One gaming site can be situated in C4 which includes parts of Halton Hills and Milton. Council has passed a resolution confirming that the 401-407 Corridor could be a suitable location for a gaming centre. This would provide economic opportunities for the Town and options for landowners in the corridor. We are looking at 5.9 tax Milton is 3. We will have public input.

Last but definitely not least, we recently announced that First Gulf and Sun Life Financial the construction of 435,000 sq. ft. building. They have invested 35 million dollars in this Town and paid 4.6 million in DC’s.

They wouldn’t have invested in this Town if they didn’t believe Halton Hills having a bright future. I hear it getting close to being leased which means more jobs and assessment coming to town.

Corporate Services

The citizen Satisfaction Survey results are in. Staff completed and presented the citizen satisfaction telephone survey results in early 2012. The survey also compared results from the 2005 survey to measure the Town’s performance.

Significantly more citizens rate the quality of life as “excellent” compared to 2005, suggesting that satisfaction has improved.

Citizens continue to value the small Town atmosphere, friendliness and quietness of the Town the most, an opinion shared across all demographic groups. A majority of citizens also rate positively overall satisfaction with the Town’s services.
The Town also benchmarked its service delivery with other local governments in Canada and performed at an average to above average level on most measures including overall satisfaction with service delivery, timeliness, fairness, and knowledgeable staff by getting through to a staff person without difficulty.

In Planning, Development and Sustainability these are some of the additional highlights for 2012:

The Town is beginning a Planning exercise for Southwest Georgetown. This new community will play a key role in accommodating the Town’s legislated population growth to the year 2031.

Council’s vision is for this new community to be more people-friendly, sustainable, pedestrian and cycling friendly, and have places for people to gather.

Council is seeking two residents of Halton Hills to sit on the project Steering Committee If you are interested in contributing to this important project, I encourage you to apply.

• 2012 saw a significant upswing in building permit revenue as both significant development in the 401 corridor occurred with the Premium Outlet Mall and the uptake of the initial 1200 SDE commenced.

• Staff from Infrastructure, Planning and Rec and Parks have been working on a comprehensive development manual to assist applicants through the process and should be ready early next year.

In terms of Fire Services highlights for 2012 they are:

Two new full time fire fighters were hired in June.

Fire Services also organized two emergency preparedness exercises.

The first; an exercise dealing with the crash of a cargo aircraft in the rural area and the second exercise dealt with a major fire in a building collapsing in the Georgetown core area.

So that completes this overview of what happened in 2012. I will now move on to talk about what you might expect in the year ahead - 2013.

First, let me speak to the Hydro Review, now underway at the Provincial level; the Province has engaged the three wise men Murray Elston, David McFadden and Floyd Laughren to revisit the issue of electricity distribution in the Province and whether there are too many local hydros and if so what action should be taken.

There is a risk that despite Council’s position that Halton Hills Hydro is not for sale and that Council wishes to keep its Hydro Company including the interest and dividend payments it receives on a regular basis each year, there may be a push from those interested in acquiring Halton Hills Hydro to have the Province, require consolidation of a number of hydro’s including Halton Hills Hydro.

I remain strongly against any proposed restructuring that would see the loss of Town control of or the elimination of Halton Hills Hydro and so we are diligently watching that review.
Here are a couple of examples as to why we want to keep our Hydro Utility:

• The town receives dividends. Nearby Town sold their hydro utility and now is experiencing 10% or more in tax increases.

• During Hurricane Sandy, Hydro worked with local Emergency Services – we sent workers to New York and we are very proud of them.

• You don’t heat your house by burning your furniture.

We don’t want a faceless organizing. We are local

Brampton Brick Shale Quarry and Acton Aggregate Quarry

2013 will also be a year where the quarry applications in Norval for Brampton Brick and in Acton at the Acton Quarry by Holcim/Dufferin will be proceeding perhaps even to hearings under the Planning Act and the Aggregate Resources Act. Will say that Brampton Brick proposal to have WCB north of Norval as truck route is asinine.

Town Council is approaching those quarry expansions with care and will be making its positions known as to the expansions in the first half of the New Year.


GTA West Transportation Strategy and HPBATS

It is expected that the Planning processes for the Halton-Peel Boundary Area Transportation System and for the adopted GTA West Alternative 4-2 will get underway in 2013. Council will have to be very diligent in watching these planning processes to make sure that they do not unduly impact in a negative way, the Town of Halton Hills, affected rural residents and the Town’s 401 Corridor and employment lands.

Economic Development Strategy

With the adoption of the new Economic Development Strategy I mentioned earlier 2013 will mark the first year of implementation. Our drive to increase the development of our industrial and employment lands will be never-ending.

It must be aggressive, persistent, and consistent as business is a big source for increased revenues to help the Town offset its infrastructure and operational needs.

In addition, more jobs in the community add to the local economy and provide greater opportunity for those who wish to live and work in Halton Hills to do just that.

Branding Study

In late 2012, the Town partnered with the Halton Hills Cultural Roundtable to undertake a Branding Study for the Town. The idea was to create a new Brand for the Town and Community that better reflected the identity of the Community and town going forward. That Study will be completed in 2013.

The idea was to create a new Brand for the Town and Community that better reflected the identity of the Community.

The new Brand will capture the values that make up Halton Hills, the tag lines and other marketing tools will be available for use throughout the community, including businesses, residents, community organizations and of course the Town. The goal to let the world know what Halton Hills has to offer.

Other Town Matters

The Town Council has taken a position to return to Milton on the next Federal Election. Elections Canada has reviewed our boundaries and is now recommending that we be part of Milton. Council supports this change for the following reasons:

1. Long history with Milton – 150 years/ only 8 yrs in Wellington

2. We share 100% of the same Regional Council/Separate and Public School Boards/Conservation Halton

3. We are in the GTA

4. Halton will be going from 3 ½ MPs/MPPs to 5 it doesn’t matter what party they will have to advocate for Halton issues.

5. We will have the larger portion of the population 60,000 to 40,000 Milton. This part of Milton will not be the portion that will grow. We will not be swallowed up as the growth for Milton is the southern part of Milton not the part joining us

6. Milton will be gaining two MP’s and two MPP’s – a deal for them but they don’t get it!

Council at our last meeting has deemed the Memorial Arena site, Old ambulance building and a portion of the land next door to the Civic Centre. Not the land directly fronting on Maple Avenue as surplus lands.

This is to be ratified next Monday night at council. Then a process will begin on how to best market the land with the notion of best price and best use. Council and the public will want to have a say on what is to go in there.



Regional Matters

The Region will also be seeking approval for an increased water-taking from the Cedarvale well to allow for the next phase of development within the existing urban boundary; that will consist of some 1200 units to take place.

In Acton, we are hopeful that the Region will complete the Environmental Assessment for the expansion of the Acton Sewage Treatment Plant such that the plant expansion can get underway in 2014. This will allow for ongoing development in Acton.
• The Region has approved “Place to Grow”

• They have booked 19 weeks next September at the OMB – this is nuts as this will cost millions of dollars!

• We did our due diligence, this was Provincial driven you have to pay for the appeals and defend our positions.  Let’s keep it real.

• Develop programs that will assist the farm industry (succession planning, attracting new farmers)

Conclusion

This completes my State of the Town report for 2012 “Working Together Working for You”.  I hope this report has demonstrated to you that your Town Council and Town Staff are busy doing good work by providing the services that you the citizens and businesses of Halton hills wish to see and continuously improving the quality of life for all those making Halton Hills the great hometown it is.

As it is the Holiday season remember help each other. To shop smart, shop local shop Halton Hills. Thank you for your attention, Merry Christmas.