OSAT Proposes 3 New Bike Routes
A presentation by 2 members of OSAT (Orangeville Sustainability Action Team) presented Council with a proposal for some new bike routes in Orangeville. See the pics below for the proposed routes:
Route #1
Screen Shot 2015-12-14 at 11.38.45 PM – Well this is awkward
Route #2
Screen Shot 2015-12-14 at 11.39.31 PM – Hopefully they are lovely paths
Route #3
Screen Shot 2015-12-14 at 11.39.55 PM – Picture is still lost
OSAT is looking for families or businesses that are interested in sponsoring a route and they are also going to be doing a Silent Auction to raise some funds to use for the upkeep of these routes.
I LOVE these bike routes – what an awesome way to promote an active community while keeping our cyclists safer! In fact, I am setting up a meeting with one of the members of OSAT to learn more about this initiative…so watch for a full blog post dedicated to Bike Routes in the upcoming weeks!!
What do you think about these routes?? I would love to hear from you…would you use these routes? Would you consider sponsoring one? Do you think there are other areas of Orangeville that need a bike route?
Costing of OPP Policing
I feel like this is the topic that just won’t stop. The time has **almost** come for a costing on OPP Policing Services. Council was informed that the Superintendent required confirmation of the Town of Orangeville’s wish to continue to pursue costing on OPP Services and as such, Councillor Wilson put forward a motion to send that confirmation to the Superintendent as soon as possible. Deputy Mayor Maycock seconded this motion.
Mayor Williams responded to this motion with hesitancy stating his concerns with the fact that a costing was requested a year ago and that it hasn’t been done yet. He also voiced concerns with the service level that the OPP would provide stating that OPS have “turned a corner” and that under the leadership of Chief Kalinski, the level of service and the cost have made significant improvements.
Councillor Wilson replied by stating that the reason for the delay in a receiving a costing was because of a Provincial moratorium on OPP providing costings while they restructured their cost.
The chatter went back and forth with all Council members giving their feelings on OPP…the conversation was unnecessary in my opinion, because whether you support OPP or OPS, this was NOT the topic at hand…the topic was simply requesting a costing. Dollars and Cents. In my humble opinion, not requesting a costing is doing a huge disservice to the tax payers of Orangeville – how can you make a wise decision with MY TAX DOLLARS if you aren’t willing to look at ALL of the costs associated with every line in our budget?!?!?!
So finally, the motion requesting a costing was passed with only Councillor Campbell voting against it.
Budget Time!
Acting CAO Ed Brennan, presented Council with the proposed 2016 Budget. The budget is currently showing a proposed increase of 2.2% – keep in mind this is currently just the proposed budget…budget meetings will begin in January.
Mayor Williams was quite pleased with the budget as it was presented, “I see this as a fairly good budget. Once you factor in the rate of inflation and assessment growth, you’re looking at about 2.2% – that actually resembles about $5 per month as an increase.”
Screen Shot 2015-12-15 at 12.56.49 AM – Gone and Gone
To see the proposed budget, CLICK HERE . One great addition this year in my humble opinion, is if you visit www.orangeville.ca , right on the main page, you can link directly to the proposed budget as well as being able to submit your questions! I hope residents take the time to ASK QUESTIONS!! Be curious!! Understand how your tax dollars are being spent!! (You can email budgetquestions@orangeville.ca) ***NOTE – You have until JANUARY 11th, 2016 to submit your questions*** Budget deliberations are scheduled for January 11th & 25th and February 8th & 29th.
In watching the conversation that occurred after the budget presentation, my humble opinion is that it appears as though budget deliberations for the 2016 budget are going to be deja vu to the 2015 conversations. Sigh…. I am curious to see how many times the words “reserves” and “zero percent” are going to be used…any guesses?
What do you think about the proposed budget? Is it reasonable? Is there anything YOU would like to see added or removed?
THANK YOU
Hard to believe that it has already been a year since the launch of ‘In My Humble Opinions’ and I just want to take a quick minute to thank you…all of you…Thank you to those who read and share and comment. Thank you for stopping me in a store, or at the Farmers Market to chat about Council or Orangeville or one of my blog posts. Keep reading, keep sharing, and keep stopping me around town to chat! In 2016, I am hoping to add some more about Orangeville to the blog…I would love to do some restaurant and business reviews – would you like to see those as well?
Thank you again for reading – I wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas!!!