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WÊÉÉSmËM ! liHlliii Orono Town Hall i*! M life t i ^ ;?!r ! 1 W "jp W Sy'i'S-r- If 1 % o,.e Vo BOWMANVILLE LIBRARY 163 Church Street 1.1.05ac Bowmanville, Ont. L1C 1P7 GST Included Wednesday February 16, 2005 Serving Kendal, Kirby, Lesfcard, Newcastle. Newtonville, Orono, Starkville and Tyrone since 1937 li ;d nil ivi'MM* Chair Anderson ready for challenges of 2005 mi i rL.11 _r ViAQrlniiîirfp.rs in «i.- -Hr ' :il 11 mêâ ;! || , li;;®! î[!l iü'llIjÜ illiiiijiii Il i! f|| •;i • iP'É&l ! ■ • il ; >' mmm ïlR"Sii8«iis| iiiiiii:: PU uii'vriii.i.-ivM Current Regional Chair, Roger Anderson. f Vüi 1 1,' I i!l-' ir>» *1 l 1 - 1 li'ir "LLiîl ife' kl "l r L**i II * ll " l * PL j;uxTf --~T « ' V ' 1 '•il 1 --, ;'/; " , '] iiiii i i <■ i TVi: WA illlllllllll i iiüi'ilji;' lapHsüiiæSiü V 'I, ^ Sf,-? : » IM 6»ütaW6 •üiijljjljp i; !|| V ; - v h i life i | iiiii;[i;iil!irà!iii|iÉiiiiilfe!lili! ! te&r «Mmijaacia m an SBy wiwsiiiipMMjiH. w i h ■'!' 1 » mmj--u,--„ ,, SSSSSTTÎÏ. s»«. »"""ïr " " " " office in Orono on Monday. School buses were cancelled for the day. Council gave their blessing o the Newcastle Santa Claus Parade Committee, who are Drganizing their first parade for Sunday night, November 27, 2005. Committee representative Mark Hendrix appeared before council Monday night with three requests: their blessing, permits for road closures, closures, and permission for a fireworks display to signal the start of the parade. Though a lot of the fine tuning has to he worked out, the route selected begins at the north end of North Street. The parade will progress down North Street to King Street, turn east to go through town, and end at Arthur Street. 1 he route is about one kilometer and should take about an hour to complete, according to Hendrix. The committee is looking into the feasibility of setting off fireworks in the Memorial Park area at 5:30 to kick oil the parade. The committee are following following a real 'home town parade' concept, said Hendrix. 'We re looking for hay wagons and iuu bands." They are looking to have approximately 70 floats participating participating in the parade. Organizers would like to see everyone in the parade who wants to be. "We will consider consider it a success when,not one kid is in the crowd watching," watching," said Hendrix. "We hope they will all be in the parade." Building on the experience experience of this first evening Santa Claus Parade, in Newcastle, organizers plan to continue holding the event annually on the last Sunday in November. This year will be full of change and challenge, said Regional Chair Roger Anderson in his annual address to Clarington Council, Monday night. While some progress was made on a New Deal in 2004, said Anderson, much more needs to be done. "More than a month into 2005, progress on the New . Deal is proceeding at a snail's pace," stated stated Anderson. The Region of Durham Durham is anticipating anticipating an announcement announcement in the federal budget next week on the distribution of the federal gas tax. Negotiations on distribution of those funds within the province are only beginning, he said. The Region is also awaiting provincial decision on Seaton, the Greenbelt Protection Plan and the Golden Horseshoe Growth Plan, due this spring. "All of these initiatives will affect Durham's ability to budget, plan for and accommodate the growth anticipated in the next few decades. Like many other GTA municipalities, Durham is trying trying to deal with cost increases for programs like public health, Ontario Works, long term care and ambulance service, service, all are Provincial initiatives initiatives over which the Region has no control. "Social services services pooling costs- are dictated by the Province with no explanation," explanation," stated Anderson. "Things have to change - we' need the new deal now," he said. Stringent provincial legislation legislation and standards for treatment treatment of septage, wastewater, and biosolids, require the Region to update and add infrastructure to deal with these waste products, according according to Chair Anderson. "The growing gap between regional responsibilities and revenue capacity is unsustainable," stated Anderson. One provincial project that is finally moving ahead is the environmental assessment assessment for the Highway 407 extension. In 2005 the Region will be on the move, says Anderson. Construction of the new Regional headquarters in Whitby, and homes for the aged in Oshawa and Beaverton will be completed this year. Completion of these projects will require moving 1200 regional staff from 10 current location to their new facility. In fall, 284 long term care residents residents and approximately approximately 190 staff will move to the two new homes for the aged. And er son thanked Clarington Clarington Mayor John Mutton and . Council for their initiative in kick-starting the move to regional transit with their motion last year. Other regions have attracted significant federal and provincial transit funding funding for innovative regional scale projects, according to Anderson. 'By moving transit to the regional, level, I believe Durham has greatly increased our opportunities to acquire similar funding," he stated. This year the Region plans to begin over $1 million worth of road reconstruction on Clarington. The main projects will be the reconstruction of the Waverly Road and Baseline Road intersection in Bowmanville. "With a little faith in ourselves, ourselves, a shared vision and some overdue support form senior government, we can seize new opportunities for our Region," Anderson concluded. concluded.