Traffic parking survey finds no big problems No additional off street parking Is required in Acton according to the Traffic Operations Study commissioned by council The report was done by M M Dillon Limited con sulting engineers and planners at council request and was presented last week It will be forwarded to Helton Hills council The coat is per cent paid by the Department of Transportation undertaken in an effort to find appropriate solutions to any specific problems Investigation of accidents brought several Mill St is considered too narrow for parking lis and hidden Intersections are a problem on Main St There was no pattern to the accidents at Mill and Main so no recommendations could be made Marking and signs were included in the recom mendations The study Identified that there Is no capacity defic iency at the three intersec tions studied High levels of service are experienced at the Main and Mill tlon Queen and Ac ton Meadvate Intersection and Queen and Churchill intersection A total of 1029 vehicles was counted in an eighthour per iod on Thursday and v eh on Friday Both days were counted in September The peak accumulation of parked cars in the study area reached at 30 on the Thursday Saturday the peak reached 143 at Parking space in the study area Is not fully utilized or overloaded with a minor exception In one block Consequently there is no shortage of space Specific recommendations include opera I improve ments to the Main and Mill intersection erection of hid den intersection signs on Main Street South of a new traffic by law more frequent repainting of pavement markings earlier replacement of traffic signs and better parking bylaw enforcement Data gathering Manual traffic volume counts were taken at three intersections The locations and times of the counts were Main Street and Mill Street- Thursday September 6 1130am to and Friday September to Queen Street and Churchill Road Friday September 1S73 it Mam to 30 Queen Street andActon Boulevard Mead v ale Road Friday September 7 1973 11 30am to4 At the Main and Mill Streets Intersection one spe cial movement was recorded the west bound right turn on Mill Street making shortly there after a left turn Into the I A parking lot Machine counts were taken on Main Street Highway between Guelph Street West and Elizabeth Drive and on Queen Street Highway at the east limit of The town Pedestrian Volume Pedestrians crossing Mill Street in the area from Main Street to John Street were counted during the same per as the traffic volume counts at Main and MID Streets Parking Inventory An nventory of the and types of parking spaces was prepared The area covered In the Inventory Included the following streets Mill Street both sides from Park Avenue to Eastern Avenue Main Street both sides from Knox Street St Alban Drive to Church Street Bower Street from Willow Street to Mill Street Church Street from Main Street to Eastern ue Willow Street from Bower Street to Church Street John Street from Bower Street to Church Street Elgin Street from Bower Street to Church Street Frederick Street from Bower Street to Church Street Wilbur Street from Bower Street to Church Street Fellows Street from Mill Street to Church Street Eastern Avenue west side from Mill Street to Church Street It included the three churchowned parking lots but did not include any other off street spaces The bers of spaces identified were and 71 off street spaces a total of 724 On Thursday September from and on Friday September from I pm to the licence numbers of all cara parked on street In the Inventory area were recorded every Continued on Page NINETY NINTH YEAR NO ACTON ONTARIO THURSDAY DECEMBER 14040 LIP grant for Lions pool A Local Initiative Program grant has been recommended for the Acton Lions Club centennial pool project at the high school The project will employ five people drawn from local Canada Manpower Centres The Lions will supervise their employment here The Horn eft hat been Informed of the grant and has already been in contact with Canada Manpower The club had applied for a higher sum to cover more of the cost of labor There had been IB or IB applications in Halton county for UP grants with six granted The largest project Is Halton Helping with employees and a grant of In Georgetown the Fur Repair Workshop for the Handicapped will receive to support ita three employees The workshop had applied for six employees originally they hope to become self supporting The Kelso Music Centre receives to employ three persons It has operated previously with government grants The Housing System Group Home a house for drug users in Oak get for five The Fxpcrlence Centre at th three workers will receive The grants were mended by a Citizens Advisory Group with Peter Marks as chairman They had available and rated the from every community In the county Fourteen Pages Fifteen Cents Passes exams Alan McNabb ion or Mr and Mrs J Cobbtehlll has recently passed the Canadian Char tered Accountant exams and will qualify in June He is currently a member of the Kingston branch of Thome A Co Wife Trudy Morris Is studying for her D In Biochemistry at Queen University in Kingston Thursday edition s Free Press will be published Thursday Jan of Wednesday to allow the staff to have a New Year tl day The Free Press off and plant will remain closed Mo day and Tuesday Dec 31 and Jan 1 Bus passengers down The second year of Acton Christmas bus service showed a decrease in passengers according to the ft tall ted by Ted Tyler of Tyler Transport One bus driven by Ken provided a regular minute bus service leaving the town hall and covering three areas with routes set up for the east central and westerly sections of the town From December 10 until December the service ran from until p daily as a town subsidised Christmas service for residents Last year bus was free but this year with a ten cent fee required the numbers of people using the bus were not as large According to Ted Tyler continuance of the holiday service is dependent mainly on the attitude of the new council There is no way it can be provided by the town without subsidy he said According to last year passenger count there was drop off of I people using the buses Route one taking Glenlea and east side of Acton showed a count of on bus for ten days and for days in 715 residents used the lilies Route two taking passengers to the Crescent Warren Grove and central subd vision areas counted and in For route three to Kingham and to the sen or cit apartments ro ng the west side of town residents used the bus as compared to for the Two hurt Dec 26 Two people were hurt as i result of a two car col lis on which occurred at the June tion of Hghvvay and the Fifth Line in Eramosa on Wednesday Dec at ap proximately 4 m Ian of 1 Alton was driving a Mercedes Southbound on H when he coll ded w th Andre Van or 3 Acton who was proceeding westbound on County Rood v a Ford treated at the General Hospital for severe facial lacerations and a broken nose passenger Linda Van 17 received a fractured left ankle Damage to the vehicle was estimated at and to the Van Exen 13 days in 1973 Total number using the bus for ten days in 1972 was For days in 1973 the count read 1380 Route one to the east aide of Acton showed the largest number of residents utilizing the service Sweepstake ticket drawn PostChristmas excitement at the home of Mr and Mrs Ken Budd 180 Parkway Guelph this weekend came over a special phone call last Friday alerting Ken that a ticket he bad purchased last October on the Irish sweepstakes has been drawn The call was from Ted Tyler Sr of Acton who noticed Ken name on the list in a Toronto dally newspaper Ken Budd is a well In Acton as the bus driver of the Christmas bus service through town Single collision Only one accident was vert gated in town during the past week The road was snowy and Icy when a car driven by Peter Jenkins Guelph was in collision with a parked truck owned by Gordon Varcoe R The collision happened at Mackenzie Lumber on Dec Damage to the truck was estimated at and to the car at tsoff to Hills Like Cinderella Acton heading to drastic changes at the stroke of midnight on Monday December 31 On Tuesday Jan Acton has no council no town works or office staff no parks and recrea board planning board development com mission committee of adjustment On the first day of our centennial year every thing will change as Acton steps gingerly into regional government as a part of newly named Haiton Hills Mayor Duby is helping steer 32 people of Acton Esquesing and Georgetown into a uni ted group and the strain of many meetings boosted the quality of a bad case of the u he had at Christmas Although he didn miss a church service Acton s wind up meetings merged with Halton Hills committee meetings to set up the system and beat out a procedural bylaw based on Ac tons Doubleduty insists that Hdls organization is coming along fine thank you compared to other areas Long an advocate of regional cooperation he insists something had to done This is it And we re going to have to live with it Weweren ourselves Basically parochial views are being shelved and all are working in the best interests of everyone For a while everything will remain the same as far as most of the people of the town and mediate district are concerned For a broken main afire a fine contact the usual people and the same people will respond In his last week as mayor of our pleasant little town Mayor says he wants to make sure things remain easy for the people here As the new councillor elect from Acton to Hal ton Hills mayor has shared in many meet of the new council not as councillor but as a member of the pro tern committee making recommendations to the new council after it s sworn Jan 3 These recommendations are confidential mayor says as it s con ceivable appointments could be changed when they come up at the first regular meeting of Halton Hills Council Jan 7 Hopefully there will be no change We have to put faith In the Whiles decisions already a staff heads will be appointed other recommendations must follow ana many many matters of concern are not yet decided So in commenting on how things will be in Ac ton next week the mayor is giving his personal opinion In the middle of January everyone will leave Acton town office on Mill St but two Those remaining will be Mrs Clarke who will take sewer and water bills and Ron McKnight They 11 be available with information and can relay calls to headquarters Clerk Grant Usher becomes deputy treasurer of Halton Hills and he be moving to 36 Main S Georgetown the former Georgetown town office which becomes the treasury department He 11 be in charge of all licensing and have sibihty for taxes Hugh Patterson assistant here goes to the same office as purchasing agent Heather Joyce Pickles and Su ban Lockerbie will be leaving the Acton office as well to work in Georgetown All the Acton office and works staff will be automatically part of Halton Hills staff Duby superintendent of services for the region will work under general superintendent Frank Morette formerly Georgetown superintendent and Esquesing Bud Snow will be superintendent of roads But Acton town works yard will still be here withourequipment whether Mr Duby is here or in Georgetown Certainly the former town men will be working out of here for a while at least With ratifications of Mick Holmes as fire chief he certainly won t be always in Actor in his new full time post But the volunteer brigade system remains and all present contracts for fire protection in parts of Esquesing and Nassaga will be honored New agreements are be drafted now Hopefully mutual aid will be maintained the mayor thinks Boundary changes will likely evolve Two deputy fire chiefs will be needed in the mayor opinion The top man will be busy with administration fire prevention work etc and Mr Duby pointed out the fire of has recommended a full time chief for Acton for the past several years I see no reason why Acton people should have to travel to Georgetown for anything asserts the mayor Townspeople can go to the office Cont on Page 3 a Milton businessman who a one man delegation expressed concern about overspending for the warden dinner last year has once again ex A FORGED NOTE supposedly from new Halton counal The tables from Acton council chamber HUls mayor Tom Hill says Thanks for the fur are destined for the new council room of Halton event Mayor Les is left with a hammer for Hills now being refurbished in the basement of According to figures a gavel and picnic table and bench instead of his township hall The room here will has secured from regal chair at the last official meeting of Acton become a dropin centre for senior citizens the county administration Wardens dinner overspent building tbell budget for the 1973 dinner In honor of Warden Anne MacArthur was exceeded by for a total expense of The dinner in for Warden Jim Swanborough coat The budget for that dinner was also While Goutouski missed the last meeting of County Council be has written a letter to both Warden Anne MacArthur and to John White Minister of Treasury Economics and Intergovern mental In his letter to the warden he refers to a letter Mrs MacArthur wrote to him Jan 19 1973 In that letter the warden promised the 1973 dinner would be put on within the budget as set This year I have ap pointed a special committee to review the matter of an annua dinner in honor of the warden and this committee will be reporting to council from time to time so that in the event a dinner is held I established In our annual budgets Mrs In his letter Dec Goutouski reminded the warden of that commitment and asked for an explanation 1 m sure the dinner pleased all those who at tended the bills have been paid and my only comment is this County Council has been dishonest in their conduct and by their actions he said