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Recommend widen Hills works comm decided Monday to widen sidewalks on Mill Street and ban parking on the south side of the street once the reconstruction job is completed this year During a lone discussion the committee looked at number of for but settled on the one which will mean a loss of more parking spots for customers shopping in downtown Acton The committee decided to ban parking because it will make merchants meet the head on If w don I an parking on the south side merchants will never gel together and develop off street parking Councillor Hyde said and Councillor Dick shared the view that removing tht parking on the south side of Mill Street would give the merchants the necessary incentive to get to gether and develop some off street parking lav or The observed the down town merchants were lucky they I with plazas and suggested forcing the gel together years of fighting irking facilities tht were do ing them a favor 11 wis suggested m my businessmen w the town to them councillors Jot Mike v to hold a meeting between committee and downtown merchants lo find out exactly what they wanted done with the street Hyde and opposed his idea because the ants haven I been able to to a consensus yet and likely to at mother meeting The committee considered reconstructing Mill Street and leaving it just the way it is with no changes in parking or sidewalk idth but the idea was rejected It will tost bucks from all over II Hills for this pro ject and I think would be to simply reconstruct the street the way it is now I Inte to against the wishes of the representatives hut something is to be done about the street Hyde de clared Engineer Robert Austin said the project will cost and come out of both Hills and Queen Park coffers Hyde said the same prob lem existed in Georgetown when one side of Main Sstreet had angle parking and the change to parallel parking got merchants moving on off street parking Hurst observed there is a big difference between Main Street Georgetown and Mill Street Acton since Mill Street is a highway with through traffic He admitted Queens Park would be happy with a south side parking ban Hurst said he wasn t entire ly against the Idea but stress the importance of consult more with the merchants tic said many of Acton traffic congestion problems could be solved when a by pass eventually materializes and admitted white the side walk on the north side of Mill Street was a little narrow there t be as mueh of a problem If merchandise wos kept off the walk Austin said in discussions with merchants one day hey want wider sidewalks and the they don t He said If the street was reconstructed as Is parking could be b inned in he future Hurst observed if parking was banned after it would be hard to bring it back Austin said the town planu want wider sidewalks and have suggested interlocking cobblestones instead of ton in tht Main to John Street arc i lit if they are installed properly they don t tost any more to miin tain and add th itttr lo the sidewalks He noted if pirkinj wis banned on one side the dnv lants would be ider even with the irtid It is poor strcil to drive down and for ike of the merchants we should be look me it improving it ind not just leaving it the it is said He Hid itreed the town t will until tht mtrch mis com to I ton they jiyj the development of off street parking because both could be a long time coming The committee received letters about parking from Councillors Us and Pat at the meeting alone with a letter posted In signed by a concerned merchant On rtcomm committee decided to ignore the last letter until the writer came and identified him Copies of their letters have been the I- ree by councillors and on request The letters were not discussed at mttting These letters follow teller Gentlemen May I congratulate you and your committee for giving the re- development of Mill Street in Ward 1 an excellent rating for and may I take this opportunity to mention that I have a concern in this redevelopment and ask your committee for further consideration Although the final recom mendation has not come to council tht comments at our last Planning Committee meeting led me to believe that your committee has a decision on parking on the South side of Mill Street I m sure that you are all aw irt that there is a very serious pirkuig problem in the downtown area of Ward at the present time The chants are presently planning to alleviate this problem by providing off street park but their assessment is such that they cannot cope with the problem if COUNCIL bans parking on the South Side of Mill Street from Main Street to Fellows If we ban parking on one side of Mill Street we are solving a problem on No Highway for the Province of Ontario at the expense of merchants and residents of Ward This concern has ilready been mentioned to you by the merchants and tht lumber of Commerce Therefore I ask that com mittee reopen this very unpagt One Hundred and First Year ACTON ONTARIO WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY Twenty Six Pages Fifteen Cents 4000 grant from region for Community Services Centre After lengthy debate Hills Mayor Tom Hill and Councillor Pat McKenzie were finally able to pry out of Region Admin istration Committee for Acton s new Community Ser vices Centre They had been looking for a grant of 6 Burlington Mayor George Harrington led the discus sion endorsing the of having ill the various service agencies under roof but objected to the hiring of a for the centre Harrington charged all to often projects like tins end up being a job making process for chair David Coons noted there isn a social planning council in North Hesaidthenew centre would Bring all the services together for the dents McKenzie informed the councillors the person to be hired wasn really a but in fact was a receptionist He said the receptionist t be a highly paid social services professional and would come from the Acton area The Acton regional repre sentative said the centre would have two rooms rent free at the Acton building so money was needed to cover the receptionists wages and other expenses noted Hills will give a grant of 000 and Queen s Park has promised to fork over some money if the region does Hill pointed out the recept was needed to handle referrals of residents to the various agencies Harrington complained that in Burlington and Oak ville such projects are sup ported entirely by the local municipality and maintained Behind schedule in budget drafting The 197G budget will be ready for the Finance and Personnel committee to review on March only one week behind schedule cording to Hills trca surer Raymond King Mr King told the commit tee Monday evening that the February deadline could not be met but he said the budget would be available for the March a meeting of the committee The town had instructed department heads to keep their budget increases dawn to ten per cent over last year This according to Mr King is a combination of the government s and the area municipality attempt to restrict expenditures Mr Kingcxplamed that the total general budget is a gearing exercise and once the Board of Education and the Regions bud gets come through the trca surer can adjust accordingly Councillor Ernie Sykes said it would be interesting to note the region budget as they are also going through and austerity program and he hopes it will reflect the Hills levy iltlj Hilton Hill sjob to finjnte the idded groups in area should be approached for F in silted while there are services in the south there like this in north Hi the pro- is just off the gound if it didn t click it would be drop ped idded there will be local fund car Hill noted the centre is heme to set if it is wi rlliwhilc promised the committee it see it bilk on next gnnt request Hill and pointed out residents have to leave the town to eon GO is on the go now serves town buses in 1 flagged down anywhere along Highway Seven in Acton according GO spokesnnn lorn Henry The service came into effect on I l replacing tin Coith lints Mr explained that tht different between s service the oath is the lower fires with and the different co lors Signs hue been posit throughout tin town designating where the buses will stop but the spi kesm in Hies in come to bait out that they no ijcncv Wit son s ml is rev but ire striving to find i pi ice he buses leave and continue along Highway Sum Brampton where south on Highway ten to Here the buses turn on highway five and south on St to the B ind bus terminal I he trip tikes in hour Mr ileal I buses through hi wtekdivs and he number on weekends exlri bus with tin Georgetown train once i also of vet it is not known how minv Kissingers from take of bus Mr sud Since there is no depot here vet sent bus are dropped off in Georgetown P A system at Acton pool public iddress system will In installed in the pool at School if Hills council agrees with id committee Superintendent safitv measure The committee thev would try to collect the cost from Board of Fdue i Hon Etov Booth Slid he mid not understand why the town should he paying for the system ly Mr the town signed the contract so arc responsible to see the public idurtss is built He pointed out the Board of is willing to pay the cost AND Braida were guests of honor at at Building Products plant Friday Braida has been transferred to Montreal and Associates said farewell with gifts Story inside tact social service agencies The mayor said there is counselling in Georgetown but only half a day each week Coons noted social and family services the only component of the new centre because there many other groups part The centre has the endorse ment of the police depart Board of Edu SIGN OF THE times GO transit sign by tracks on Mill St is a constant reminder that the company has taken over the Grey Coach bus route Embarking passengers better hurry though Buses parked there picking up will be in a no parking zone Library fosses cation Board of Health the region social and family services department said Hill stated the new centre was both a regional and area municipality responsibility Councillor Carl said grants are a sensitive issue and the is grants ire only awarded to groups which serve all of Hilton He Acton winners Two Acton area residents struck it rich last month to the lottery- and the lottery draws V J It Ac ton held the winning ticket for 10 the Ontario Lot lery Corporation last week The draw wis held in Stratford on Januarv On January Daw kins of St N wis the lucky winner of in the Olympic loiter draw on a at the Bank of Montreal Mr told the Fret Press the four numbers had corresponded with the last four on one of the million dollar prizes The money Mr said went into the bank This was not the first time he had won in that lot lery he explained One other time won CUTTING OF a wide red ribbon marked the off icial opening of the new addition to the scout hall Saturday evening Beaming faces belong to Grant SchuUz president of the Rotary club which sponsors the Scout Guide movement Barbara president of the Scout and Guide Mothers Association Don McDonald chairman of the Scout Group Committee and assistant scoutmaster Mark and Scout and Guide Mothers made major fin ancial contributions Ban St Albans parking on south Down in Georgetown on the rise in Acton Since lay out changes were made last year at George town High School library book loss has decreased At the same time the rate of loss at Aeton High School has gone up dramatically A report on loss of books and other items in high schools was presented Thursday to the Halton Board of Education The report said the changes at High School have provided more direct control in the resource centres The increasing loss at Aeton High School is blamed on noticeable in in the use of library by pupils ind the I of a full time librarian It was noted in the report there will be a teacher in the library Full time this year Hilton rks itlei llu in on St from the suit to north suit is nil mod ition I 1 1 on win on the south side Hit bin Ind bur the on the south side of the I tit ilirslup tin Inn die it its ind he ittti ike until r look it the situitiim eominilU irking should be on lust inconvenient to I one side of street the I customers would prov to rsidtnis Newest life member is Morgan Madill Morgan has been named a life member of Acton Agricultural Society 1 Davidson Cliff S Stan Matthews and Mel in his elite The decision was maue at the last general meeting of the Society Mr Muhll lives at It 1 I imehouse He has been in the Society for many years on March 14 is being pi inned for the arena on Sunday March 14 and pledge sheets arc going out to Robert I M I Bennett Spcysidc and I schools this week Last venr was i huge success with almost So raised in one afternoon Ihe money was split half to the itotarv and half to the pirtieipating schools The which sponsored the event subsequently made a donation for the scout Inll Schools used some of the proceeds to finance their annual school trips 1 students went lo Ottawa to liutbci v ir lo garner pltdgc money top brought in last vear Six mill hike in region budget 45 tax increase for Halton Hills If Halton Regional Council approves the proposed operating budget the average Halton Hub ratepayers will fork over an extra in axes this year and it will coat the average Milton taxpayer In his report to council Chief Ad ministrative Officer Ernie Held predicted unless cuts are made tax bills will go up 37 per cent or six The proposed operating budget is of would have to b raised through local taxes the rest coming from sources such as provincial grants Budget for this year of taking inflation Into account The proposed budget over the October pre- the mill rate Isnt Increased the region could raise only 10 DM of tho over million required to cover this years budget since assessment gone up only per cent Treasurer Don Farmer noted in his report the proposed shows increase and predicted it probably Is unacceptable He noted all regional governments face huge budget Increases because of decreased provincial grants Most departments are well within the Inflation increase level for their budgets but 3 S million in road and sewer work planned this year has played a significant role In the 3 million Increase over the per cent inflation allotment The treasurer says the million road and sewer work budget should be reduced Other factors in the over million Increase over the projection for this year budget allowing for inflation are requests for rnore staff and furniture higher road maintenance costs an Hi councillors pension plan Increased grants to local agencies and additional money for Human Services Council Farmer says every reasonable effort should be made to reduce the six mill Increase Taxes in Hills will jump 135 If both the proposed Board of and regional budgets ore approved Milton ratepayers would face a tax hike if both education and region budget proposals are passed Milton taxes are based on an average assessment of and average assessment Halton Hills is The education mill rate is expected to go up 12 mills More tax increases will likely be tacked on when Hills and Milton bring down their own budgets Inflation and reduced provincial grants will certainly force local taxes up even if there Is no increase In the level of services