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G Independent & Free Press, Wednesday, October 18, 2006 3 Huge pay increases coming for trustees Continued from pg. 1 The board established a Citizens' Advisory Committee to review and to determine the honoraria paid annually to trustees. A change in the Education Act modifying the amount that trustees could be paid was made earlier this year with the supporting regulation, which defined the process to be followed in determining trustee honoraria developed in July 2006 and a provincial formula on which to base the calculations. In accordance with the regulation, the committee consisted of six appointed members: three parent members of school councils and three who are community representatives of a school council. The mandate of the committee was to make recommendations regarding trustee honoraria in two areas: to determine the maximum level of honorarium for the retroactive period of Sept. 1, 2005 to Nov. 30, 2006, and determine the maximum level of honorarium for the new term of Dec. 1, 2006 to November 30, 2010. At the special meeting of the Board, trustees approved the following recommendations: · The retroactive honorarium for trustees from September 1, 2005 to November 30, 2006 only be paid to the extent funding from the Ministry of Education is received; · The trustee honorarium for the new term of office beginning December 1, 2006 to November 30, 2007 not exceed the maximum allowed, as outlined in Ontario Regulation 357/06 and be established at $11,694 per trustee, plus an additional $6,324 for the Chair and $3,162.00 for the Vice Chair; · Any adjustments to the trustee honorarium from November, 2007 to November, 2010 be made in accordance with Ontario Regulation 357/06, in particular the Ontario Consumer Price Index and the Average Daily Enrolment; and · The Board forego the attendance allowance of $50 for SEAC and SALEP meetings. Terry Quinn (right) board chair of Habitat for Humanity Halton, addresses the crowd at Sunday's official dedication of Habitat's new home on Dayfoot Drive while Crystal Orvis, the recipient of the home, looks on with her children Justin and Amanda Lockhart. Photo by Shawn McAlpine New homeowner overwhelmed by generosity of community Continued from pg. 1 Orvis said since moving to Georgetown five years ago they have "witnessed an overwhelming sense of community and support in the area." "Soon we'll actually be able to call Georgetown, our home. We are all very thankful," said Orvis. Both her children are excited about getting their own house because it means they each get their own room. Approximately 5,000 volunteer hours were completed during the planning and construction phases of the HFH Halton Georgetown home. Support from the project came from many, including major sponsors GE Capital Solutions, Prosperity One, Dufferin Concrete, Home Depot, Home Hardware and Town of Halton Hills "A lot of small businesses were very involved," said Kathrin Delutis, executive director of HFH Halton. Habitat homes are built in partnership with the community. Partner families are selected by a committee of volunteers, who are trained to review partner family applications. Families buying a home from Habitat must be earning less than the poverty line for Halton and have been living in Halton for at least two years. They receive a 25 to 35 year no-interest mortgage and must complete 500 hours of volunteer time called sweat equity. Delutis said the Georgetown home is the second HFH Halton home to be built in Halton Hills and plans are underway for three others next year on John St. The organization hopes to build another eight-unit condominium townhouse complex in Georgetown in 2008. Another semi-detached unit is planned for Burlington next year. So she said they are eager to hear from potential partner families. Anyone interested is asked to call the HFH Halton office at 1-866-314-4344 and attend an information session. The organization is dedicated to the elimination of poverty housing by building simple, decent affordable homes in partnership with low income, working families. Habitat builds, renovates and sells houses to low-income families on a non-profit basis and provides interestfree mortgages to families who otherwise would not be able to purchase a home of their own. The Habitat for Humanity Halton website is www.habitathalton.ca. Fitness fun Grade 8 students Jen Power (left) and Alison Paolini were among the children at St. Brigid School who led the student body in their 20-minute fitness break, which is part of the Ministry of Education's guidelines that require 20 minutes of activity per day. Photo by Ted Brown Public to have say on townhouse parking CYNTHIA GAMBLE Staff Writer Standards are changing for the parking policy related to new townhouses in Halton Hills, and a public meeting will be held soon to get the public's viewpoint. Council gave staff the go-ahead to arrange the public meeting after getting a look at the new standards, at its September meeting. In Acton the current zoning standard is 1.25 off-street parking per townhouse unit (one parking space per unit plus an additional space for every four dwellings for visitor parking). In Georgetown, one section of the bylaw requires 1.5 off-street parking space per block of group townhouses while another requires two offstreet parking spaces per street townhouse unit. The new proposed standards are: · a town-wide minimum standard for off-street parking of two spaces per one dwelling unit for new block townhouse developments including a 1/3 of a space per unit for visitor parking. · a minimum town-wide standard of two spaces per every new street townhouse unit. · a minimum town-wide standard for unobstructed flat-surfaced space within an enclosed single car garage of 5.3 metres (17 ft) by 2.9 metres (10.5 ft) wide for all new townhouse developments. The public meeting will discuss only the new standards and will not deal with a Corporate Affairs committee recommendation calling for an information document on parking to be prepared for new homeowners, the implementation of a temporary timeextension parking system, issues with single family home parking or a possible future policy change allowing wider driveways for single car garage townhouse units. The latter two will be dealt with during the Compre-hensive Zoning Bylaw review, currently underway, which will bring Acton, Georgetown and Esquesing bylaws all in line. Council will finalize the new standards once it receives the public's views. No date has been scheduled for the public meeting yet. For more information contact the planning department. (Cynthia Gamble can be reached at cgamble@independentfreepress)