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Editor of Acton Free Press Acton Ontario As the new council of Halton Hills Is working to consolidate the interests needs and concerns of the three former municipalities It has been encouraging to nolo the way In which you and your staff are endeavoring to keep the people informed and still the new council an opportunity to prove Itself The council the committees and the arc busy very busy but It is not on easy matter to knit three municipalities Into one cohosh unit ore a few facts that arc not readily available to your readers which may eliminate some mlaundcr standings IIA1TON When it became evident that Regional Government would be established in County the majority of councillors in the county support a two tier system of local government with three local areas Bill Ifil created four areas and perhaps some day this will prove a wise decision I know the former council in Acton favored three areas However that is history now It is councils responsibility now to provide the ratepayers or Hills with the most economical services If one felt that it was wrong to have four areas in the Region of how can you justify a fifth area for Acton and vicinity Consider for a moment the financial struggle to provide the necessary services with a small assessment and a tax rate that had already climbed to mills How long will it take for all of us to real lie that Acton Fsqucsing and George town are now wards In our new town and that council is working In the best interests of the entire area Squarely one does not expect this new council to be In mutual In all the major decisions that must be made I sec no reason given time why Hills cannot develop and grow Into one iable area The new council has already made considerable progress in I hat direction INCHt AS l ltATKS PLOTS Previous councils were wing tax dollars Councillor presents his explanations to maintain our In 1072 we used from taxes to maintain municipally owned cemeteries In Ward I we had not rev our rati for plots or sen ices since Therefore It was necessary as con sol I ilnl our former polities In Hills to establish new rates Hales that might permit us to operate without using lax dollars and protect the taxpayers from people unhide llic town who may wish to use our fatuities 1 ni sure most will agree Hint it was also I hi r to establish set of ratis for all municipality owned cemeteries within the town limits Since Hill 111 clearly slated that all employees must In guaranteed position for least out year hi placed Hie staff from Hit three former whin Hie majority of council fell Hint their eapabllltliH would best sent Hills If wi have erred Ms can and will In madi as we information about the needs of the new town and asses Individual capo of did Imruist our crime department rills can bo win you renllrc thai wards and hired engineers to and their projects TWO I people hate expressed concern must a fin elilt for area They would not know that originally the council planned to hire lime nun n fire thief and two assistants When Mr resigned thli of Hills and rtsieel engaged a In chief fori urea In my opinion this Is good arrangement and if It continues to sent the needs of the people Hun have sin eel taxpayers Hie salary IIS of one paid fin man HIM I llu taxpayers received llielr interim mid slnee the amount rinui was the Name an lust yinr In Ward I some might think we used Acton In the Actnn count eollicttd mills tilt ir interim levy This year the act statu that wi not collect mort lowest levy Ijislyuir thctaxleileswtro Acton Georgetown 03 and 00 Hi year council It led per cent or the sijuesing levy for which is 3D mills It has been mentioned earlier llial the delay wok caused not by or council rrom Hills but rather from the assessment department Assessment for 1074 Our assessment Is as follows Ward Ward Ward III and IV and with From the former are a our total is CM nils means that a mill in the new town will raise 00 IjisI year when prepared lis budget our mill would raise I or and council alike that is big adjustment Hut I can assure you that as we prepan our budget ror 1074 the treasury department Mr I 1 eterson the finance committee and Hit council of llnllon Hills will lie best Interests of new town and the taxpnyt rs when the tax rate is struck Can you ret ill Hie people win In Hoard of dut wort established 1 can as I was personally In Yet in the past few years the School Hoard has been able to greatly improve the facilities for education In Hills provide a more uniform quality of learning and still reduce tax rate for education in the Acton area their tax levy Increases this year It will be largely due to rapid rate ol inflation In which live toduy The council of Hills is forced to establish Itself under the same high in measures with only a slight increase in assessment from 1973 and an average mill rate for last year of 73 mills Mr I am not a champion of Regional Government but with the rapid growth which is taking place In Peel and Counties some changes were Inevitable What changes Planning transportation police water and wasti disposal to mention a few con terns With strong ties to Ward our former town I still muintain that must give our town an opportunity to develop along lints that will best provldt necessary vices and the needs of people concerned To this goal I pledge along with councillors my full support W MeKenxle Ninety Ninth Year No ACTON ONTARIO WEDNESDAY APRIL Forty Eight Pages Fifteen Cents NAMED Citizen of the Year Tuesday is pictured happily welcoming crowd to the inter national hockey tourney here March 22 Last mayor honored Actons last mayor is Citizen of the for centennial A Chamber of Commerce committee selected him Tuesday night and went to inform him but find him at home And there were no Hallon Hills council meetings Unusual I m not parochial said Ics when they finally located him in Georgetown and Alice son Laurie with wife Mary I on and Ihtir baby Tommy of St Catharines had gone over to visit nephew Bob Duby wife Mardcll and their new baby Brad rhey just decided to let the babies to know each other Here protested in the Chamber representatives assured him he was to be the guest of honor at the dinner Saturday April SO In municipal life here IS years has been mayor for past 11 and was elected area councillor for the new town of Hills Always affable and approachable has admitted hes somewhat disillusioned with the new govern mental systems He with and is a particularly active member of Si church and choir The first of many congratulations to our former mayor toduy Hold Holy Week services at Knox Sponsored by the clergy association Holy Week services will be held this Sunday evening Tuesday and Wednesday evenings of next week fcach year these but an innovation this is the interchurch GO voice choir Three organists Betty George Elliott and Ted Hansen have been in volved with the choir and Its practices It includes a good number of singers from Churchill community church as well as from the town groups Guest preacher Guest preacher for the three sen ices Is of Toronto chaplain for the Christian Reformed church the Rev Morris Greldanus He was here as guest In 1969 He came as teenager from Amsterdam to Edmonton and earned his degrees at Call In College and Seminary Grand Rapids Michigan He did postgraduate work in Holland and was pastor at Medicine Hat before becoming unlv chaplain for and Toronto His subject Is The Christ and the Devil The Deep Dimensions of the Suffering and Victory of Christ All services arc at Knox church and begin at with an organ recital by Dr George until 7 Then a hymn sing will follow led by Ted Hansen and Duby Ontario Housing Corp oration is very much In in bull dint a lour or rive storey senior citizens complex on the site or the present Canadian legion ball in Acton it was revealed at Hills services to the portion of their subdivision adjacent to the new ball off Mill St West In Acton they had been negotiating with officials of Ontario Housing for use of the site and property they own behind it The is also In lerestcd In other nearby properly to construct a large senior development The Acton Legion property is on Main St in the town mam business section close to services and shopping It consists of the legion hall parking lot and house front on Willow SI We hope to dispose of the downtown property Legion building chairman McCutchcon told council and wc have been negotiating with the O since late Inst year 1- place Two unsoliciteel offers for the properly had been received out Legion of fered it to the If for less than the lower or the two offers because they it would make an excellent place for senior citizens The purchasing power Is limited to a figure based on the number of units possible officials were delighted at the opportunity to purchase the property for a senior citizens development Mr told this newspaper They get few opportunities to purchase as desirable a location If the demand is not there now for senior citizen moclation then they would likely keen It in their land bank until the demand is there Legion attempts to get involved In the project were rebutted by the which pointed out they were financed by both the province and the federal government The may get involved in furnishing the apartments but that is still In me future Mr Mctutcheon said Officials of the Ontario Housing Corporation were not available for comment Sign pool contract soon NEW CAR OR 3 000 is the choice facing Bruce Barber top winner in the Club draw at the Legion Saturday Wife Flora and organizer Don Lindsay share the stage at the climax of the evening The Barbers two days later decided they take the 3 in cash instead of the car Other winners were announced during the evening of draws and dancing Budget in six weeks says finance chairman Bruce Barber takes mini hit In nil 1 1 m Nine months of negotiations and I Ions club members can see of the Acton swimming pool contract in the offing Project organizer Art Gordon soys the contract between the town of Hills and Con Limited of Kitchener mil be signed within Ihe next two days He sets Aug 15 as the probable swimoff sod to be turned sometime within the next week But we have to get going on the canvass says Lion Gordon who fee is a blitz throughout town will be required to get all canvassers The organizers feel that once the is signed alimonies will be needed and the stepup in for two more weeks should send bank receipts up Acton pool inches closer hills will likely have a budget within the next weeks If all the pieces in the financial jigsaw fit together finance committee chairman W Pat McKcnzie told this newspaper The auditors have almost completed their work with the 1973 budgets of the three former municipalities of Acton Georgetown and and should hoi a presentation readj for the finance committee to work with next Monday Mr McKcnzie said The com needs the consolidated report to hammer out a budget But that solve all the problems The committee must then gather In all budget requests wait for the region the grant structure is not set up yet and amounts of start up grants are not yet available before the budget can be set rapidly as we finance chairman said They were urged to more vigorous efforts by Councillor Booth Monday Meanwhile Hills can get by on the interim levies collected for some time There may be two more in levies but not more than three the chairman thought Mr Mckenzie said Acton Billiards closes this week Acton Billiards is closed this week Owner Mac Jcr his lease up has retired and he and his wife Pearl are Acton to ton They have been in bus ncss here for the past nine years Mr Is moving his equipment out this week Plans for the building ore not known It s the former Ire and many of the young people say they d like to have a show In town again After the closed the building Marijuana charge laid An outoftown man was charged with possession of marijuana by Acton police March at 10 a The Incident occurred on Mill St E He will appear in court on April 10 members of council hod listed Richmond Hill this week and the treasurer there said they d be lucky to have a budget by August if ex there during the first year of regional government was any criterion This date was bandied around by Coun Booth and McKenzie at Monday meeting of council but the finance chairman Is confident they can come up with a budget in six weeks The proposed budget must go to the committee of the whole and then to council before it can be approved This way everyone has the opportunity to see the budget before it is passed he ex plained Hills Council will face some heavy slashing when it reviews the capital budget Hills requested about St to be debenturcd by the Region of for projects In Hills Regional Public Works Committee suggested during a budget meeting Monday that those forecasts be trimmed by Of the budget about half was recreation and 400 club 3000 Four hundred names were drawn Saturday night from a drum in the climax of the an club draw at the Leg ion A crowd filled the hall for the elimination draw which with Barber Mason Mid big winner of the Maverick from I and I Ford or the cash equivalent In the running with him till the very end were second last and 100 inner rank Papil Ion third Inst richer fourth last ror John and fourth last for Ron llruce Barber who bartending at the club was phoned came lo the Legion hall with his v ife lora for the exciting last few minutes of the dnw ash Monday night the decided to take the cash rather than the new car Bruce has belonged to the Club since it began has had a bit of experience being the big winner Lust year he took the in the Minor Sports bascbill draw He works The new cor which had been ordered through I and 1 Ford armed yet this week any w winners Of the 400 in the club shared the wealth Saturday hirst name drawn John to start Then name got another and these were White John Les John Krapek Mot Johnson Denis Gibbons Kevin linen Pete Tur Adele Nolan Hill Ann Mulder Bill Coon Ken Marshall and Doretn Lindsay The Club annually nets to run six rep teams in the Aclon Ontario Minor Hockey Association for a year Rest of the money goes for weekly and final cash A few more hurdles in the way of the swimming pool were cleared Monday night when Hills council passed a bylaw to execute on agreement with ltd of authorizing the borrowing or from the Mdin Street branch of Canadian Bank of Commerce Council also passed a construction bylaw for the pool Councillor Itoy Booth pointed out the town did not intend to spend that amount We re still on of the town money but by allowing that much we are protected he remarked soft services The com mittce 85 for a well development in Acton plus for the con of a pollution control plant in Georgetown Those projects ore regional responsibilities Projects deemed to be Hills responsibilities include for a hydro project for an ad to the Georgetown Library 286 for road work for storm trim capital budget Other projects include for an arena roof in 500 for an indoor pool in Georgetown for an indoor pool in for a minicomputer and for an arena theatre and community hall complex The committee suggested Hills cut out worth of capital work for the year Councillor told the committee his council was being pressured to provide a wide variety of recreation services He noted part of the town problem come from the amalgamation of three areas into one under regional government Committee members compared the capital budget from Hills to the Oak forecast pointing out that Onkvillc budget is just slightly higher than the Hills forecast Committee chairman Jack of Burlington reminded that had about twice the population and four times the assessment of I litis He and others warned of the grave implications the heavy budget would have for Hills Hills council will rev lew the capitol budget and the committee s requests for Woman is principal Barbara of Georgetown has been appointed as a or within ihe Board of Education system Mrs taught in and schools in being named viceprincipal at Robert school in Acton last year Shi has been in County and has been involi in j of committees and study groups Branch falls power off There were five vehicle collisions In town this week the most spectacular at noon on April Fool Day A truck driven by Robert struck a tree on Bower Ave and a limb crashed down on the vehicle Power was disrupted to two houses The hydro men used their hoist to get the big branch off the truck owned by L and L and traffic was blocked for a while at noon hour The police report on the incident was not yet complete at press time since the In vestigating officer is off for a couple or days Two Sunday Sunday afternoon at Acton and Peel St a collision invoked cars driven by William 176 Churchill Rd and Sandra Palmer Mom The car had estimated damage the Palmer car