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Citizens head comments on handling of municipal complex issue Councils actions called a farce comical Council a plans to examine its present facilities and see if they can be fixed up after spending to buy the Stevens estate has been described as a farce laughable and comical by the head of a group of Hills ratepayers Commenting on the package of 11 recommendations approved by council recently setting out the work to be done by the new municipal property committee Norm Elliott said a lot of it sounds like coun dl Is trying to dose the bam door after the horse has bolted Laughable Elliott said council current actions on the Issue are laughable especially since three of the 13 councillors voted opposed to the land purchase and two others weren on council to make their thoughts known Negligent If council already have the answers to some of the questions it now ap pears to be asking it looks negligent Group till active Elliott is chairman of the citizens group which has been looking at the controversial land acquisition and municipal complex issues since last fall and said the group tainly t quit keeping a dose eye on councils actions He predicted theyll be pressing on with further action in the future besides commenting on councils moves Farce to study building The council committee is to review the current staff facilities detail the health Tire and building code infractions and then look into the merits of fixing up the Town of fices so they can continue being used Elliott said such a step is a farce since all this kind of study was supposed to be done long before the Stevens property was purchas ed Besides Elliott said part of the cation for buying the land offered by then mayor Peter was that the present offices are in bad shape and could legally be closed Need office If reduce Elliott also thinks it odd that council has been debating reducing its size since reasons a complex Is needed expressed by some councillors favoring buying the land Included the need for space for an office to be used by councillors and the need for big council chambers Why do they need more space for these facilities if some want to reduce council s sue Comical actions now said he knows the Town has pro blems with its current buildings but the way the issue is being handled now is comical If as councillors have said the offices doo t meet standards then councils first prionty should be complying with ttons by making repairs not buying land but Dot to build Mayor Miller said it wdl recently Elliott observed when the mayor noted the Town now owns a piece of land and has no money to spend on a building He said doing things like looking at 1m mediate space needs considering repairs to the existing facilities and examining the idea of leasing space confirms that cillors didnt know what they were doing when they started this whole thing back in the summer of 1982 Elliott said you d think there was enough work to keep members of council and there would be if they spent more time and effort doing their homework big mat ters like the municipal complex He said if councillors were doing that instead of ing the job to four councillors and a mayor as was done with this issue in the past then they could justify having 13 members easily Incomplete unsatisfactory study Council s decision to have the committee do studies the citizens group feels should have been done long before the Stevens site was even examined shows they did an incomplete unsatisfactory Job before There t be any question the Town will sell the excess Stevens land since mak money on the property sale is supposed to pay a big chunk of the cost of a complex Elliott observed One recommendation asks the committee when and whether the excess land should be sold The citizens group believes the only real question should be when How the council disposes of the excess land will be the big question in the future in the minds of the ratepayers group Elliott said they wont be arguing if just sells the land even if some money was lost because it then would only be a bad business deal How be objective One recommendation deals with the com mittee looking at Joint development of the Stevens land and some property owned by the hospital board Elliott questioned how council could do something like that when the same council must sit as a planning board and objective ly assess the merits of development pro- for the hospital Stevens and other lands In that area of Georgetown Dont negotiate with hospital The Town t negotiate with the hospital board at all hough he emphasized the citizens arent against development of the hospital property However they believe the involvement of the hospital lands and building of an access road to the hospital from Maple Ave has been used as a smoke screen by councillors in dealing with this issue a e Lepage REAL ESTATE SERVICES LTD 170 GUELPH STREET GEORGETOWN 8770173 One Hundred and Ninth Year Issued GEORGETOWN IbuickI TRUCKS GEORGETOWN 8774149 ACTON ONTARIO WEDNESDAY APRIL 25 1984 Pages Thirty Cents Armstron says Local councillors worth more than region councillors Who earns their money the most local or regional councillors Well according to one man who has done bolh Jobs Councillor Mike Armstrong it local or area councillors there are two area councillors per ward one regional councillor per ward hands down During last week debate about cutting councils size to nine members Armstrong told his colleagues he thinks area council lors are worth what they make a lot more than regional representatives An area councillor makes a year while a regional councillor Is paid by the Town and gets including benefits a year from the region A regional councillor dollar for dollar doesnt deserve the dough he gets compared to a local councillor Armstrongdeclared There no comparison of work done in relation to pay received between the two Jobs he added Besides Armstrong the other regional councillors for Halton Hills are John McDonald Jake Kulkcn and Dave Whiting Mayor Miller also sits at the region It time again for anglers to dabble their lines Into the water In search of elusive trout The season opens this Saturday and Outdoor writers George and Lome Fletcher are wo of he many looking for a secluded spot to land their prize catch The Credit River fa a favorite spot for anglers but severa other out of the way fishing holes are there that big one Assessors finish field work but report on Section 63 months away Over 3000 raised to aid the Hargraves Various efforts resulted In over being collected to help George and Marie Hargrove who lost most of their possessions In a March fire at their Wallace St home A benefit dance held earlier this month along with donations to Eastern Star chapters raised 2948 Of that Iota was presented to the couple at the dance Another 10 was donated by citizens making deposits in a special account at the Bank of Nova Scotia The account has now been closed out The assessment department has com its field work but it will be several more months before they are ready to submit a Section S3 tax impact study to Halton Hills Field inspections in Acton and George town were Just wrapped up recently Assessment office spokesman Gary revealed in an interview this week He explained because they are trated in urban areas the field inspections In Acton and Georgetown took only about three weeks Work in was begun last summer and then the assessors went back and finished the rural area early this year DeJong said the assessors were able to field about 98 per cent of the properties in Halton Hills However he expect It will be until late summer or fall before they are able to submit the tax Impact study to the Town explained they have weeks of up dated assessment records to plow through and then a lot of figuring which must be completed 4000 more voters Hills Is 10 years old this year and except for the existing population getting older not much has changed Councillor Mike Armstrong revealed last week that while the voting population of Halton Kills has gone up by about 4 000 people the population growth hasnt kept pace by a long shot to fact the most growth has token place in Turn clocks ahead an hour Dont forget we return to daylight lags time Sunday morning April so turn your clocks forward one hour before going to bed Saturday deputyclerk French said naturally the time change goes ahead despite he fact council won t pass he motion making daylight savings time official next Monday April 30 Council passes motions making it official annually but it really necessary There was no council or general committee meeting this past Monday April since there are five Monday In April tod council meet four time- a month tod it was Easter Monday Acton a population boost of 53a since the birth of Hills on January 1 1974 The total growth In Hills In 10 years has been less than 1700 people The population of went up a mere 86 per cent and in Georgetown about people have been added In the past decade an increase of 39 per cent So why more voters Simple there are more of those existing of 1974 over 18 and of voting age today than there were In 1974 In fact the number of voters went up 20 per cent in the pact decade Armstrong noted Acton may have led the way in terms of growth In the first years of the Towns life but that wont be the case in the second Armstrong forecast He predicted Acton would grow to a citizens by IMS from the present total of Armstrong also saw little growth toEsquesing itll be up to around he figures In 8S However be does see lot of expansion coming far Georgetown Now me population is pegged But In little over years he expects that figure to have climbed to around Armstrong ad those figures were based on personal observations and while they Brent the same as those forecast by some planners they were in the same ball park The last concentrated assessment in Hills was In 1972 73 though they found properties had last been assessed at various times In Halton Hills The assessors were gathering data on changes to property or Improvements The assessments records for property in this municipality had been kept reasonably up to date so they were mostly clarifying what they had on file The assessors will give new values to properties based on 1980 market values and then determine new assessments depending on what type of category the property falls under residential farm commercial etc Then new assessment factors for property categories will be developed for Hills Initially because of the updating the assessments on all property would skyrocket in Hills But after the assessment factors are figured In assess ments for the bulk of properties here will be dropped back down to levels quite close to what they are now explained At the sometime there will be some extreme assessment changes for some properties some will be drastically up from what they are now while others will be drastically down Hills council baa rejected Section formerly 86 a couple of times In the past Councillor Ross Knechtel who wanted this tax impact study has championed Section adoption here after doing considerable study into market value or equalized assessment Council approved the study after Knechtel and Treasurer Ray King reported to council that the only way Hills could solve numerous assessment and tax disparities throughout on areas of Town Is through section The province will only do a reassessment of an area if be municipality is adopting Section otherwise a com munity must Just live with the disparities says the asperities hurt Acton with Its higher mil rates but dropping equalization factor and believes ngaboUI000ln be or would pay WW l sags Marie and George receive In cash from Gail Manuel one of he organizers of a fund raising dance in aid of the couple whose home was badly damaged In a fire last month