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57 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,D ecem ber 20,2018 insidehalton.com Halton Regional council high- lighted some past successes and initiatives in recent years during its inaugural meeting of the 2018- 22 term on Dec. 5, including creat- ing assisted housing opportunities and attracting new jobs. The meeting started off with a brief ceremony that included the declarations of office for the chair and each councillor, administered by justice of the peace Mark Cur- tis. "I am honoured to serve this community in my fourth term as regional chair, and would like to congratulate my fellow council- lors on their election," Halton Re- gional Chair Gary Carr said. "This council has a strong foun- dation for success - 97 per cent of residents are satisfied with the quality of regional services and 98 per cent rate their quality of life as very high," he continued. "I am confident that we will build on the region's past achieve- ments and keep Halton a great place to live, work, raise a family and retire for years to come." In his inaugural address, Carr placed a primary focus on the re- gion's fiscal responsibility over the next four years, drawing attention to four main groups that are top of mind when it comes to taxes: se- niors on a fixed income, hard- working families, young people entering the housing market and businesses. "We are not going to be respon- sible for people not being able to afford to stay in their homes be- cause of taxes," he said. "Young people will not be able to afford homes if we don't control taxes ... If we don't keep taxes low, none of the businesses will want to come here." Carr stated that the region aims to keep taxes to the rate of in- flation, and that this will be includ-flation, and that this will be includ-f ed in the strategic business plan. "Those four groups of people are why we are going to be fiscally responsible," he added. Carr mentioned a number of issues that constituents would like addressed in the new term, includ- ing traffic congestion, infrastruc- ture, roads growth and develop- ment. "Let me make this very clear to all of the staff that are here and all of the councillors and the mayors: this is going to get fixed over the next four years," he said. Carr also referenced the re- gion's strategic investments and initiatives in recent years, includ- ing: • maintaining the region's top credit rating to finance major in- vestments by providing continued access to the best capital financing rates available; • establishing 1,648 assisted housing opportunities since 2008; • implementing the Communi- ty Safety and Well-being Plan in partnership with the Halton Re- gional Police Service; • attracting business invest- ment to support more than 7,277 new jobs in the community. Carr also touched on the pro- cess for drafting the 2019-22 Strate- gic Business Plan, which will set council's priorities, actions and projected outcomes for the term. The meeting also marked the reopening of council chambers at Halton Regional Centre, which was renovated to improve services and accessibility. Videos of regional councilVideos of regional councilV meetings, as well as meeting agen- das, minutes and council docu- ments are available online at hal- ton.ca. The 2018-22 term for Halton Re- gional Council includes: REGIONAL CHAIR • Gary Carr CITY OF BURLINGTON • Mayor Marianne Meed Ward • Ward 1 Regional Coun. Kevin Galbraith • Ward 2 Regional Coun. Lisa KearnsKearnsK • Ward 3 Regional Coun. Rory Nisan • Ward 4 Regional Coun. Shaw- na Stolte • Ward 5 Regional Coun. Paul Sharman • Ward 6 Regional Coun. Angelo Bentivegna TOWN OF HALTON HILLS • Mayor Rick Bonnette • Wards 1 and 2 Regional Coun. Clark Somerville • Wards 3 and 4 Regional Coun. Jane Fogal TOWN OF MILTON • Mayor Gord Krantz • Ward 1 Regional Coun. Colin Best • Ward 2 Regional Coun. Rick Malboeuf • Ward 3 Regional Coun. Mike Cluett • Ward 4 Regional Coun. Zeesh- an Hamid TOWN OF OAKVILLE • Mayor Rob Burton • Ward 1 Regional Coun. Sean O'Meara •Ward 2 Regional Coun. Cathy Duddeck • Ward 3 Regional Coun. Dave Gittings • Ward 4 Regional Coun. Allan Elgar • Ward 5 Regional Coun. Jeff Knoll • Ward 6 Regional Coun. Tom Adams • Ward 7 Regional Coun. Pavan Parmar COUNCIL FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY AT FOREFRONT OF HALTON REGIONAL COUNCIL FIRST MEETING OF NEW TERM Halton Region Chair Gary Carr gives his inaugural address at the first council meeting of the term on Dec. 5. Veronica Appia/Metroland JOHN BKILA jbkila@metroland.com