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PAGE 8 THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, JUNE 27,2001 Report Card 2001 From page 7 Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Ciarington Catholic District School Board ♦ Attendance is for the period between Dec., 2000 and Maw 2001 ♦ Expenses are for the period between Dec., 2000 and Maw 2001 Barbara Malone Ciarington trustee This year: B Last year: N/A Expenses: $1,167.21 Attendance: 11/12 Experience: First term on board. Committees: Family life. Volunteer and Community Activities: Involved in St. Francis of Assisi Church Catholic Women's League; volunteer volunteer work at St. Francis School; reader at St. Francis Church. Pet Issues: "One of the most difficult challenges continues continues to be making the most of a constrained budget across the board's jurisdiction, not to mention keeping up to and meeting the ever-changing provincial regulations... It is an exciting time in Ciarington with the tremendous growth in population. However, with it arc the challenges for the hoard to provide facilities, and our priorities are the construction of two new schools for Newcastle Newcastle and Courtice." This Week Comments: Ms. Malone could speak up more at the hoard table, hut it must he noted that, when she does question question staff on an issue, it is generally generally for a very good reason. Ms. Malone shows a real interest interest in schools in the Ciarington area, and has been making a concentrated effort to meet with each and every school parent parent council to get to know the people she represents. It's likc : ly she will become more comfortable comfortable with her role as trustee as she gains experience. Joe Neal Ciarington trustee This year: B+ Last year: B- Expcnses: $1,149.80 Attendance: 11/12 meetings meetings Experience: Second term on board . Committees: Human resources; resources; chairman of French as a second language; co-chairman co-chairman of the Ad Hoc Joint Transportation Transportation Committee Volunteer and Community Activities: Chairman of the Research and Ethics Board for Lakcridgc Health; runs a basketball league in winter; coaches soccer. Pet Issues: Getting new high school in Courtice built; working to "turn it into more of an open board. I think there have been some steps made." As well, Mr. Neal is pushing for the formation of an audit and accountability committee to help make the board's "financial "financial process more visible to trustees." He is also interested in getting extracurricular activities activities up and running again as soon as possible. This Week Comments: Mr. Neal is showing a real penchant for ensuring the board is as accountable as possible possible to the public. He has asked board staff to take a serious serious look at the board's policy on closed-door meetings, in order to ensure trustees aren't meeting privately unnecessarily. unnecessarily. He is also asking that trustees get greater input into the budget process. This quest for openness can only bring improvements to the board. Mr. Neal has certainly shown himself to be the one maverick oil an otherwise somewhat complacent board. TODAY'S EDITORIAL See page 6 Ciarington vote by mail a 'success' BY JACQU1E MclNNES Staff Writer CLARINGTON - The vole- by-mail system used in last November's November's municipal election was a 'Success", despite glitches with the process that raised concerns concerns among some candidates and members of the public, according according to Clerk Patti Barrie. The system was likely a significant significant contributor to a 48-per cent increase in voter turnout and saved the municipality about $13,000 in costs, according to a report by Ms. Barrie, which recommends recommends the system be used in the next election. Forty-two per cent of eligible voters in Ciarington Ciarington exercised their democratic right in the November 2000 municipal municipal election as opposed to 28 per cent in the 1997 election. It is believed a four-way mayoral race to replace outgoing Mayor Diane Hamre may also have been a factor in the increase in voter response, according to Ms. Barrie. The report also outlined some problems encountered during the election, including an unexpected unexpected turnout of residents who came to vote in person at the municipal centre on election day, duplicate ballot kits mailed to some voters, kits that went out from Canada Post more than a week earlier than expected and problems with the actual forms, including the potential for ballot copying. Although she acknowledges some of the problems of the process, Ms. Barrie says, "On the whole, however, it is felt the votc-by-mail process was a success." success." The report was reviewed at the June 18 general purpose and administration committee. Councillor Charlie Trim, who was the chairman of the clerk's department at the time of the election, asked the clerk if the cost of "staff time away from normal job duties" was known and whether it was taken into account account when the cost savings was estimated. Ms. Barrie said it was not. The cost savings also did not factor in legal costs and staff time required to fight appeals of election results. "1 don't believe the system was easy to understand understand for some residents," Court. Trim noted. "The fact Canada Post sent out the forms a week or two early made it very difficult for candidates," he said. The councillor asked the clerk's office office to report back this fall with an update on resolution of these issues so council can determine whether the system can be used again. FABRICLÆND CANADA'S LARGEST facmiam farrir niQTDiRiunn FASHION FABRIC DISTRIBUTOR *From our special selection of fashion and drapery fabric, buy one meter at our regular price and get another two meters free off the same bolt, full meters only. FOUR DAYS ONLY THURSDAY JUNE 27 THRU SUNDAY JULY 1 30% OFF YOUR ENTIRE PURCHASE AT REGULAR PRICE ALL DRAPERY FABRIC, TRIM AND HARDWARE, ALL BASICS, HOME DEC., BRIDAL AND NOTIONS ^^^^BxckjdesmtljyjjnjMjTo^ 1801 Dundas St. E. f ^ABBICL/^ND} 600 Grandview St. S. Whitby 721-9152 V ^ j Oshawa 436-7589 LOTS OF FREE PARKING Mon. • Fri. 9 a.m. - 9 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. ■ 6 p.m., Sunday 12-5 p.m. Please note in some locations items may be sold at a lower price than our regular chain store price. Where this competitive pricing occurs the advertised savings will be off our regular chain store price. Municipality will soon be reporting back to taxpayers Data will provide insight on how town hall is spending money CLARINGTON - Ciarington Ciarington taxpayers will get a peck this fall at how efficiently efficiently the municipality is spending their money when mandatory performance reviews reviews arc released to the public. public. Municipalities have until June 30 to submit data measuring measuring their performance in key service areas to the Province, and until Sept. 30 to report that information to taxpayers. Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Chris Hodgson announced the change in dales at the annual meeting of Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario recently. recently. The changes will affect affect this year's timelines and reporting requirements to help refine the measuring program. Previous timelines were April 30, and June 30. Ciarington Chief Administrative Administrative Officer Frank Wu says the change was necessary necessary because the original dates were unrealistic. Even with the new timelines, he says, "there is a remote chance we can" meet the deadlines." Despite the date change, "the program's goals, higher quality services, better value for tax dollars, and greater accountability to taxpayers remain the same," said Mr. Hodgson. Municipalities will still collect year 2000 data on all 35 performance measures such as water and sewage FRANK WU 'Remote chance ' of meeting deadline. services, and report 16 of them to taxpayers, he says. The objective of the program program is to increase local government government accountability. Mr. Hodgson said when the gov- • eminent started the program, it stressed that year one was only a starting point and municipal municipal input was critical to refining the measures and ironing out details. The 16 measures that will be reported to taxpayers are about garbage, sewage, water, roads, transit, fire, police, police, local government, and land-use planning. Garbage information will include the operating cost for waste collection per ton per household. It will also contain contain the percentage of residential residential solid waste diverted for recycling and tons of solid waste recycled. Treatment and disposal cost for sewage and stormwater stormwater per cubic metre will be included as well as how many hours it takes for untreated untreated or partially treated sewage to release into lakes and natural watercourses. Three measures will be i shown in the water section: operating cost per million litres of water treated, number number of breaks in water lines per kilometre, and how many days it took for a boil-water advisory to be in effect after it was issued. Regarding roads, operating operating cost for winter maintenance maintenance per lane per kilometre and the percentage of winter event responses that meet or exceed municipal road maintenance maintenance standards will be shown. Transit information will include the number of conventional conventional passenger trips per person in the service area and the cost for conventional transit per regular service passenger trips. The cost for fire services and police service per $1,000 of assessment will be in the report. The police section will also include the percentage percentage of violent crimes and property crimes cleared for Statistics Canada. . Operating cost for municipal municipal administration as a percentage percentage of total operating costs and the percentage of designated agriculture land preserved will be listed as well. Mr. Wu suggests it is a good move for all municipalities municipalities to collect this type of data and he notes this year's data will provide a baseline to measure against to determine determine where improvements can be made. However, he stresses, "The last thing that should be done is to compare it to other municipalities," because it would not be comparing comparing "apples to apples," given the unique nature of each municipality. For more information visit www.mah.gov.on.ca. SLASHED AGAIN!! 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