2 Oakville Beaver Weekend Sunday, October 8, 2000 R e gion under deadline pressure to keep 3 5 6 new lo n g term care beds By Irene Gentle SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER The Region is looking for ways to secure 356 new long term care beds in Halton. The beds are the result of a third and final allocation of almost 1,600 beds awarded to the Halton area by the province in 1998. A tighter application dead line, as well as a stipulation that applicants already own or have an option to purchase or lease the land for the beds is aimed at speeding up the process in order to bring the beds into the community faster. At first blush, Halton has several alternatives, the Region's health and social ser vices committee heard Tuesday. Recently, Halton opted to move 100 beds from Martin House on the Allendale site in Milton to a new 228-bed facili ty being erected in Oakville. But an application could be made to bring some of the newly announced beds back to Allendale, which is owned by the Region. Another option is for the Region to find and purchase a new site by the January dead line. But the funds may not be there for that without increas ing property taxes, warned Halton's Commissioner of Social Services Adelina Urbanski. "We'd be challenged to be able to afford a facility so quickly," she said. Halton could also work to assist private sector, public sector or non-profit propo nents put in a bid for the beds. The trouble there is knowing if anyone is interested, said Urbanski. "We don't know what the take-up would be," she said. A final option would be to do nothing and hope others will come forward on their own. The Region will do all it can to ensure the beds aren't derailed due to a lack of interest, said Halton CAO Brent Marshall. "We're not going to limit our options," he said. "We'll make sure we won't be missing any opportunities." Burlington Councillor John Taylor wor ried that applying for Allendale beds would restrict the chances of them coming to his city. "I'm not trying to be parochial, I'm try ing to be practical," said Taylor. "If we have the financial wherewithal to have another project, which I'm not sure we do, it would have to be in Burlington." Without a secured site, the Region could lose the beds, argued Burlington Councillor Jack Dennison. He said the Allendale application should be made, with steps undertaken to transfer the beds to other Halton areas later. "If we don't have our name in there we lose those 356 beds," said Dennison. The issue was before committee for information only. Updates will be provided to council in the future. M e e t th e T e a m A C O N T I N U I N G SERI ES P R O F I L I N G T H E ST AF F OF C A N A D A ' S BEST C O M M U N I T Y N E W S P A P E R " Bill Dodge has been a m e m b e r o f the A d ve rtisin g D e p a rtm e n t fo r just u nd er a year. In th a t tim e , B ill has c o m e 'to a p p re cia te th e strong team atm osphere at the paper and e njoys w o rk in g w ith O a k v ille 's m an y diverse businesses to d e v e lo p ca m paigns. B rin g in g to the new s paper a retail m anagem ent b a ckg ro u n d , B ill e njoys w o rk ing to g ro w loca l business th ro u g h th e ir p ro m o tio n a l cam paigns. "It's wonderful to be a part of the #1 newspaper in Canada that serves the community so well". In h is spare tim e , B ill teaches fly fis h in g and enjoys hockey and g o lf and p la y in g "d a d " to his 6 m o n th o ld lab nam ed Kirby. PONTI IE iri CANADA'S BEST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 2000 CCNA Better Newspapers Competition DKNY SAVILE ROW ALFRED SUNG What does the board have in store for QEP? An open house has been scheduled for Friday, Oct. 13th at Queen Elizabeth Park School to discuss options concern ing the fate of that facility. · The event - which runs from 3 p. m. to 8 p.m. - will allow the public to review recommendations to be made by the School/Area Study Committee to the Board on Nov. 15th. Several of the options being consid ered include: changing Gladys Speers Public School to a K to Grade 8 facility and re-directing all new students entering high school from southwest Oakville to Blakelock High School, perhaps as early as the 2001-02 school year. Existing QEP students would likely remain at QEP until it is closed. GIORGIO REDAELLI B A U M L E R | ALFRED SUNG D E S IG N E R S U IT S Huge Selection of styles and colours to choose from. D E S IG N E R JACKETS Business/Casual - From the boardoom to the night club, look your best Q U A L IT Y PANTS Our versatile pants for dress/sport. Incredible savings! Firearm licence deadline near The deadline is approaching to obtain your "possession only" firearms licence at the reduced $10 rate. To that end, the Outreach 2000 mobile team will be on hand at police headquarters, 1151 Bronte Rd., on Thursday, Oct. 12th from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to help the public for free. Team members will answer ques tions, help complete application forms, take photos for licences and mail in applications. At the core of the new legislation is the fact that every firearm owner must register before Jan. 1, 2001 while all guns - including war trophies and old firearms no longer used - must be regis tered by Jan. 1, 2003. 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