Council discussed a few things that truly needed to be addressed; however, we also spent a great deal of time on matters that in my opinion did not warrant such a lengthy back and forth. So for my purposes – which is to inform residents about the deliberations of council on important matters for the community – I will focus on the two important agenda items that were before Council for discussion.
The first agenda item for discussion was the approval of the design for Mavrinac Park. The final design presented to Council included: a basketball court, 2 tennis courts , pickle ball courts, a play area and a trail surrounding the park. There was some consideration of the addition of washroom facilities and a Fitness component. However as no neighbourhood park has washroom facilities or fitness equipment, and given the added expense of including both additional amenities, Council in the majority decided against including them in this park. There was also some consideration given to removing the pickle ball courts and adding another tennis court but the final design as presented was approved. The design was approved on a recorded vote of 7-2 (Councillor Pirri and Mayor Dawe opposed).
The other item before Council last evening was that of budget directions. Through the hard work of the Finance Committee, we have been able to streamline the budget process which affords Council the ability to begin the work earlier and as a consequence have a budget in front of Council for review and possible approval by as early as mid-December. Last year Council was able to approve a budget by December. This year we have added further process improvements with regards to how we discuss budgets and the principles that Council are looking to achieve and for staff to incorporate into the budget. Following discussions last evening, Council set the direction for staff to begin work on the budget. Specifically, Council approved the guidelines that would include: working towards the tax rate of inflation + 1%. There will be more to come on this so stay tuned.
Lastly I would just like to congratulate Lisa Lyons who as of last evening was “officially” hired (through a unanimous vote of Council) as the new Town Clerk, for the Town of Aurora. I have had the pleasure of working with Lisa at our JCC meetings along with Councillor Thompson and Abel and I have found her to do an excellent job and believe that Aurora will benefit with her as our Clerk. Congrats Lisa and welcome to Aurora…
