The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

The Canadien Champion, Tuesday, November 24,1998 -19 Urban ski chosen to head regional social services. By IRENE GENTLE The Champion Xhcn Adelinia i rhanski leh Windor shc wa', a small-city girl looking lor a new start. Today she is Haton's newiy-appointed com- midssioner of social and community services. That mekes ber responsible for 590 staff and an annual departmental budget of more than $113 million. It camres with it an annual paycheque in the range of $84.000- 105,000. Not bad for the woman who left her home- town for love and relied on chance and talent to [md ber way. "I was mamred and my husband got a job up here," recalled the now 39-year-old Ms Urbanski. "I thougbt 'that sounds like the place to go. Fll [md an opportunity when I get there. "' Armed witb a degree ftomi the University of Windsor, she found ber opportunity fairly quick- ly, working in the chiet administrative olicers (CAO) office at Halton Region. 'Mat was 15 years ago. I was doing special projects and emergency planning then," she said. "Tise CAO's office bad a lot of tings in its bailiwick at thse time." Within two years Ms Urbanski had hooked up with the departmnent she now beads. "She's no stranger to our organization,'" comn- mented Halton' s current CAO, Brent Marshall. 'Thse lest couple of years bave seen changes in tise departmnent. She's teken a lead role in major corporate projects." Ms Urbanski proved she wasn't afraid of change when she packed ber bags and moved fmom Windsor. She isn't afraid of it now, eitber. I look forward to the challenges, and there are going to be înany,- she said. I îhînk ssc se just seen the tip of the iceberg in terms of the changes that are coming."' In ber new role, Ms Urbanski will be in charge of income and employment services, including Ontario Works, welfare and famiiy benefits. Children's services and senior centres sucb as Milton' s Ailendale also faîl under ber umbrella. "There's change going on in all of the sectors we're mnvolved in," said Ms Urbanski. Much of that comes from provincial down- loading. Under downloading, many social services have been passed down from provincial to regional responsibility. That bas resulted in a major overbaul of the departments tbemselves. "We're still sifting and sorting wbat this exact- ly tîleauls: ' 1OSand, In ber new role Ms Urbanski is looking for- ward to promoting ber particular love, the 'Healthy Baby, Healtby Children' program. In that, babies are screened at birtb to belp Halton leern wbo will need special support in the future. "TMe program is fairly new but it's doing some great things," she said. Anotber focus for Ms Urbanski is the growing senior population. "Thse senior area is really undergoing major growth. We're tbinking of expanding in al arees," she said. Correction A story on Fniday, Nov. 6 incorrect- iy stated seven books deemed contro- versial had been approved for senior students at Halton public igb schools. However, tihe books, whicb would be used for individual or small group study, have not yet been approved by thse board. At a previous meeting, tise list was tabled to make trustees awere of the books. Now, board members will be given a few weeks to review tbem. The books under consideration and their authors are as follows: Beach Music, Pat Conroy; Boy's Life, Robert McCammon; The Horse Wbîsperer, Nicholas Evans; The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende; The Piano Man's Daughter, Timothy Findley; The Power of One, Bryce Courtenay; and Stones From the River, Ursula Hegi. RAD SERVICE *Radiator & Fuel Tank Repairs Aluminum WeIding 0Silver Soldering 400 I4OROBEL DR., UNIT 4, MILON# ON. L9T 4N6 HALTON PROVINCIAL PC RIDING ASSOCIATION NOMINATION MEETING, Wednesday, December 9, 1998 7:30 PM OPTIMIST BUILDING 311 Commercial St. MILTON FOR INFORMATION CONTACT 854-9866 "SATURDAY SERVICE SPECIAL 1 SATURBAY MOPAR PARTS S LPECI 1'y il Il