i APPLE rWeekend ep roai OMgulOLTg [ " AEM 487LauierAe., 781 MAIN ST. #1 & 2, MILTON AMetroland Community Newspaper Vol. 139 No. 93 Fniday, January 29, 1999 28 Pages 750 (GST inciuded) Snow clearing means a big tab for the taxpayers By IRENE GENTLE The Champion As the snow from the major stormn of 1999 mneits into water, more than the ground may be soaked. A review into snow policy has revealed that a storm that began January 2 and dumped 40 cm. of snow on Milton in 48 hours has lightened Town coffers by about $ 186,000. Photo by GRAHAM PAINE Frlenda volunteer Monica Nowak spenda a ittie quiet time wlth elght-year-old Michael GlIes In the llbrary of HoIy Rosary achool. Se. story beow. »It 's nice to have 'friends', these kids are discovering By IRENE GENTLE some one-on-one attention. The Champion "These are not the problem, acting out kida who are Little Michael Giles has a new friend. getting into trouble," said Diane Salter of Halton's Since October, the fine-boned Holy Rosary student Children's Aid Society (CAS). "These are shy kids with close-cropped brown hair and energy to spare has who maybe have difficuity making friends. School been the recipient of a mentoring initiative cailed isn't always a happy place for them." Friends. To make it better, the kids are matched with a vol- The ides is 10 reach out to kids who may have self- unteer, who has undergone everything from a police esteem issues and pair them with an older friend for e see MISS on page 8 That figure includes about $79.500 in contracting costs. 0f the remaining $107,000, about $31,000 will be recover- able from Halton Region, Milton council was toid recently. The poiicy review came at the request of Councilior John Chailinor after the biggest snowfail in 30 years resulted in counciliors Fielding a flurry of catis regarding snow clearing. Though Jennifer Reynolds, the acting director of public works went out of her way to praise the Town's snow removal team, she admitted there were a few glitch- es aiong the way. Slow snow removai on streets such as Woodward and Childs were noted as prob- lems, as was the lack of simuitaneous side- waik clearing, especialiy in school zones. Fguity equipment resulting in break- downs was also an issue, said Ms Reynolds. Improved communications with the pub- lic through a storm hotiine, plus new snow fences and the addition of weekend snow clearing may be ways to improve service leveis, said Ms Reynolds. They come at a cost. Once a regular sight in rural areas, rets- tiveiy dry winters have made protective snow fences scarce in recent years. To reinstait them would cost about $3,000. A more expensive proposition is the hir- ing of three stassdby graders 10 ensure con- tinuous snow clearing during weekends. Keeping the graders on cati would cost $27,000 by itseif, based on a five-month season. Actuaily using the graders for an esti- mated average of 10 storms woutd tack another $33,600 on the snow tab. That was enough to make at ieast some counciilors wonder if amending the policy wouid resuit in a Town-wide snow job. "Okay, we've had one major storm in January, it was a one in I O0-year storm," said Councillor Rick Malboeuf. "Forget the storm of '99. Have we needed standby in the past five years, or are we oeacting to this one storm?" Relatively mitd winters meant it was a dry time for standby equipment, said Jim Finn of municipal public works, who headed the snow removal teams. "The contractor we had for three years before, we neyer used him," he told coun- cil. "That's why we lt him go at your direction." Councillor WaIIy Hunter said il wouldn't hurt to have some kind of provi- »eBILL on page 4 In addition to two recent break-mns, thieves have been stealing money and other items from Iockers at the Laurier Avenue arena, said Det. Sgt. Jackîe Gordon of Halton Regional Police. The most recent incident occurred Sunday momning when someone took cash and lottery tickets ftrom the pock- et of a pair of pants left in an unse- cured locker. Dir. .Jo-Ann McKinnon 875-1322