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Town wants ice storm money BY SANDRA BOLAN 9, Stouffville Sun-Tribune n www.yorkregion.com n Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014 sbolan@yrmg.com The Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville has officially been declared a disaster zone. The proclamation was made by councillors Tuesday in order to apply for financial help from the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program (ODRAP). The municipality is currently requesting $158,815 from ODRAP with the proviso that amount could increase as the cleanup continues. "Our actual expenses are much greater than this," Andrew McNeely, the town's acting CAO told councillors. He is also the municipality's director of planning and building services. While no York Region-specific tally has been applied to the damage from the ice storm, it is believed the total for the entire GTA could exceed $250 million. York Region and Toronto have also requested help from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, which oversees ODRAP . "We cannot piggyback on the Region of York," Mr. McNeely said of why the town is submitting its own request for ODRAP relief. Toronto has asked for $106 million to cover repair costs extending out to 2017. "It is certainly going to have an impact on us submitting legitimate expenses," said Councillor Phil Bannon. The recovery cost expenditures Whitchurch-Stouffville has applied for include $12,092 in public works' staff overtime between Dec. 21 and Jan. 10; $21,600 for a contractor to remove very large, damaged trees, as the municipality lacks the appropriate equipment; volunteer firefighter call-in costs of $2,267, as well as $4,442 in staff firefighter overtime. About 150 trees need to be replaced, which will cost $37,500 to purchase, according to Mr. McNeely. Mr. McNeely expects the cleanup on town land to take about a month and it will be done by town staff during regular working hours. While no trees fell in the Stouffville Cemetery, "it looked like a disaster zone," according to Councillor Rob Hargrave who went there the day after the storm. From Dec. 23 to the new year, four townowned facilities were turned into warming centres ­ SoccerCity, Stouffville Arena, the Stouffville Clippers Sports Complex and the leisure centre. The number of users was minimal, according to Mr. McNeely. That could be because, Mayor Wayne Emmerson admitted, residents don't really know where those centres are in cases such as this and trying to communicate that to people who have no electricity, Internet or cellphone service is challenging. The mayor did note, however, the town's two fire halls are always open. Bundled tree branches that have fallen onto private land due to the ice storm will be collected next week. Branches must be no thicker than three inches or longer than four feet. See townofws.ca for more details. For the complete story, go to yorkregion. com STOUFFVILLE REXALL FACIAL TISSUES 2-PLY 136'S OR 3-PLY 90'S OR SOAK UP! PAPER TOWELS 2-ROLL REXALL BATHROOM TISSUE DOUBLE 8'S 69 7 EACH EACH ¢ 3 99 EACH GAIN MEAL REPLACEMENTS ENSURE OR GLUCERNA LIQUID LAUNDRY DETERGENT 2X 1.47L 99 PKG. 399 EACH COLD & SINUS OR COMPLETE LIQUID GELS 24'S OR TYLENOL EXTRA STRENGTH EZTABS OR CAPLETS 100'S CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA 425G ISOFLEX PROTEIN POWDER BUCKLEY'S On January 22nd, 2014 Canadian Tire 22 99 EACH 6 99 EACH DIAL STOUFFVILLE will be closed due to an OMEGA-3 SUPER CONCENTRATE, OMEGA-3 WITH FISH OILS OR OMEGA 3-6-9 EXTRA STRENGTH WEBBER NATURALS LIQUID HAND SOAP 221 ML inventory count at our location. We will resume normal business hours on January 23rd commencing at 8:00am. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused CUSTOMER APPRECIATION DAY Ask about our IDA rewards cards FREE UNDERGROUND PARKING ­ ELEVATOR ACCESS 10 99 EACH 1 99 EACH 10 % OFF LAST WEDNESDAY OF EVERY MONTH STARTING JANUARY 2014 ALL REGULAR PRICED MERCHANDISE* *Prescriptions and Narcotic OTC products excluded 905-640-3324 Prices in effect Thursday, January 16 until Sunday, January 26, 2014 6212 MAIN ST., FREE STOUFFVILLE DELIVERY! OPEN SUNDAYS!