Friday, November 15, 2019 3 Brooklin Town Crier The Whitby Chamber of Commerce (WCC) Board of Directors has opened the call for nominations for those wishing to sit on its board. The WCC has had a tremendous year of growth. The membership is now comprised of more than 700 businesses. This growth is due to not only the Chamber staff and its programming, but is also a testament to the strength of the volunteers who dedicate their time to making the Chamber an extraordinary place for fellow members to succeed. Serving the membership is also deeply rewarding. It is a commitment beyond the monthly 90-minute Board meetings. The Board is empowered with the responsibility to shepherd the Chamber on behalf of each member. This is an opportunity to elevate your Chamber experience and the experience of the entire membership. Here is the nomination process: Today Nominate yourself or a fellow member by filling out the nomination form found here: https://www.whitbychamber.org/wp-content/ uploads/2020-boardofdirectors- nominationform.pdf Fri., Jan. 10: 5 p.m. Deadline for nominations to be submitted to Brion Hendry, Chair of the Policy & Governance Committee. Please submit completed forms via email to bhendry@bdo.ca. Fri., Jan. 24: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Mandatory candidate briefing in WCC boardroom, which will include an introduction to the WCC Board structure and process, overview of the role of Director at the organization and opportunity for candidates to ask questions. At the end of this meeting, candidates will be asked to sign a letter of commitment indicating they understand the role and can fulfill their obligations to serve if elected. Mon., Jan. 27: 11 a.m. Online voting opens listing the names, pictures and bios of all candidates who have signed the letters of commitment. Mon., Feb: 24: 5 p.m. Online voting closes. Tues., Feb. 25 to Fri., Feb. 28 Successful and unsuccessful candidates are called and advised of the results. Tues., March 17: 8:30 to 10 a.m.: Slate of candidates, as voted by the membership, invited to attend board meeting as observers. Last week of March AGM and candidate slate presented to membership. The WCC recognizes and embraces the benefits of diversity in Board members. If you have the time and the passion to support the Chamber as a Director, you are encouraged to seek a nomination. As well, if you know of a member who you think would be a great addition to the Board, please nominate them. Whitby Chamber Seeks Board Members Durham Region residents are invited to offer their ideas and input on how Durham Region manages its household waste. The Region's five Rs approach (rethink, reduce, reuse, recycle, recover), allows for all waste diversion methods to be utilized. Recovery, the final method of the five Rs used by the Region, maximizes waste diversion by using garbage to capture energy from waste. The Region is looking at its waste management programs and how to best use the recycling and disposal systems. Residents are invited to complete a brief online survey, which will help the Region understand what residents think is most important for managing the waste we create. The survey should take less than five minutes to complete. To complete the Waste Management Survey, visit durham.ca/WasteSurvey. The survey will be open until December 15. To request a paper copy of the survey, call 1-800-667-5671. For more information about waste management in Durham Region, visit durham.ca/Waste. Durham Conducts Waste Survey When Mayor Don Mitchell chose to host a telephone town hall this past Oct. 29, the idea was to engage the Whitby community and hear what people had to say. On the one hand, he got what he wanted. Over 4100 people registered for the one-hour phonein. However, even technology has its limits. The questions posed to him naturally had to be limited given the short time frame. But more importantly, because the automatic calls from his office only went to landline numbers, 80% of those involved in the town hall were over the age of 45. This was based on a survey conducted during the calls. Consequently, as he admits, the topics of concern were what one would probably expect from an older demographic. Road safety and health care, at 27% and 26% respectively, were of greatest importance to callers. Younger callers "If we do this again which is the plan for some time next year," Mitchell said, "we definitely need to capture a younger crowd. Perhaps we need to go through social media, like Twitter, to do it." The obvious reason is that today's younger generation tends not to have landlines. There would need to be a carefully planned and coordinated approach to those having only cell phones in order to hear that group's concerns. "Clearly traffic was the biggest worry," he said. "That and speeding, road safety and related issues. The one thing that surprised me a bit though was that climate change didn't come up. I suspect that a younger age group would mention it more through a social media approach." With respect to the concerns about traffic, he noted that development in west Whitby has included traffic calming measures on its roads. Not so in Brooklin, for instance, where, after about 20 years of major development, roads were constructed much like they'd always been. Expensive changes "Retrofitting roads with roundabouts or other traffic calming measures is always going to be more expensive. We know that signage just doesn't work. Traffic engineers have long gone on the premise that if you just widen roads, that solves the problem which is untrue. People drive to the design of the road." There was minimal discussion about public transit though Mitchell believes that a younger group might be more in tune with that topic. "Is public transit able to support the density issue, such as what's going to happen in Brooklin with development?" Hospital application One caller, commenting on the need for a hospital in north Whitby, cited long wait times in the emergency ward at Lakeridge Oshawa. Both Mitchell and Whitby CAO Matt Gaskell pointed out their belief that Whitby's application to have a hospital built adjacent to the 407 on the west side of Baldwin is the best option given there's already one in Ajax and, of course, Oshawa. Oshawa, Gaskell noted, is too crowded and Ajax too small to serve the burgeoning Whitby community. Other callers expressed frustration with the highway 412 (and 418) tolls. Mitchell's response was, "There's no fairness in it. The province keeps reviewing data. Meanwhile, the 427 highway is being expanded to six lanes and not being tolled. We want a consistent and fair application." He promised that the town would maintain putting pressure on the provincial government regarding the toll roads in addition to addressing the other key concerns brought up by callers. Telephone Town Hall Provides Key Voice Only two more editions of the Brooklin Town Crier before Christmas. Email today to advertise: mulcahy42@rogers.com