Ajax is part of Durham Region, one of the fastest growing areas of Ontario. The population of Ajax is approximately 91,000, with hundreds of new homes being built every year. The Town has a vibrant business community as well, with more than 1,900 businesses and a labour force of close to 42,000. Our retail sector includes a regional shopping centre at Harwood Ave. N. and Highway 2 (Kingston Rd.), along with many smaller outlets.
Residents enjoy a full range of excellent municipal services of city quality in a mid-sized town setting. We enjoy and strive to preserve a rich natural heritage, including waterways such as Duffins and Carruthers Creek and, most importantly, Lake Ontario. Ajax's six kilometres of waterfront remain largely undeveloped for the enjoyment of everyone, with acres of parkland and natural areas.
As a rapidly-growing community, Ajax includes a vibrant mix of established and new neighbourhoods. The diversity of our population can be seen every day, and at regular community events such as Home Week, Ajax Family Festival and Pickering Village Fall Festival, among others.
The Town of Ajax is an ISO 9001 - 2000 registered municipality. In fact, it's the first municipality in Ontario and the first fully registered municipality in North America to have the distinction. We prefer to call ourselves a "Quality Community." What does this mean? It means we strive to achieve excellence in the delivery of services to our customers who are residents and business owners in Town. We do this through our "Quality Management System (QMS)".
We strive to provide consistent, reliable and fiscally responsible services to our customers. This is achieved through documented procedures of everything we do which takes into account customer needs, expectations and their levels of satisfaction.
Our Quality Management System is a living, breathing system that is ever changing. In order to maintain our compliance to the international standard, the Town is assessed biannually by a third party registrar. This keeps our system in tune and ensures that we continuously improve our services for our most valuable assets: our customers.
So, what impact does this have on Town of Ajax residents / businesses? The Council endorsed QMS provides consistent, efficient and effective delivery of services and most importantly, makes us accountable to our customers. If you observe snow being cleared, either on the street or sidewalk, rest assured that the operator is completing the task according to a documented procedure that indicates how much snow has to fall before it's plowed and when salt is to be applied. Completing tasks the same way every time ensures consistency, efficiency and in the end, the customer knows what level of service to expect. When those levels of service don't meet with your expectations, we encourage you to give us your feedback.
Ajax is governed by an elected town Council consisting of a Mayor, and local Councillors representing each of the town's four wards. In addition, two Regional Councillors each represent a pair of wards. The Mayor and the Regional councillors sit on both Ajax Town Council and Durham Region Council.