A whopping annus horribilis!

What exactly is the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board thinking?
Over the past year they have held illegal closed door meetings for which they have been admonished. They have spent money to punish whistle blowers among their ranks only to find out the whistle blower had done nothing wrong. They have allowed ARCs (accommodation review committee's) three of them to work in solitude on three different areas of the city without any reference to co-ordination. Indeed the terms of reference for these ARCs may have been lax based on the way the Provincial funding winds are blowing. Surely when these ARCs were set up the Board Trustees and staff were aware that we had been in a significant economic downturn for several years with no end of misery in sight for world economies which impact on us as a country in general and the property tax base in particular. Surely they must have known the dollars would not be there no matter what was recommended. And yet we have ARCs now recommending the closure of a minimum of two Secondary Schools on the mountain with the construction of a brand new one on the south mountain (ummm I remember Southmount, do you?). In the lower city we have recommendations that close an iconic Parkside in Dundas, Sir John A. MacDonald in the core, and the heritage building that is Delta Secondary while constructing a brand new high school in the downtown core. The third ARC is contemplating the shutting down of a pair of iconic schools at Highland and Ancaster Secondary and constructing new ones. All of this costing 128 million dollars today (you know the price tag never comes in under budget, always over) for the construction of four new facilities by 2015.
Come on. What is everyone smoking? The money isn't there and won't be especially after the scary Drummond report comes out. And finally to wrap up their annus horribilis this Board soldiers on with a deal with McMaster University that allows the destruction of the current Board of Education Headquarters allowing a move to the central mountain where I am told the Ward Councillor doesn't really want them, at Cresmount, nestled behind strip malls off of Upper Wentworth and surrounded on three sides by residential neighborhoods. Outside of some employees slipping out on their lunch break to do some quick shopping what does one suspect will happen when the day is done for the employees of this new sprawling (typical urban sprawl from the 70's) two story building? I would suggest they will drive straight home many through those residential streets. Their economic impact outside of tackling Timmies in the morning will be zilch. Meanwhile downtown the new construction will generate revenue from building permits and person hours on the job and will bring an extra 50 white collar workers  offsetting  losses to the mountain but is that a long term economic impact? Not really.
I have a few questions if you don't mind.
Have we really explored all options to keep the Board of Education downtown? I don't think so since the downtown Councillor Jason Farr has launched an idea for a second tower on city hall property. Was that contemplated a year ago when the Board was searching? I think not. Understand the history of this Board and it's Separate School Board brother who have more often then not worked in isolation from other jurisdictions because that is their mandate which they aggressively protect.
Would keeping 350 white collar workers in a refurbished and possibly expanded existing building be a boost to the downtown especially if McMaster worked out a different location deal to move 4 hundred workers to the core? Absolutely. Could McMaster negotiate directly with the city about a second tower? Why not?
Could McMaster work out a deal with the Board of Education to take over the footprint of Sir John A.? Why not?
Indeed since Bob Young has hijacked the football stadium from the West Harbour couldn't McMaster with the help of the City's remedial monies move four hundred people onto a site overlooking the West Harbour only minutes from Jackson Square and Copps Coliseum? I think so.
I'd like to know right now what the heritage community thinks about losing one of the city's iconic sixties buildings. As I recollect they sure didn't want city hall going anywhere so where do they stand on the Board of Education headquarters?
Some final thoughts.
One board trustee suggests and we quote from today's Spectator Jessica Brennan of Dundas, "I appreciate the concern of people who want to keep us downtown, but to move away from the actual idea now would be dishonourable to the process of planning and thinking and community engagement we've had up until now".
Really? What is dishonourable to process is launching a flawed process with flawed thinking in the first place and whatever happened to it's never too late to change your mind especially if you're  changing your mind to get something right. Finally when will the citizens of Hamilton wake up to the fact that a very closely knit group of people who are hardly ever challenged at the ballot box and who control in excess of 566 million tax dollars have in their hands the fate of your children? They have shown in the past that they cannot read trends correctly or even more frighteningly have been misled by staff into false decisions  (remember Southmount, Sir Wilfred Laurier and the windowless schools at Sir John A. and Scott Park). When will they be reigned in?
I hope it's soon for the sake of families who currently attend Highland, Parkside, Ancaster, MacDonald, Sherwood, Delta and Sir Allan McNab.The only thing missing from this annus horribilis, is a castle on fire.

Absenteeism at the City of Hamilton

As departmental budget presentations got underway on Monday we learned that although absenteeism rates have been dropping slightly each year for the past couple of years we still have a substantial problem facing us. The current rate is now 9.94 average sick days per eligible employee. In other words on top of allotted vacation days people for whatever reason are taking an extra 10 days off from their duties. That adds up in a major corporation like a city to tens of thousands of hours in cost. Some folks truly are sick, some need the time to deal with a sickness in the family and yet we all know people who figure weeks and months in advance where to take a strategic so called sick day to lengthen a long week or even a vacation. What to do about it this cost? Ward 4 Councillor Sam Merulla reminded the General Issues Committee that once upon a time Hamilton had an incentive program in place to discourage absenteeism. By unanimous vote the Committee approved a motion of Merulla's requesting staff go away and look at a potential revival of such a program in the future.
We also learned that over the next five years up to 42 per cent of existing Managers will retire compared to only 12 per cent of the non-management work force. Do we have a "human resources crisis" asked Ward 1 Councillor Brian McHattie that requires an extraordinary response? Staff will review the ramifications.
Finally on day one of these departmental budget deliberations we learned the number required to operate Public Works in 2012. The ask is for a 6.9 million dollar or 3.9 per cent increase over 2011 for a total allocation of 184 million bucks. Public Works of course is responsible for Transportation, Engineering, Strategic Planning, Cemeteries, Forestry, Traffic, Facilities Fleet, Forestry, Parks, Horticulture, HSR, Water, Storm and Waste Water. Yep Jerry Davis the General Manager has a lot on his plate. By the way Jerry I have some infrastructure that needs attending to, Mohawk running East from Garth to Upper James. Yikes, it's crumbling every day. But I digress. The budget process continues Thursday and Friday as we return to regularly scheduled meetings like Planning tomorrow. I will be tweeting highlights at Doug Farraway14.

Down to the nitty gritty!

Hamilton's budget process is well underway. We have already been provided an over view and a number from City of Hamilton staff. The number is a 2 per cent tax increase. There are outstanding deferred issues that might impact on the budget to the tune of .8 per cent if approved. Thursday Boards and Commissions began making their presentations and in the court of public opinion there were winners and losers. For example the Hamilton Police Service brought in a budget request of 4.4 million dollars, an increase of 3.37 per cent for a total allotment of 135,641,540 dollars. Yep it's a huge chunk of your tax bill and the city has absolutely no power to force the service to bring in a zero budget increase. But Chief Glenn De Caire skated through his presentation without taking a knock. Indeed praise was heaped on the service not only for the presentation and their work in the field but for actually listening to the city's request to bring in the lowest budget increase possible. The Chief pointed out that 88 per cent of the total police budget is driven by compensation and benefits leaving little wiggle room to chop programs or equipment. Another winner according to the General Issues Committee was the Hamilton Public Library who came in with a request of a 1 per cent increase over last year. Praise was the operative word again for outgoing Chief Librarian Ken Roberts who retires at the end of April. I had a chance to chat with him before the presentation for once upon a time I sat on the Public Library Board. He leaves well satisfied with what he has been able to shepherd to completion with a spotlight on the renovations at the Central Library. Also receiving praise, although I was surprised no-one asked them about parking fees at Tiffany Falls was the Hamilton Conservation Authority who brought in a zero per cent budget request. One highlight for them, is taking away gate fees Wild Waterworks. Matching the HCA with praise was the Niagara Conservation Authority who upon receiving Hamilton's request for a zero per cent achievement went back over their budget and found enough to get to that position. Now to the losers in the public relations department, and that would be Conservation  Halton. They went before the GIC and requested a 5.3 per cent increase over 2011. The amount of money is small, only 9 thousand bucks but as several councillors suggested that is not the issue. In fact both Councillors Clark and Ferguson asked to be opposed to the Halton submission. As Ward 9's Clark said "we are just ignored". If you didn't know local councils can only request, they cannot order Conservation Authorities to do anything. They can only appeal to a higher authority and virtually never win. That's day one for Boards and Commissions. Tomorrow we hear from such bodies as the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the RBG, the Philharmonic and the Opera to name a few. By the way we got some good explanations on several matters from Ward 14's Rob Pasuta on "For the Record, Council Edition" airing throughout this evening. Check it out on Cable 14.

What's next goats?

Let me explain. The quote came from Ward 7 Councillor Scott Duvall at Hamilton City Council. The issue? Urban chickens. Yep they're back on the radar. But before I flesh out the Councillor's quote the larger issue for council was approving a new  Responsible Animal  Ownership Bylaw, and they did with one very significant change. There will be a limit to the number of pets a household may own, not an unlimited number as recommended by staff and accepted by the planning committee. That number is now 4. So within the 8 wards of the old City of Hamilton where households were restricted to two pets, the more the merrier. In most of the rest of the new Hamilton the limit had already been four. Many councillors spoke about the calls and e mails they have been receiving from constituents wondering if they had lost their marbles discussing unlimited. Well unlimited is out, the number four is in. Now the chicken issue. Here's the context. At committee there was a movement to let staff do the research and let the committee make an informed decision for there are other jurisdictions who are allowing the return of chickens to an urban environment. Then the tide turned when Ward 14's Rob Pasuta our guest tomorrow on Cable 14's Council Edition decided that in the end he would not be voting for such an introduction of chickens in Hamilton so why waste staff's time. But at council he supported the side that wanted the information saying he would still vote no on the issue but wanted at the very least through the report education that would inform urban citizens on the complexities of chickens in the city. In the end council voted 9 to 6 to let staff do the research to allow  council to make what Ward 1's Brian McHattie called and we quote "decisions that our evidence based". Urban chickens will now be studied by staff with a report to come back during the third quarter of the year. Oh by the way as you can imagine from the title of this piece, this is where the quote from Councillor Duvall came from. As he was voting no to a study and a waste of staff's time he wondered out loud and we quote, "what's next, goats, emus, ostriches" It got a chuckle. For the record voting for further study were counillors  Jackson,Collins, Merulla, Morelli, Farr, McHattie, Johnson, Pasuta and Partridge. Voting against Mayor Bob Bratina, and councillors Whitehead, Duvall, Clark, Pearson and Ferguson.
On to the very emotional debate over eight beds to be moved from Charlton House to a property owned by the new partnership of Lynwood Charlton at 121 Augusta. At planning committee staff recommended that the request to alter zoning to allow 121 Augusta to be within 3 hundred metres of the next closest Residential Care facility be waived, be rejected. It was. At council a motion to defer from the Councillor from Ward 2 where the debate rages on was accepted on a 13 to 2 vote. There will now be further interaction between the city and the proprietors to see if there is another property  to move these 8 beds that accommodate 8 teenage girls who suffer from mental disorders into, that does not impact on the density of such homes and half way houses that dot the inner city. The issue will return April 11th to council. Councillor Brad Clark who had experience helping to write legislation regarding this type of facility during his time at Queen's Park made an impassioned plea not to defer but in fact to overturn the planning committee's recommendation. Indeed and we quote he said "I'll stake my life on it, this will not be a problem". Only Clark and Pearson were opposed to the motion to defer. Again we have not heard the last of this. Also remember as I pointed out in an earlier column next month the city will move to divest itself of the current Charlton House where the 8 beds are located because it is as staff described it "crumbling". Renovations and upgrades to the tune of 1.2 million are required for this home, a structure owned by the City of Hamilton. Something has to give.
Finally amongst a number of "Notices of Motion", this one from Councillor Jason Farr who wants city staff to "be directed to formally propose the City Hall second tower site to the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board for a nominal long term land lease fee and undertake discussions with the Board on their requirements. You might be going "huh" right about now. An explanation. The original plans for Hamilton City Hall as designed by Stanley Roscoe in 1960 discussed a second tower to be constructed south of the current main building. In other words on the second level parking lot over the garage across from Central School. Umm taking my reporters cap off and inserting opinion, just who would build this building? If it's the school board how might a new tower compare in cost to what the Board is contemplating, which is to build a new home on the central mountain? It would likely cost more but that's just a guess. How important is it to the downtown to keep the board and it's employees there as McMaster moves on to the existing property at Bay and Main? Good question. My preference is to keep all those white collar jobs downtown as McMaster introduces even more people to our sidewalks, restaurants and cafes. Cost will likely determine what happens next, but it's definetely something to watch for.

The 2012 Budget>

With the process now in the final stretch here's an update on your pocket book.
As of this day, your total municipal tax increase is 2.3 per cent with point three of that, education tax. In other words as we get into the nitty gritty the City of Hamilton tax increase is 2 per cent or an increase of 68 dollars based on the average residential assessment of 258 thousand dollars. Where do we stand compared to other communities you might wonder?  Ottawa has already approved a 2.39 per cent increase. Kingston has approved a 3.5 per cent increase. Haldimand has a target of 3.1 per cent with Niagara already approved at 3.14 per cent. Toronto of course is currently in the final stages of haggling over a 2.5 per cent increase. Indeed, only York Region projected at 1.8 per cent is lower than Hamilton in all the Province of Ontario for significant municipalities. Several councillors today praised city staff for the work they have already done and emphasised to the City Manager Chris Murray that this message needs to be passed along to not only naysayers within the city but those who bash Hamilton from outside our city limits. Is the city done with this budget process? Absolutely not. Thursday and Friday of this week Boards and Commissions will make their presentations. On the 30th of the month individual city departments will present their numbers and their requests going forward in greater detail than we have seen so far. What are some of the challenges going forward? Sixteen items have been referred by Council to the 2012 budget. If all were approved the total tax increase impact would be .8 per cent, so council will have to tread carefully. As well, there are 5 requested enhancements that need to be dealt with. If they were all approved the increase would be .06 per cent. So as you can see there are outstanding issues to the tune of  an .86 per cent increase on top of the current position of 2 per cent that need to be dealt with.
For those of you watching this process keep an eye on Public Works and Social Services understanding that if the City is going to try and get below 2 per cent the cuts will have to be made from only a third of total spending. The other two thirds are locked in, from the Police Service budget to the Hamilton Conservation Authority. The city of course can appeal any increases but two thirds of the budget is under a higher authority where appeals rarely are received well. The final budget process begins in earnest on February 7th with public delegation received on the 15th. The final budget will be ratified by council on March 7th. Stay tuned because now favourite causes in each ward of the city come under scrutiny. I will be at City Council Wednesday evening and back at the General Issues Committee Thursday and Friday for those Board and Commission presentations. Cheers.

City hopes!

Who are the Lake Ontario Offshore Network? I don't really care as long as they  bring as they hope to do 19 hundred skilled and high paying jobs to Hamilton under the auspices and leadership of Windstream Energy. For the record however the Network is made up of four lobbying companies, the Walters Group who will fabricate structural steel, the Hamilton Port Authority who will provide the facilities to assemble the parts, McKeil Marine who will use its resources to transport and erect the parts and Bermingham Foundations Solutions who will erect the parts. Oh you're asking what they hell are they hauling and erecting? What, did I bury the lead again? There's a reason. In the Province of Ontario currently there is a moratorium on the construction of  Windmills. We're told more scientific study of the impacts of wind energy is needed in this province. Some would suggest last year's decision was politically motivated but whatever the reason there are those who are at the local level are attempting to get the Provinces attention. One of those who has already filed a notice of motion on the moratorium issue is Ward 15 Councillor Judy Partridge. She believes council was misguided when it imposed it's own moratorium on wind generation projects within Hamilton. The particular project this consortium is lobbying for is a 1.5 billion dollar wind farm in Lake Ontario off the shore of Wolfe Island near Kingston. It's estimated 7 hundred million of the value of the project would stay in Ontario with Hamilton becoming a leading player in an evolving industry. We can only hope the Province sees the wisdom soon and lifts the moratorium for such projects putting  Hamilton on the map. The skill sets required are already here for prospective employees and coupled with the expansion of the city's Agra-business could move us away from our proud heritage as the "steel city" to become the "innovative city".  The local moratorium will be discussed at next week's City Council meeting.

In other news the way is now clear for a complete debate over the future of waste management in Hamilton. A delegation from a proponent that was not selected by Public Works staff, had their say before the city's Audit, Finance and Administration Committee. The complaints from Modern Landfill Inc, a former contractor in the city, were received with comment. That's it. On to the debate February 6th.
Also of note the Newport Yacht Club located between Fruitland and 50 Roads has received a reprieve from the same committee. A little background. The Yacht Club holds 238 boat slips in it's Marina surrounded by residences. Established in the 80's there were to be a couple of condo towers. The Marina is owned by three numbered companies controlled by Rosart Properties. Rosart is in serious tax arrears to the city and wishes to sell the property. City staff have agreed that the best way out for all involved is to write off what is currently owed, a total of 260 thousand dollars and change. Here is their reasoning. Without a sale by Rosart to the new owners who are the residents of the Newport community a tax sale would have been required costing the city 475 thousand dollars in lost taxes. Committee members agreed with staff. Going forward the residents co-op with business plan in hand will once again become taxpayers hopefully not in arrears.Council approval is still needed.
Thursday I interview Ward 9 Councillar Brad Clark. Up for discussion, windmills, garbage, and residential care facilities among other subjects. I hope you'll tune in to Cable 14 at 5pm.

"Corktown is a success story"!

"Hamilton is a success story". The words of a very nervous Brian Bogusat the President of the Corktown Neighbourhood Association as he led off the residents defense of their neighborhood against a new residential care facility at 121 Augusta.  The request to change the zoning at this address came from the owners, the newly amalgamated Lynwood Charlton Centre.
Some facts before I get on with the story.
Charlton Hall is an existing residential care facility operating out of two connected houses at 152 and 156 Charlton. It cares for 8 girls aged 13 to 18 who have mental issues and who have in many cases run away from home. It's a seven day all day operation with two staff on hand at all times. The proposal asks that these girls be moved from what is described as a crumbling facility to 121 Augusta where existing day programs are run and have been run for some time. If approved the request would have seen renovations taking place on the second floor to house the girls. 
However since 2001 the City of Hamilton has had on it's books a bylaw prohibiting the establishment or location of any new residential care facilities within 300 hundred metres of other existing residential care facilities. In this case a move to Augusta of the existing program would take it to within three hundred metres of another residential care program  on Forest Ave also run by the proponents. It currently has six beds four of which are used on a rotating basis for adults who are mentally challenged. In other words a home that gives caregivers a break. Both the programs we are told are necessary and for the girls we are told it is a one of a  kind program for the city. But the rub is this, Hamilton's downtown is saturated with residential care facilities which led to council's 2001 decision to create a moratorium on further expansion of these kinds of programs unless they were more than 3 hundred metres apart which the programs proposed for Augusta and existing at Forest are not. They are to be clear both run by the same proponent. The idea then and now is to encourage these kinds of programs to find homes elsewhere within greater Hamilton instead of imposing the burden on the downtown core. On the surface a clear cut violation of not only the bylaw but the intent of the bylaw. But now the story really gets going. The city owns Charlton Hall described as "crumbling" by the head of the city's economic development department Neil Everson. Indeed he reported to the Planning Committee that next month there will be a recommendation that along with a couple of other city owned properties the city should divest itself of 152-156 Charlton. Why you might ask? I'm glad you did. It is falling apart and it has been identified that there is asbestos on the premises among other things. Total estimated cost of repair to the landlord, the taxpayers of the city of Hamilton, 1.2 million dollars. The value of the property estimated at 550 thousand dollars according to Mr. Everson. Thus the proponents for 121 Augusta described a positive variance of the bylaw as a win-win for everyone. The program for the girls would go on. The Charlton Hall program would come out of a designated moratorium on residential care facilities area into a less dense neighborhood on the fringe of Corktown, the city would save the 1.2 million on renovations, and might even see some revenue by divesting themselves of the property. Does this seem to make sense to anyone?
Not to the residents like Mr. Bogusat who freely admitted to me afterwards that he came to Hamilton 16 years ago to buy a cheap property fix it up, then flip it. He's still here because he fell in love with our city. Two other residents who did their research came to Hamilton from Toronto aware of the changing face of Corktown and it's emerging new image. They believe that progress, that "success story" could be harmed if another residential care facility takes place no matter what good work may be going on at 121 Augusta. This debate got heated at times with Ward 2 Councillor Jason Farr leading the charge against the proponent suggesting that while in print Lynwood Charlton was implying there would be no impact on the neighborhood in fact verbally in front of the committee they admitted there likely would be some. Further adding fuel to the fire were the questions and comments of Ward 8 Councillor Terry Whitehead who asked staff had there been exemptions anywhere else in the core since 2001. The answer was yes, but they were different issues than this one. He also asked when the Good Shepherd asked to amalgamate two of it's facilities totaling 34 beds did they get what they asked for? Now it really gets interesting. The staff recommendation was to not amend the bylaw which Council agreed with. But as we all know the Good Shepherd have their amalgamated facility because they took their case to the Ontario Municipal Board and won. Is this the road we're about to go down again? Committee afters hour and hours of delegations and debate supported the staff's recommendation to deny the variance which now goes to council next week for ratification. But have we heard the end of this story? Once council makes a decision will the proponent take on the neighborhood at the OMB? We'll keep following for you.

The Yuck factor!

Although city staff had hoped for a decision on the future of waste management in Hamilton we are into a delay. The final decision to be made at the next meeting of the Public Works Committee, February 6th to be followed by City Council for final confirmation of the new plan. Staff had hoped the decision could have been made before the end of the month so that all can be set for the rolling out of the seven year plan in April of 2013. What's the holdup? The legal department advised that since one of the bidders on this major contract had filed a complaint about the process and would not be heard until Wednesday's Audit, Finance and Administration meeting it was best for Public Works to hold off until the complaint were heard and a Special Public Works meeting could be held to make a recommendation on which proposal would be accepted.  We can tell you that staff have recommended a plan that saves the city 3.6 million dollars per year and adds three years to the life of the Glanbrook Landfill. It's Project 5 costing taxpayers 21.2 million dollars per year. What would it mean to you? The biggest feature would be the increase in containers you could put out every TWO weeks, and that's six. Blue boxes and green bin pickups would continue on a weekly basis. Several other municipalities have moved to bi-weekly pickup of trash including Ottawa which is about to implement and Halton Region where they are about to move from a six container pickup to three. In other words there are a lot of different ways to handle our waste and some of the sticking points that were appearing around the committee table today included pet feces and, well, kiddy poo. What to do with all those diapers over a two week period or where to store kitty litter during a warm spell over two weeks became topics of debate. More to come in a couple of weeks time.

On another issue a move by Ward 12 Councillor Lloyd Ferguson to bring back the ramp from Mohawk Road to the west bound 403 that disappeared during the planning of the Lincoln Alexander Expressway hit a snag. It appears that the Ministry of Transport does not intend to spend a dime on the construction of such a ramp costing anywhere from five to ten million dollars claiming it's the City's responsibility since it resolves a local traffic issue. The cost is two hundred thousand dollars for City Staff to come up with a design which is already approved and found in the 2012 budget. Councillors were shocked with the stance by the MoT with Ward 7's Scott Duvall wondering out loud if the city should even spend a nickle on design knowing it doesn't have the money to build the ramp if the Province continues its intransigence on this issue. In the end the design work will go ahead and the lobbying of the local Liberal Cabinet Minister Ted McMeekin will be ramped up. Excuse the pun. Up next another Planning session.

"I think I ruffled some feathers"!

A great quote from the Councillor for Ward 2 Jason Farr Thursday at a special meeting for the "Responsible Animal Ownership By-Law". Surprisingly only a handful of people were on hand. More surprisingly the by-law as redrafted by City staff does not include a definitive number of animals per household as did the old Hamilton by-law which was two. For tarantula owners three "docile" members of that family (non venomous) are back in as are pythons and anacondas as long as they don't grow more than 3 metres (nine feet). Frankly I don't care how long they grow I'm not going to be caught dead anywhere near them. Where the feathers hit the fan was over the issue of "Urban Chickens" a growing trend for those who have issues with who and how their food is grown. In other words people who want their eggs taken by their own hand and not purchased at a grocery story. Last November this very committee after listening to delegations decided to ask staff to further research Urban Chickens vs rural and come back with recommendations on how chickens might be handled in a city environment. The staff work had begun but at the urging of Ward 12 Councillor Lloyd Ferguson that work came to an end, at least at the Committee level with a motion to rescind that request from back in November. Council still needs to make a final decision but it was clear even from those who supported the staff work and who lost a 4 - 3 vote that ultimately and certainly two of those votes would have gone against Urban Chicken raising. Farr was the most passionate councillor on the issue of researching the entire issue before making a decision. But as Ferguson pointed out if ultimately we're going to turn down Urban Chickens why waste staff's valuable time. That swung the fourth vote towards rescinding which came from the Councillor for Ward 14 Robert Pasuta who is a farmer and who has raised, hogs, dairy cattle and chickens on his operation. Although open to discussion in the beginning he decided on the second go round of councillor comments to end the staff work stating there was never any way he was going to vote for urban chickens so "let's deal with it now". Urban chickens my friends, will not be crossing the road. Up next is a public works committee meeting on Monday which I will be attending that deals with the thorny issue of what to do with our garbage for the next five to ten years. The underlying current to watch for is a desire by councillors to make sure this is the last time for a while that the issue is debated, letting taxpayers get used to a system that doesn't change every year. I will be on an almost daily basis updating you on council issues. As well I will be hosting Cable 14's For the Record, Council Edition beginning Thursday the 19th. Our first guest the Councillor for Ward 9 Brad Clark. Hope you'll join us on the 19th at 5pm.

Get ready for fireworks?

Council's first meeting of the year is now over. A rather tame affair except for the issue of garbage. Oh there were concerns expressed about the impending deal between McMaster University and the Hamilton and District Board of Education re the Board of Education Centre and the City of Hamilton's amalgamation of the Board of Health's various offices possibly in the Robert Thompson Tower. That debate was fun because the Mayor suggested if the City didn't go through with it's amalgamation and consolidation then the deal between the other two might be in jeopardy. That was instantly challenged by ward 5 councillor Chad Collins who asked pointed questions of City staff about the relationship or linkage between the two deals. The answers he received which clearly suggested as far as staff were concerned the two were not linked led to an uncomfortable attempt at explanation from the Mayor. After lengthy discussion a proposed amendment to the committee recommendation from ward 2's Councillor Farr was defeated. More on this one to follow obviously.
Now to garbage. As passionate as I've ever seen him the Councillor for Ward 6 Tom Jackson launched into a passionate defence of an interim policy to provide 12 additional amnesty days for extra garbage bags calling it the minimum we can do to stop what seems to be an orgy of dumping. He quoted some frightening numbers; a 3 hundred per cent increase in illegal dumping as reported by bylaw enforcement since Hamilton went to a one bag per week policy. Coincidence he wondered? On Monday the 16th the Public Works Committee will review proposals for garbage collection beginning in 2013 and running for who knows how long. Certainly one of the concerns expressed at council was the fact that Hamilton's garbage collection has changed so many times since amalgamation that people can barely keep up, indeed councillor Collins suggested the current garbage calendar looked like a Mayan calendar with all the intricate symbols. The interim plan for garbage collection was passed but Monday could be one of the most interesting Public Works Committee meetings in a long time as the new plan is debated for presentation to council. Thursday, the new Animal Control Bylaw is before Planning. We'll be there.