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January
3, 2004
RED HILL AND COUNCIL UPDATES
Mayor
DiIanni New Year’s Resolution
Members
of Hamilton Action for Social Change (HASC) will
attend Mayor Larry DiIanni’s New Year’s Open House
at Hamilton City Hall (71 Main Street West), Sunday, January
4 at 3:00 p.m. to ask the Mayor to join them in a New Year’s
Resolution to uphold Aboriginal Treaty Rights in Hamilton.
Specifically, the group is interested in having DiIanni
sign a pledge to stop further construction and contract
bids in the Red Hill Valley until a court case is heard
regarding the 1701 Nanfan Treaty.
HASC
representatives will bring Mr. DiIanni a giant New Year’s
Resolution Card, containing the text of the Nanfan Treaty,
and will ask the Mayor to sign a statement calling for an
end to construction activity until the courts have dealt
with the Treaty question. With recent media reports suggesting
that tree-cutting has uncovered mounds which could be aboriginal
ossuaries, the need for the Mayor to take immediate steps
to halt construction is heightened. CBC Radio and the Hamilton
Spectator are reporting that up to four ossuaries have been
identified in Red Hill Valley by aboriginal representatives.
HASC’s
Jane Mulkewich said that "as concerned citizens we
feel the urgency of the need for action to protect the valley
from further damage; we feel the mayor has a responsibility
to uphold the sanctity of these treaties and we intend to
do all we can to see justice done."
Water/Sewer
Privatization Re-Visited
City
staff are recommending that management of Hamilton’s
water and sewer system remain in private hands. And despite
10 years of bitter controversy over the 1994 privatization
deal, Council may make a decision on Monday morning, without
any public debate or input.
The
operation of Hamilton’s water and sewage system was
privatized in 1994 in an untendered deal with Philip Environmental
and Philip Utilities Management Corporation. Since that
time, the contract has changed hands more than once, including
a pass through the Enron empire, as its holders went bankrupt
or sold the deal to someone else. Each time, demands to
bring the utilities back under public control or at least
negotiate a better deal, were swept aside by legal arguments
that maintained the ownership switches did not re-open the
original contract.
The
decision to privatize and resulting problems have made this
one of the most controversial issues in Hamilton municipal
government. The current owner is American Water Works, but
it is unclear even to our City Councillors who actually
owns that company. December 2004 marks the end of the original
ten-year contract and the first clear opportunity to bring
the water and sewer systems back into public hands, or alternatively
to seek a new private contractor through a tendering process.
A
report recommending the latter course of action is being
presented on Monday morning at 9:30 am to the first-ever
meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Works, Infrastructure
and Environment. There is no automatic right for citizens
to speak to the committee. The rules say that an individual
or organization can request to speak by noon on the previous
business day (last Friday) but even if that occurred the
committee could decide not to hear the presentation. Once
the committee makes a decision, there are no other opportunities
for public input. Staff are recommending a quick decision
to give time for a bidding process to be completed by September.
Draft
2004 Budget Being Released
Hamilton
staff will release the draft 2004 City Budget at a special
Committee of the Whole meeting on Wednesday afternoon at
Hamilton City Hall starting at 1:30 pm. Copies of the budget
and accompanying reports will be posted on the City’s
website and made available in Hamilton library branches.
There
have been numerous predictions that this year’s budget
will be the “most difficult” ever. It will need
to find a way to deal with at least a $55 million deficit.
A major increased cost will be $44 million for the continuation
of construction of the Red Hill Creek Expressway, up from
$15 million in 2003. After three years of lowering business
taxes, slashing staff, raising debt, increasing user fees,
and sweeping many infrastructure problems under the rug,
the Council doesn’t have many options left. To further
complicate their situation, the City’s budget chief
has jumped ship, joining more than three dozen senior managers
who have left the City in the past year. Ironically, the
day before the budget release, he will start a new job in
Mississauga – a municipality that is debt-free!
It
would appear that substantial cuts to social services, shutdown
of some recreational programs, and both fare increases and
services cuts for HSR and DARTS, are real possibilities.
Many of the cuts rejected last spring are likely to be proposed
again, along with others.
Claims
are being made that the 2004 budget process will be open
to public input. Staff are promising to produce a “Budget
in Brief” document for wide public circulation, and
“open houses” are being scheduled for the latter
half of January followed by “stakeholder” meetings.
However, no opportunities are planned for individuals or
organizations to present their concerns directly to the
City Council, unlike last year when three days were set
aside to hear presentations. Most budget-related discussions
will take place in the new Standing Committees, one of which
will collate recommendations and present them for final
approval at a March 24 meeting of City Council.
City
Reserves Show Steep Decline
City
of Hamilton reserves fell by nearly 25% in 2002, continuing
a sharp decline that began with amalgamation. The 2002 drop
was $78.2 million according to a report being presented
to City Council on Wednesday morning. The staff report bluntly
warns “Needless to say, this level of reserve depletion
can not be sustained.” The report notes that much of
the depletion has occurred to cover capital spending on
new projects. Total combined reserves of the former municipalities
and the former regional government stood at $346 million
at the end of 2000 when amalgamation took place. Three years
later they have fallen to $227 million, the lowest level
in more than a decade.
Reserves
are set aside to fund planned or expected future expenses
including pension payouts, vehicle and equipment replacement,
infrastructure maintenance and new projects. Reserves are
also used to even out year-to-year expenditures, and to
cover unexpected deficits.
A
number of the City’s employee reserves are underfunded.
One such fund is used to pay claims for unused sick leave
accumulated by police officers. It has $2.9 million, but
is facing potential claims of $14.2 million. Similarly,
there is $5.3 million in the sick leave reserve for other
city employees, but the outstanding liability is $11.2 million.
Pension
reserves have fallen sharply over the last two years, from
$8.9 million in 2001 to $6.3 million in 2002 and $2.4 million
by the end of 2003. The pension plan has an estimated liability
of $18.8 million with no offsetting reserve identified to
fund this deficit. This means that future pension payments
will have to be met from taxes rather than reserves. Also,
there is an estimated liability of $58.2 million for retirement
benefits. These costs will also have to be funded from future
taxation revenues. The full report on reserves can be viewed
on the City’s website at http://www.hamilton.ca/Clerk/
agendas-minutes-reports/corporate-
administration/2004/Jan07/FCS04006%20
2002%20Reserve%20Report%20Summary.pdf .
Hamilton
Mayor has "radical" change of heart
Chains self to tree in Red Hill Valley
In
a move that shocked both his political supporters and opponents,
Hamilton's Mayor Larry Di Ianni has chained himself to a
tree in Red Hill Valley. (A photo of the mayor and tree
appears on the City’s website at http://www.hamilton.ca/city-hall/mayor/default.asp
)
"Once
I got into office I had this epiphany, this expressway isn't
going to have any positive effect on the city, so, since
I am a stand-up "activist" kind of mayor, I'm
putting my butt on the line."
Not
so long ago Di Ianni, backed by fellow councillors, was
willing to sue citizens for disrupting construction, even
threatening to take protesters' homes for "damages;"
he's now hoping that someone from Six Nations will come
by and construct another Longhouse. "The weather isn't
what it was," remarked Di Ianni through chattering
teeth, "I'm hoping someone will come by with at least
a warm jacket to go with my suit."
When
contacted by the Speculator, Don McLean, Friends of Red
Hill Valley chair, at first wouldn't believe the news.
"When I heard the news I called Dan MacLean at CH TV
to see if it was true. Dan said it was, and you know you
can depend on CH for unbiased news reporting when it comes
to Red Hill," said McLean.
Ward
12 councillor Murray Ferguson astonished his constituents
and rare flying squirrels in the valley by immediately backing
the new mayor in the endeavour to save the valley. "Yep,"
intoned the laconic councillor, "I got right on the
old John Deere (lawn mower) and went to see my brother Lloyd
out at Dufferin." Using his pull as a family member,
Murray convinced his brother, who heads the constuction
company with contracts in the valley, to let the millions
of dollars worth of contracts go. "Yep," added
Murray, "It was easy."
Murray
Ferguson told the Speculator that he and Lloyd are going
to give up their current careers and start a native-plant
nursery in Ancaster, in order to be ready to cash-in on
the re-planting of the valley.
As
for Di Ianni, he's looking forward to a halt in construction
so that he can get back to his job as Mayor.
"Pride,
Purpose, and Performance," murmured Di Ianni, "and
speaking of "P," where does one..." he trailed
off, looking askance at his titanium chain and "dragon"
anchoring him to the sturdy maple.
Will
the new mayor hold out? He remains resolute: "As long
as our fine men and women in the police force don't slap
the injunction on me, I'm here for the long haul."
Indeed, Di Ianni has decided to move his office from the
first floor at 71 Main, to the valley itself, a move applauded
by the cash-strapped city councillors for the expected half
a million dollars savings, a far cry cheaper than moving
his office to the second floor at city hall.
"Where
are those people with the sacred fire?" mused Di Ianni
from his open air tree-office. "Why are those deer
standing there panhandling?"
Hamilton's
new mayor, Larry Di Ianni.
Photo from the city's website. |
The
Hamilton and Stoney Creek Chamber of Commerces issued a
joint statement denouncing Di Ianni as a traitor to "The
Cause," and are hoping to wine and dine Ward One councillor
and former Hamilton Naturalist Club president Brian McHattie
to expand Cootes Drive through Cootes Paradise to 17 lanes,
a move they hope will increase business to their new "Spencer
Gorge" strip mall outlets at the base of Webster's
Falls in the city's west end.
When
reached for comment, all McHattie could say was "It's
three o'clock in the morning, I told you to stop calling
me."
Satirical
Report by Randy Kay
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