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June 23/04 Report
9:30 am
Present: Murray Ferguson (chair), Chad Collins, Dave Braden, Maria Pearson, Phil Bruckler, Powers (left at approx. 10:45 for the rest of the meeting)
Also present: Brian McHattie, Dave Mitchell, Larry DiIanni (left at approx. 10:45)
Media present: Ken Mann (CHML), Kevin Werner (Brabant News), Eric McGuinness (Spec).
Consent Items:
Items 5.1 to 5.7, were passed, excluding 5.2 which either was tabled or discussed when I was interviewing other presenters.
Delegations:
6.1 Dundas Community Seniors Centre
Darlyne Mills and Bob Glass of the Dundas Rotary Club gave a presentation to the committee with an update on fundraising for the Rotary Cattel Seniors Centre which will be an addition to the Armouries. The total project cost is $822,000 and $65,000 has been paid to date. Fundraising so far has provided $46,000, there is $580,000 in the bank, however they are facing a $131,000 shortfall and are asking Council for a short term basis line of credit. They will pay 2% interest, equal to the 60-90 Day Treasury Bill rate. The building will be completed by December, and the months of November and December will see the heaviest cash flow. They cited Rotary's 50 year record of raising funds for community projects, the success of St. Joseph's Villa and the minimal risk to the city as factors for council to consider when making their decision.
Councillors asked for staff to bring back a report outlining options for providing this short term line of credit (both internally and with the possible use of the Future Fund). There will likely be something on the agenda for the next council meeting.
6.2 The Hamilton Philharmonic and Opera Hamilton
Alex Barran spoke on behalf of the Philharmonic and David Speers on behalf of Opera Hamilton regarding the reduction on their 2004 grants through the Community Partnership Program. The HPO had requested $150,000 and staff had recommended that they receive $105,000. The Grants Committee cut this back to $75,162. Opera Hamilton had requested $125,000, staff recommended $112,500 and the Grants Committee cut this back to $81,345.
Alex put forth 3 recommendations;
- That Council do its utmost to find the necessary funding to close the gap between the grant levels of the past 3 years and the current cuts, ie $50,000 for HPO and $44,000 for Opera Hamilton.
- Begin consultations with HPO and Opera Ontario to recognize them, along with the Art Gallery of Hamilton and Theatre Aquarius as the 4 major cultural institutions in Hamilton, (criterion: operating budgets of more than $ 1 million)
- Design a new Community Arts Investment Program similar to that of London, Ontario that will ensure long-term stable funding for these 4 flagship cultural organizations.
He also spoke about the need for multi-year operating grants, and stated that the funding cuts threaten the Philharmonic's core activities as well as outreach and educational programs. A 40% cut sends very serious signals to major funders.
In his presentation David Speers spoke of Opera Hamilton's reputation as an energetic and innovative producer, its commitment to education and outreach programmes and its dedication to the development of young emerging Canadian artists. He echoed HPO's recommendations.
Discussion:
(Relying on notes only...technical difficulties with recorder)
McHattie: Our New Economic Development Strategy contains an Arts segment...
Bruckler: The arts are an integral part of our community. Which components are we willing to invest the highest percentage in?
Ferguson: Staff came back with an 80% reduction and the Grants Committee cut even further.
DiIanni: How do we operationalize that? I'd like to recommend that we ask the Grants Committee to look at this again. We need to provide the much needed dollars.
Powers: I'll echo all of the previous speakers' comments. This applies to Heritage also. These are difficult times and there were cutbacks in virtually every one of the areas. I know there are formulas that the staff follows (this was a position adopted by council), but why were these groups identified for additional cuts?
Ferguson: We're between a rock and a hard spot. Events were happening that we needed the money for now. We like to accomodate new ventures, so we supported new events, but others were dropped. When staff reviews requests, a pretty detailed, water-tight process is applied. It's when it gets political that it falls apart.
Powers: Fiscal realities affect us and these organizations. I don't think any one of us wants to lose the HPO or Opera Hamilton, notwithstanding the Grants process.
Ferguson: Every single application was a bona fide event or programme. It was a pretty difficult decision.
Pearson: Everyone understands the crunch we're in. If this goes back to the Grants Committee, how much money is available?
Ferguson: 0
Braden: It's the long-term issue. We have to establish what our priorities are. It's not healthy to encourage people to beg for money. I don't think that going to the Grants Committee is the way to go. This is demeaning in a way. We need to say, "There is a lot more depth to this. This is a part of our life."
DiIanni: I don't disagree with Councillor Braden. We need a long term plan with our Arts policy. We need to give it that political momentum. For the short term can we find the money? What signal are we sending with this? If there's another alternative, I'd be interested in it, but the Grants Committee knows best what has transpired so far.
Collins: We had a number of groups (Festival of Friends, Winona Peach Festival) who received funding cuts in 2004. My fear in treating these as one-offs is that we're going to have another organization come forward and where does it stop? Keeping in mind there are criteria in place, "I think it's going to open a can of worms." Maybe the funding allotment for all groups is too low. "I don't have the appetite to find this funding in the budget." If there's a motion to send this back to Grants, I'll oppose it. There's no point.
DiIanni: Maybe another group should look at it. What money did staff recomment these groups receive? A couple of centrepiece groups have had greater cutbacks than recommended by staff. I'd like to find a group of individuals who are willing to look at this. I'm going to a meeting in Toronto re the RBG. I'll come back and say here's where we are. We need to do what we can to shore up and support these organizations.
Ferguson: Arts and events got hit pretty hard this year.
Mitchell: The City of Hamilton is made up of many communities. My phone's been ringing off the wall with tax increases and front line services not being done. I side with Collins. We're in tough times. I couldn't support giving more money at this time.
Bruckler: I'd like to make a motion that staff prepare a report on long-term strategies for the 4 groups (HPO, Opera Hamilton, Theatre Aquarius, Art Gallery).
Braden: I'm not meaning to be difficult, but this is political. I assume Joe understands how much the HPO should receive. How can we ask staff ...I think it's us.
Powers: My interpretation of this motion is limited. Dialogue needs to go beyond these specific organizations. Staff could facilitate this. Perhaps Councillors McHattie and Bruckler could give more rationale.
Bruckler: (adding to his motion) Including funding and benefits and the broader community in the context of the arts cluster.
McHattie: I certainly agree with Councillors Powers and Bruckler. It's the arts community in general we need to consult with. This is about what the arts cluster could do overall for Hamilton. Employees with lots of ideas want to come and live in Hamilton. Anna (Bradford) needs to flush out the details. It's not about Joe or funding but our overall strategy of how to implement the arts cluster.
Powers: Staff should facilitate the preparation of a report. There's too much empowerment put on staff. We could deal with this in the fall.
DiIanni: I agree that a motion should direct staff. "This is about more than just money, it's about philosophy and trying to attract an arts community." Housing and the development of downtown are all a part of this.
Ferguson: Are we satisfied with Councillor Bruckler's motion?
(Pearson seconded - 4 in favour ...missed who they were)
DiIanni: I'd like to make a motion to call a meeting A.S.A.P. of interested councillors to look at the short term request for money form the groups concerned. The Grants meeting is on Monday (July 5) and we should expand it to include others.
**Collins was the only councillor opposed.
***At this point I left the meeting to interview Mr. Baran and Mr. Speers, but unfortunately when I returned to the chambers, my tape recorder had not worked and it failed to pick up the presentations by Lorne Liebermann (Creative Arts Inc. Festival of Friends) and Belma DiaMante (President of Canadian Ballet Youth Ensemble).
My apologies to both of these speakers for not being able to transcribe their presentations.
In an interview later, Belma remarked that the most exciting thing to come out of the meeting was the fact that council was at least looking at the role of art in the city's economic development. She said that although her organization's funding had been reduced by $3,000, she had not come to panhandle, but to ask that her group be a full participant in council's new direction for arts and culture. She proposed that there be a special task force set up to look specifically at the role of arts and culture in revitalizing the downtown and the city in general.
Following their presentations Councillor Braden stated, "If we cancelled one discretionary project, we'd have more money. It's hard not to mention that after every single discussion."
McHattie: The mayor made an earlier motion. How are we going to react to other people coming in?
Ferguson: The ones coming to the Grants Committee are those falling below 80%.
Collins: How many groups have called about lack of funding?
Tony: Just the groups today and one or two others.
Staff Presentations
7.1 Leadership Roundtable
This was an in-house program initiated in 1999 to build leadership capacity at all levels at City Hall. In 2003 Council approved funding for a fornal evaluation of this program by an external expert, Mary Foster, Ph.D. Her findings revealed that the Roundtable has had a significant and positive impact in areas such as managing and supporting change, understanding the perspective of the whole Corporation, efficient and effective decision-making, and more effective vertical and horizontal communication.
The discussion that followed was brief. There was a lot of praise for the program. Brian McHattie thought that staff could design a program that the councillors could go through. Mitchell suggested that it be at a Lake Louise retreat, and Braden asked if it was open to everyone, even frontline workers, and whether it was favouring people who are not at a lower level. The response was that it was open to all.
Bruckler moved that the report be accepted and it was seconded by Pearson.
7.2 City of Hamilton Human Resources Annual Report
This report can be viewed on the City of Hamilton website. It presents accomplishments and human resource activity indicators for each section in the Human Resources Department for the year 2003
It was presented as a "good news" story.
Discussion:
Bruckler: I certainly appreciate the comprehensiveness and brevity of the report. Regarding grievances, is there any change in the trend? (Response - In the first year we were more robust in tracking. In '03 there were lots of issues in Public Works. We were able to sit with all unions and resolve these.
Catherine Graham: We have not had a normal year since amalgamation. Then we can talk about what are the trends.
Bruckler: It's good to establish a base. It's nice to see absenteeism has dropped.
Catherine: Under Lost Time, the type of injury had not changed, but we're seeing a lot more of them.
Braden: We also haven't had a normal year.
Ferguson: Any abnormality's the norm.
Braden: All I'm looking for is action. If Mark here is not showing up to work enough, who do I blame...you?
Catherine: It's the supervisor's responsibility to sit down with the employee and explain that it could put their employment at risk.
Braden: On page 3, the bottom 4 steps initiated by the City...With regard to arenas, I think those front line workers are crying out fro a little more respect and responsibility. I think goodwill is going down the tubes. We need your leadership in those departments...before September (?). There were a high number of grievances based on a former employer.
Mitchell: We have EAP, Employment Assistance Program. I'm concerned about abuse..where it fits, how it applies?
Discussion Items
8.1 Insurance Provider for City of Hamilton Benefit Tender - RFP Contract
That the City of Hamilton enter into an agreement with Manulife Financial for the provision of Health and Dental Insurance, Life Insurance, Supplemental Life Insurance, Dependent Life Insurance, Weekly Indemnity and Long Term Disability, effective September 1, 2004, to be renewed on an annual basis and with the provision for cancellation on thirty-one day's notice and for a period not to exceed 5 years.
In the discussion that followed Catherine said that they had looked at Maritime Life, Sunlife and Ontario Blue Cross and that Manulife had the best presentation overall in all respects. The City would also see a savings of about $5000,000.
Mitchell: I support and understand the recommendation. I had an accident a year ago and there are still issues going on. You must use all your corporate insurance up first before you apply there. That is an inequity in the system. Can we prepare a resolution that will correct this?
Rinaldo: Perhaps I can have our insurance people look at it. It's a standard practice in the insurance industry.
Pearson moved, Braden seconded.
8.2 Effect of Proposed Employee Parking Policy on Downtown Parking - Preliminary Report
Recommended that the Manager of Hamilton Municipal Parking System be authorized and directed to implement a limited parking study of the neighbourhood immediately south of City Hall and to assess the probable effects of the proposed Employee Parking Policy on that neighbourhood.
This study had been initiated by Andrea Horwath because of her concerns about increased non-compliance with parking regulations and the loss of already limited access to on and off-street parking as a direct result of increased competition for parking between displaced City staff, residents and the clients of the area's businesses.
(The minutes for this meeting are not yet posted on the website, so I can't check on the motion that came out of this discussion. I believe the committee agreed to proceeding with a limited study by City staff without using an outsourced consultant's resources and expertise, and restricted only to the area south of City Hall rather than moving forward with a more comprehensive study performed by Marshall Macklin Monaghan, which would have a broader scope (the effects on all downtown neighbourhoods that adjoin the 11 City workplaces) but would cost upwards of $26, 900.
777 Green Mountain Rd.
This was not on the agenda, but Councillor Mitchell raised concerns about what he believes is illegal dumping at this address (the former Phillips site). He said that there were 4 - 6 transport trucks a day delivering and dumping waste. He is not happy with the speed of the legal process and wouldn't mind something sent to Council next week. "Pull the culvert and stop them from going in there. Our hands are tied. The piles are getting too big." He stated that he wants support from the Stoney Creek councillors.
Joe Rinaldo replied that he would provide an update to council next week and would meet with Councillor Mitchell right away.
Apportionment of Taxes
Councillor Bruckler raised the issue of a resident who severed off a part of his property and his assessment went up $50,000.
Rinaldo replied that one of the constraints is that when they send out the tax bill for 2004, based on the return of MPAC, they do adjustments later.
Bruckler asked if there was any was to return these funds with interest, but Rinaldo said that legislation does not provide for this.
Councillor Pearson wanted to know if that had information that this would be brought up at council. Braden said that if they have the authority to bring this to a halt, they should just do this (?).
The committee then went in camera to discuss 2004 Non-Union Salary Adjustment.
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