October 19/05 Report
Start time: 9:40 a.m. Start In Camera: 1:00 p.m.

Attendance:

Councillors

• D. Braden (Chair)
• P. Bruckler (out 1 x for 24 min.
• C. Collins (out 2 x for 11 min.)
• M. Ferguson (out 4 x for 36 min.)
• M. Pearson (out 2 x for 29 min.)
• A. Samson (Vice Chair) (out 1 x for 20 min.)

Also Present:

• Councillor T. Jackson (for Item 5.1)
• Councillor T. Whitehead
• Councillor D. Mitchell
• Larry Friday - Director of Taxation
• Tim McCabe - Director of Development, Planning & Development
• Maxine Carter - Access & Equity Coordinator
• Jane Lee - Director, Customer Service, Access and Equity
• Rick Male - Director Financial Services
• Joe Spiler - Manager Capital Budgets and Development
• Salter Hayden - Deputy Clerk
• John Gosgnach - Manager of Communications
• Kevin Christenson - City Clerk
• Carolyn Biggs - Legislative Assistant

Media

• Hamilton Spectator (McIntyre)
• CHML (Mann)

CATCH

• Dana & Joan

ANNOUNCEMENT

"This meeting is being broadcast live to a small group of staff and committee participants in an effort to provide the capability of broadcasting public meetings live from the city's website in the future. This is one of the goals of the myhamilton.ca community portal project. This broadcast will provide valuable information about broadcast quality and online delivery."

1. CHANGES TO AGENDA

(a) Request to appear from Shawn Evans, Dir. Of Corp. Operations, GolfNorth Properties Inc., respecting pre-qualification for Contract C10-16-05 - Management of Hamilton Municipal Golf Courses (distributed today) (under 4 - Delegation requests)

(b) Addition of Report FCS05116 respecting Hamilton Conservation Authority - Construction Loan Request for Lakeland Centre Project (City Wide) (copies distributed today - Item 8.9)

(c)Addition of resolution referred back to the Committee from City Council on October 12, 2005 respecting Communication Strategy - August 19 th Rainstorm (Item 8.10)

(d) Power point presentations from:

(i) Item 7.1 - 2005 Annual Accessibility Plan - Ontarioans with Disabilities Act (under Staff Presentations - distributed today)

(ii) Item 8.3 - Purchasing Policies Procedures (follows 7.1 under Staff Presentations)

Re Item 8.8 - 2004 Salaries - Hamilton Utilities Corp. (No Copy) - Art Leitch not able to attend today, therefore deferred to Nov. 2 meeting.

2. DECLARATION OF INTEREST

(Yes, Councillor Ferguson - see note under item 8.3 re C. Ferguson)

4. DELEGATIONS REQUESTS

Rick Male : Staff met with Mr. Shawn Evans and went over the reasons his proposal did not meet with the 70 points minimum threshold, as outlined in the process. His proposal did not reference the winter sports park operation which was part of the qualification. "He thought his evaluation should have yielded a higher score . he did not achieve the minimum".

Ferguson: Move that the delegation request be denied.
Seconded by Pearson. CARRIED .

5. CONSENT ITEMS

5.1 Apportionment of Taxes Pursuant to Section 356 of the Municipal Act, 2001, S.O. 2001, c.25 for various residences in Ancaster(Ward 12), Dundas (Ward 13), Glanbrook (Ward 11), Hamilton (Wards 6 and 8),Stoney Creek (Wards 9 and 11) (FCS05081(c))
http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/4C21980C-6AFB-43BB-
AD8C-DFF0EC8F4FC9/0/Oct19FCS05081CAportionmentofTaxes.pdf

Jackson speaks to apportionment of taxes which come after homeowners have moved into their new homes, usually coming 1 - 2 years later - comes as an unplanned expense - with no earlier communication until the tax is due - a hardship for many homeowners - looking for a way to have a notice going out earlier so that homeowners can prepare and to make this payment

Ferguson suggests a check list when a person signs an offer to purchase e.g. - "you can expect a tax bill a couple years down the road."

When Pearson asks about the process, Larry Friday explains: "We don't know until the assessment office (Municipal Assessment Corporation - MPAC) gives us the information. . nothing we can do in advance."

Jackson states MPAC is coming for a meeting - suggests a meeting between Friday and MPAC to see if "they can come up with an earlier way of communicating this to the future new homeowners." Councillors agree that a warning conveyed perhaps on a "checklist" would convey to the homeowner that a future tax will be coming.

Friday will advise MPAC to put this issue on their list to be discussed.

Ferguson inquires of staff if they have the "ability to provide a checklist to these new home buyers . "cause if we depend on developers or real estate agents or builders, it just won't get done. . a checklist saying (for example) you will have sidewalks, you will not necessarily have a school, you will get a tax bill 2 years hence, there is an airport within 5 miles of your back door - do we have that ability?"

Friday explains that "we have a number of builders who come in, hate to call them fly-by-nights, but they come in under a numbered company, they do their division and they take off and the don't bother to pay the taxes at all, and you're dealing with 2-3 years of taxes."

Tim McCabe : "Authority of subdivisions on Planning Act is pretty far reaching. . The most effective vehicle is not the sub-division agreement . (but) require developers to put these warning clauses in all offers to purchase. So just before they actually sign they see it staring in their face. We have done it for noise warning clauses, for sidewalks. The enforcement is something we don't have a check on. Good sub-dividers will have to put it in because that's their obligation legally under the contract with the city."

Braden asks that McCabe and Friday work together on report back with a recommendation.

(8 min. on this item)

5.2 Authority to Negotiate and Place a Debenture Issue (FCS05106) (City Wide)
http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/322B5B05-9137-4FBD-8927-
776DAE4C9898/0/Oct19FCS05106AuthoritytoIssueDebt.pdf
(Ferguson/Collins) CARRIED

7. STAFF PRESENTATIONS

7.1 2005 Annual Accessibility Plan - Ontarians with Disabilities Act (FCS05099) (City Wide)
http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/7C831BFE-F0ED-4425-8690-
C3D9DF2F4311/0/Oct19FCS050992005ODAAnnualAccessibilityPlan.pdf

Slide presentation by Maxine Carter, Access & Equity Co-ordinator, City of Hamilton
(Soon available on their website) Also played a video "Access Denied".

Discussion:

Bruckler comments that Hamilton has over 90,000 visible and invisible disabled. He asks about the relationship between the (Ontarians and Disabilities) Act and the building code "because the integration is quite critical."

Jane Lee: "Unfortunately at this time I don't think they are very well coordinated." The new Act will establish standards and built environment is one of the areas identified. The former Act did not apply to the private sector, just the public sector, such as schools, hospitals, etc. Province has given a 20 year time frame for the new Act to achieve accessibility, in terms of 5 year increments, starting with transportation and customer service standards. City is trying to be pro-active and updating our barrier-free standards which were produced in the middle '90's. "does not see the coordination in there."

Samson recounts the experiences of two handicapped people, using public property, who, because of inconsistent standards are put in jeopardy - one because of the lack of a handicapped washroom, and another relating to etchings on sidewalks which are supposed to warn of approaching a corner, instead lead down into the traffic. He is surprised that such situations still exist. "I couldn't believe that we did not have an accessible washroom in the Dundas Driving Park. I thought that was all done in the '90's." He assumed that once the staff were told about it, the situation would be rectified, but when discussed with "operations" staff he was told they do not have the money. His question: "If I come across something like that, who's the person I go to?" Lee suggests going to the Director (Maxine Carter) as well as other staff in that department, looking after complaints and concerns dealing with accessibility.

Braden remarks that the city is still making a few mistakes, . but if there were documentation in place re the standards then there would be no excuse. Lee replies that they are working on raising awareness - "improved over the last couple of years, but have a ways to go." Carter says they have met with developers and all have agreed that it makes sense to build to those standards. "Once communication is in place, (we hope) we are not going to make those errors anymore."

8. DISCUSSION ITEMS

8.1 Request for Property Tax Exemption - 1155 and 1157 Beach Blvd. and Policy Governing Requests for Property Tax Exemptions (FCS05028(a)) (City Wide) - Outstanding Business Item K
http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/D9EBE706-BEB9-4A04-811B-
F0A5679C3072/0/Oct19FCS05028aTaxExemptionrequestPolicy.pdf

No discussion
(Collins/Bruckler) CARRIED

8.2 Update: GO Transit and Development Charges Act and By-law; Region of Halton, Region of Peel and City of Mississauga Resolutions (FCS05102) (City Wide) - Corporate Administration Committee Outstanding Business Items F and V; Public Works, Infrastructure and Environment Committee Outstanding Business "C"
http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/0B896964-5940-4C62-A383-
12199677E707/0/Oct19FCS05102GOTransit.pdf

Collins : "Are other municipalities seeking the provincial amendments including the brownfield initiatives and the waste management initiatives . or is that a uniquely Hamilton amendment that we're looking for?"

Joe Spiler : Not the brownfield initiatives but I believe Peel included waste management.

Collins: Can we ask that it be forward to AMO(Assoc. of Municipalities of Ontario) for their consideration because I think brownfield legislation and DC's (Development Charge) related to this are so important especially for the older municipalities. And if we could garner support from other older municipalities in Ontario especially, it might help us to amend the legislation. If we're doing it alone I think it would carry less weight with the province, but if others are asking for the same it would certainly help."

Braden: "Friendly direction or motion?"

Spiler : Perhaps through a letter that we can direct to the municipalities such as Windsor, some of the older municipalities . just like the other municipalities ask for our support.

Bruckler : ". relates to the lack of DC for community parkland acquisition. It is substantial, it's not a small amount - ". we end up paying for these and oftentimes we don't have the money. The demand is there, the pressure from the residents is there, but we just can't accommodate that. Reading all these . what the province is looking at - GO transit, hospitals, . trying to make legislative changes in development charges, I see the absence of that particular item. At one time it was included . but dropped. I certainly would like to see it back and I know passing it onto AMO as well as the Ontario Parks Assoc. I'm sure there would be support, . but if we don't at least put it forward .sooner or later it's going to come back to bite this municipality."

Mitchell : "With the DC . the mayor's going to have a meeting with our MPP's and this will probably make the list of that discussion. My concern is I think Hamilton, amalgamated cities are very unique in their catch-up abilities. in the past, part of my ward Glanbrook Park had . we had 1 arena for 10,000 people. We redo our DC and now we have 1 arena for 22,000 and I think the provincial laws have to be changed to adapt that flexibility and maybe it's unique to amalgamated cities, but they're going to have to start to listen to our situation here a little more thoroughly."
(Pearson/Collins) CARRIED

8.3 Purchasing Policies and Procedures (FCS04031(a)) (City Wide) - Out-standing Business Item E
http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/D5CA79FD-C00C-4E3B-9172-
C634D93D1518/0/Oct19FCS04031aPurchasingPolicies.pdf

Slide presentation by Rick Male giving the Purchasing Policy Review 2005. Male gives a brief overview of what is on the slides - covering the purchasing statistics for 2004, briefly outline the proposed changes to the policy, 2 new policies bringing forward, the disqualification of bids that the city has been experiencing, and an opportunity for discussion and feed back.

Some topics covered were:

- restructuring of existing policies to form one purchasing policy

- 2004 stats: 5600 purchase orders, totaling $373 million, 282 contracts issued

- proposed changes to the vendor list: removing a vendor from the list for a period of up to 5 years was eliminated to allow the City to affix an appropriate time limit on a per case basis

- Specifications: Manager of Purchasing was required to approve all specifications has been changed to read the Manager of Purchasing has the authority to reject any specification. (example of conditions to reject: specifications not in compliance with purchasing policy, e.g. would unduly restrict competition, or result in a single source without approval of council, or specifications too brand specific)

NOTE: Ferguson: "In retrospect, I think I'll declare a Conflict of Interest." (Ferguson leaves Council Chambers.)

-vendor complaint resolution

- anti-sweatshop procurement policy prohibiting the procurement of Goods that have been manufactured, assembled or produced under Sweatshop Conditions

- disqualification of bids 2005 stats with many reasons common to other municipalities, such as incomplete or partial bids, not extended their bids and given an extended price, they may have qualified their bid such as having an insurance company putting a qualification on it, unsigned or missing original signatures, photocopies not acceptable, not submitted on proper form, erasures, crossouts, whiteouts allowed only when initialed, ignore addenda.

(Discussion follows but part is missed due to malfunction of recorder.)

Male : ."asked for by community council over the last few years

Collins : Would it not make sense for purchasing to deal with that? They're doing that internally for janitorial services and other types of issues that we would deal with but there really isn't that interaction with the public. The only leverage we'd have in the future would be through purchasing if we found that someone was negligent providing the services or didn't live up to our expectations for whatever contract we put out. Would it make sense to get involved with purchasing at this time?

Male : " going to be a tie in with purchasing, it's not being done in isolation. They're taking the initiative to develop the policy as referenced in the purchasing policy. We would make sure from purchasing perspective it adheres to the principals that council's laid out regarding vendor performance and soliciting feedback.

Collins : A common suggestion from the electorate is often one where they suggest that we joint purchase with other municipalities through better prices and I know recently we had a joint initiative with Toronto in regards to street sweepers. I think that process has worked well. In regards to some of the bigger purchases that we make, bulk purchases, what opportunities exist to revise our policies to partner with other municipalities more frequently?

Male : There's a very specific policy that allows us to do that. . We participate in a lot of provincial contracts. . have had discussions with the Ontario Buyers Assoc. about our buying power. been a reluctance in some of the larger municipalities to participate in some of these initiatives . places like Toronto and Ottawa say Hamilton adds nothing to us for purchasing power perspective. But seeing some of the extremely unusually large price increases in utilities . it's readily apparent to the municipalities now . joint buying, volume buying will benefit everybody. . We did our own . but thought we could have done better with a joint initiative. . being actively looked at . with school boards and hospitals, . once policy review is underway we get a little breathing space before the next busy thing hits us, . we'll organize the meetings and see what we can do going forward.

Collins: That's great, and if there is anything politically that we can do with other councils, I would certainly like to assist if it makes that partnership happen quicker than has happened in the past. Maybe it means excluding the Torontos and the Ottawas if they're not interested, jointly purchasing with other smaller municipalities. I'm glad to hear it is an issue and on the radar screen. I just ask that we be kept up to date in regards to whatever progress we make.

Mitchell : "I have 4 questions . to bring forward. One is on the lawsuit issue and us not doing business with companies that are involved with litigation with the city. . any updates on how well that policy is working, or has it caused any grief - any changes to be made there ."

Male: Has actually been in place for a couple years . utilized 3-4 times, and I'm aware of a current case with the housing authority. Has been working well. .may remember that we recently re-acquired the cannon after a number of years . result of exercising that policy. Council ??? a resolution precluding that vendor from submitting any proposals in regards to requests for proposals and tenders for 5 years. Once council did that, the vendor very quickly arranged to meet with staff and made arrangements to return the cannon which is now down on the Bay. . process is working really well, not aware of any changes being contemplated . when we're looking to exercise that, we bring it forward to committee and council with a recommendation. It's up to council . to ban a vendor for a period of time or not .

Mitchell than asks about the procedure when only 1 bidder responds to an RFP.

Male : Several options if only one bid received and the bid is substantially above what budget allows. If the budget is off the mark, go to committee/council to see if they will approve additional funding. Another option is reducing requirements, are there too many "frills?" Another option is to see if something basically wrong with the document - will call people who have picked up the forms and didn't submit bids and ask why and receive feedback. After all options checked, and the project is time sensitive, "we will identify one particular vendor, go to committee and council and ask for permission to negotiate price with this specific vendor . staff can't unilaterally negotiate with one vendor price just to get the price down without council approval."

Mitchell 's next concern is that small businesses are being ruled out through the RFP, etc. process because of their size, but do excellent work in the city. "Has there been some corrections made to try to be fair to the smaller business as well?"

Male : "Level of insurance and bonding set by risk management and legal to protect the city's interest. One of the things impacted on the small vendors in the community is that the city has endeavoured to parcel work to try and get a better price, e.g. janitorial services. . some vendors are capable of doing only 1 or 2 facilities and maybe couldn't do the 10 or 15 (in the parcel). . taken into consideration going forward and trying not to parcel things at a level that just doesn't make sense to artificially preclude the smaller vendor. Some.parcels in the past have come up again and are being broken down."

Mitchell then asks for a definition of a sweat-shop.

Male reads definitions from the policy and then states that "We've adopted the definition basically from United Nations."

Mitchell comments on his 40 years working in agriculture, conditions he worked under, cheap food policy, and "guess I would have to look at it as if I worked in sweat-shop conditions." and mentions that agriculture is not included in the definition."

Bruckler : ". are there different packages for different things so that bidders are not overwhelmed . smaller contract, smaller projects?"

Male : ".under $50,000, it's a pretty simplistic process . The formal ones over $100,000 are all reviewed, and not everything is included . put in the parts that pertain to that specific document . in next year doing an intensive review of all those documents and streamline and simplify, . so we don't get people disqualified that shouldn't be."

Whitehead : "The only people who do very well on purchasing policies are insurance companies and lawyers." And asks "At what point are we over protecting ourselves and . preventing ourselves from getting the best purchasing prices.". Mentions that "techies" were left out of the process in regards to tendering. "The way the purchasing policy works and way it was drafted the small groups in this community do not benefit at all" and asks how much is spent last year in purchasing?

Male : "Spent close to $500 million in total through ??? and purchasing policy."

Whitehead asks why the city doesn't leverage that $500 million to benefit businesses in this community?

Male : "Under legislation we cannot give preference to a local vendor, unless you can make a business case to do so."

Whitehead : "The question is what we can do to help leverage opportunity in this community. . often purchasing contracts are eliminating local companies because of tight restrictions and the bonding requirements, etc. .They can provide the expertise and can provide the service, I've heard this over and over again, but there's no point tendering because they can't meet these kinds of requirements. ".too many businesses . I've observed in the last 2 years, are coming from outside this community. .ask purchasing, understanding the legislation, what are the things we should or could be doing to provide opportunities for the businesses in the city of Hamilton."

Male : ". reiterate what we're proposing to do . eliminate barriers to smaller local businesses. If our bonding and our insurance requirements are artificially too high, and if that's precluding them to have the financial resources to back up their bid, I've indicated that we're going to be addressing that in the coming year and bringing back any recommendations to committee and council for changes in those areas. We're looking at, case by case, whether or not it makes sense to unbundle work that's been parceled together in the past.. We can't do anything that would unfairly benefit the local vender but we can do things to eliminate barriers . and that's what we're endeavouring to do."

Whitehead : "That's great." Asks if when we award these multi-million contracts to outside firms . "are we squeezing as much out of them as possible as to having a presence in the community (referring to head offices, etc.)?"

Male responds he would have to talk to 'legal' about that. Mentions experience with contract issued to Philips many years ago, which included their building a "multi-million dollar headquarters in the city, which never materialized. When issuing a tender, never know who is going to respond - we will review that . and come back to committee and council."

Pearson asks question re purchasing policy review in regards to removing vendors referring to the 5 years.

Male : "Staff would make a recommendation in the past to committee and council to preclude a vendor from bidding on city business for a period of up to 5 years. What we've done now is remove that 5 year cap. If it's a very serious case, if the vendor's committed fraud against the city, for instance, the odds are the staff are going to come back with a recommendation to ban that vendor for life from being able to get city business. . based on a recommendation from staff what the penalty should be, if council approves it."

Pearson : ".still a council decision."

Braden : "With regard to internal bids, this has been mentioned a number of times. I think we need to do some more homework about the financial requirements in the bonding. I'd like to see some 'in house' bids work and give them the experience 'cause we will learn something from that." Re mom & pop operations, "we want to see if we can include them - I'm not willing to pay more money and there will be more exercise in dealing with more contractors - but it's really good business, particularly in a place like Flamborough where it's seen that the city is spending some local money with different groups, rather than using a larger group, which may in fact negate the involvement of others. So I just meant this as a corporate direction. I'm hoping if we have a person, and I won't use his name, who is Joe Blow Excavating, and went broke, and he had a number of bad experiences, and then he was Joe Blow II Excavating, and then you see this again, and now Joe Blow has a new name, but he's still Joe Blow behind it, I'm hoping that we can exclude that person based on personality, not based on name. If he's just trouble or a crook, we simply don't have to deal with that tender without having to get sued, because we reject it. Can you comment on that one?"

Male : "If he was named as a principal in that first company, we can preclude the next company he's involved with in putting in bids."

Braden : "Umm, one more and I want to leave it with you. I'm working with a group and we want to make a proposal to build social housing, cheaper than the city can ever, ever deal with it. But we don't want to bid against anybody else, we want to build it to a superlative standard, and in fact we'll be breaking every rule in the book. Sole sourcing, we'll be asking for this, we'll be going direct and doing everything for all the right reasons, so it's like a non-profit group. But if the city is going to put up barriers for non-profits to do some really creative stuff, we need to know -

END OF TAPE 2, SIDE 1
Tape picks up with Rick Male speaking.

Male : "There's a policy that governs that. Unsolicited bids, and any bids such as that . they bring that forward to staff. The Manager of Purchasing is required to look at it, and if it is unique and makes sense to do that, a report will go to committee and council and get their approval to work with that group to try and get that service in place. But it would be council that will decide."

Braden : "Would your recommendation be we that we should go with a preliminary talk with the Purchasing Manager right now and just sort of see if that makes a lot of sense cause it would reduce the amount of work?"

Male : "Before the group spend a lot of time on it, yeh, it would make a lot of sense to do a joint discussion with purchasing department."

Braden : "Members of the committee I like to get one of you to make this sort of a direction that Part B, if we're going ahead with this, that we delete this item from the outstanding business list. That would be the "B" of this "A".

Collins : "We've had this discussion in the past, and it was mentioned here today, in regards to delegated authority. I do want to be opposed to that portion of the purchasing policy so I don't know how you want to separate that for the purposes of me having that reflected in the minutes."

Braden : "I want to record it so that you get shown exactly - Carolyn (Biggs), can you adopt his concerns for his - (Carolyn speaks off mic) - and show that he's opposed to that one?"

Collins : "It's policy number 4, I believe."

Mitchell : "One more question for committee to monitor this with a look at going into next year. One slide shows that we did have 34 of 87 RFP's and at least 1 disqualified. I'd like to see that goal for that department be down to - cut that in half. Then that would tell me that we're doing a better job of communicating, getting this information out to the bidders, . That figure to me is too high - 34 of 87 had disqualified bids in it. We gotta improve upon that immensely."

Braden : "C. Mitchell, that is not completely in their control unless they want to reduce standards and I don't think you're saying that you want to reduce standards. You're sort of hoping that the direction is more people - "

Mitchell : "I look at a lot of that could be done through improved communications ."

Whitehead : "I don't accept the chair's premise that your lowering the standards. ( Braden talks in background.) You have to understand it's all about manageable risk. At what level do you say we've gone overboard. What this doesn't show is where we had a number of bids well-qualified, but they were well over the cost of what we had anticipated and therefore there's no qualified bids. How is that reflected in the stats that you provided us?

Male : That's not contained in it. I'm not aware of us having a high experience of issuing proposal and tender documents where we exceed our budget.

Whitehead asks how you would categorize the example of no one bidding on City Hall..

Male : "The one on City Hall would have been caught because we did get a proposal . didn't meet our requirements . (it) would be considered under disqualification category." Since then the tender has been reissued . and 2 proposals have been received.

Whitehead : "I want to have a comprehensive look at the whole thing and there's a piece - I don't see if reflected."

Male : In the statistics that I've reflected are the bids that didn't meet the front end requirements, means they didn't give us the insurance.just the technical stuff at the front. Then it moves on to the evaluation of technical criteria, and the last we look at the price vs. budget. Those would not have been caught. If you want me to do a review to see what our experience has been on getting to the end on how many bids come in over the budget amount was, I can probably very easily do that.

Whitehead states that is what he is looking for - the frequency, and "what is the problem, and why we're so far off on those numbers. Thank you."

(1 hour, 33 min on this item, including 39 min. for presentation)

8.4 Elimination of Newspaper Advertising of Tenders and Requests for Proposals (RFPs) (FCS05108)(City Wide)
http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/2553EE42-F8AA-435C-8DD2-
86019EB64182/0/Oct19FCS05108.pdf

Collins ask "We're going to actually receive more - better opportunities - to reduce our costs because we have more companies or corporations or businesses bidding on city work - whether services or goods sold?"

Male : - they expect to receive a greater number of bids because it's just now limited to those who read the Hamilton Spectator or log onto the City of Hamilton website.

Collins : ". there may be local firms, as noted in the report, may not be aware of the fact that we're tendering some of these projects out or services or goods. To what extent will this impact the local business community if we're not advertising in the local newspaper? Do we have any kind of gauge as to how they might impact the local business community? "

Male responds "These are for things over $100,000 to start with." - explains that when a vendor comes in to pick up a document they register into a Vendor Information File (database). The people who could be precluded are likely the people not on the electronic data base. Recently launched the City portal which is more visible and accessible and will be advertising to the vendors that this is available. "Cannot guarantee that there wouldn't be a vendor who won't be registered by the end of the year that's local, that may have otherwise put in a proposal if he read it in the local newspaper."

Collins asks that staff monitor the complaints that we might receive in 2006 if recommendation approved. "If I could add to Part B that the $100,000 savings be utilized to reduce the 2006 operating levy" to take advantage of the savings.

Bruckler asks that notice be sent to the Chamber of Commerce to "get the word out."

He would like to have added as an Amendment to the Recommendation that after 6 months staff report back on the effectiveness of the procedure.

Braden : ". on C. Collins idea about the savings and C. Bruckler's addition at the end."

CARRIED (5 min. on this item)

8.5 Provincial Offences Office Annual Report (FCS05105) (City Wide)
http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/4497CA75-4BCA-4AA3-B4E3-
A6EB27DB417C/0/Oct19FCS05105POAAnnualReport.pdf

(Pearson/Collins) CARRIED

Pearson : "I do know that on the list that the mayor's been sending around as far as input to sit around the round table with our MPP's in the next little while it's been arranged. She asked that this issue be added as far as staffing at the court houses because we are losing with staff not being available and judges, etc."

Collins : "To what extent have we been off in regards to those numbers, setting aside provincial issues. Have we been fairly accurate in our revenue and expenditure lines?

Salter Hayden : "I've been working on the ??? budgets for the last 2 years . dramatic decline in revenues in 2 years . basing on historical averages, that doesn't work too well - fall short if based on averages . In the future we will be basing our revenues estimates on what happened in the recent past."

Collins : "Looking for a pattern in regards to historical negative variances." Supports having Pearson's suggestion added to the round table discussions with local MPP's.

"Have we always fallen short in regards to budgets?"

Hayden : "Budget figures for 2004 and 2005 I would say have been over estimated. Yes. . "We have a lot more court dates. moving along quicker . so I assume revenues are going to go up."

Collins : We are aware of the fact we will be revising those numbers.

Hayden : "Estimate revenues for 2006 will be $5.7 - $5.8 million. Changes are not going to be effective enough in 2006 to make that much of a difference."

Bruckler finds the report disturbing, not only because of lack of revenue, but also waste of time and resources. "It is significant . that these cases are thrown out."

Whitehead says this has wider implications and refers to noise complaints from off campus housing in his ward. No sense giving a ticket - "JP's throw these things out." Report indicates the amount of tickets have been reduced - part of reason is systemic - not enough JP's and type of ruling they are making could be a deterrent to giving tickets.

Kevin Christenson explaining about police tickets "If it becomes an extremely high priority, more tickets are issued - not the highest priority then not as many tickets issued." Further, that the "former police chief put traffic violations as a high priority and Chief Mullen changed it to say his staff would be targeting drugs on a higher priority basis - that's reflected in this (report) as well - . reduced ticket issuance based on priority of police department."

Whitehead inquires about by-law enforcement within the City. "Are the numbers of tickets decreased and why?"

Christenson referring to report "showing here from 2002 until P3 which takes into account tickets issued for noise violations and a number of others. Close to 4000 tickets in 2002, increased in 2003, stays about stable in 2004, and has gone down, to date, in 2005. However without having up to date figures for the end of the year, I would estimate it's probably going to come in around the same, as it has for the last 2 years.

(11 minutes on this item)

8.6 Follow-up to Anti-Racism Symposium Report to Council (FCS05072) (City Wide) - Outstanding Business Item B
http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/178FBF9A-45E1-4342-A2C1-
B55FD7A277F4/0/Oct19FCS05072.pdf

No Discussion
(Collins/Samson) CARRIED

8.7 2006 Volunteer Committee Budgets (FCS05114) (City Wide)
http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/09FEDDB5-93A4-4A70-8D69-
23AC1B476B4D/0/Oct19FCS051142006BudgetRequestCSVolunteerCtes.pdf

(Pearson/Bruckler) CARRIED

Carolyn Biggs : Recommendation (a) will be forwarded to the budget process, (b, c, and d) will be going to council next week for approval, (b, c and d) require just a minor amendment, after the word "reserve" and before the number in the brackets put "if required".

Jane Lee explains the word "reserve" in relation to funds for the Advisory Committee. If funds left over from one year, can be put into reserve fund for future years, particularly for 3 year projects. Maximum is twice their annual budget. 3 committees will have surplus funds this year. Money cannot be taken out without committee approval.

Whitehead wonders if this is the right kind of message to send re surplus to reserve as city goes into budget talks.

Lee : ".recently approved, reflective of the fact that committee budgets are very low - about $3500 annually - allows them to manage within their budget without asking for additional funds - also a restriction - if city's operating budget is in a deficit position, they can't put money into reserve"

Whitehead thinks there are other processes in place that are better fitted to address that issue as opposed to bolstering up budgets from year to year by putting into reserves. - setting a precedent.

8.8 2004 Salaries - Hamilton Utilities Corporation (No Copy)
(Note: See Item 4 and Information Item (e) of October 5, 2005 Minutes of the Corporate Administration Committee)

(Ferguson/Collins) CARRIED

Braden : "Art Leitch, President and CEO of Hamilton Utilities Corp. unable to be here to speak to this item, therefore deferred for 2 weeks - November 2 meeting of committee."

8.9 Hamilton Conservation Authority - Construction Loan Request for Lakeland Centre Project (FCS05116) (City Wide) (Report circulated electronically and handed out at meeting.)

(Ferguson/Samson) CARRIED

Collins : "province has been very slow - part of the SuperBuild process - funnelling funds to municipality in regards to projects that are completed - from 6-18 month delay - Conservation Authority doesn't have financial ability to make payments on projects that are about 90-95% completed - recourse is to go to municipality - something should be done, whether through the mayor's office or through a motion through council, because we have a number of SuperBuild projects. For us to look at bridge financing for 1 - 1 ½ years for some or all of these initiatives could be quite troublesome financially. - doesn't recall that part of discussion when city applied for funds - finds it odd that city should wait that amount of time for 100's of thousands if not millions of dollars of provincial payments - be more pro-active in dealing with MPPs - report has been forwarded to mayor's office for round table discussion - not just a Hamilton issue.

Braden : "Why don't I deal with this issue separately - and I'm going to come back to you if you want a second motion - it might be stronger in the form of a motion."

Samson asks if the Conservation Authority has the right to put this expense on the levy, if not approved by committee.

Ferguson : Conservation Authority historically has borrowed significant dollars from municipality - and paid it back - most of the initiatives were Confederation Park - precedent already been set - track record for repayment is good

Braden : Councillor Collins, do you want to make a motion about looking into the SuperBuild -

Collins : - already asked mayor to put on round table for discussion - leave it there. Anything comes out of that - back to committee.

Ferguson : "Is somebody keeping a running tally of items for round table discussion?"

(Someone refers/points to woman in gallery who works in mayor's office.)

Braden : "Well in hand, apparently."

8.10 MEMO: Communication Strategy - August 19 th Rainstorm - Item 8, Corporate Administration Committee Report 05-014 (added Agenda item)
(Referred back from Council to Committee for further discussion)

Ferguson : I think there's 2 issues here, one is communication and Mr. Gosgnach has a piece of paper that I've seen and I wish the other members of committee to have a look at it. (draft flyer is distributed to all) It's very beneficial to circulate. The question I have: is this appropriate funding for this initiative, so at the appropriate time, I don't know what the game plan is, but I move to reconsider the expenditure of the contingency fund for this project and defer this to Public Works for their approval. I guess the funding source is the biggest hang-up here.

Braden : I think I need help from the Clerk, but if we're going to change any original direction we have to defeat a direction of previous motion - Carolyn (Biggs) I'm looking for your help here.

Ferguson : ". Public Works has offered to fund it."

John Gosgnach : C. Merulla had sent out his own communications in his ward and he had spent something in the order of $9000 to produce it, and subsequent to that I found out that postage on top of that amounted to about $11,100. He is looking for some help from council in terms of covering that cost. That's another consideration for this committee.

Ferguson : The process is that individual councillors will make delegations for approval for funding from the contingency fund, so if C. Merulla wants to present his case to committee, sure.

Whitehead : I'm going to take this opportunity to make this appeal to this committee for $6000 to cover a mailing (in his ward). - waiting for Wastewater Management who are doing some assessments to be ready to make a presentations to these impacted areas - 18,500 households - second largest (ward) in households - ward budget doesn't accommodate cost of mailing in this unique situation - request $6000.

Ferguson : In terms of Corp Admin Committee I think our job today is to defeat the original motion - didn't sent out a communication for other councillors affected to appear before this committee - this document should be referred to Public Works for them to deal with.

Ferguson : Move to defeat the original motion.

Seconded by C. Pearson. CARRIED

Ferguson : Move that this communicate be deferred to Public Works.

Pearson : "I'm moving that this goes to Public Works for their review, I just want to be sure the information that is in here and the intent of this brochure is to go city-wide? If it is, there shouldn't be any specific councillor's (names) in the bottom on the back. It should be a general mailout from city of Hamilton.

Gosgnach : That is correct. The intention is that we would mail through insertion in Spectator and Canada Post distribution in some of the rural area businesses. We would have 208,000 pieces - 98% coverage - last CAC meeting, mention of Ward 4 and 8 to have some content in publication and that's why on the last page of the draft you are looking at some small boxes left at the bottom. Public Works (PWIE) does have budget - can pay for this particular publication. In the sense of timeliness, instead of referring it to PWIE, I suggest that I be allowed to work with the PW people to issue this publication.

Collins : Two areas of the City were hit very hard by the storms - wards 4 and 8 - dealing with hundreds of claims - supports the suggestion - let C. Merulla come in and make his case - Whitehead is here today and looking for assistance - I will move the $6,000 if that's what it takes to assist.

Whitehead : It is time sensitive - has had this outstanding request since the floods - met with Glen Peace and indicated needed additional money to address this issue - months now since original request - unfortunately request caught up in this larger piece now being reconsidered - still no formal response - asks for support of committee

END OF TAPE 2, SIDE A

(tape picks up with Mitchell speaking)

Mitchell: ". for $6000 - his ward is bigger - difference between 6 and 11 thousand concerns me some - supports the idea for those 2 (wards) to send something - it's the process - committee should put a policy in place that says to come through and make your case in an emergency - if enough money in PWIE to do this will support this (flyer) going city-wide

Bruckler : Supports Councillors having difficulties as result of major storm - does not want this to become a process where we are contributing to sending out newsletters to the wards.

Ferguson : .recap - defeated original motion - sending to PWIE - uncomfortable spending Scott's (Stewart) (PWIE) money - is that a go with Scott?

Gosgnach : - Spoke with Scott (Stewart - PWIE) and he assured me he had the money in his budget - not a concern.

Ferguson: Move this be circulated ASAP by Public Works Dept.

Seconded by C. Pearson CARRIED

Braden comments: I don't think this (flyer) does my ward any good - not relevant - didn't get hit half as hard - normally don't have the kind of services - there are a few exceptions - idea we treat everyone the same doesn't apply - look at it carefully and probably suggest don't send it out to my area - I'm going to take a hit for this - we don't need to spend that kind of money

Gosgnach : ".Risk Management asked, for purpose of due diligence, that all wards be covered."

Braden : My comment still stands - you go ahead and do what you want.

Ferguson : ". (to Braden ) your ward isn't even on the map (of the flyer).

Braden : If you look at it, this isn't relevant folks. . but I'll back whatever decision they make.

Braden : We still got the issue about Councillors and how they're going to apply(?)

Ferguson : If any Councillor wants money from the contingency fund they make a delegation to this committee. C. Whitehead has so I suggest the $6000 is appropriate.

Braden : 2 issues - one they come to council, and 2 is approving the money for C. Whitehead. - First one is given so we just deal with the 2 nd motion.

Ferguson : Dilemma we have is one is $6000 appropriate for Ward 8 and one is $11000 plus appropriate for Ward 4 and that's what this committee has to decide.

Braden : ".it's understood another individual will make a presentation to this council [committee] for whatever money they think is appropriate and we'll deal with it then? . we don't need a motion, we just understand that."

Ferguson: So, I'll move $6000 for Ward 8.

Seconded by C. Pearson. CARRIED

Ferguson : (begins to speak without mic) . any communication funded through this special fund be vented through Communications Dept. - I just want to depoliticise it.

Braden : Do you want to make that a motion? Ferguson : I don't know.

Seconded by C. Pearson

Whitehead : As a ward Councillor, we're not allowed to be political - what we're doing is providing information, meeting notices, etc. to our community - that is part of the policy - you cannot be political - that's understood - no need to say it again - guidance?

Gogsnach : Standing policy - only prohibition is you can't have campaign information, otherwise individual councillors are allowed to publish anything they want.

Mitchell : - it should come to this committee - concerned about costs - figures extreme between the 2 councillors - C. Whitehead's ward's got more people - why would one councillor get $11,000 plus and the other one get $6000 concerns me

Braden : Let's wait for the Councillor to make a presentation, unless somebody's going to make it for him.

9. MOTIONS

(Collins/Bruckler) CARRIED

Collins : Motion in regards to assessment - ombudsman investigating MPAC currently - motion reads as follows:

That the City of Hamilton support the ombudsman of Ontario, Andre Moran and his review and investigation of MPAC, that apart from the ombudsman's review, that the city of Hamilton petition the province of Ontario to undertake a complete review of the current value assessment system utilized across the province; that staff in consultation with council and the community prepare a report that would suggest changes for the government's consideration and that the report be forwarded to Hamilton, Hamilton's local MPP's and AMO for consideration and support.

Collins: Mr. Chairman, to expand upon this, the current system as we are all aware is not transparent, not easy to understand, is very confusing, places the onus on local residents to pay for the appeal process and gather whatever information is required as part of the appeal. It's very difficult for someone to understand how MPAC is coming up with the decisions that they're putting forward in regards to value. Whether someone's a new homeowner or seniors that have lived in their home for decades . and everyone in between who have been very puzzled are having great trouble, in not only appealing, but successfully appealing some of the information that's coming forth from MPAC. With the ombudsman's review it's a great opportunity to change the system . make it more fair and more transparent. We as a local municipality, while we're not involved in the assessment process per se, it's incumbent upon us to be proactive in whatever changes come forward. . I think we should formally advertise somehow . and find ways and means to assist people and change the system. I really think it is the system that is the problem . I hope that with the report that the staff prepares that we can capture those comments that we hear almost on a daily basis across the city in regards to a different system.

Ferguson : Strongly support this - like to put in "such as 3 and 5 year averaging" - can fluctuate too much year to year

Whitehead : - handed out appeal forms (at a meeting) - 25% difference between adjacent neighbours - hears from those who appealed in the past - the following year it's back to the same situation again - like it never happened - therefore forced to appeal every year

Mitchell : strongly supports this - seeing in his area now the effects of greenbelt being passed - absolutely no more lots severed anywhere in rural part of this city - 65% - driving up the cost of what is there - huge inequity in tax structure

11. GENERAL INFORMATION/OTHER BUSINESS

11.1 Outstanding Business Item Q - Seniors' Tax Increase Deferral (Due Date: October 19, 2005)

Braden asks for an update on this report.

Lee : Staff who are working on this are going to be meeting with the Seniors Advisory Committee on November 4 th to give their input, so they asked for Dec. 8 th to bring this report back.

Braden : I have a couple things under General Information but I'm inclined to get through ??? possibility of going in camera to discuss this rather significant issue - deal with that issue now?

Motion to go In Camera
(Pearson/Collins) CARRIED .

12. PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL (In Camera)

12.1 Lease and Lease Renewal - 77 James Street North Fercan Developments (PED05156/CM05034/FCS05113/PW05121)