October 27/04 Report – Summary
7 pm (actual start 7:03 pm)
Adjourned 8:56 pm

Members of Council:

• Mayor Larry DiIANNI (present)
• Ward # 1 Brian McHATTIE (present)
• Ward # 2 Bob Bratina (present)
• Ward # 3 Bernie MORELLI (present)
• Ward # 4 Sam MERULLA (present)
• Ward # 5 Chad COLLINS (present)
• Ward # 6 Tom JACKSON (present)
• Ward # 7 Bill KELLY (present)
• Ward # 8 Terry WHITEHEAD (present)
• Ward # 9 Phil BRUCKLER (present)
• Ward #10 Maria PEARSON (present)
• Ward #11 David L. MITCHELL (present)
• Ward #12 Murray FERGUSON (present)
• Ward #13 Art SAMSON (present)
• Ward #14 Dave BRADEN (present)
• Ward #15 Margaret McCARTHY (present)

Members of Staff

• David Adames - Executive Director - Tourism Hamilton
• Peter Barkwell - City Solicitor
• Rose Caterini - Deputy Clerk, Manager - Legislative Services
• Kevin Christenson - City Clerk
• Lee Ann Coveyduck - General Manager, Planning and Development
• Neil Everson - Executive Director, Economic Development
• Catherine Graham - General Manager, Human Resources
• Salter Hayden - Deputy Clerk, Manager - Licensing and Election Services
• Chief Jim Kay - General Manager, Emergency Services / Fire Chief
• Chris Murray - Acting Director - Red Hill Valley Project
• Glen Peace - City Manager
• Joe-Anne Priel - General Manager, Public Health and Community Services
• Joe Rinaldo - General Manager, Finance and Corporate Services
• Bryan Shynal - Director - Operations & Maintenance, Public Works
• Scott Stewart - Director (Capital Planning & Implementation) CPI, Public Works

Members of the Media present:

• Doug Cameron, K-Lite FM
• Andrew Dreschel, Hamilton Spectator
• Matt Jelly - independent
• Ken Mann, CHML
• Eric McGuinness, Hamilton Spectator
• Kevin Werner, Brabant
• Cable 14

Summary :

Opening prayer

•  Reverend Doug Moore , Laidlaw Memorial United Church, Hamilton (Ward 4, Ottawa Street area) Minister for 20 years; member of the Order of Ministry; B.Th, B.A. (Philosophy), M.Div.

Presentations

• •2003 Environmental Achievement Award - to City of Hamilton for the Red Hill Valley Project-More than a Road ; Chris Murray accepts award on behalf of group, thanking TAC and Council. Mr. Murray noted that delegations from York University as well as other municipalities in Ontario, other Provinces and even China are interested in the project and have come to look at the work done with regards to storm water management and natural channel design.
• Vanier Cup Presentation - former football player ("Hall of Famer"), educator and Hamiltonian Russ Jackson speaks about Hamilton's hosting of the 40 th Déjardins-Vanier Cup (Post-Secondary football); will be played Saturday, Nov. 27 th at Ivor Wynne Stadium - first time played outside in 15 years. "Certainly is great with football flourishing here, in this city, that the City of Hamilton is the first city outside Toronto to host the Vanier Cup game." Week-long celebrations. Very much involving youth and children: Flag Bearer Program (elementary schools partnered with universities' teams); "Touchdown for Kids" program (target with corporate sponsors to get 3, 000 underprivileged kids to the Vanier Cup game); "Future of Football" program (minor football organizations); "I'm always a believer it's cheaper to build a kid than to repair an adult." (Russ Jackson)

Communication Items

5.3 - from the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton (GTAH) Mayors & Regional Chairs Group with respect to a resolution "which requests our Council to endorse the 75% / 25% fuel tax formula . in relation to the gas tax allocation" from Federal level of Government. Formula would see an allocation to all of the provinces; based on ridership as well as population. This is the best formula for Ontario, yielding the greatest amount of the Federal monies to Ontario; then there would be an Ontario process of dispersal to various communities benefiting from gas tax monies. Intent of requesting endorsement is to send suggestion of 75/25 formula to the Big City Mayors working group, who is working with the Minister Godfrey and trying to figure out a formula - Council endorsed - CARRIED

5.1 (e) "Natural Resources" Green Belt Task Force's Discussion Paper. Councillor McCarthy has concerns about wording: "The Task Force fully appreciates the significance of natural resources and mineral aggregates, in particular, as essential building blocks for cities, and necessary for the maintenance of existing infrastructure and industries in the Golden Horseshoe." Concern is that this "fails to identify ecological and hydrological issues that I'm faced with in Flamborough with a potential of an application being approved." McCarthy wishes that minutes be flagged and "members of force" be notified so they can participate in discussions

Committee Reports

6.1 Public Works, Infrastructure & Environment Committee - 18 th Report

• Item #3 - City Hall Accommodation (that existing building be retained) - Braden : asks staff (taken as direction) to come back with a "2 sentence summary to show whether or not the building of a new City Hall would, in fact, save us money over the long period of time and whether or not that could be pro-rated." Mitchell (Chair of the City Hall Political Steering Committee): ". every avenue was explored. We looked at every option . we did an RFP. We studied everything to the best of staff's ability, consultant's ability, Committee's ability and regrettably, at this point in time, we can't afford it and this is the Motion that is coming from that and look forward to in the future, as new possibilities come forward that we can refer it to this committee again ." Collins : suggests renaming steering committee regarding accommodation of workers at other facilities, so that committee reflects this task to "Accommodations Committee"

6.2 Planning & Economic Development - 18 th Report

• Item #5 - 320 King Street East (Recommendation to designate under Heritage Act) Bratina : ".the property at 320 King Street East that has been requested heritage designation is in fact a new business in the downtown core. It's an antique store that has been lovingly renovated. It's an absolutely beautiful building . a vibrant new business downtown."

6.3 Planning & Economic Development - 19 th Report

•  Item #1 - 2004 Revised Economic Development Strategy - McHattie : "I'm concerned about the relationship between the Economic Development Strategy and our social vision. And, it's important, as we know, to make sure that our various strategies are co-ordinated, likely under the guise of Vision 2020 is probably the framework for doing that. And, I'm wondering if I can ask staff for a comment on how the two visions correspond. And, I think, perhaps, a lot of people think that the Economic Development Strategy may only advantage certain people and perhaps not others and I think it's important for us to think about the linkages. And, just this morning, of course, in the Spectator, there was an excellent article on some of the concerns around Hamilton - 20% of our residents below the poverty line . I wonder if I could ask Neil Everson to comment on perhaps how the two relate and how . some of the poverty concerns and some of the Ontario Works concerns that we have relate to the economic development strategy." Neil Everson-Exec. Director - Economic Development : "In terms of the Economic Development strategy, it's primary focus, of course, is assessment growth and job creation. How we tie it into social development is, obviously, through GRIDS [Growth Related Integrated Development Strategy] where social development is one of the key foundations as is the Economic Development Strategy . what we've done from an operational standpoint is we've worked extremely close - and more so than we've have in years past, with Joe-Anne Priel's group in Social Services and that's where we're not only from the attraction stand-point, but from the retention, is how can we incorporate less fortunate people in the community into those industries. And, we're actually - and the Mayor's familiar with it - up against a Western Canadian city and one of the advantages we're offering in an assembly type operation is the benefits from the Ontario Works Program, which is WSIB subsidization, recruitment and training and training subsidization for workers." Kelly : "One of the things, Mr. Mayor, that I know that you're very familiar with, because it was really an off-shoot of the motivation from your education summit that you and I attended some months ago . is that if you look at the strategy that we've developed with the clusters that Mr. Everson's already referred to, the underlying message through all of them is building through education here in this community. Former Premier Bob Rae touched on that when he made his speech to the Education Council last Wednesday . basically suggesting that the way we're going to pull ourselves out of this and deal with some of the social issues that Councillor McHattie's addressing is through education process here in this community, which is why we've engaged, as part of the Economic Development Strategy, the education institutions in this community - McMaster University, Mohawk, Redeemer College University, and the Boards of Education, which are going to be a key process . as people come to this community and we've talked about some of the population expectations, we have to ensure that we have the training in place, which is why we're integrating an awful lot of our economic strategies with the education facilities here. Mohawk College, of course, is already recognized as . the number one job retraining college in Ontario, McMaster of course with its biotech and a number of other initiatives, too - create good paying jobs so that these become available to people and then create the education possibilities for these people so that they can be trained into these jobs. And that's how we intend to pull ourselves out . none of these things are going to work in exclusion of anything else. It's all going to be a meshed policy to try to work everything else through Joe-Anne Priel's department, Neil Everson's department and of course, ultimately, through everything else that we're going to do, through the GRIDS process. We're very proud of the work that all the staff have done to move this Economic Development Strategy policy forward and that we think it's going to be a fantastic framework with GRIDS, with Vision 2020 and a number of other policy initiatives, as we move forward." Bratina : "In the discussion paper, Places to Grow, that we accepted earlier this evening, they reference the GTA-Hamilton Smart Commute Initiative, which I haven't encountered . may have missed it. But, I want everyone, because these pieces of information are really interesting. And, I'm just going to read you one brief paragraph from the Toronto City, Places to Grow, report, page 12, Item #5: 'Expanding GO Transit will bolster downtown employment and help to meet the City's goal of maintaining a strong and vital downtown. For example, the goal of a 3% per year increase in GO ridership could translate into an additional $80, 000 jobs in downtown Toronto in 30 years.' And, I'd like to see more of this kind of information incorporated into our studies." McHattie : "Mr. Mayor, I know you've been working hard on the GO Transit Board. You're on the Board now, which is really a first for Hamilton to have a position on the Board. So, that's a tremendous advantage that we have at this point in time. And, I know that we're, as working with staff, we met earlier this week, we're actually preparing a proposal for the GO Board to extend GO Transit service into Hamilton - more than it is right now - all day service, that sort of thing. And, how that might work out and how we might relate our transit service to the GO station - because we have to get people to the GO station in order to take those GO trains various places into Toronto and other locations. So, we're in the throws, right now, of preparing that proposal. And, the Mayor will take that forward in the ensuing months - perhaps early next year, if we get it together in that time - January, February - to the GO Board. So, I think there's some real possibilities along those lines. We also spoke, if I can say, Mr. Mayor, about VIA Rail as well in Hamilton. We had a Motion about that earlier on in this session and I understand through the Mayor's work in Ottawa and chatting with the VIA Rail folks that what we're looking at now is where the location of the station might be . but they are interested in extending VIA Rail service to Hamilton . and thanks to the Mayor for carrying that message forward to Ottawa. Whitehead : ".I believe the staff has done an excellent job on this report. It is not a static document, it's a moving document. And, testimony to that is the fact that we've added another cluster in regards to the Arts and Culture. And, the other thing I wanted to add is that we had an interesting presentation by TradePort at the meeting as well and talked about their future plans and some of the challenges that they may face in the future with respect to Pickering. And, of course, Pickering is not the immediate concern. We talked about Kitchener as an emerging airport that raises concerns. So, we want to ensure that TradePort, and as a corporation as a City and having an interest, that we provide the assistance needed to keep them one or two steps ahead of the competition. So, I thought that was a great presentation during the Planning and Development Committee and again I want to congratulate staff for an excellent report."

•  Item #2 Destination Marketing Fee Program - Kelly : "This is a voluntary program by a number of the hospitality ventures downtown and it's basically an added tax onto the room that these people are going to voluntarily put on. The money will be collected and put directly in an account for Tourism Hamilton. Now, we've talked a long time, now, about how we want to try to promote downtown Hamilton, try to promote tourism within this City. Obviously, we have to find some sustainable income to do this. And, I want to congratulation first of all the business community, for coming on side with this, because they realize the importance of it. Of course those that sit on the Tourism Committee, here -Councillor Ferguson and others that have worked long and hard for this. So, my congratulations to the business community for buying in because, obviously, they see this as a win / win. And also, to David Adames and to Mr. Everson for their great work on this, too. It's a great way for us to generate revenue which is going to go right back into promoting this community both inside and out, which is basically what we've been trying to do for the last few years."

6.4 Corporate Administration Committee - 15th Report

• Information Item (2nd (f)) 2003 Reserve Report Summary - McCarthy : ". I do have an issue with one of the information reports . When I read with the report, I was, I'll be quite honest, concerned with the amalgamation . or the pooling of our reserve monies. And, I'll be perfectly honest as to why. Flamborough had the largest reserves for all out-lying areas - other than the City of Hamilton - and above and beyond that . there was also a meeting that took place with our Mayor and the stakeholders which now form OPA 28 [Official Plan Amendment] which requires, under the cabinet decision 6, 500 more units to come into Flamborough. So, above and beyond our regular pool of development charges, we had a surcharge of $800 - it was an agreement between the stakeholders. And, all I'm asking for is that staff come back to me - come back to Council, on the issues that were surrounding that surcharge. Because, if I'm going to lose my development charges, I want that at least red-flagged, that there was another surcharge on top of it, under the OPA 28 agreement that flagged road infrastructure and things like that, for Flamborough. And, I don't want that lost in the mix." Staff to take that as direction and the information about it to flow back to Council.
  
  
• Item #5 - Request for Financial Assistance - Earth Day Hamilton - discussion took place around this item in terms of what the Legislative Contingency monies were to be used for; some debate took place that this item and others previously supported through this contingency should have been funded through the grants process; that there was concerns about this fund. It was noted that the 2005 Budget process should look at parameters for this contingency. Explanation was given by Councillor Ferguson as to how and why this Contingency fund is used, noting why particular items were funded from this versus grants and that items had to come to the Corporate Administration Committee for approval. He also noted that the items funded were not Ward-specific, they were global issues supported by Council.

6.5 Public Health and Community Services - 5 th Report

• Item # 6 Security Deposit Policies - Hamilton Utilities Corporation - HUC staff to report back to Council on assigned issues concerning the exemption of the security deposit for Ontario Works Participants, people with disabilities and seniors on fixed incomes and '(b) Implementing a reasonable payment plan for security deposits and eliminate the cancellation of service for those who have no outstanding bill with Hamilton Utilities Corporation'; discussion took place around this and a "bridges" program for people with affordability issues; the point was also raised that not all residents get their hydro from HUC, 30% get it from Hydro One, so want to make sure that those residents are assisted and protected as well.

Motions

• Motion was made to remove the Donation Boxes on Hamilton Harbour Waterfront Trail and the program be discontinued. Discussion took place that as to whether the trial project (45 day) was given enough time to judge the success of them. There were concerns over vandalism and graffiti, revenues were low.
  
  
• Motion to rescind the Motion of July 14 respecting Access to Information- Application of Solicitor Client Privilege to Lawyers Bills of Account be reconsidered and then follow-up Motion to rescind. This was carried. Peter Barkwell : "We will actually need now a fresh instruction from City Council with respect to how City Council wishes us to treat these. . because we no longer have a resolution at all and because the privilege with respect to this information is essentially Council's, we really require an instruction whether Council wishes us to release this information and in what form. Prior to this resolution, the information was released in a bulk form only - that is, if you requested an account for lawyer 'A,' you did not get the detail of the account, but you got the total. And so, if that is what Council wishes staff to resume doing, we should really have a resolution to that effect." This was referred back to staff for report back to Council. Councillor Jackson wanted to ensure that Clerk's department and Freedom of Information staff were going to be part of this new resolution along with legal department. In the interim, pending a new resolution, staff receiving Freedom of Information requests, was to fall back on the policy that was in place before rescinding.
  
  
• Motion by Councillor Samson ; seconded by Councillor Jackson "that for the year of 2005, Council convene one Council meeting in each of the former area municipalities; that that City Clerk be authorized and directed to take the necessary action to execute the direction of Council with respect to this matter." There was a lot of support from others on Council, with a suggestion at this point that staff look into logistics for feasibility, costs and whether there is information on other municipalities that have done this. Councillor Samson was agreeable to this referral for a report but gave these remarks: ". I think what we have to remember is what is the cost of not doing it. You know, there's a financial cost, but there's also another cost out there of people who don't live in the centre, don't live in the 8 wards in Hamilton, and do get a little feeling of alienation and that's what I mean by the cost of not doing something like this." Councillor McHattie suggested an addition to the Motion to have "that Planning and Economic Development Committee Meetings, where appropriate, as the agenda suggests also be in some of the area municipalities." (Clerk notes that this is already incorporated in Procedural By-Law - for Standing Committees to meet beyond City Hall, as the need and issues requires it.)

8. Notices of Motion

• Councillor McHattie "interested in investigating the tax implications of student houses owned by absentee landlords where there's a number of students who are in there - 6, 10 or even more, perhaps. And, they're paying the same taxes as the family of four or the small family next door. It's a very unfair situation and we need to investigate alternatives to that situation." So, will be bringing forward a Motion that will suggest to investigate the possibility of a "new tax class and/or special tax rate comparable to the multi-residential or business tax rate that acknowledges the additional financial burden placed on communities by student rental housing properties" and that staff investigating this report back to the Corporate Administration Committee. Councillor Braden suggests that licensing be looked at as well. Re: legal vs illegal student housing

9. Statements by Members

• Bratina mentions "Random Acts of Poetry Week" - poets approaching people on the street and reading poetry to them; mentions the air quality rating 103. Asks that calibration of equipment be checked and also, to "assess conditions which led to that very high number - 103 because I don't want that label on the City of Hamilton."
  
  
• Bruckler speaks about the Stoney Creek Food Bank on Lake Avenue South that families they help has increased from 100 to about 260 and approximately 600 individuals. Asks people to support the food bank
  
  
• Ferguson - notes that 32 graves found off Lime Kiln Road in Ancaster. All appropriate authorities have been notified. The site has been isolated as an archeological area. Possible area of the Hatt family graveyard. Graves date back to 1750-1825.
  
  
• Braden - Good news story - notes that even though the Beef industry is having a tough time, "there are beef farmers donating whole animals. Nobody knows about it. They're all going to the food bank. I just want to tell you, from an industry that's really suffering, tremendous amount of generosity."
  
  
• Kelly - speaks about the opening of the Stackpole plant in Ancaster, Saturday past. Also notes that this business was built in record time and should serve as a template for the "Open for Business Task Force" that the Mayor spoke about in State of the City address. Stackpole adds 350 jobs to the community. The other Stackpole plant across the way, will have grand opening early in 2005