November 22, 2004 Report - COW/Council Caucus Meeting

This was a special meeting of all members of council and focused on committee membership and structure. It was held in Room 110 so sound recording quality was limited. The agenda can be viewed at
http://www.city.hamilton.on.ca/clerk/agendas-minutes-reports/
committee-of-the-whole/2004/Caucus/Nov22/Agenda.pdf

The meeting was scheduled for 1 pm and began shortly after.

All members of council attended the meeting. Two councillors arrived quite late - Morelli at 1:26, and Kelly at 1:37. Kelly was also out on at least two occasions. Neither he nor Morelli spoke at the meeting. The meeting was chaired by Mayor Di Ianni. He was absent from 1:18 to 1:31 during which time the chair was occupied by deputy-mayor Merulla.

3. INFORMATION ITEMS

3.1 Letter of resignation by Councillor Brian McHattie from the Art Gallery of Hamilton and Conservation Halton
http://www.city.hamilton.on.ca/clerk/agendas-minutes-reports/
committee-of-the-whole/2004/Caucus/Nov22/Item%203.1.pdf
McHattie explained that he had been appointed to these positions in place of Andrea Horwath and Russ Powers when they left the council to assume seats in the provincial legislature and federal House of Commons. Bob Bratina has agreed to take the seat on the Art Gallery. McHattie has offered the position to Art Samson and recommended in the alternative that consideration be given to replacing him on Conservation Halton with a citizen representative. Mitchell noted that McHattie and he were appointed to the Hamilton District Health Council at the beginning of the council term and that they have an agreement that at least one of them will try to make each meeting. Mitchell is having difficulty getting to that committee "there's one of those meetings tonight that we're not represented at and that's happened several times, and I'm sure this is happening in a lot of our committees. I don't know how we're going to deal with this, but I do feel guilty as well because when you . you have to try to be there".

3.2 Appointments of Chairs and Vice-Chairs - Standing Committees - 2005 (CL04019)
http://www.city.hamilton.on.ca/clerk/agendas-minutes-reports/
committee-of-the-whole/2004/Caucus/Nov22/CL04019.pdf
"Following the 2003 Municipal Election, elections for the positions of Chair and Vice-Chair were held by each Standing Committee. Further to Section 5.2 of the City of Hamilton's Procedural By-law, the Chair and Vice-Chair positions are for a one year term with no member of Council serving as chair of a Standing Committee for more than one year in a Council Term." This item spurred extensive discussion leading to decisions to:

• appoint the current vice-chairs as the committee chairs, to take effect in January. This means the following appointments:
• Dave Mitchell, chair, Public Works committee
• Terry Whitehead, chair, Planning and Economic Development
• Dave Braden, chair, Corporate Administration
• Phil Bruckler, chair, Community Services
• Brian McHattie, chair, Social and Public Health
• agree that the intention is to have every councillor serve as a committee chair for one year of the three year term. This means that Maria Pearson, Bob Bratina, Margaret McCarthy, Art Samson and Bernie Morelli will become vice-chairs of committees in January 2005 and then will assume the chairs of those committees in 2006. This would appear to mean the following chairs in 2006:
• Public Works - Margaret McCarthy (only choice)
• Community Services - Morelli or Samson
• Corporate Administration - Pearson or Samson
• Planning - Pearson or Bratina
• Social and Public Health - Morelli or Bratina
• it was also agreed that the Strategic Planning and Budget committee would be composed of the chairs of the committees plus Mayor Di Ianni. The mayor will remain the chair of this committee throughout the three year term of council.

4. DISCUSSION ITEMS

4.1 Standing Committee Structure - Amalgamation of Community Services Committee and Social and Public Health Committee (CL04018)
http://www.city.hamilton.on.ca/clerk/agendas-minutes-reports/
committee-of-the-whole/2004/Caucus/Nov22/CL04018.pdf
"City Council at its meeting held on June 16, 2004 approved a resolution to temporarily amalgamate the Community Services and Social and Public Health Services Committee into one Committee to address the vacancy created by former Councillor Horwath and potential council vacancies created by the June 28 Federal election. With the recent bi-election of Councillor Bob Bratina for Ward 2 and Councillor Art Samson for Ward 13, filling the vacancies left by Councillors Horwath and Powers may now be accomplished and both the Community Services and Social and Public Health Services Committees, respectively, may now return to their former individual status."

It was decided to separate the two committees and to re-visit this decision in a year's time.

4.2 Appointments to Boards/Agencies/Authorities/Committees http://www.city.hamilton.on.ca/clerk/agendas-minutes-reports/
committee-of-the-hole/2004/Caucus/
Nov22/boards,%20committees%20motion.pdf.
These appointments were approved with a few changes. It was noted that only McHattie sits on the Niagara Escarpment Commission. Merulla was appointed to the Hamilton Conservation Authority to replace Horwath but the resolution said nothing about it being a temporary appointment and Merulla wishes to stay on this board. But Samson also wants to be on that board. They will discuss it between themselves and bring a proposal back to council.

4.3 Approval of 2005 Budget and Standing Committee Calendar http://www.city.hamilton.on.ca/clerk/agendas-minutes-reports/
committee-of-the-whole/2004/Caucus/Nov22/
2005%20Committee-Council%20Calendar%20-%20Budget%20Take%202.pdf
A revised calendar for February was circulated. It adds all day budget meetings on Feb 11 and Feb 21 and eliminates afternoon meetings on the Feb 2 and Feb 17. The meeting plans were adopted.