Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath held three media availabilities this past week.
Here is a ‘notepad’ summary of what was asked and said.
Monday: Barton / Tiffany Press Conference
On Monday, the Mayor held a press conference with senior managers to answer questions about the Ministry of Labour’s stop work orders at the Barton / Tiffany tiny shelters project.
I reported the story here: City of Hamilton Staff Explain Why the Ministry of Labour Issued Stop Work Order at Barton / Tiffany
A few additional notes from the presser.
I asked why Council was not immediately informed when the orders were issued on November 19.
During the November 20 Council meeting, staff were reminded of Council’s directive that Ministry orders be disclosed to both Council and the public.
“There are processes and procedures that we follow,” General Manager of Public Works Carlyle Khan stated.
Khan said staff wanted to understand compliance requirements, to provide Council with a fulsome briefing memo.
I asked Khan about the project management and coordination issues that led to the Ministry of Labour order.
I cited the Red Hill Valley Parkway Inquiry recommendations regarding project management and coordination and their implementation status.
Khan responded that staff continue implementing the recommendations and will provide Council with an “update on how we’re progressing.”
“I’ve seen the draft report, and I think that’s coming forward in Q1 [2025]. There’s a lot on the agendas, and we’re just trying to coordinate and schedule that.”
During the Monday presser, Mayor Horwath emphasized the City is working to provide emergency shelter this winter.
“We have a crisis. And as a city, we’re stepping up to do the best that we can. We’re looking to the other orders of government to help us with that.”
Wednesday: Post-Council Press Conference
I’ve already reported on the Mayor’s comments on the Jamesville settlement talks here: Mayor Horwath says Jamesville Settlement Talks ‘Yielding Results’
The next newsletter edition will include the Mayor’s remarks on LRT developments this week.
Mayor Horwath was asked about the slowdown in new housing starts this year.
She said many factors are outside the City’s control, such as interest rates, financial regulations, building costs, etc.
The City continues to process new applications, the Mayor noted. Hamilton is also seeing an increase in rental development.
She cited the construction of new housing on downtown parking lots as a positive.
“I’m looking forward to more of this development happening … we have already increased the number of units in our downtown and then coupled that with the positive announcement around the beginning of the procurement process for the LRT. I think these things are also going to factor in.”
On the state of the downtown, Mayor Horwath noted that conversations about the downtown being in decline or on a precipice have been ongoing for decades.
In response to a question from Teviah Moro:
“I do want to say this, that the downtown people living in the downtown is not a silver bullet. People living in the downtown is great, and we need that, and we want that and have for decades.
You know, to your question about we’re on a precipice, right. To your earlier comment, we have to make the downtown a great place to live as well.
We need to make it a place where people want to live, and have a positive experience in living, because then that just brings more people and brings more interest from folks that build the housing. That means mixed incomes, mixed unit types, more amenities.
I asked Mayor Horwath about the fact that the City will not meet its provincial housing target for 2024, meaning it will not receive Building Faster Fund money in 2025.
“The preference would be for us to be able to maintain solid development charges that help us to do all the work that needs to be done, without having to rely on these formulaic things.
We need to have, and in fact, municipalities for a long time have asked for a ten-year infrastructure funding program so that everybody knows what they’re what they’re going to be getting.
And we can do our ten-year capital forecasting based on whats on the horizon.
Its important to acknowledge that the best way to fund infrastructure is for municipalities know what’s coming.”
(Hamilton is only at 40 percent of its 2024 target)
“The City of Hamilton is not in that much of a different position than many other cities”
The Mayor noted that new housing starts vary from year to year, that many municipalities that did not meet their targets in 2023 are meeting their 2024 target, and vice versa.
In March, I wrote a column stating the Mayor may regret endorsing the formula. The column wasn’t prophetic; the housing target formula’s flaws are obvious.
From March: Mayor Horwath May Regret Endorsing the Province’s Annual Housing Targets Criteria.
Thursday: Post-Council Water Budget Meeting
I asked Mayor Horwath for comment about Metrolinx posting the Hamilton LRT Director and infrastructure manager positions this week. She remarked positively on the development.
“The LRT needs to happen. And, these are positive signals.”
On her motion to effectively reject the staff recommendation to eliminate citizen advisory committees, and for staff to report in early 2025 on how to restructure them to make them more effective, the Mayor stated:
“Councillors want to see people’s voices being, being directly provided to the work that we do. Does that mean maybe we need to do different training? We need to provide the tools for people to be able to feel more comfortable in those roles.”
On the Strong Mayor budget process and any potential need to exercise a veto:
“I can’t predict the future. I think we’ll just wait to see how it all takes place.”
“We weren’t alone … many municipalities are trying to figure it out. When it comes to, the process, to deal with amendments, I’m going to wait and see where it ends up, and go from there.”
On the unexpected staff memo that Hamilton must follow the Municipal Act Strong Mayor budget process:
“We were caught kind of flat-footed and unaware last year.”
The Mayor says having “a professional clerk, a certified clerk, somebody who has an understanding of how this all works” and a new solicitor meant staff caught the process error this time.
“They’ve implemented the intent of the legislation and the regulations.”
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Published: December 1, 2024
Last updated: December 1, 2024
Author: Joey Coleman
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