This afternoon, January 1, I returned to my audio recording of the City Manager’s Offices’ December 24 press conference regarding the ongoing Barton/Tiffany Microshelters Inc. controversy.
I wanted to reconfirm the date when the City expects the shelters to arrive in Hamilton.
During the presser, General Manager Grace Mater stated the City was “assured” that tiny shelters “would arrive in Canada on the 26th, be shipped to Toronto, and arrive here about January 4.”
I reported on December 30 that U.S. Customs logged a December 26 arrival of a shipment from China destined for Microshelters Inc.
If this is Hamilton’s shipment, I would like to ask the City of Hamilton if it made it across the Canada/US border on December 26. That is possible.
Here is the audio of my December 24 questions, and Mater’s answers:
Transcript
COLEMAN: How sure are you that you’re getting the product that you’ve been promised? When do you know that you are going to have that product? Do you have a date and a guarantee?
MATER: We have been working with the owner [of Microshelters Inc.]. We met with him yesterday, as a matter of fact, and we talked to them on Friday as well.
We have confirmation from him [in the form of] invoicing and bill of lading.
He has assured us. The dates that we’ve been provided are that the product will arrive in Canada on the 26th, be shipped to Toronto, and arrive here about January 4th.
COLEMAN: We do know now that the product is not Foldum. What is the product, and is there a 100 percent guarantee that it meets all the standards, exactly what the City is looking for?
MATER: We sourced it with Microshelters Inc. They have provided us the confirmation of the specifications that laid out in the information they provided us. We are going to be working to ensure that when they arrive that they meet all of those requirements as well.
Production Details
v. 1.0.0
Published: January 1, 2025
Last updated: January 1, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
Update Record
v. 1.0.0 original version
I have emailed my councillor to express my concerns with Microshelters Inc being given this contract. Among other things, if there is damage from shipping, missing parts etc, what is the turnaround time to remedy it?
I also asked why they were chosen. The only positive thing Ive seen city hall say about them is that they are “Indigenous owned”. AFAIK, the ‘company’ is two people, one of which is Indigenous. Is this enough to get a 7 figure govt contract?