Hamiltonians do not trust Hamilton City Hall.
Eighty percent of respondents to a survey conducted by the Mayor’s Task Force on Transparency, Access and Accountability said the City is not honest with Hamiltonians.
“Fully 80 per cent of survey participants rated their trust in the City of Hamilton as low (48 per cent) or very low (32 per cent),” reads the report.
The results are no surprise, given the repeated scandals at City Hall that have continued throughout this Council term. “People do not feel the situation is getting any better,” the Task Force states.
The report identified “three primary areas of focus to make the City of Hamilton more transparent, accessible, accountable, and ultimately highly trusted and effective: communications, reporting and strategic management, and organizational culture.”
The most significant recommendation in the report is the creation of a fully independent Ombudsperson’s Office.
“This independent official will have a mandate to investigate complaints against the City of Hamilton, its departments, committees, commissions and agencies to ensure fairness, inclusion, equity and accountability.”
City Communications Needs Significant Reform: Report
The Task Force says complaints about the City’s communications were “the most recurrent theme across internal and external participants.”
“Communications of varying forms were cited as being inconsistent, not timely, not comprehensive, not sufficiently transparent and not effectively managed.”
Hamilton’s City Manager’s Office has the largest communications staffing of any Ontario municipality at 28 full-time staff.
[For comparison, the City of Mississauga – a city nearly twice the size of Hamilton has 14 communications staff and does nearly all communications work in-house. Hamilton routinely uses consultants to complete basic functions.]
The report points to management bloat as a problem.
“It was generally not clear who is taking responsibility for overall communications leadership and coordination at the City of Hamilton,” the Task Force report states.
“The Task Force strongly recommends the City of Hamilton quickly develop and execute an enterprise-level initiative … to definitively improve communications.”
“Many of the problems and shortcomings that lead to a high level of distrust among Hamiltonians for their local government can be traced back to poor or insufficient communications.”
City is Not Measuring Progress
The City of Hamilton does not measure progress towards achieving its strategic plans.
“While the City of Hamilton has a clear and aspirational mission and vision, as well as defined 2016-2025 strategic priorities, there is a notable gap between these high-level priorities and having defined enterprise-level annual objectives that can be measured and observed,” the report states.
The Task Force recommends that the City begin tracking its progress.
Increased Secrecy is a Problem This Council Term
Since taking office in late 2022, this term’s Hamilton City Council has ended the publication of the City’s budget lines and staffing details, and the City’s already worst-in-Canada freedom of information office has become even slower at processing applications.
The Task Force says that among the hundreds of interviews, “participants expressed that the City of Hamilton’s organizational culture would not be described as transparent.”
City’s “Award Winning” Website, Open Data, Digital Transformation Need Overhauls
The Task Force says Hamilton must overhaul its website, start an open data program, and fix its digital processes—including adopting basic online reporting via a 311 app—to better serve residents.
During her inaugural address on November 16, 2022, Mayor Andrea Horwath stated she would restore open data and implement a portal for key performance indicators.
Horwath stated that Hamilton needs to “develop a more streamlined and effective approach to how we use our website and our other digital channels such as social media, audio, and video. “
Council has gone the opposite direction this term, ending many open data products, including the discontinuation of fire response open data.
The City’s response to concerns about performance and transparency is to expand the purchasing of “awards” in an attempt to rebrand as Canada’s most “award-winning” organization.
311 and Response Standards
The City should have a 311 service with a robust backend to ensure “a City response to a resident inquiry should happen within two days 80 percent of the time.”
Report is Not Included in Council Agenda
The Task Force asked for its report to be presented to City Council and for Council to “firmly commit to developing a reply to this plan within 90 days.”
The report was not included in the Council package this week. The Council agenda includes the final Task Force meeting minutes, which state that a final report was approved. The minutes are listed as a non-debate information item.
Production Details
v. 1.0.0
Published: April 7, 2025
Last updated: April 7, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
Update Record
v. 1.0.0 original version
I agree with the 80% of people that believe the City of Hamilton Mayor is not doing enough with cutting unnecessary spending. Too many unnecessary jobs within councilors that could be eliminated and that money used for more important necessary purposes.
Councilors have assistants whereas there’s no need. They could be doing the administration work themselves.
Our taxes keep going up with this new mayor because she really doesn’t care. Let’s bring back Fred.
Shocking