City Hall News Briefs
Cybersecurity Privacy Act notifications: The City of Hamilton issued a vague statement Tuesday, “For more information on two notifications related to the City’s cybersecurity incident that may impact you, please access the following link.”
The vague statement points to two notifications of privacy failures that the City must post on its website as required by privacy laws.
Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commission has ruled three times this year alone that encryption of personal data constitutes a privacy breach – even when there is clear and undisputed proof the data was not downloaded or otherwise accessed.
The IPC notes that a cybersecurity breach, on its own, does “not necessarily lead to a conclusion” that a public agency has failed to take reasonable steps to protect personal information.
See IPC rulings: Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, and Halton Children’s Aid Society.
The first notification is that the City cannot recover some personal health information for “Public Health Services clients” if their information was entered into the City-controlled medical record system. [COVID vaccination data was inputted to a secure provincial system.]
The “Cybersecurity Update General Notification” discloses that even more city databases are “unrecoverable,” including “systems that support permitting and licensing, administration of land development applications and approvals, financial and business management, museum collections management, Fire Services records management, utility locates processing, and rent supplement and tracking.”
The second notification, “Call Queues Lines Notification,” states that when the City sent up a new ad-hoc phone system in late February, it failed to properly disclose it was recording phone calls. “89,737 phone calls were recorded on these lines without caller authorization between March and August 2024.” The City kept all recordings and must now destroy them.
Both notifications include the City’s continued statements “No evidence that cybercriminals compromised individuals’ personal information or personal health information.” However, under Ontario’s privacy laws, the fact that the data was encrypted means that the data was compromised.
Additionally, as it does after all privacy breaches, the City statement ends: “The City of Hamilton takes its responsibility of protecting the security of individuals and their personal information very seriously. We remain fully committed to upholding the highest standards of accountability and transparency. The City regrets this error and apologizes for any inconvenience or distress it may cause.”
Threats and vile comments: Ward 3 Clr Nrinder Nann shared one of the many vile communications she routinely receives. Threats and vile comments are part of the reality of public life today.
I am aware of a few recent threats. I do not report on them for various reasons. Most commonly, because doing so will give the person making the threats the attention they seek or encourage them to act for further attention.
I see online comments talking about how public figures are not seen at events or day-to-day in the community. The reality is that public figures must be careful about their activities and routines. Unfortunately, these safety precautions decrease the opportunities for politicians to build trust by ‘being just like us.’
Related: The Montréal Police Service is investigating after two City of Pointe-Claire councillors received death threats by mail.
Ministry of Municipal Affairs endorses use of Strong Mayor powers: Ontario’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs weighed into the Stoney Creek parking lots to affordable housing debate. In September, the Ministry took to social media and cited Mayor Horwath’s veto decision as an example of how Strong Mayor Powers are advancing provincial housing priorities.
City Manager’s Office restructuring: The CMO is restructuring. City Manager Marnie Cluckie, now ten months in the job, has hired a Chief of Staff to coordinate and run the day-to-day operations of the CMO.
Cluckie issued the following statement:
“I am pleased to announce that Daryl Barnhart has accepted the position of Chief of Staff in the City Manager’s Office, effective December 11, 2024. Daryl brings over 15 years of public sector experience, most recently as the Chief of Staff at Niagara Region. In his role at Niagara Region, Daryl provided strategic advice to the Chair, Council and Senior Leadership and was the lead on numerous complex issues. Prior to joining the Niagara Region, Daryl held several progressive senior roles in corporate communications, including as the Manager of Strategic Communications and Public Engagement for the Town of Grimsby.”
The Director of Communications role is soon to be filled, and will focus on communications and community relations. The Director of Government Relations will focus on government relations.
This restructuring should prevent the dysfunction that existed under the previous city manager.
Council adds two more general manager level executives to City bureaucracy: The City’s website shows City Council has approved another expansion in the size of the City’s Senior Leadership Team.
This term of Council already authorized the creation of a new General Manager position, splitting Community and Emergency Services into two departments: Healthy & Safe Communities, and Community Services.
The City’s Chief Information Officer position is promoted to the general manager level and added to the Senior Management Team.
(The new Chief of Staff position will be on Senior Leadership Team.)
Mayor Andrea Horwath is hiring a Community Relations Coordinator: The pay scale for the position finally reflects the range required to hire a mid-career staffer with the expertise needed for the role. For too long, Hamilton’s mayoral budget has reflected a small-town approach to staff in a big city.
Simply put, a great candidate for this role will have plenty of lower-pressure, well-paying permanent private-sector government or public relations job opportunities. Mayoral staffing jobs are temporary and need to be properly renumerated.
Transparency from the City Clerk: Hamilton’s new City Clerk Matthew Trennum, is promising transparency and professionalism. One of the early changes he is implementing is having Hamilton adopt practices common among Ontario’s municipalities. Beginning with the August meetings, council and committee minutes now note when a councillor is attending meetings by video conferencing.
Photo: Closed section of the Hamilton Convention Centre parking lot, with visible water damage.
Convention Centre parking garage structural risk assessment: An October 2023 structural evaluation identified critical structural deficiencies requiring urgent repairs at the underground parking facility under the Convention Centre.
This risk assessment, completed in October 2023, identified a number of issues with the structure and recommended that repair work should be carried out as soon as possible to avoid further deterioration and potential failure of the suspended slab beneath Summers Lane,” reads the public version of an update to Council.
City Hall did not release the consultants’ report.
The urgent repairs will be added to the 2025 City Capital budget.
City delays Longwood Road bridge replacement: It will never be cheaper to build than now, but the City of Hamilton will wait until the last possible moment to start replacing the Longwood Avenue bridge over Highway 403.
The existing bridge must be decommissioned by 2032, but City Hall is waiting until 2027 to hire a consultant to plan the replacement project, making financing the project a problem for the next City Council.
Last November, Metrolinx announced changes to the planned routing of the B-Line LRT over Highway 403. Trains will now use Frid Street instead of Longwood Avenue.
The City had hoped to have the provincial and federal governments absorb the bridge replacement costs within the LRT budget.
Public Health resumes school immunization enforcement: Nearly five years after the COVID pandemic began, Hamilton Public Health will resume school immunization enforcement. Hamilton is one of the last public health units in Ontario to do so. City Hall claimed it was still busy responding to COVID matters, then in February, the City’s cybersecurity failure caused further delays.
Enforcement is being “phased,” with the initial focus on students in Senior Kindergarten and Grades 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12.
The City’s FOI office gets it right: Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner upheld a decision by the City of Hamilton not to respond to an FOI request. The requestor sought to learn if the tenants in a house they own receive social assistance payments. Responding if there were records would reveal personal information.
Hamilton Maintains AAA Credit Rating, Good News for Bond Holders: Buying Ontario municipal debt is very safe, S&P Global Ratings confirmed last week. Hamilton, like most Ontario municipalities, had its bond rating upgraded during the COVID pandemic when the provincial and federal governments proved they will support municipalities during financial difficulties.
Credit ratings reflect the likelihood that debt holders will receive prompt payments.
Related: Bond Ratings are for Investors (Not Taxpayers)
Truck route violation online reporting: The City of Hamilton is now taking complaints regarding truck route violations using an online form. The form will enable the City to identify trends and recommend enforcement to the Hamilton Police Service. More info here. The online reporting form is here.
Renovation Licence and Relocation By-law Implementation: The bylaw will come into effect on January 1, 2025. The City’s business licensing section has posted information on the bylaw for landlords and tenants.
Hamilton Integrity Commissioner rulings are now on CanLII: With the hiring of an integrity commissioner who provides comprehensive and reasoned reports, Hamilton’s IC reports are now included in the CanLII legal database of Ontario municipal integrity commissioner reports.
Ward 2 Clr Cameron Kroetsch on the podcast circuit: Kroetsch sat down with The 905er and CHCH in separate mid-September interviews to discuss the challenges Downtown Hamilton is experiencing and how he is responding on encampments and homelessness.
On the 905er, Kroetsch discussed the state of Downtown Hamilton (including the departure of the Federal Court of Canada), why the City is implementing the tiny shelters at Barton and Tiffany Here’s the link for the episode.
With CHCH, Kroetsch discussed the same issues plus provincial politics – including Sarah Jama, the Ontario NDP, and the Police Board.
Ward 8 Clr John-Paul Danko on CHCH’s podcast: He talked housing and homelessness, council dynamics (saying the new councillors are learning this term), safe drug use supply vending machines, why he supports the Ford government decision to close supervised consumption sites and replace with treatment programs, and on bike lanes Danko says the Ford government should stay out of municipal jurisdiction.
Report – AHL Returning to Hamilton: The Sports Business Journal reports Hamilton’s renovated arena will be home to an AHL team.
Hamilton’s Director of Water on TVO: Nick Winters discussed water infrastructure on TVO’s The Agenda.
Library reports $58,400 spending on PRESTO cards: The HPL began purchasing the cards in 2021 following a $25,000 donation for children and youth programming. The HPL gives out the cards for free to children under the age of 12. The limited-term promotion has become a permanent program, funded from a youth programming reserve fund. The reserve fund began 2024 with $60,000. The Library Board will need to find a new funding stream to continue the program.
Former City of Hamilton manager is now a West Lincoln councillor: Retired Manager of Sport and Community Development Greg Maychak won a by-election, besting a former mayor, to win the Ward 3 seat in our neighbouring municipality.
This was first published in TPR's Email Editior Email Edition Date: November 25, 2024 Link to this Newsletter Edition Subscribe to the Newsletter here.