The Municipal Heritage Committee holds its monthly meeting on the 3rd Thursday of the month at noon.
For May, the agenda is mostly housekeeping in nature with one exception – a discussion about the Kenilworth Avenue public library building.
Unfortunately, Public Works and Board of Health are holding their meetings conflicting with Municipal Heritage and I won’t be able to livestream.
The agenda is below:
![Hamilton City Council meeting for May 8, 2013 [LIVE Wednesday 5pm]](http://www.joeycoleman.ca/wpfix/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/WP_000213-e1342623501315-728x387.jpg)
Hamilton City Council is meeting Wednesday.
Highlights on the agenda:
Ontario Lottery and Gaming President & CEO Rod Phillips’ wrote a response to Council’s resolution calling on the OLG to consider only the feasibilty of Flamboro Downs will be considered by Council.
Phillips’ response asks the City to provide a summary of the public input they’ve received – not just a listing of public input steps – and for the City to provide a list of specific conditions for a casino in Hamilton to be included in the Request for Pre-Qualifications that is expected to be issued by OLG this spring.
A motion put forth by Sam Merualla calls for the City’s integrity commissioner Earl Basse to investigate comments made by Mayor Bob Bratina to City Manager Chris Murray during the Council meeting two weeks ago.
Councillor Sam Merulla is moving a motion calling on the province to change the structure of the Police Services Board(PSB) goverance to either have Council directly control the police services or to have a Police Board that is entirely appointed by City Council.
This follows a police budget process that witnessed Council motion for a hiring freeze at the HPS, send a 3.52% budget increase mandate to the PSB, and the PSB approve a budget with new hires in 2013.
Council is expected to approve a new appointment to the Police Services Board recommended by the Selection Committee. The appointment is to fill a vacancy resulting from the resignation of Jim Kay in January.
The name will be officially public after the meeting.
Council is looking to send the province a strong message about cuts to Children’s Aid Societies. The cuts are resulting in the Hamilton CAS laying off 70 staff – 20% of their workforce. This will result in pressure on other social services, and impact on the quality of life for children in Ontario.
Council asked the Medical Officer of Health Dr. Elizabeth Richardson to report on this and provide recommendations.
Council will take a vote tonight to reaffirm their previous position on a provinically funded B-Line LRT
![Hamilton Future Fund Board Meeting [Mon May 6, 2pm]](http://www.joeycoleman.ca/wpfix/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Mvc0023f.jpg)
The Board of the Hamilton Future Fund will meet on Monday, May 6, 2013 at 2pm and the big item on the agenda is the proposed new Scott Park high school.
City Council is asking the future fund to consider funding for the new high school – funding that could possibly be used for the expropriation of the property.
Watch Live as the Future Fund Board meets to decide:
![Hamilton City Council – GIC – May 1, 2013 [replay]](http://www.joeycoleman.ca/wpfix/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/City_Hall_By_Joanna_StJacques_night-728x387.jpg)
Hamilton City Council is meeting in General Issues Committee today with many items of city-wide importance on the agenda.
Overshadowing all of this will be an in-camera session about the Mayor’s alleged behaviour last Wednesday at Council towards the City Manager.
Also on deck – LRT funding plan, what tools are available to pay for it? Area rating – what is the real tax increase in your neighbourhood?
![Hamilton City Council Meeting for April 24, 2013 [Replay]](http://www.joeycoleman.ca/wpfix/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/HamiltonCityHall1.jpg)
Hamilton City Council meets Wednesday for their regular meeting, but this one promises to be anything but routine following yet-another-round of misleading LRT comments by Mayor Bob Bratina. Expect Councillors to move motions and make comments in response to the Mayor.
The other major item is ratification of the City’s Pier 7 & 8 plans.
I’m on vacation this evening and Dan Jelly is manning the camera for me.
![City of Hamilton Web Redevelopment and Service Channel committee [9:30am Tuesday]](http://www.joeycoleman.ca/wpfix/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hamilton_ca-728x387.png)
The City of Hamilton website on April 22, 2013
The Web Redevelopment and Service Channel committee meets at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.
Unfortuantely, there is no agenda available to inform us as to the progress of the committee or what it intends to achieve during it’s April 23, 2013 meeting.
Keeping with City Hall practice, the agenda is not posted to the Internet or made available to the public unless there is a specific formal request for it.
![Hamilton Citizens’ Forum on Cultural Heritage Conservation [replay]](http://www.joeycoleman.ca/wpfix/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/citizenforumheritage-728x387.png)
After watching numerous non-designated heritage buildings demolished in Hamilton the past decade, the Municipal Heritage Committee is rising up and holding a forum to discuss how to save Hamilton’s character buildings.
The event is open to the public and I’ll be livestreaming it here.
After watching numerous non-designated heritage buildings demolished in Hamilton the past decade, the Municipal Heritage Committee is rising up and holding a forum to discuss how to save Hamilton’s character buildings.
Hamilton City Council is meeting in GIC this morning as their receive an update on the Waterfront initiatives at Piers 7 and 8, an update on the HECFI transition, and being the process of relaunching the civic engagement initiative following the Dialogue Partners fiasco. They’ll also receive a report on the Waterfront Trust’s GST audit and discuss pedestrian projects in the downtown core.
![Hamilton Police Services Board for April 15, 2013 [replay]](http://www.joeycoleman.ca/wpfix/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Screenshot-from-Police-Service-Board-17-Dec-12.mp4-728x387.png)
The Hamilton Police Services Board is meeting to make their final budget decision today and there is a new twist to the ongoing budget debate – Chief Glenn DeCaire is recommending the Police Services Board accept City Council’s 3.52% increase, with one big difference. [Agenda here]
Chief DeCaire plans to hire 15 new officers and one new civilian staff member. City Council, in its motion approving a 3.52% budget increase expressly stated an expectation that the Chief would not hire any new staff.
Chief DeCaire, in his recommendation to the Police Services Board, notes that Council does not have the authority to set hire practices or how the police service spends its budget.
The police budget has undergone numerous revisions, starting in November at 5.25%. From there, it was dropped to 4.75% in December. January saw a drop to 3.90%, then Febuary 3.71%. Each decrease was primarily the result of delaying hiring of new officers until later in the fiscal year.
The Police Services Board is made up of seven people: The Mayor, two City Council members, one Council appointee, and three provincial appointees. At present, the Council appointee seat is vacant.
In March, Councillors Bernie Morelli and Terry Whitehead – the two City Council members – voted against the proposed 3.71% increase. Mayor Bob Bratina and the three provincial appointees all supported the budget. (The Council appointee seat is vacant following the resignation of Jim Kay in January)
Mayor Bratina stood by his support of the Chief’s budget at the Council budget meeting on April 3rd and stated last week he will be supporting the Chief’s recommendation.
Councillor Bernie Morelli said today that he will not support the Chief’s position of hiring new staff with the 3.52% budget, noting that Council expressly instructed the Chief to not hire the new staff.
Morelli notes the new officers will represent a new budget pressure for 2014 as a significant increase to the operating budget.
The Police Services Board will make a decision at their meeting, which begins at 4pm, today.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHOnkG59Hazd0tfBuXNXX8ky1hSWkvub2
![Audit, Finance & Administration for April 15, 2013 [replay]](http://www.joeycoleman.ca/wpfix/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/City_Council_poor_quality1.png)
City Council’s Audit, Finance & Administration committee meets this morning at 9:30 a.m.
The key item today will be a presentation from the City’s director of human resources of a new succession management and leadership development program to replace an earlier proposed rejected by Council.
The committee will vote on installing public wifi in more recreation centres and municipal buildings. I’ve asked to speak to this item.
The other significant item is the proposed list of projects for the City’s new “value-for-money” auditors to pursue. The new auditors were approved by Council last year and this is their first report.
The auditors are proposing to find unlicensed businesses, review city-paid employee parking to find those who no longer qualify, and to audit GPS records on vehicles to “indentify areas where productivity and efficiencies may be gained.”