Brad’s Election Platform
Adopt a zero based budget process. I will continue to advocate for a “hold the line” budget process where staff will have to justify any increase in departmental budgets. The current process has Council blindly approving budget increases as high as 3% which automatically becomes the starting point for all agencies, divisions and departments regardless of actual fiscal realities.
Complete a comprehensive municipal service inventory and review. Council needs a thorough municipal service inventory and review. To date, no such report has been completed. Council needs to identify what services are being provided by the City, their costs, and any duplication with senior levels of government or in the private sector.
Adopt a policy of “Proactive Disclosure” on expenses. I will strongly advocate for a new policy where City Councillors and management proactively disclose all expenditures and expenses incurred through their offices: travel expenses, accommodations, mileage, meetings, meals etc. This policy will increase accountability and lower the City’s expenses on freedom of information requests.
Adopt a policy of “Access by Design”. I will encourage Council to move to the Access by Design paradigm, where City held information is proactively released to the public as opposed to the current policy of reacting to freedom of information requests. Exceptions should be limited and specific. While the City is responsible to protect the privacy of third parties, it is equally responsible to ensure that information flows in an open and transparent process that allows citizens to hold their government accountable. The Ontario Privacy Commissioner has developed policies to guide municipalities in this transition.
Create a Hamilton brown-field liability working group. I will advocate for the establishment of a Hamilton Brownfield Liability Working Group. This taskforce would be ideally comprised of the experts and stakeholders who have disparate perspectives on the Brownfield challenges. The working group would require representation from MOE, industry, environmental companies, banks, lending institutions, insurance companies, environmental lawyers, planners, and the general public. The goal is to eliminate any barriers to brown-field remediation by recommending clear changes to public policy at any level of government.
Advocate for a Hamilton international games bid protocol. I will advocate for a policy to ensure that future Councils have a guide in the evaluation of any future games bids. The protocol should set the maximum cost sharing between the 3 levels of government, ensure that Hamilton does not absorb any loss on the bid, set the required audience threshold for both a live and televised audiences, clarify final capital ownership, set the limit on long term debt, preserve naming rights, and ensure that any discussions with the private sector is through a call for interested parties or an RFP.
Develop a sewer maintenance and repairs public update policy. The City needs to develop a communications protocol that will list any and all sewer inspections, repairs, linings or new construction in real time and available on-line. Residents need to see what progress is being made with our water and sewer infrastructure.
Finish the process to designate and re-zone Eramosa Karst feeder lands as open space. I will continue to work directly with City Staff, the Hamilton Conservation Authority, Friends of the Eramosa Karst and the Provincial Government to finalize the Official Plan changes to designate the Karst Feeder Areas as natural core heritage and to re-zone as open space.
Continue the fight to remove paid parking from lower Stoney Creek. The Stoney Creek Business Improvement Area is one of the smallest in the City. Recently installed parking meters have had a dramatic negative impact on businesses. Considering the fact that the revenue does not offset the costs to operate the meters, it is in the City’s interest to remove the parking meters before we lose further tax assessment.
