Hamiltonians need to have access to city services when and where we need them. We need to ensure that City Hall has a strong, motivated, and thoughtfully structured staff team to deliver those services. Hamiltonians should have access to critical information as soon as it becomes available, and they should feel confident that their elected officials are working in their best interest. When Cootes Paradise was flooded with raw sewage, Hamiltonians deserved to know that it was no longer safe for them and their families to use – as soon as their city council did. When the Red Hill Valley Parkway was found to have possible major safety concerns, Hamiltonians deserved to know right away so that they could make informed choices to keep their families safe, and potentially save lives.
Over the next four years I will work with City Council, staff and the community to:
- Collaborate with all City of Hamilton stakeholders to address concerns about transparency at City Hall.
- Make responsible, high quality, investments that are right for Hamilton, that will last and provide the best value for communities, not just the lowest cost
- Bring local politicians together at a Team Hamilton Leadership Table to ensure we can maximize our collective service to the people in our City.
How we’ll do it:
- Strike a diverse Public Advisory Committee in the first 90 days, tasked with recommending improvements to access, transparency and accountability at City Hall.
- Build and Chair a Team Hamilton Leadership Table, bring together Hamilton’s elected representatives from all orders of government (municipal, provincial, federal and school boards) to work together for the benefit of Hamiltonians.
- Ensure that the City has the talented staff needed to deliver services. By developing a comprehensive recruitment and retention plan for the municipality, we will make sure we can meet the needs of Hamiltonians by having the staff in place to deliver services.
- Ensure that procurement delivers the best value for communities – instead of just the lowest cost – because respecting every public dollar means spending wisely. We all know that there are costs to doing things on the cheap, and that savings can come from investment in quality.