Former Mayor Larry Di Ianni and Mr. Ecklund's daughter Erika

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LARRY'S CORNER- Hamilton's Former Mayor Speaks

former Mayor of Hamilton, Larry Di IanniThe City Hall Dilemma

By Larry Di Ianni
(posted November 4, 2008)

At last week’s Council meeting, one of the issues discussed was whether to clad the renovated city hall with marble, concrete or limestone. Other than the cost of using each of the products, Councillors debated heritage issues, the housing of city staff, the merits of each of the materials being contemplated and the timeline for completing the work.

I found several of the facts presented extremely interesting. Firstly, let me say that Lloyd Ferguson of Ancaster is leading the renovation proposals for Council. This was an absolutely correct choice given his extensive private sector experience overseeing construction projects of much larger scale. He knows the industry. He speaks the language of the trades being used, and he cannot be side-tracked by staff rationale if those arguments are flimsy. Experience, contrary to Senator Obama’s claims in the US, sometimes does count.

I also found intriguing Councillor Duvall’s statement in voting against the additional costs for using marble cladding that the project should have never been proceeded with at all. Rather, he flatly stated, that the best alternative would have been to raze the current building and reconstruct a new city hall which would have housed ALL city staff rather than renovating an inadequately sized building at a much higher cost than the city can afford. This matter-of-fact common sense isn’t always heard by elected officials at any level. I was impressed.

So, how did Council find itself in this predicament? And what can be done now?

A bit of history: In 2000, the new city council under the leadership of Mayor Bob Wade received a briefing on all city buildings. We were told of a huge backlog in maintenance issues with almost all buildings owned by the city. The municipal building was chief in short-comings as well as safety lapses. The elevators were a joke. The heating system, such as it existed, was inadequate. The windows allowed heat and cold air to escape outdoors wreaking havoc with electricity bills as well as any attempts to regulate temperatures. The computer system, which was state of the art, was always in danger of being damaged by floods should there be one thereby endangering all of the city’s and its taxpayers records. And the list went on.

Mayor Wade’s Council bit the bullet and decided to tear the building down and construct a new building that would house all city staff under one roof. This plan was actually approved by Council until one of the mountain councillors got cold feet and fearing a public backlash convinced Council to reconsider this decision and move forward with only a renovation of needed safety features. The irony is, of course, that during that time, the total reconstruction would have cost about the same amount (maybe a quarter more) than the renovation to a partial building is now costing.

During my term of Council we were tied to the renovation of city hall and had apportioned about $30-40M to do it. That cost has now ballooned to about $75M apparently. That is why Council decided to go with concrete rather than the more expensive marble. The vote wasn’t even close with the Mayor wanting the more expensive option and 3 people supported him, while the other 10 were more frugal in their ambitions for the building. As Councillor Collins stated, the decision was a ‘no-brainer’ in deciding to spend less rather than more- even though, in this case, the ‘less’ is considerably more than was initially contemplated.

I have faith in the majority of Council that feels that the building will look presentable regardless of the façade. I am sure it will. The next election will be fought on the issue of taxes, just as every election, at every level is fought. The four who supported the more expensive option should thank the majority of their colleagues for having spared them the reality of adding another few million dollars to an already-overburdened expense ledger for the city. These four members of Council may have some explaining to do with the heritage folks in the city, but they would have had a tougher time explaining their profligacy with a much larger group: the taxpayers of the community wondering why their property tax bill is so high!


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