Commissioning a report about a civic issue is a bit like buying a gym membership on Jan. 1. It's a good first step, but you actually have to use it to get some value out of it.
Mayoral candidate Fred Eisenberger contends the city did that lip-service equivalent with a third-party review conducted in 2012. The review identified places where the city could improve its services, reduce expenses, increase revenues and generally operate more efficiently. Some of the findings cost money; some involve reallocating existing funding.
The city has undertaken two of the identified opportunities, related to how it purchases its fleet vehicles and its IT services, he acknowledged.
But, for the most part, Eisenberger said, "the findings were shelved."
Eisenberger didn't mention that 10 of the top 34 findings that city staff identified were already underway when they were included in the report, like improved transit efficiency and a reduction in employee sick days.
And Eisenberger's opponent Brian McHattie, a current city councillor, said the report is not gathering dust on the shelf. City staff identified certain more immediate measures to include in the 2014 budget, and several more of the opportunities are being evaluated for how they would impact city budgets as part of the 2015 budget process, McHattie said.
"This really demonstrates how out of touch Fred is — we didn't hear from him for four years until he decided to run again," he said. "He hasn't stayed involved in Hamilton issues."
Eisenberger lambasted the current council, which includes his two main challengers, McHattie and Brad Clark, saying it lacks the political will to implement the findings. He said by calling a press conference about it Wednesday, he was showing political leadership.
"The council dropped the ball on this report," he said.
But McHattie and Clark said Eisenberger hasn't paid close enough attention to the progress that has been made in the four years since he was last mayor.
"It's not the kind of thing where you just come in and say the hell with it, we're going to implement all these things no matter the consequences," McHattie said.
"They can't do it overnight; it is a process," Clark said. "(Eisenberger) has picked up the report and he's trying to interpret it without all of the context and all of the documents."
Eisenberger said he hadn't memorized the report's findings but said he hoped to reexamine the recommendations with an independent consultant. He didn't identify how much money these opportunities could save but expected a "bottom line estimate" could be "in the millions (of dollars), for sure."
He would spend that savings on hard infrastructure costs, like water, sewers and roads.
"It's not sexy but that's where we need the most attention," he said.
Also on Friday, McHattie released a statement saying if he became mayor, he'd ensure the city has rural zoning bylaws that reflect the realities of rural living.
In 2015, the province will review the Greenbelt plan. He said he'll "ensure farmers have the ability to expand agricultural operations as necessary, and not being handcuffed by narrow zoning rules."
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City should implement its own streamlining plan: Eisenberger
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