Despite worries that the city is veering into doing the province's job, Hamilton Public Health will hire two new staff this year to deal specifically with improving Hamilton's air quality.
City councillors voted 9-3 on Tuesday to spend $100,555 this year for the new hires — one senior project manager and one project manager — to collect, analyze and develop policy around air quality data. The annual cost will be $201,110.
Opponents say it's work the provincial and federal governments should be doing. But those in favour, such as Coun. Sam Merulla, say it's too important an issue.
'People are literally talking about peanuts, which is an insult to the people in this city and to the people around this table.'- Coun. Sam Merulla
About 200 people in Hamilton die from air quality-related issues each year, said Merulla, a Ward 4 councillor.
"This is an investment not in the next four years," he said Tuesday. "It's not about your next election."
"People are literally talking about peanuts, which is an insult to the people in this city and to the people around this table."
Public Health originally asked for 3.5 new staff members, or $167,600 for 2015 and $335,310 for 2016. It wanted to hire a planner to consult on the air quality-related matters of planning applications. It also wanted a global information systems technician.
The senior project manager will oversee air quality initiatives. The project manager's tasks will include working with contractors on air monitoring and liaising with local environmental groups.
'Run your finger along your window ledge, and you see the particulate in the air.'- Coun. Matthew Green
The new team will also look at data gathered from local air monitoring stations, mobile air monitoring done by Dr. Denis Corr, and the Ministry of Environment, among others. It will also implement recommendations from the recent Hamilton Air Quality Task Force.
Coun. Matthew Green of Ward 3 supported hiring 3.5 people.
In Ward 3, "you come outside your house and you run your finger along your window ledge, and you see the particulate in the air," he said. "If it's in the air, we're breathing it."
The provincial and federal governments are falling short, he said. There's been "an attack on science at the federal level," and the "province has been negligent," he said.
"I'm not confident the data being collected is fulsome enough to protect our residents," he said.
The hires, he said, will "put some fact to the suffering in this community."
'To do things the province isn't doing appropriately, I don't know where that stops. It's not our job.'- Coun. Terry Whitehead
But Coun. Brenda Johnson of Ward 11 said the hires overlap with work already being done in Hamilton.
Coun. Terry Whitehead supported the two hires, but worried about "legislative scope creep."
"There's only so much money in the property tax base. We can't continue taking on the deficiencies of other levels of government. We can't afford it."
"To do things the province isn't doing appropriately, I don't know where that stops. It's not our job."
Councillors are chipping away at a budget that poses a 3.1-per cent increase over 2014, or $97 more on the average $284,600 home.
Councillors are scrutinizing various "enhancements," which are additions above and beyond the regular budget. Councillors have already voted down $190,160 a year for two new staff to help the city adapt to climate change.
Council expects to approve the budget on April 8. If approved, Public Health will hire the new staff by July, said Robert Hall, director of the health protection division.
Budget deliberations continue on Thursday.
Who voted in favour of two FTEs for air quality:
Aidan Johnson, Matthew Green, Sam Merulla, Tom Jackson, Terry Whitehead, Scott Duvall, Mayor Fred Eisenberger, Robert Pasuta, Arlene VanderBeek
Who was opposed:
Brenda Johnson, Maria Pearson, Doug Conley
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