Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Should Bratina Have Resigned from Housing Board? Or is this more Shhhhh?

As per a Spec article, Councillor Bob Bratina tendered his resignation from the City  Housing Hamilton Board amidst concerns that he may have distributed confidential information. The information in question involves statitics surrounding how many times city police were called to city housing properties. He said that the police had answered about 1000 calls to three city housing properties over the past year.

 Bratina says that in his view, the information was not confidential, adding .."I'm not as interested in projecting an image of City Housing, as I am in dealing with the problems", which seems to infer that there is some attempt to protect the image of city housing, rather than confront facts.


Clr. McHattie who serves as city housing board President, received an email from Bratina, conveying Bratina's resignation from the board. McHattie refused to comment in detail, reasoning that it has not proceeded to the board yet, but did say that he felt Bratina made the right decision, because in McHattie's view, being on the board means that you have to leave your ward hat at the door.

Additionally, Integrity Commissioner Earl Basse has indicated that he has received some information about this matter, but not a formal complaint thus far.

Based on the limited facts, I am with Bratina on this one. It sounds to me like the information that he deseminated was aggregate information which did not identify persons or particulars involved in the police visits. If my assumptions are correct, I'm not sure why this would be such a big deal. Unless, of course, Bratina is right  with respect to intentions.

Careful Bob- democratic principles aren't always respected in Hamilton, it seems. Careful who you talk to, and what you share.

Cal DiFalco
Publisher
The Hamiltonian

17 comments:

  1. Ward heeling politics run amok. Not hard to tell it's an election year and Bratina want's another four years at the trough city building with other peoples money.

    That's Hamilton, get used to it.

    As to this being a breach of the Code of Conduct By-Law, who in their right mind would bother to put up the $100 filing fee?

    NOOOOOO-body!
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  2. Someone should tell McHattie that since City Housing is funded by the taxpayers he better get his ward hat out or hand in his own resignation rather than trying to keep this board he is chairman of a secret society.
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  3. As a staffer we are gagged by city hall but I can say Councillor Bratina is dead on. These were stats and the public needs to know. There is no confidential information there at all. Bratina is doing his job.
    As for Councillor McHattie it is well known he has not handled the housing file well at all.He should be made accountable now or at election time. Everything is coming out. The projects are crummy and millions of dollars have been lost. They hired consultants who have written very negative reports.The oversight is terrible and staff are leaving fast. What a waste of public money.The Councillors must answer for this.

    Staffer
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  4. Michelle HruschkaMar 13, 2010 05:30 PM
    I do not think what Councillor has revealed is so bad, considering that not all those who live in City Housing are bad people, some are just very marginalized and no one speaks for them.

    I was speaking to someone the other day, who lives in one of the buildings, who brought up the issue of PROPERTY STANDARDS.

    As we all know the enforcement of property standards is a real issue in this city but it seems that the city as the landlord does not follow PROPERTY STANDARDS either, thus leaving many in this city who are the most vulnerable living in horrible conditions. But who is speaking up about that.

    It would also seem the City Housing does not use Licensed Contractors and some of the repairs that are being done would be condemned if out there in the private sector.

    But it is a given that people are afraid to make complaints as they are the most vulnerable and could very well losing what crappy housing they have.
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  5. Brad Clark resigned from housing when he heard of upcoming revelations. Bratina too is resigning so he won't be associated with the problems.He doesn't want to be near. The SPCA isues pail in comparison.
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  6. What happened to Mayor Eisenberger's "integrity promise?". The way i see it, all we have done is hired an Integrity Comissioner as window dressing. The Mayor's promise of transparancy has been so good, that he is so transparent that he is no longer to be seen on issues of transparency. I think your absolutely correct that people are beign muzzeled. I wasn't sure whether to post this comment on this topic or on the other topic, so sorry if i did not put it in the right place. George
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  7. There is an Integrity Commissioner? Really?
    I fear that what is in place is an unholy mixture of a toothless position combined with an individual unwilling to enter the fray on any real or potential problems with councillor behaviours.
    Personally, I strongly advocated the setting up of means to monitor, and where necessary, censure councillors who violate even the most obvious standards of acceptable, and legal, behaviours.
    Given the Morelli affair, and many other examples, it has been very obvious that councillors are unwilling to govern themselves responsibly.
    So when, after such a ludicrous series of ditherings and delays, the Integrity Commissioner office was in place and an individual hired, I was hopeful that things might change for the better.
    Wrong!
    I believe that the contract of the individual who was hired should be revoked immediately for noncompliance to what is needed and what seems to have been required according to the terms on which the city established.
    To slightly adapt, MAW's signature phrase, "this is Hamilton City Council, get used to it!"
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  8. How many dollars in fees has the City paid to Mr. Basse for not coming up with any results. Maybe he has made reports and they are sitting on the Mayors desk to be held back until after the election. They are probably being used to cover over the reports on the sewage treatment investigation. Mayor Fred is going to have a hard time campaigning on integrity and transparency since this council led by him is the worst for integrity and transparency we have ever had. I would suggest that Mr. Basse be terminated immediately for non performance and a new Integrity Commissioner be hired that doesn't wear so many other hats running a variety of businesses. Just like we have a citizens panel now to report on taxation, the Integrity Commissioner should report to an independent citizens panel that has power to ask him questions and demand prompt reports to from him or her. This panel would then make the report public at the same time it is reported to council. Maybe it's time to have Mayor Fred back to answer 10 tough questions.
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  9. Alasdair RathboneMar 15, 2010 07:40 AM
    I am still looking for an explanation on why data on the number of police calls is confidential?

    Yes its unpleasant, but we need to know all the facts unless they reveal personal private information.
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  10. Mr. Bratina is in my view the only honest and hard working councillor at City Hall. He resignation should not be accepted because he did nothing wrong. He simply stated some facts. We are talking about the same guy that did not accept a pay increase like his counterparts, docked his own salary for 2 weeks when he felt he may have acted innapproprately at a city meeting. If the other councillors and mayor followed suit, no one would be be drawing a salary except for Mr. Bratina.

    Mr. Bratina - you are a man of honour and integrity and don't let anyone tell you different. Thank for your contined committment to your constiuents and for this city. You leaving the Hamilton Housing Board is the city's great loss.

    Rudy
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  11. Frankly, I cannot support Councillor Brattina’s resignation from the City Housing board for the stated reasons. ‘Call for Service’ statistics are readily available, all you have to do is ask. These stats are also a valuable gauge in assessing the impact of a property or facility on a community. Councillor Brattina simply chose the most responsible path in this matter.

    IMHO, the greater issue is one that the City often seems to ignore – Municipal Liability. The City Housing Board is legally required to deal with these issues. Hiding or ignoring the information does not diminish liability. Although I am not a legal beagle, it seems to me that a refusal to address the issue may extend personal liability to the Board Members.

    I do support Councillor Brattina’s resignation if tendered on the basis of protecting himself and his family from future liability. There is no other option for him in this matter.

    Perhaps someone with sufficient legal expertise would like to comment.
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  12. Anita...An election is coming up and this is just a political ploy. When it hits the fan about the problems with this agency that he was a board member of he will be able to shrug his shoulders and distance himself from any responsibility.
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  13. Alasdair Rathbone said...
    I am still looking for an explanation on why data on the number of police calls is confidential?


    Alasdair, the reason why they are TRYING to keep it confidential is because thats the way the city operates now. Keeping secrets from residents. Get used to it despite all the dribble about transparency, open, honest; it's just political BS. We're worse off than before.

    Rog
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  14. Tom, I realize that is very much an issue as well, but I also have to acknowledge that Councillor Brattina has been doing some homework on liability as well. He was also involved with the drafting of Bill 106, the SCAN legislation - of which I am in favour of. I was at one time encouraged to see that the City was supporting this legislation as well. Then I realized that they were in support of if because they were of the opinion that if an independent body was set up to deal with problem properties, it would release the City from the liability of dealing with the property under the Municipal Act.
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  15. Alasdair...Call for service information is not confidential. Just ask your neighbourhood crime manager with a valid reason for making the request.
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  16. Alasdair RathboneMar 16, 2010 12:57 PM
    I am not doubting that it truly isn't confidential. But its obvious certain councilors wish it were and are trying to keep it from getting out. I am both sad and glad Bratina left the committee. Sad, because there will be one less councilor on that committee who is committed to revealing the truth but Glad because it has brought attention to an important issue.
    ReplyDelete

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