Mr. Eisenberger:
During your mayoralty, at a point in time, you asked for the financials for The Hamilton Waterfront Trust. It is our understanding that during the previous term, at which point you were not the mayor, these financials were not submitted.
Can you explain to Hamiltonians what prompted you to request the financials of the Hamilton Waterfront Trust during your term as Mayor?
Was there anything in particular that caused you to ask for the financials or was it merely due to they not being submitted?
During your mayoral term, were you satisfied with the operations and the financial management/reporting of the Hamilton Waterfront Trust?
Mr. Eisenberger responded as follows:
Thanks for the question. I recall requesting them on behalf of council. I personally had no cause for concerns on their operations and governance and have faith in the leadership of the board and staff. The request for the financials were required to be submitted pursuant to their charter on an annual basis and had not been for some years. To be fully open and transparent they needed to fulfill the requirement each year to provide the financials and hence the request.
Cheers Fred
Thanks for the question. I recall requesting them on behalf of council. I personally had no cause for concerns on their operations and governance and have faith in the leadership of the board and staff. The request for the financials were required to be submitted pursuant to their charter on an annual basis and had not been for some years. To be fully open and transparent they needed to fulfill the requirement each year to provide the financials and hence the request.
Cheers Fred
At least Mayor Fred got the need to have the financials. Good for him! When I read Larry's answer, it seemed to be saying- they had a whack of money and yet, there were no financials requested or reported.
ReplyDeleteI am not impressed on how this council has been mishandling this either. In terms of The Hamiltonian, you guys/gals are media masters. Good work on keeping everyone engaged and being fair about it. And it was really nice to hear from Fred.
I don't think there was anything criminal going on but I think there were things that were done sloppy and that caused an adverse audit opinion. But the non answers from the trust and the councilors have caused suspicion and it makes me wonder what they are so evasive about. Anyway, every politician except for the taxpayer seems to have a lax attitude about it so the emmy answer is to replace the politicians with people who really understand why taxpayers care.about their tax dollars.
ReplyDeleteJour taxpayer
To: Retd Mayor Eisenberger,
ReplyDeleteYour prompt and candid response is appreciated.
With reference to your thoughts:
"I personally had no cause for concerns on their operations and governance and have faith in the leadership of the board and staff."
Would you be kind enough to elaborate as to how you/council could have ever been comfortable enough to have --no concerns-- about HWT's operations and governance, when you logically had -zero- knowledge of HWT's financials prior to Oct 10, 2008.
And post 2008, given the reality of the financial disclosures and expense patterns, it would be highly dubious for anyone -- be it a retd. Mayor or Councillor, to publicly claim that they have "trust" or are "comfortable" with HWT's operations or governance.
Contrary to what Larry DiIanni has just said: "I don't recall any protocol to have the Trust report to Council during Mayor Wade's term or mine", we do thank you for confirming that: "The request for the financials were required to be submitted pursuant to their charter on an annual basis and had not been for some years" --- ('some' being in this case, 'eight' years).
On hindsight, do you consider this a very serious lapse of mayoral/council oversight prior to your term?
Looking forward to your response.
Thank You,
Mahesh P. Butani
"I personally had no cause for concerns on their operations and governance and have faith in the leadership of the board and staff." Fred Eisenberger
ReplyDeleteDoes he have concerns now that more information has surfaced as to the questionable finances and operations of the Trust?
I can't blame either of the mayors initially. They have to trust others to do their jobs. But years of missing financials and then the failed "adverse" audit? Come on. No mayor worth their salt would be that asleep at the switch. When Bratina asked the questions, he got chastised. That's Hamilton politics and thats why we need change.
ReplyDeleteMr. Eisenberger can't, in all seriousness, believe that concerned taxpayers can rest easy now that he has told us that he "had no cause for concerns" because he had "faith in the leadership of the board and staff."
ReplyDeleteThe same Board and staff who did not submit the required financials for years on end. But, he had "faith" in both the "board and staff." That's a head-shaker.
Then, he continues in the same irrational vein and dares to utter the "open and transparent" words, "To be fully open and transparent they needed to fulfill the requirement each year to provide the financials and hence the request."
Mr. Eisenberger fails to grasp that the HWT and Board were neither open nor transparent all those years. More importantly the HWT and Board were not accountable. It is this very unaccountability that both infuriates and saddens me.
Mr. Dianni and Mr. Eisenberger have had their time in the Mayoral sun and I truly hope that this is the last, the very last time, that we have to suffer hearing from either of them.
On the other hand, I'm glad they weighed in because it's further proof that the HWT should be sunk, sooner rather than later. Damn any and all agreements, the HWT relationship is too toxic now and it's best that the HWT be kept to maintenance only and hand all planning, designing, consultations, hiring, etc...back where it belongs at City Hall in the enviro planning dept.
Fred Eisenberger was also Chairperson of the Port Authority Board in the years preceding his election as Mayor. The Port Authority as a requirement of the Deed of Trust has one member on the Board of The Waterfront Trust.
DeleteAccording to the Deed Of Trust that established the Waterfront Trust in November of 2000, the reporting obligations are clearly defined.
Section 8 part(o)states; At the end of each fiscal year of the Trust the Trustees shall prepare and submit to each of the City and the Commissioners an annual report which shall include audited financial statements and any other statements that the City or the Commissioners may require.
The Commissioners referred to in this section of the Deed of Trust refers to the Members of the Board of the Port Authority. Did the Port Authority through its Board members and Chairpersons receive the mandated annual audited financial statements and any other reports that they required? If not why not?