Councillors ditch meeting to block flood grants

Councillors walked out of an emergency meeting tonight to prevent the passing of an aid program for flood victims that they argued would have been like “writing a blank cheque.”

The majority of council was poised to pass a motion by Councillor Chad Collins for the city to pick up the tab for all flood damage that wasn’t covered by insurance. Staff warned against the proposal, arguing it invited insurance companies to reject claims and could cost the city unknown millions.

When a short recess was called before the vote, councillors Maria Pearson, Lloyd Ferguson and Bob Bratina, who opposed the upgraded grants program, left. Their departure caused the meeting to lose quorum, forcing its cancellation.

Under the grants program recommended by staff, flood victims would have received $1,000.

Residents who had been denied insurance because of multiple floods would have been offered a higher amount. Staff wanted to report back on the amount, but based their cost estimates on $5,000. The city was expecting the program would cost upwards of $6 million based on 4,000 to 5,000 claims.

Collins wanted to upgrade the program to cover all damages for residents denied insurance because of multiple floods and to cover costs beyond residents’ policies. He also wanted to cover damages from surface flooding, which is not covered by insurance.

His plan would not apply to individuals who choose not to get insurance.

Comments

[east end resident]

That comes as no suprise, city council "ditched" meetings about the red hill expressway when residents came to city hall especially when it came to vote night in city council, city council should remember they used every trick in the book to ram redhill expressway down hamilton residents throat and now it looks like redhill expressway is coming back to haunt them but as usuall there will be no accountabiltity thats just par for the coarse with these businessmen who are more concerned with $$ then the people the have been elected to protect and serve, but really in all honesty we all believe to never trust what a political person from hamilton has to say, not by jaded thoughts but by city councils track record of screwing over its citizens,,,,City Council forced the highway in yet seem to vanish when Hamiltons Great White Elephant Called the Redhill Expressway starts stamping her feet. We figure in less then 10 years the highway will fall apart due to floods. If you thought this flood was a suprise, wait and see how many more there will be, 1 after spring thaw and one at the end of every summer when the rains come....it's too bad a common citizen can figure this out and yet engineers making $150,000-$200,000 cant, because when the highway eventually falls apart all those sewer pipes will flood peoples basements even more and once again with no accounability.....How many city councilors actually live in the east end and how many actually live in Hamilton before it was almalgamated?? among people their may be no accountabilty but somewhere in the great divine I am sure this non-accountabilty question will be answered while east end residents will be paying the price for redhill for the years to come

[JonC]

I believe the mayor's home was among the flooded.

[east end resident]

The comment above is interesting......I wonder if the flood damage in his basement came out of his pocket like everyone else? Feel free for a follow up on that one. Genuine thanks for the heads up