Laying out what’s next for Hamilton’s new slate of city councillors

Hamilton residents have picked new municipal representatives after a long, arduous election season - but what's next for the city's fresh slate of councillors that have campaigned and door-knocked for months?

Well, for starters, more work.

The city's 15 councillors-elect - which includes 10 newcomers - have just over two weeks before their first day on a job that promises to be busy from the get-go.

While newly elected councillors can't act in any official capacity until they're sworn in on Nov. 16, their to-do lists are already swamped.

The first official appearance for councillors-elect are orientation meetings on Nov. 8 and Nov. 9. Led by the city clerk's office, the meetings include briefings on the structure of the city's committees, departments and procedures at council. That's on top of formal training offered throughout the council term via workshops.

In the meantime, and before next week's training, councillors are required to fill out preference forms for the agencies, boards, tribunals and committees they'd like to sit on. Some of them - like ward-specific groups such as business improvements areas (BIAs) - already have their members set in stone, while others - like citywide boards such as for the Hamilton Police Service or Hamilton Public Library - will fill up on a first- or second-preference basis.

Newly elected councillors are also now tasked with hiring their own staff, said city clerk Andrea Holland. They have free reign on who they want to recruit, said Holland, meaning staff of outgoing councillors aren't guaranteed work in the next term.

As for the money at their disposal, councillors-elect can expect to control ward office budgets of between $283,000 and $313,000, according to Brian McMullen, the city's director of financial planning, administration and policy, who noted the budgets won't be approved until March 2023.

McMullen said budgets vary by ward and are based on a number of factors from past council reports, like population sizes, inner-city funds and student accommodations. The vast majority of budgets are spent on councillor and staff salaries and benefits.

Rookie councillors and incumbents will be paid the same in 2023, said McMullen, but each will receive about two per cent more than last year's rate. While salary budgets for councillors in 2022 was $104,140, salaries in 2023 will range between $106,000 and $107,000 depending on assumptions for cost of living adjustments," said McMullen.

Sebastian Bron is a reporter at The Spectator. sbron@thespec.com