The tale of 2018 — Hamilton’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year

The year 2018 really stunk for Hamilton - in some cases, literally.

You probably recall the two most obvious scandals born that year: a stinky 24-billion-litre sewage spill later dubbed Sewergate and the discovery of a troubling safety report about the Red Hill Valley Parkway that was hidden for years.

Those scandals alone played a big role in Hamilton's change election" that brought 10 new faces to city council. The fallout isn't over, either - with pollution charges, lawsuits and a judicial inquiry ongoing.

But to hear one of Hamilton's shell-shocked former bureaucrats tell the tale of 2018, you probably only remember the half of it.

Behind the scenes, public works managers were playing Whac-A-Mole" with an unprecedented" number of legal problems even before buried parkway friction tests were rediscovered late that year, according to Dan McKinnon, the city's former head of public works.

McKinnon, who retired last year amid ongoing fallout from that terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year, was called to testify last month in the judge-led inquiry into the Red Hill mystery.

In the months from June to October in 2018, we had more unprecedented issues emerge like I've never seen in my career," he told lawyers for the inquiry last month. It was extraordinary."

Think nightmare arena renovations. Surprise lawsuits. Record-breaking pothole damage. The smell of rotting compost wafting over most of the lower city.

McKinnon spent two days answering questions about the Red Hill controversy, including how and when the now-infamous Tradewind Scientific report on parkway friction was eventually shared.

Testimony and documents collected for the inquiry - which is on track to cost taxpayers as much as $28 million - show bureaucrats and lawyers agonized over how to respond to both a freedom-of-information request by The Spec about parkway friction, as well as a separate probe by the city's auditor general.

Legal notes released to the inquiry, for example, show lawyers at one point debated whether the contentious Tradewind report could be released to The Spectator without including the conclusion or recommendations.

City auditors also expressed frustration at what they viewed as undue delays by public works staff in providing access to the friction report and related studies.

McKinnon argued in his testimony that public works staff were overwhelmed by competing problems and priorities in the fall of 2018 and could only do so much, so fast. He recalls specifically asking for breathing room" on deadlines related to the Red Hill to deal with the myriad issues swamping his department.

Here's a list of the unprecedented" problems afflicting the city at the time - and an update on whether they're still affecting taxpayers today:

Rutted road rage

By February 2018, angry motorists had filed more pothole damage claims against the city than in any full year since amalgamation. The rut rage spurred nervous councillors to request a pre-election $20-million paving spree.

Summer of stench

In June, the rancid stench of food waste from a municipal compost plant was noticeable across the lower city - including at a 24,000-strong Arkells concert at Tim Hortons Field. Embarrassed Hamilton officials shuttered the plant for months to fix the problem - but a pollution charge laid against the city in 2020 has yet to be settled in court.

Arena nightmare

A late and over budget Dundas arena project had gone completely off the rails" in 2018, according to McKinnon. The dust-up eventually resulted in a contractor ban and a scathing audit of the Grightmire project. A legal settlement of the city's dispute with the contractor was not made public.

Recycling woes

In the middle of Hamilton's compost woes, its own recycling plant operator decided to sue the city for $21 million. That lawsuit was later abandoned - and the city even re-upped with the same contractor to run its recycling plant again.

Sewergate

City council learned in late 2018 about the magnitude of a four-year, 24-billion-litre sewage spill into Chedoke Creek, but didn't tell the public. The Spec revealed the scope of the disaster in late 2019 and the city has since been ordered to dredge the creek.

Two provincial pollution charges against the city remain before the courts - and the ordered cleanup is on hiatus because of a dispute over whether the project requires consent from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council.

Red Hill inquiry

A judge-led inquiry into parkway safety started in 2019 and will likely continue until at least the end of this year. The city is on the hook for the bill, which could reach $28 million. A proposed class-action lawsuit over the parkway was dismissed earlier this year, but more than a dozen individual cases could eventually go ahead in civil court.

Matthew Van Dongen is a transportation and environment reporter at The Spectator. mvandongen@thespec.com