By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Wednesday August 15, 2012
Councillors frustrated by stadium secrecy
The secrecy surrounding Hamilton’s new Pan Am stadium has led to one councillor threatening to step down from the Games subcommittee.
Bernie Morelli, whose ward will house the new venue on the site of the current Ivor Wynne Stadium, says he’s so frustrated by the process that he’s thinking of quitting the Pan Am stadium subcommittee. Councillor Brad Clark also expressed his frustration at Infrastructure Ontario, the province’s development agency.
“We’ve relinquished all of our responsibility to Infrastructure Ontario,” Clark said.
The comments came about after councillors dealt with a report about a cost-sharing agreement for the new Pan Am stadium at Monday’s general issues committee meeting.
City staff were asking for council’s approval to enter into discussions with Infrastructure Ontario to determine the “roles, relationships, joint and separate responsibilities, authorizations and obligations” for the Pam Am stadium.
According to the report, the capital cost for the stadium is $145.6 million. The operating costs for 2012 are $340,300. However, the staff report offered few details about how the costs and operating responsibilities of the stadium will be shared.
When councillors asked staff for more information, Gerry Davis, the city’s general manager of public works, said they would have to check with Infrastructure Ontario to see if they had permission to share those details publicly. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)