12-year Hamilton councillor not running again
Published January 5, 2022 at 9:13 pm
Ward 11 city councillor Brenda Johnson will not seek re-election after 12 years representing a fast-growing area of south Hamilton.
Johnson said in the announcement, which was published in a community weekly and shared on her website, that the ward needs “fresh eyes” and she wants to give potential candidates time to get organized. The next municipal election is scheduled for Oct. 24.
Coincidentally, the announcement comes exactly 60 days after Johnson said “bullying” developers were a problem for the City of Hamilton.
Johnson raised the point during a council meeting on Nov. 10, after a vote to dock the pay of Ward 14 Coun. Terry Whitehead for bullying a municipal employee at a meeting 14 months earlier (in September 2020). Johnson expressed hope that her colleagues would “maybe start focusing on some of the visitors that come into City Hall, and specifically, developers that have come into City Hall.
“I have complained about several of them, they fell on deaf ears, and I’m hoping now we can have our eyes wide open to everyone in stopping the bullying that’s been happening,” she said.
In the article shared at brendajohnson.ca, the departing councillor touted some $240 million in infrastructure development in the rapidly expanding Binbrook and Glanbrook areas. One remaining goal is to get a rec centre built in Glanbrook to serve the area’s families.
The extent of turnover in council chambers this fall could be a theme over the next few months, with community groups such as IELECT Hamilton calling for new faces.
In the 2018 municipal elections, 10 of the 11 incumbent councillors who ran for re-election were successful in doing so, while Mayor Fred Eisenberger was also re-elected. The lone exception was in Ward 9, where Brad Clark took back the seat he had held from 2006 to ’14 before giving that up to run for mayor.
The first-time councillors elected in ’18 — Ward 1 Coun. Maureen Wilson, as well as John-Paul Danko (8), Nrinder Nann (3) and Esther Pauls (7) — did not compete against incumbents.
The past two council terms have included scandals such as the Chedoke Creek sewage spill and the Red Hill Valley Parkway inquiry. Chedoke Creek is receiving extensive dredging to clean up the sewage spill. The cost of the RHVP inquiry is expected to reach $20 million by the end of this year.
That has fuelled calls for change. However, the 13-3 vote in November not to expand the city’s urban boundary — to the disappointment of developers and delight of environmental and sustainably advocates who campaigned against it — might have also been a sign of progress.
Johnson voted with the majority on the urban boundary.
In addition to Johnson, Ward 4 Coun. Sam Merulla is also moving on from elected municipal politics.
Ward 5 could have a new representative as well. Russ Powers is serving out the term after 26-year councillor Chad Collins vacated the seat after moving to federal politics, where he was elected as Hamilton East—Stoney Creek’s Liberal MP in September. Powers was appointed to the seat by the rest of council.
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