Hamilton mayor notified of buried RHVP safety report before council

Today the Red Hill Valley Parkway inquiry heard from Mike Zegarac who was the interim city manager when a buried report resurfaced at city hall. The report showed the parkway was slippier than it should be.

In July of 2018, Zegarac had just become the interim city manager and says he was given no briefings specific to the Red Hill Valley Parkway or Lincoln Alexander Parkway when he took over the role.

A couple of months later he was made aware that city council had never been told about a report that showed friction on the Red Hill was not up to par.

“Public Works staff advised me the road was safe,” Zegarac testified today. Zegarac went on to say that he doesn’t recall being told interim measures were needed before having the road repaved.

“Contents in the report could present some risks to the municipality,” Zegarac said, referring to litigation risks. In December 2018 Zegarac knew the information needed to be disclosed to council but testified that it was too ambitious to present the information to council by the end of that year.

Instead, Mayor Fred Eisenberger was given a heads up on the situation, “he had an interest in ensuring all information was brought forward to… committee and council,” Zegarac said today about Eisenberger.

Zegarac testified that the mayor was frustrated that the information had never been shared with council but was supportive of how staff were proposing to present the issue to the elected officials.

The mayor is expected to testify at the hearing tomorrow.