Hamilton city council sworn in

Aging infrastructure is just one of the many issues Hamilton’s new city council will have to deal with. And as of Wednesday night, they’re officially on the job. The councillors and mayor were sworn in this evening.

Hamilton’s new mayor and council were led into chambers by a piper from the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders of Canada and members of the Hamilton Police Services Honour Guard.

In front of family, friends and political supporters, Fred Eisenberger took the oath of office.

“I, Fred Eisenberger have been elected to the office of mayor in the municipality of the city of Hamilton. And I do solemnly promise and declare that I will truly, faithfully and impartially to the best of my knowledge and ability.”

Earlier we spoke with the new mayor about what he hopes to accomplish over the next four years and why he thinks voters gave him a second chance: “I’m very excited – I’m honoured and it’s a privilege to come back”.

Back to familiar surroundings. The mayor’s office in Hamilton City Hall.

Fred Eisenberger worked at this desk, in this office from 2006 to 2010 before losing the seat to Bob Bratina in a hotly contested mayoral race.

On October 27th, voters gave him a rare opportunity, a second chance to lead a city that is in the midst of major transformation.

Eisenberger: “For me it’s about maintaining the momentum. I mean I will take a little of the credit for having spurred on the economic development drive. We did increase the funding for economic development during my time as mayor largely to increase the economic opportunity and diversify our economy. We ended up being one of the most diversified economies in the country.”

One of the most contentious issues in the election campaign was the future of LRT. Eisenberger supports the billion dollar initiative but wants the province to come clean on the funding model: “Do I want the investment to happen in Hamilton as opposed to in Toronto? Yes. If they’ve got 15 billion dollars set aside and there’s potentially a billion dollars on the table for Hamilton for an LRT system then I want it to happen here.”

As for why he is back in the mayor’s chair?: “I lost because of the stadium issue last time and I won because of the stadium issue. I think it was a big factor in this election campaign and what people based that decision on or whatever they thought they decided they wanted to have me back and I’m glad.”

Mayor Eisenberger says one of the first things he will be doing is looking at how the city can implement on-line voting. He wants that in place before the next municipal election.