$1K cheques for residents affected by flood will have to wait for new city council
Homeowners can register for the compassionate grants but payments will be delayed
Residents near the Woodward Wastewater Treatment Plant affected by the flooding last Tuesday will have to wait for their compassionate cheques until after the new city council meets in December.
The compassionate funding requires council approval but because of the municipal election later this month, the program is caught in limbo.
"Legislatively the city does not have the authority to delegate the decision," says Ward 4 councillor Sam Merulla.
Merulla said Wednesday that compassionate $1,000 grants were being enacted by the city. "It's so they don't have any costs," he told CBC News then. But city staff announced the delay Thursday.
"There is no alternative," says Merulla.
Still, residents who suffered damage will be able to register for the grant before December. "The whole process will be up and running," Merulla says. Residents will have four months to register for the grant.
When city council meets in December it will be new councillors in the chambers, but Merulla is confident that won't affect the process. "I can assure you it will get done," he told CBC News.
Merulla also said that there will be an amendment to the policy to prevent this from happening in the future.
Andrew Grice, the director of Hamilton water, said Tuesday the flood was caused because of a break in a 20-inch pipe carrying water from the Woodward treatment plant. Water reached about 60 homes in the area.
