City council set to debate Red Hill and Linc widening

Hamilton city council meets on Wednesday, when the issue of widening the Red Hill Valley and Lincoln Alexander parkways will likely rear its head again.

City council ratifies decisions made at committees, but occasionally committee votes—made by a smaller group of councillors — are overturned.

On Wednesday, council will debate the decision to look into the feasibility of expanding the two highways from four lanes to six. This comes after a Nov. 2 public works committee, when councillors who form its membership voted 5-2 to study the concept, and if it makes sense, ask the province for money.

Chad Collins and Sam Merulla voted against it, saying it sends an unclear message to the province and feds about Hamilton's infrastructure priorities.

"I'm just concerned that this is the project that we're choosing, and I'm not certain at this point that it's warranted," Collins said.

That's not the only issue council will tackle Wednesday.

It will also vote on Merulla's motion to have supervisors get out into vehicles to check that roads have been plowed after snowstorms.

Who checks the roads after winter storms?

Each year, residents complain about road plowing, Merulla said. He wants supervisors to physically supervise the routes.

"It's common knowledge that a lot of streets are missed," he said.

"If the supervisors focused on quality control, the numbers (of resident complaints) would decrease dramatically."

He's not in favour of hiring more supervisors, though. "They have to prioritize. They have to work it out amongst themselves."

Here's what else is on the agenda:

• Approving higher rates for cemetery and death-related services, including the cost of burials, cremation and cemetery plots. 
• Ratifying a decision to identify and designate hills for tobogganing. The winter activity is currently illegal in the city. The bylaw banning it will remain, but the city will have sanctioned hills, which is already permitted in the bylaw.
• Approving a byelection for Ward 7, an area recently represented by new MP Scott Duvall. It will cost $100,000 to hold a byelection, which will be March 21, 2016.

CBC Hamilton reporter Kelly Bennett will tweet live from the meeting, which is 5 p.m. at city hall council chambers. Follow her tweets at @kellyrbennett or in the window below.