Chill out

This entry is courtesy of my colleague, Eric McGuinness. He attended the city hall renovations committee yesterday and came out with this little gem.


Councillor Terry Whitehead has a chilling worry about the renovated City Hall.

He’s upset that city staff won’t let him bring a mini-fridge back to his office.

Whitehead learned this week that the power system in the renovated City Hall isn’t designed to handle a bunch of personal fridges. Staff said they're prone to leaking on carpets, which could cause health and safety issues.

"I’m not necessarily buying into the power argument,” said Whitehead. “It’s difficult to have a community fridge and account for your stock.”

He said he often has meetings in his office, so it’s important to have bottled water and other drinks.

Staff said there must be one policy for all 435 employees moving back to the building. The only exception will be fridges needed for medical reasons.

“I want to have amenities in my office,” Whitehead insisted. He said he’d made a point of buying an energy-efficient fridge and now wonders what do to with it.

 

Anyone in the market for an energy-efficient mini-fridge? 'Cause I know where you can get one.

*UPDATE: Councillor Whitehead asked me to mention that the fridge is city-owned. He said he's now concerned about the fate of the fridge since it was actually paid for by taxpayers.

Comments

[Michelle Hruschka]

Maybe Mr Whitehead will have to get a cooler and pretend he is camping.

[Markalanwhittle]

The new city hall won't have enough juice for elected officials to have a fridge in their offices?

Surreal, considering it was supposed to be a "state-of-the-art" renovation.

As to seeing your stock disappear from the comunal fridge, what does that say about others in the office?

It's time to clean house at the ballot box.

[Tom Robertson]

He won't be able to pretend he is camping at Confederation Park anymore

[Brian Henley]

Talk about self-centred!
Whitehead's concerns are not worth discussing - there are other things concerning the City Hall renovation that require attention, notably what the plans are for the outdoor public spaces to the north, west and east of the building itself.

[ed]

isn't bottled water illegal in hamtown...oh ya just a schools.

[Dan Jelly]

I'm glad Whitehead is on top of FridgeGate 2010.

It's a good thing he doesn't have a really important job or anything....

[Michelle Hruschka]

Well, I do not like the idea of the camping grounds turned into hotel space. Leave mother nature alone.

And Brian brings up a good point, there are so many other more important things to worry about.

[Robbie]

It's reported that council will be back into their digs by June 23. That only leaves 4 months and a bit before Whitehead gets the boot. We all agree in ward 8 not to re-elect Whitehead. I hope he can go 4 months without his fridge. And I thought that we were all drinking tap water in Hamilton.

[kevv]

Whitehead seems pretty confident he'll be around for a while if he's worried about his mini fridge,
lets hope none of these guys are there after the next election.

I roughed in most of the offices at city hall, they were wired like a typical office in the 1960's..
(heritage style i guess)
except for the communication side nothing special.

A mini fridge wouldn't be an issue.
The electrical panels on each floor could have easily handled separate recepticles in most of the offices, but hey lets remodel in a few years.

Just like the wishbone bridge patch job in the back of city hall. Looks like hell. It would have been cheaper to tear it down and rebuild it, but thats about the only heritage thing left.

Just remember this is the city hall and heritage elite that are making the decisions and they will spend as much tax money as possible no matter what the end results are.

[Terry Whitehead]

It is interesting that a side bar discussion regarding a fridge is worthy of this kind of attention. The energy efficient compact fridge in my office accommodates many needs; such as accommodating staff with diabetic issues, refrigeration of medication, and refreshments for the many meetings that I host. Since I sit on more than 33 committees with most meetings being scheduled during regular business hours I must conduct meetings with staff, constituents, business, and community volunteers either in the early morning breakfast hours or in the evening through the supper hour. For these reasons, I choose to supply refreshments which are paid for out of my own pocket with no money being charged back to the taxpayer.

The fact is that a number of Councillors have fridges that were in our offices before the move from City Hall to the City Centre. I believe that it was a reasonable question to ask “Will the new offices at City Hall accommodate the fridges that we currently have?” I received the answer from staff and respect the answer that I received.

There are many important matters for council to deal with like insuring that our taxpayers get value for their dollar and to aim for a zero tax increase and to continue leveraging partnerships and investment opportunities in our community. I appreciate social media such as this blogg raising issues from the mundane to the very serious issues that impacts us all. I would certainly classify this topic as insignificant but certainly provides fodder for those who feel that they need something to write about.

Terry

[Brian Henley]

The councillor is over-reacting. Too much time on his hands perhaps. In many workplaces, such appliances are not allowed as there is the potential for not only beverages, but foodstuffs being stored in the cold. Food and drink really should not be consumed in offices or such work spaces as it can be a health issue, crumbs etc. attracting rodent and/or bacteria problems.

[Mary Louise]

I've attended meetings in my councillor's office on a number of occasions and neither want nor expect him to feed me. Who are these hungry, thirsty people Whitehead is meeting with, and why can't they manage to take care of their needs before they go into a meeting so they can concentrate on the business at hand?

[craig duvall]

Is this what councillors do? Worry about how they are going to keep their lunch chilled, their condemned water bottles chilled? C'mon, worry what the people in your ward are asking for, and do your job and fix those complaints, give the taxpayers their money's worth. Maybe he should put that in the suggestions of what projects to do with the 5 million they are going to waste away anyways. I can't wait till the next election and I really hope all citizens of Hamilton help replace everyone of these councillors.

[Tom Robertson]

Regarding the update. Maybe Mr. Whitehead could reimburse the City for the cost of the fridge and then raffle it off with the proceeds going to Haitian relief. I would buy a ticket. Or he could put it out for a yard sale to recoup some of his losses.

[Kendall]

The only thing that should be chilling at City Hall is all the childish non-sense.

[kevv]

I work at the hall as a tradesman who pays taxes in Hamilton prob. Very few Hamiltonians working on a heritage site paid by hamilton taxpayers. 20 per cent total, the rest live out of town. A crime in its self.
I guess hamilton workers and contractors are experienced.

Look at the concrete slabs for outside of the building - a contractor from toronto.
The only local is landscaping from ancaster

I can name and tell you what contractors, companies etc. who made big off the scrap being copper, metal, marble taken out of the old city hall, which could of paid easily for the granite slaps instead of concrete. Have pictures etc.
A small fridge is small tomatoes. Time to get to clean shop.

[Stephanie]

Seems to me that if you appear to be looking after the so called little issues, perhaps we'll have more faith that you are looking after the bigger issues. The fact that the fridge was paid for by taxpayers really stings though. I agree with post by Mary Louise - cut out the corporate spending on all these incidentials that add up to big bucks and tell your guests to stop by the drinking fountain on their way in.

[JoanneB]

“I want to have amenities in my office,” Seriously. Did he stamp his little feet and waive his little fists while making this declaration?
I work in Prov. gov't and the focus on not wasting the tax payers money is phenomenal. No personal fridges. Use both sides of paper when printing. Reuse and recycle wherever possible. Power-down everything not in immediate use. If he had a fridge here, it would likely be powered-down every night. What am I saying? He'd never even get a fridge to begin with! Ummm...just how many Councillor's fridges does it take to store essential staff meds?