The City of Hamilton mailed invitations to hundreds of downtown homes for an important meeting on the Downtown Built Heritage Inventory Project for Wednesday June 3rd, sparking some confusion – is the meeting on the Wednesday or June 3rd – the Tuesday?
Residents calling the contact number provided by the City on the mailing are greeted by voice mail, and the City of Hamilton website says Wednesday June 3rd as well. (UPDATE: After being asked about the error, the City updated the website)
So When Is The Meeting?
The City doesn’t list the meeting on the “Public Meetings” page, which is not a surprise – the City only provides a partial list of public meetings on this page. A bit of digging around the City’s website finds – buried in an obscure section of the website – a page advertising the meeting.
The page listed the same error.
Thankfully, Whitehern – the City venue the event is at – is most helpful and confirms the event is booked for Tuesday June 3rd.
Why This Meeting is Important
Older homes in the downtown are going to be added to the City’s Register of Property of Cultural Heritage Value or Interest. This means the homes cannot be demolished without 60 days notice, and will qualify the homes for some heritage grants. Homeowners may wish to appeal inclusion, and the City has a burden to prove they’ve informed owners of the plan.
There are the additional reasons listed above for making sure this meeting is successful. The most important reason is the simplest one: The City should be striving to engage residents.