Without Data, City Council Writes a Blank Cheque for Hospital Plan

 

Windsor's Worst Planning Mistake Ever: Part 2

At an eight-hour Windsor City Council meeting on Monday, November 9, 2020, four councillors said they could not endorse the proposed County Road 42 location for the new hospital. To the surprise of many, one of them was Councillor Kieran McKenzie, in whose ward the hospital is to be built. These four councillors each cited serious concerns: they identified critical analyses, cost and impact reports that were never produced. They also stressed the plan is environmentally unsustainable and completely ignores Windsor's commitment to reduce its energy use by 40% in the next two decades. A large number of delegates presented hard facts and data to explain why the new hospital needs to be built where people live. Those in favour of endorsing the plan side-stepped the location issue entirely. They just want a new hospital. There were also 92 personally-written letters pleading with councillors not to endorse the rural location.  Oddly, the extent of citizen opposition to the selected hospital location and the facts brought forward during the meeting were glossed over by the local media. Why? One can only imagine. Yet, there were some truly shocking new revelations during this week's meeting! The six councillors, who, together with the mayor, endorsed the controversial hospital location, openly admitted they were signing a blank cheque in their eagerness to secure the next tranche of provincial government planning funding. They further reinforced their disregard for informed decision-making and fiscal stewardship when they subsequently voted against a motion to engage an outside consultant to determine the financial, societal and environmental impacts to the residents of Windsor of the existing plan. This motion failed to pass. This means there is no data supporting the financial, social or environmental costs of relocating 5,000+ healthcare jobs to the outskirts of the city. There is no analysis of the probable impact on the neighbourhoods where the two hospital campuses are currently based - Windsor Regional Hospital is now the city's biggest employer. Nor have the impacts on the region's most vulnerable residents, the majority of whom live in the City's central neighbourhoods, been analyzed. Windsor City Council is openly and recklessly flying blind with one of the largest projects in the City's history, and they don't care how such a lack of fiscal sobriety and due diligence may be perceived by the provincial government. Neither do Windsor's municipal leaders demonstrate any concern for the residents who will be saddled with the hard and soft costs of their poor judgment for decades to come.

$270,000 in taxpayer funds diverted to suppress concerns! Another outrageous revelation emerged during the lengthy Council debate: Municipally-funded WindsorEssex Economic Development Corporation (WE EDC) spent $270,000 - or 8% of the organization's annual operating budget - on the We Can't Wait promotional campaign. WE EDC hired Ottawa-based lobbyist Crestview Communications to orchestrate "grassroots" support for the rural hospital location. Yet there was never a public motion presented at Windsor City Council to transparently approve this expense.

Click the image below to hear an extraordinary admission by WE EDC CEO Stephen Mackenzie to Councillor Bortolin: the taxpayer funded We Can't Wait campaign cost $270,000 (27 second clip)

Provincial government: looking for financial stewardship? The councillors endorsing the selected hospital location seemed oblivious to University of Windsor Law Professor Dr. Anneke Smit's pertinent point:

"There is one more elephant in this room...The federal government in particular has signalled its intent to fund a green recovery... In funding municipalities, partners such as the federal government will be looking to work with cities who are speaking the same language. Who have seen the opportunity that is presented by this pandemic to do a serious reset. Windsor is going to be far more competitive if it shows real commitment to addressing the principles of the just recovery – equity, health, climate – than if it simply goes for the window-dressing. The province, for its part, is looking to curb spending amidst the financial crisis of COVID-19. Our plan will be far more attractive if it offers a more economical way forward with better financial stewardship."

Since 2015 CAMPP has continually asked decision makers to transparently disclose the project's analyses and impacts. What we learned at the November 9, 2020 Council meeting was that these reports don't exist at all! The necessary impact studies were never conducted. Click the image below to hear this shocking acknowledgement by WE EDC CEO Stephen MacKenzie to Councillor Bortolin (12 second clip):

MacKenzie: The impact of relocating hospitals from Windsor's central neighbourhoods to the city's outskirts was not determined prior to endorsing the proposed County Road 42 hospital site.

What kind of local government ignores not only the people it was elected to serve, but also the long term health of the community?

Four councillors voted against the motion to endorse the hospital site Councillor Holt listed the analyses he needed to make an informed decision: Impacts to road infrastructure of the expected new traffic patterns Impacts on existing neighbourhoods that have grown around the hospital campuses Municipal costs (capital outlays and ongoing operational legacy costs) and where the funds are to come from Social impacts of relocating the hospitals away from the high risk populations that live in close proximity today Long term sustainability in view of Windsor's climate emergency declared in November 2019 Each of the short clips below gives a snapshot of the reasons the four councillors voted against the County Road 42 hospital location.

Ward 4 Councillor Chris Holt listed specific data and analyses that have not been prepared. (170 second clip)

Ward 2 Councillor Fabio Costante described his belief in a healthy, sustainable and equitable community. He was unable to endorse the hospital site based on the lack of evidence before the council.  (40 second clip)

Ward 9 Councillor Kieran McKenzie cited an absence of drainage studies and cost analyses as the reason the City simply isn't ready to endorse the County Road 42 hospital location. (46 second clip)

Ward 3 Councillor Rino Bortolin explained how unsustainable growth will lead to an increased infrastructure deficit and higher taxes. He talked about the need for climate leadership and said the proposed site will do the opposite. (55 second clip)

A complete disregard for Windsor's Asset Management Policy Windsor's Asset Management Policy is the policy framework to guide decision makers responsible for governance over Windsor's assets and infrastructure:

It is an absolute scandal for a majority on Council to rubber stamp one of the largest infrastructure projects in Windsor's history - the hospital's construction cost alone has now ballooned to $2.3 billion! - while actively refusing to ask for analysis of the probable costs and impacts of this project. Poor governance bankrupts private corporations In the corporate world, shareholders would be justified in firing management after becoming aware of such poor governance. How much longer will Windsor's residents tolerate such dereliction of fiduciary duty by elected municipal leaders?

Commentary about the November 9, 2020 Windsor City Council meeting We think you will be interested in this thoughtful Twitter thread by political commentator Doug Sartori. He describes the suppression of opposition to the rural hospital site by the media and decision makers, and presents a four-step approach to constructively addressing residents' concerns.

Finally, for an in-depth discussion about this controversial Windsor City Council meeting, we recommend listening to the November 11, 2020 Rose City Politics podcast.

In their own words: Members of our community comment on the issues this week

"Last night the mayor put a motion forward that divided us instead of unifying us. He wanted unanimous support, he got a 4 to 6 vote. He wanted to show the province the city was united, but more than half the delegates spoke to major issues with the plan. "

"I thought Ontario was in massive debt ? Then why did they pick the most expensive location ? It'll cost 3x more for the infrastructure then any other sites. Also only Windsor residents will foot this bill. These are blatant facts of you can't google them yourself then don't reply."

"Pressing forward with a bad plan for 8 years doesn't change the fact that it's still a bad plan. Based on the original RFP it was flawed from the very beginning."

"ppl that don’t struggle don’t care it’s not their problem"

"To continue to remove piece after piece from the city core area and the area with the greatest challenges and needs his nothing short of negligence and incompetence on the part of our elected officials. The “strong majority” according to Mr. Dilkens has won the arm wrangling at the cost of the environment, the revitalization of the city core and those who are in the greatest need. So disappointed."

"Although I agree a new hospital somewhere is better than no new hospital anywhere, I don't agree with the decision to build it next to an airport, on a farm field, in the middle of nowhere, with no infrastructure in place that has yet to be built. Urban sprawl is not the answer"

"As this goes forward more problems will become evident. Sadly, we can already see that they will use CAMPP as a scapegoat if thing go wrong. Why don't people read the facts on the site? People are so unaware."

"It just doesn't make sense to move a hospital so far away from the most densely populated area of the county and put an airport between it and them. Only 2 major arteries to get to and from the hospital for an entire city?"

"CAMPP is a response to a threat, a threat against the city - CAMPP would not exist without that threat.... in a sense – CAMPP was created by Windsor Regional Hospital and The City of Windsor. Drew Dilkens and David Musyj made us... and until the threat is gone, CAMPP will be here."

"What they don't seem to get is that the group didn't start because of the location. It was started as an attempt to get the "powers that be " to engage with the citizens (the people footing the bill for a very long time) in order to, through consultation, work out the best plan for everyone"

"Windsor can not afford more sprawl, especially on a flood plain, when we have enough spaces already more suitable within our city, sitting unused and flooding is a major problem in most residential areas."

"I'm not as down on this project as others, but it is a little concerning to me that we moved forward on it based on the idea we were getting support that isn't coming.  Have to be careful not to treat grant applications as money in the bank."

"To characterize informed, concerned and engaged citizens as naysayers is an unacceptable treatment of the very people for whom you serve. Public service does not privilege one to disparage the public - on the contrary, respect for the public is a requisite. They've got it backwards, and it's a loss for all concerned, especially the uninformed."