Waterfront Trust to get new operations chief
Funding squeeze delayed initial posting of position, Farr explains, but agreement with city ‘opened the door for us to afford this’
The Hamilton Waterfront Trust is advertising for a new operations director, it was announced Wednesday, now that the current executive director will be working almost exclusively on the $15.5 million Piers 5 to 7 redevelopment.
The announcement emerged from several decisions approved at Tuesday night’s meeting of the Waterfront Trust board of trustees — decisions that include the termination of the long-standing practice of having a Hamilton Port Authority representative sit on the Waterfront Trust board.
The new operations director will oversee all trust interests, from the ice-cream parlour, skate rentals and bicycles to tours of the bay, said Ward 2’s Coun. Jason Farr, chair of the Waterfront Trust board.
Farr said the new operations director position was something the board had envisioned but moved away from because of a funding squeeze.
But, he explained, the trust’s agreement with the city, ratified by council, “opened the door for us to afford this.”
He was referring to the “unencumbering” of parcels of land that leveraged millions of dollars in capital projects.
The elimination of the Port Authority position on the Waterfront Trust board is a natural consequence of former Port Authority lands falling under city control after a 2015 agreement.
“There really is no need anymore to have a Port Authority representative on the board so now we have three council reps and two citizen reps,” said Farr.
But he praised outgoing Port Authority representative Janet Knight for her service.
And the board added thanks to “our friends at HPA for their longtime commitment as friend and partner to the Hamilton Waterfront Trust and we expect mutual support to continue.”
The board also officially thanked and praised former board member Bob Charters, who recently resigned, for his 17 years of service to the Waterfront Trust.
And it officially welcomed new rep, Ward 9’s Coun. Doug Conley, to the board.
In the coming weeks the city will be announcing the board’s two new citizen appointees.
The board, at Tuesday night’s meeting, said the functional plans for the redevelopment of Piers 5 to 7 are nearing completion.
Waterfront Trust staff will provide an update at the Community Conversation meeting scheduled for Thursday, March 29, 7 p.m. at 294 James St. N.