‘This is not going to go away’
Free Flamborough fighter on the front-line in battle to save rural Ward 14
It’ll come as no surprise to local political gazers that Roman Sarachman is up to his eyeballs in the brewing battle to save rural Ward 14 in west Flamborough from the Ontario Municipal Board.
Sarachman has been a deamalgamation activist since the early days of the forced political merger. He is a familiar and sometimes combative presence at city hall, even having once (unsuccessfully) sued Coun. Terry Whitehead for libel.
Over the years the Freelton resident has turned “fairness for Flamborough” into a battle hymn. To this day he remains chair of the Committee to Free Flamborough, which is forever ready to defend the interests of the former municipality.
In this case, however, Sarachman is operating independently of the committee. He’s one of about 30 citizens who want to legally dispute the OMB ruling which will see the current Ward 14 scrubbed off the political map and split between Ancaster and Dundas come the October municipal election.
It seems like a long shot but clearly Sarachman and others are not willing to give up without a fight.
The advocacy group came together in late December after city council voted 8-7 against Ward 14 Coun. Robert Pasuta’s motion for the city to appeal the OMB decision in court.
Sarachman, who declines to reveal the names of other members, says the group is deciding which lawyer to hire and what their options are. He expects they’ll make an announcement in a week or so.
“We’ve got 30 or 40 people right now who are willing to throw in money and this is just the beginning,” he says.
“All the farmers are upset; the business people are upset, and the residents are upset. This is not going to go away.”
This all began last month after the OMB rejected council’s gently tweaked ward boundaries and imposed one of the options originally recommended by the city’s own consultants.
The OMB-enforced map alters all of Hamilton’s 15 wards, but the major changes are a new ward on the demographically dense west Mountain and the aforementioned liquidation of the sparsely populated Ward 14.
It’s the latter that has people like Sarachman seeing red. He says the focus is on preserving the standalone rural nature of the ward and a dedicated councillor for its estimated 1,500 farmers. He and others argue the board wrongly sacrificed unique rural interests in the name of greater urban parity.
No question the OMB ruling has rattled Flamborough. The Flamborough chamber of commerce hasn’t taken a position on a citizen appeal. But executive director Matteo Patricelli says the chamber is concerned the new electoral map weakens Flamborough’s traditional voice at council and so is keeping its “eyes and ears open” to developments.
That chart is being prepared right now. City elections manager Tony Fallis says the new ward maps will be ready for viewing by mid-February and staff is also busy working on polling subdivision boundaries for the fall election.
Meanwhile, Sarachman jabs an accusatory finger at Mayor Fred Eisenberger for casting the crucial swing vote against the city appeal.
“I think Mayor Eisenberger made a big mistake. He should have appealed. And he had a deciding vote. He could have done the right thing. He did not do the right thing.”
In fact, there were 15 council members present for the 8-7 vote. Arlene VanderBeek of Dundas was absent. If she had been present, she would have voted to appeal, but it still would have lost on a tie vote.
Yes, Eisenberger was one of eight who voted nay. And if he had voted yea, the appeal would have passed. But the same can be said for all the other nay votes, including Doug Conley of Stoney Creek, the only suburban councillor to vote no.
At the time, Eisenberger said he voted against the appeal because of the estimated $50,000 cost and because he supports greater voter parity per ward. Sarachman, however, believes as mayor he failed to show proper leadership in protecting rural interests. He’s not the first to say so. He probably won’t be the last.