City of Hamilton submits more than 55,000 documents for RHVP inquiry

The city of Hamilton has delivered more than 55,000 documents needed for the Red Hill Valley Parkway (RHVP) inquiry oneweek after being chided by the commissioner for ongoing delays.

In a media release, the city said it completed the processes of collecting and submitting the documents Monday night.

It said more than "three million documents were collected from network drives, hard copies, document management systems and mailboxes of over 100 current and former city employees." It also said the city will shareany more documents that are needed.

Commission counsel Rob Centa said last week that the COVID-19 pandemic and delay in the receiving necessary documents means the inquiry isn't expected to enter the public hearingstage until 2021.

The RHVP inquiry has already cost more than $3 million.

Commissioner Justice Herman Wilton-Siegelsaid last week that he was disappointed that even 14 months after the start of the inquiry,documents still needed to be delivered.

The commissioner can only start interviewing witnesses after receiving all necessary documents.

Council voted for a judicial inquiry in March 2019 to look into how the results of a Tradewind Scientific report stayed buried. The report showed that frictionon parts of the RHVP was below UK standards there isn't a standard for friction levels in North America.

The city said that the report was in a locked computer folder until discovered in2018.

The judge will tackle 24 questions including who saw the report, why council wasn't told and if drivers were put at risk.