External probe of fire-hall deals

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FULL CLOSE CUT CLOSECUT - TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS - Sitting in his election headquarters, Mayor Sam Katz answers election questions from Bartley Kives. 10-10-08

The city auditor has called for an outside set of eyes to answer outstanding questions about the way Winnipeg built four new fire-paramedic stations.

City auditor Brian Whiteside and Mayor Sam Katz announced Monday the city "will retain external resources" to complete the review into the contentious fire-paramedic station replacement program, which involves $15.3 million worth of construction in Charleswood, Sage Creek, St. James and River Heights.

On Sept. 4, Katz asked chief financial officer Mike Ruta to review the program, primarily because of councillors' anger over a proposed swap of two old stations and a parcel of Fort Rouge land for the Shindico Realty-owned site of the new Station No. 12 on Taylor Avenue.

The review was later widened to include the help of external land appraisers as well as the city auditor and was expected to wrap up last week. But on Friday, Whiteside told Katz too many questions remained unanswered -- and the city lacked the expertise to get those answers.

"I thought it would be premature to go forward with the review because in my opinion, work had to be complete. There were still areas of the review that need examining," Whiteside said Monday.

The mayor said he accepted Whiteside's recommendations and the city will now hire external experts -- possibly from out of the province - to gain a broad understanding of how the city went about procuring the new Station No. 18 on Roblin Boulevard, the new Station No. 27 on Sage Creek Road, the under-construction Station No. 11 on Portage Avenue and the new Station No. 12, which was built on land the city does not own.

Councillors have raised questions about the processes that led Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Chief Reid Douglas and Winnipeg's real estate division to negotiate the proposed swap of the old Station No. 12 on Grosvenor Avenue, the soon-to-be-decommissioned Station No. 11 on Berry Street and a parcel of vacant Mulvey Avenue East land for the Shindico-owned site of the new Station No. 12. They have also questioned the financial benefits of the deal and complained city staff kept them in the dark about aspects of the program.

Katz said all these questions will be answered. What's now essentially an external review will look at the impetus for building the four new fire-paramedic stations and the procurement process that led to Shindico winning all the bids. It will also look at whether "all controls, policies and procedures with regard to the procurement" and the land swap were followed.

Also to be probed is whether the program was communicated properly to council, whether the swap delivers value for money and whether any disciplinary action should be taken.

"We're doing a complete review, independently, by professional people who the auditor has told me do this kind of stuff," the mayor said. "They will find out what went wrong, who did wrong, what department, et cetera."

St. Boniface Coun. Dan Vandal, who has been calling for an external review of the fire-paramedic station replacement program, praised the mayor for agreeing to outside help. "I think an external auditor is a brilliant idea," Vandal said in a statement.

Fort Rouge Coun. Jenny Gerbasi, who has called for a broader audit of city real estate transactions, also praised the mayor, as well as Whiteside.

"It took a while to get here, but this is a very good first step," Gerbasi said. "I'm very pleased our auditor took a stand against the internal process of people reviewing themselves and I'm glad the mayor listened to that. There is no other way."

In August, Winnipeg chief administrative officer Phil Sheegl told reporters he was "100 per cent confident" all city processes were followed throughout the fire-paramedic station replacement program. Other senior city officials, including Ruta, Douglas, property director Barry Thorgrimson and chief operating officer Deepak Joshi, attended the same news conference.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Where there's smoke...

The scope of the ever-widening review into Winnipeg's fire-paramedic station replacement program:

Reviewing the initial impetus for replacing four fire-paramedic stations;

Reviewing the procurement process, from the first request for qualifications to the subsequent request for proposals to design and build all four stations;

Reviewing the awarding of contracts and the cost of building the stations;

Determining if all the controls, policies and procedures with regard to the procurement process and the subsequent awarding of contracts were followed;

Reviewing the processes that resulted in a proposed three-for-one land swap;

Assessing the adequacy of the controls, policies and procedures currently in place;

Assessing whether council was kept up to date and whether correct approvals were obtained;

Evaluating the value to taxpayers;

Providing recommendations for any improvements;

Recommending disciplinary actions, if any are needed.

-- statement from Mayor Sam Katz and city auditor Brian Whiteside.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 25, 2012 A3