‘Playing poker with an open deck’: city too transparent on projects, construction officer says at police HQ inquiry

The city’s chief construction officer says Winnipeg publicly shares too much financial detail on its major projects and he’s interested in keeping more information confidential.

During a public inquiry into the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters project Wednesday, Tom Sparrow noted project updates are regularly provided publicly at city council committee meetings.

“We’re actually playing poker with an open deck … I’ve never, in my lifetime, ever seen projects delivered this way. It’s very frustrating,” said Sparrow.

He said the public format “absolutely” limits the amount of information he feels he should share with elected officials at such meetings.

The headquarters inquiry is tasked to explore extensive problems with the construction project at 245 Smith St. and recommend steps to help ensure similar mistakes are not repeated. An external audit found the headquarters project was severely mismanaged. Initially expected to cost $135 million, its price soared to $214 million, when flood damage and some late security upgrades are included.

Sparrow began working for the city a year ago, about a decade after the headquarters project wrapped up.

On Wednesday, he testified as part of the “City of Winnipeg policies and practices then and now” portion of the inquiry, specifically on current city practices to deal with major projects.

Sparrow’s role includes providing city council advice and second opinions on many major projects, especially the $3.1-billion North End sewage treatment plant upgrade.

He said he fears some finer financial details the city provides publicly can interfere with its negotiations with contractors as projects proceed.

“I’ve never seen such a transparent model when it comes to delivering large projects. We never share that (level) of information (on other projects),” said Sparrow.

While he has not formally asked that some details be shared only with elected officials in private sessions, he said discussions are underway on that option.

“We’re hoping to work towards an in-camera type session, where we could share more in-confidence information,” said Sparrow.

In an interview, he said there is value in informing the public about a project’s overall cost and whether it remains on budget.

“People (would still) know where their money’s going,” he said.

However, Sparrow said some details that are now publicly released, such as exact amounts spent on each step of a project and the amounts left in contingency funds, can put the city at a disadvantage, such as when a contractor asks for more money.

“They’ll know how much money we have available if they’re negotiating more money … You never give that information up,” he said.

City council’s finance chairman said the city prides itself on its level of openness with the public.

“There are cost estimates, budgets, project status updates. It’s a level of transparency that I don’t think we really see at the other levels of government,” said Coun. Jeff Browaty (North Kildonan).

Browaty noted the city regularly updates its price estimate for the north end sewage treatment plant, amid years of delays and inflation.

He said he could understand releasing fewer details on some project but only when there is a clear reason to do so.

“I think the more detail the better, generally speaking. But, in certain instances, it could lower our competitiveness and, perhaps, there’s an opportunity to put less (information) out there … I think those cases need to be justified carefully and that would be the exception, not the norm,” said Browaty.

For example, he said the city could be more careful about releasing the full budget when seeking requests for proposal it expects will attract few bidders, to help ensure it receives good prices even when competition is low.

Coun. Brian Mayes, a former chairman of the water and waste committee, said he’s surprised to hear calls at a public inquiry for less information to be shared with taxpayers.

“I would think our goal here is to be more open and transparent with the public. The problem with the police headquarters overruns certainly wasn’t people were being too open,” said Mayes (St. Vital).

The inquiry is scheduled to resume May 11.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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