Charleswood corridor questions go unasked

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This article was published 21/11/2017 (2888 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Councillors on a civic committee let slip an opportunity Tuesday to question the key city staffer on the south Charleswood corridor project, and get to the bottom of how staff and a consulting firm designed the controversial “rogue” route without council or committee approval.

Tuesday’s meeting of the public works committee was the last chance for those councillors to question Scott Suderman, the lead engineer on the project, who tendered his resignation after being publicly criticized by Coun. Marty Morantz and City of Winnipeg CAO Doug McNeil at the committee’s public meeting Oct. 31.

Morantz (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Whyte Ridge) said the responsibility to question Suderman falls to McNeil, adding he expects McNeil to explain what happened at the meeting of the executive policy committee set for Nov. 29.

“It’s McNeil’s responsibility to get to the bottom of it. He’s the CAO of the City of Winnipeg, and I’ve asked him to look into it publicly many times,” Morantz said following the public works committee meeting, adding he expects answers from McNeil at the Nov. 29 meeting.

Suderman, along with consulting engineering firm WSP Canada, was singled out by Morantz and McNeil as designing the proposed southwest extension of the Sterling Lyon Parkway as the new expressway corridor route through south Charleswood, and submitting the route to the province for an environmental review.

City hall had engaged WSP Canada’s predecessor firm, MMM Group, in December 2014 to help city staff develop options for the southward expansion of the William R. Clement Parkway, and to study a possible east-west corridor linking the Clement Parkway to Kenaston Boulevard, part of the city’s long-term plan to complete the inner-ring road network.

After the city and MMM had presented three route options to area residents in January 2016, the MMM team, apparently on their own initiative, developed the controversial fourth option — the extension of the Sterling Lyon Parkway — and submitted it to the province in July 2017 as the city’s preferred choice.

Residents learned of the new route only in early October, prompting an intense lobbying effort which led to McNeil putting the project on hold, and Morantz demanding that Suderman be replaced and that WSP Group be fired.

Suderman gave his notice shortly after that Oct. 31 meeting, and he’s only on the city payroll until the end of November. No decision has been taken by the city on WSP’s status on the project.

The public criticism of Suderman prompted the union representing middle managers to file a respectful workplace grievance.

It was disclosed last week that the consulting firm had hired a commercial property appraiser in the fall of 2015, and his only job was to determine the value of properties along the “rogue” Sterling Lyon Parkway route — creating the impression that city hall had covertly chosen that route, and the public consultations involving the three other routes had been a sham.

Morantz said he does not regret calling for Suderman to be replaced, adding he didn’t want him to be fired and didn’t expect him to quit.

Morantz said he appreciates the work of all of the city’s staff, but added civic employees face public scrutiny that they wouldn’t find in the private sector.

“It’s a tough job being in the public service,” Morantz said. “They’re hard-working, civic-minded people who have devoted their careers to the city, but they do work in a political environment, and sometimes we have issues that need to be dealt with, just like any business. But in our business, it’s very public.”

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca