Controversial email has city councillor calling for CAO’s resignation

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This article was published 27/04/2018 (2943 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The city’s top bureaucrat sent an email to councillors that appears to prove he must have been aware of the controversial Sterling Lyon Parkway extension as early as the summer of 2017, if not earlier — contrary to his repeated denials.

CAO Doug McNeil informed council members in an email Thursday that city hall had not been successful in securing federal funding for the Kenaston/Route 90 project.

However, the email includes information that was never disclosed that the Clement Parkway extension project had been one of three transportation projects subjected to a detailed cost-benefit analysis review in July-August 2017 to determine which one would be chosen for submission to receive federal funding.

The detailed cost-benefit analysis would have required a thorough scrutiny of all aspects of each project, including the preferred route for the east-west corridor through south Charleswood.

The email adds to a growing list of documents that critics say undermine claims McNeil and area Coun. Marty Morantz, who is also the public works chairman, were unaware of the controversial east-west corridor route through south Charleswood until confronted by angry residents in early October.

The information in Thursday’s email prompted one councillor to call for McNeil to step down.

“McNeil should resign,” Coun. Janice Lukes said.

“How can any member of executive policy committee and council have confidence in the CAO any longer?”

McNeil and Morantz have said repeatedly they were unaware the Sterling Lyon Parkway extension had been chosen as the preferred route for an east-west corridor through south Charleswood, claiming the decision was made by a consulting firm and planning engineers from the public works department who never informed them.

McNeil and Morantz said they learned about the decision only after being confronted in October by residents who had just been informed of the decision and feared their properties would be expropriated or demolished.

The Thursday email also questions claims by McNeil and Morantz that the Clement Parkway extension project was not a city priority and homeowners’ properties were never in immediate danger of expropriation or demolition.

The email states the federal eligibility criteria included a provision that the chosen project had to have a completion date prior to Dec. 31, 2028.

“Only a few projects would meet the criteria of the (federal funding program): Route 90/Kenaston, Chief Peguis Trail west extension, and William Clement Parkway extension,” the email states.

McNeil’s Thursday email states the three transportation projects were reviewed by the city’s infrastructure planning office, headed by Georges Chartier — who reports directly to McNeil.

Lukes said McNeil’s Thursday email undermines his and Morantz’s repeated denials. She believes Mayor Brian Bowman must have known about the inclusion of the SLP route long before it became public.

“The mayor… clearly knows what roadway projects are being considered and are submitted for federal funding, as does the CAO and area councillor,” Lukes said.

Lukes said she doesn’t understand why the Clement Parkway project was chosen for consideration for federal funding, because council didn’t view it as a priority and had never approved it to be considered.

David Ames, president of the South Wilkes Residents Association, said he believes the Thursday email is proof McNeil and Morantz were aware of all the details in the south Charleswood project even while they told residents otherwise.

“This email contradicts everything (McNeil) told me for the last seven months,” said Ames, who led a neighbourhood lobby against the south Charleswood project. “Obviously, McNeil was aware of the route long before he admitted knowing about it.”

Ames said the Thursday email confirms his suspicions that the administration was trying to rush planning for the Clement Parkway to completion so it would qualify for federal funding.

“I was brought to a meeting with the mayor, McNeil, Morantz and others from the public works department and I asked them point-blank if this project had ever been considered for federal funding, and McNeil told me I was being paranoid,” Ames said.

Morantz declined to comment on the implications of McNeil’s email because the issue is the subject of a review by the city auditor. A request for an interview with McNeil was denied.

Felicia Wiltshire, the city’s director of communications, denied McNeil’s email is an admission he was aware the public works department had chosen the controversial east-west corridor as the preferred route before October 2017.

“We do not require a final functional design in order for a cost/benefit points ratio to be determined,” Wiltshire wrote in an email to the Free Press.

McNeil and Morantz had publicly criticized public works department staff for failing to inform them and the residents about the decision to choose the Sterling Lyon Parkway extension — dubbed the “rogue route” — and two senior engineering planners subsequently quit after being singled out by McNeil and Morantz for blame.

McNeil met with councillors in a closed-door session in mid-December but several, including Lukes, were dissatisfied with his explanations.

Subsequently, council approved a proposal from Morantz to have the city auditor review the matter, including examining all emails and reports sent to and from councillors and public works staff and senior administration on the project.

The city auditor report was due at Thursday’s council meeting but an extension was given to June.

A request for a copy of the package of information (reports, studies etc.) about the Clement Parkway extension project that was used to determine the subject of the cost-benefit analysis conducted in the July-August 2017 period was denied.

“We will not be releasing any information while the audit on that project is still underway,” Wiltshire said.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca