Cost overruns for construction at the waste water treatment plant on Airport Road, and the subsequent audit of the process led to fiery exchange at city hall Monday night.
Councillors Rick Dubeau and Joe Campbell both had many things to say about what they believe was an incomplete final report. Deloitte's audit cost taxpayers $130,000 dollars. A representative from Deloitte, Michael Ingram, told council in December of 2015 that costs for the $80 million dollar facility were 'reasonable'.
On Monday, Dubeau said that although Deloitte's audit report was given to council last March, it was never made public. He also said that a Deloitte representative should have come to council to explain their findings in detail for taxpayers to hear. He tabled a motion to have city CAO Joe Torlone 'provide a final report regarding the Deloitte wastewater plant'. The motion was later amended to have Ingram present to council again, and explain the full audit in laymen's terms. The motion was later soundly defeated.
He was reading various e-mails and documents which eventually irked a fellow Councillor.
"I don't need Councillor Dubeau to sit here and read the report to me. I received the report. I listened to the Deloitte representative bring the report" said Noella Rinaldo, before Dubeau piped in with a 'point of order'.
"I'm not reading it to you. I'm providing information" he said.
"Councillor Dubeau, I've listened to you for ten minutes, read off a piece of paper," retorted Rinaldo.
Mayor Steve Black tried to throw cold water on the coals, but it made just a tiny splash.
"Point of order is that she's being antagonistic for no reason," said Dubeau.
"Oh for God sakes. Get a life," replied Rinaldo.
Black asked her to come to order.
She said she was 'sorry' but vented her frustration over Dubeau's incessant requests for reports that she said were already provided to council.
"I don't know what we're going to do with all these reports. There's not a thing that was just said, that we have not all heard," said Rinaldo.
She was unhappy with the overall result of the project, but was satisfied with report from Deloitte.
"I listened to Councillor Campbell argue with the man that came here, that he helped hire, that he sat with, saying that he was wrong. The fact that we don't like the result, does not mean that its done wrong."
"We need to move forward here on so many projects, and I'm listening to this coming back, and coming back on technicalities and when e-mails were sent. It's time to stop. The public's getting tired of this, and I am too," said Rinaldo.
CAO Joe Torlone emphasized that he believes that Deloitte's audit report was properly completed, that they have been paid in full, and that the discussion on the wastewater treatment plant was becoming tiresome.
"The construction of this project, the beginning of it started seven and a half years ago. I think its time to move forward," he said.
Many of the issues surrounding low cost estimates, and lack of pertinent updates provided to council throughout the various phases of planning and construction stemmed from the city's inability to find a proper project manager.
"I remember this quite clearly. We attempted to hire a qualified and experienced project engineer for this project. We tried. It didn't happen. We couldn't get anyone, and so we took one of our own engineers, who did not have a background in a major project, but did the very best he could," said Councillor Pat Bamford.
Mayor Steve Black wants council to move forward with other projects, rather than re-hashing the past. Andrew Autio for TimminsToday Mayor Steve Black wanted to clarify his opinions on the matter.
"I share in the desire to have an improved project force. I'm not sure I agree with all of the comments that were made with staff. I believe we have an aptly, ably trained work force to conduct projects like this. The issue becomes when we spread their requirements over multiple projects," said Black, adding that the agreed with most of the recommendations Deloitte provided in their final comprehensive report.
"When you have an $80 million dollar project, and you have a management team that is already tasked with a core service to the municipality, running a department, carrying out the day-to-day needs of the operation, and then you have difficulty filling a project manager position, and instead of filling it, take the option to say 'Okay, we're just going to tack it on to the current staff's workload' that does pose some issues, which I think was identified in the report as well," said Black.
Campbell, was still unsatisfied, and offered one more tidbit before turning off his mic.
"If what we have in our hands right now is the final report, I'd ask for our money back," he said.
"I am quite content with the final report, even if you disagree with the results," said Black.
