Ottawa councillors furious about LRT maintenance payment to Rideau Transit Group
Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: February 9, 2020
News that the City of Ottawa paid Rideau Transit Management $4.5 million after saying earlier that all monthly payments were being held back has poured gasoline on smouldering public resentment about the problem-plagued light-rail system.
The city said in early November it was holding back payments until RTM improved service in light rail — which had broken down trains again both Saturday and Sunday on a bone-chilling Winterlude weekend.
But city officials confirmed a CBC report that the city did make one payment of $4.5 million in September, because its contract only allows payment cancellations from October onward.
That was news to many on city council, and to transit riders, who were vocal on Twitter.
City manager Steve Kanellakos issued a statement clarifying that transit boss John Manconi had told some reporters of the payment in a scrum, though not until December. Manconi said at the time: “So the concession just started. They’re not going to get October. They’re not going to get November. And now we’re into December. They had a payment for I believe for the tail-end of September, which that’s the way the payment mechanism works and then you adjust from that point on.”
Councillors, however, said they knew nothing of the early payment until now.
“The thing that we’ve been told is that we have been withholding payments from RTM,” said Coun. Carol Anne Meehan from Gloucester-South Nepean. “Why didn’t they tell us that? Why didn’t Manconi say we want to hold back but the contract says that we have to pay this in September?
“It’s baffling. I’m frustrated and a lot of us are frustrated.”
Councillors were talking back and forth about the news on Saturday, she said. “We’re all: ‘What do we do? What do we do?’ ”
The eventual city explanation didn’t make Meehan any happier.
“Yes, (I) read the memo,” she wrote in an email. “They want it to be clear as mud. ‘Gee, no one is at fault here. Sorry if you didn’t hear the answer or misunderstood.’ ” She called the explanation “flimsy and unacceptable and par for the course on the whole contract.”
Meehan and Capital Coun. Shawn Menard have a motion going to council this Wednesday calling for an outside audit of the way the LRT contracts have been handled.
“They don’t have the proper answer,” Meehan said. “You know that movie where (someone says) ‘You can’t handle the truth?’ That’s exactly what we’re getting here on council: ‘You guys can’t handle the truth. We’ve written the procurement rules in such a way to shut you out of this.’ ”
“This has eroded the trust that a lot of councillors have in our senior managers.”
“Every week we seem to get hit with something new.”
Menard accused city officials of “half-truths and evasion.”
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Finally, and most importantly, the leadership in the city must realize that change is needed. Closing ranks and continuing to have half-truths and evasion will only make this problem worse. Time to wake up and demand change.— Shawn Menard (@ShawnMenard1) February 8, 2020
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Sarah Wright-Gilbert, a citizen transit commissioner, was also surprised by news of the payment and upset even after the city’s explanation.
“This latest revelation regarding the payment to RTM is further proof that the City of Ottawa and OC Transpo struggle with transparency,” she wrote. “Public trust in OC Transpo and the City of Ottawa is at an all time low and using semantics such as ‘no lies were told, you simply weren’t fully informed’ do little to repair lost trust.
“Once OCT became aware that they were contractually obligated to pay for the month of September, clarifications should have been issued to media and the Transit Commission.”
She added on Twitter that “what the memo doesn’t tell us is why we weren’t told about this contractually obligated payment once it was made. The messaging from the city had consistently been ‘we aren’t paying RTM a penny’ which, as we now know, wasn’t true.”
At least two councillors — Scott Moffatt and Jeff Leiper — posted the full Kanellakos statement on Twitter.
Moffatt said it “confirms nobody lied,” but the city should have communicated better.
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Right, but there are two separate issues here. Being lied to is a far more serious allegation than not being fully informed. Being fully informed likely involves painstaking details but likely necessary at this point. The memo, more importantly, confirms nobody lied.— Scott Moffatt (@ScottMoffatt21) February 9, 2020
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Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney tweeted that council must act or it would be “wilful neglect:”
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I’ve thought about this all day and am very bothered by this latest revelation of misinformation and omission of information/ facts to Council & the public. Inaction now on the part of Council could be viewed as wilful neglect. https://t.co/36YObBUcyM— Catherine McKenney (@cmckenney) February 9, 2020
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This newspaper asked the communications official for Mayor Jim Watson whether the mayor knew of the payment, and what should be done to keep council informed. We were told: “Mayor Watson is not available at the moment but I invite you to read the memo from the City Manager, shedding light in the situation.”
Transit riders were upset as well.
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I'm leaning towards guillotine at this point.— John Smith (@JohnSmi22189376) February 9, 2020
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Meanwhile, LRT service was disrupted and replaced by R1 buses Saturday morning. There were also delays Sunday morning, as passengers had to switch trains at Hurdman and Parliament stations “while RTG carries out track and overhead maintenance.”
Para Transpo was also disrupted.
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Please note that some Para Transpo trips are currently delayed. We are working to get back on schedule, as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience.— OC Transpo Live (@OCTranspoLive) February 9, 2020
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Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper said he and others on council are not satisfied with the flow of information, and having to rely on reporters who do freedom of information requests “has got to stop.”
“I think councillors are going to want to confirm their understanding of what has transpired,” he said Sunday. “The memo that was put out by the city is still pretty dense. So I know at least I have asked some more pointed questions of staff to help me understand what has transpired.” The city needs to decide “how we get more transparency so we are not in this boat again.” “The councillors with whom I’ve spoken, as well as the public, have taken staff at their public word at various meetings, to assume that we have not paid a maintenance fee. We need to find some mechanism whereby we understand on a month-by month basis while the crisis is underway, what we are paying RTM for. “The trust issues, justified or not, are significant right now and I think that every potential red flag has got to be dealt with head-on, transparently and clearly.”
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