Winnipeg to contract out water & waste?

[Only The Lonely..]

Water and waste: City hall must weigh all options

By TOM BRODBECK | Winnipeg Sun - October 28, 2008

City hall may soon be debating the thorny issue of contracting out major parts of its water and waste department, the Winnipeg Sun has learned.

A new report that could be released as early as next month is expected to recommend how the city could turn water and waste into a stand-alone utility, including greater use of private-sector services.

It's expected to be the next big dust-up between unionized city workers and city hall, which has already contracted out all of its residential garbage pick-up.

The big difference this time is that water is a much more sensitive topic, and far more susceptible to misinformation campaigns.

I expect to hear a lot of "don't sell off our water" and "water is a human right" slogans if this goes ahead as planned.

What the city wants to do is find more efficient and effective ways of operating water and waste, which is facing massive cost increases from several planned mega-projects, including sewer and water treatment plant upgrades.

It's unclear how much of the service would be contracted out. But the city is already in talks with CUPE Local 500, which represents most city workers.

The problem with these debates is that they usually get bogged down in misinformation and fearmongering.

Remember all the stories about how garbage pick-up would deteriorate if it was contracted out city-wide?

Well, how's your garbage pickup lately? Pretty much the same as it's always been, right?

The only difference is taxpayers are saving a few million dollars a year now that the private sector is delivering the service.

One of city hall's biggest problems is that it's extremely bureaucrat-heavy. City departments are weighed down with so many middle managers -- supervisors, co-ordinators, analysts, team leaders, managers -- it's very difficult to run anything efficiently.

Take a look at any compensation disclosure report from the city and you'll fall off your chair when you see the hundreds of useless positions drawing $50,000 to $80,000 salaries. Any business would go broke in a week if it had the kind of administration city hall has.

One of the chief reasons some city services can be delivered at a lower cost by the private sector is because the private sector tends to cut out much of that middle management. The good companies do, anyway.

I know the unions don't like going through these contracting out exercises because it means they lose members.

But it's city council's responsibility to constantly look for new, more efficient ways of delivering city services, especially with the skyrocketing costs all levels of governments are now facing for major capital projects.

If city hall can find a way to deliver water and waste services at a lower cost to taxpayers -- without compromising service quality -- I say bring it on.

It's either that or dramatically increase taxes to pay for the mega-projects and other capital upgrades that lay ahead.

And I think we've had enough of that.

[art deco]

I don't think it makes sense to draw parallels between garbage pick-up and providing clean safe drinking water to the City. Its highly regulated and becoming more so, and depends on how the city would actually implement this, its not as simple as tendering out garbage pick-up. In my opinion Sam would be biting off more than he can chew with this, and this sounds more like a knee-jerk reaction to the high cost of upgrading infrastructure that has been ignored or neglected for years. How about putting an end to buying bottled water.... we just spent hundreds of millions on a state of the art water treatment plant and Sam can't even put an end to bottled water at city hall.

[Archiseek]

"One of the chief reasons some city services can be delivered at a lower cost by the private sector is because the private sector tends to cut out much of that middle management. The good companies do, anyway."


Correction

One of the chief reasons some city services can be delivered at a lower cost by the private sector is because the private sector tends to do it pretty crappily and leave trash all over the back lanes.

[drew]

Originally Posted by art deco

I don't think it makes sense to draw parallels between garbage pick-up and providing clean safe drinking water to the City. Its highly regulated and becoming more so, and depends on how the city would actually implement this, its not as simple as tendering out garbage pick-up.

I don't think there is any reason that a private company cannot be trusted to ensure the supply of drinking water in Winnipeg. To hand this responsibility to a private company, there obviously there needs to be strict quality control, and standards that are required to be followed, audits, etc.

But, just as concerning to me would be allowing the city with it's *ahem*, how should I put this... "comfortable with their jobs" staff looking out for the quality of water in this city...

IMO cushy union jobs with the promotion of unqualified workers, seniority above all else philosophy, lack of discipline and real consequences, etc. is a FAR scarier scenario compared to giving the reins to a private company.

[art deco]

And the analogy would be "oops I left some suspended solids floating in your glass of water this week". there is no mroom for error when it comes to water. You get what you pay for, so strict quality control is key in either case and this costs money. I could be convinced that contracting would work if I saw measures form the City to provide this kind of quality control. Not sure about the cushy union jobs... are the middle managers (the ones they would be cutting) actually unionized?

[drew]

Who cares about the managers? The guys with their hands on the equipment, doing the testing, analyzing the samples, cleaning, etc. would be union positions.

What good is a non-union manager when he needs to discipline a unionized worker who isn't performing their job correctly? Not much.

[rgalston]

I bought my sweater from Club Monaco. How do I know it's not going to tear or fall apart in the middle of a blustery cold autumn day?

Originally Posted by drew

What good is a non-union manager when he needs to discipline a unionized worker who isn't performing their job correctly? Not much.

Exactly. Unionism is all about encouraging weakness through thuggery. Contract away, City.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by Archiseek

"One of the chief reasons some city services can be delivered at a lower cost by the private sector is because the private sector tends to cut out much of that middle management. The good companies do, anyway."


Correction

One of the chief reasons some city services can be delivered at a lower cost by the private sector is because the private sector tends to do it pretty crappily and leave trash all over the back lanes.

umm what garbadge all over backlanes?
u know in the cities contracts they have to clean it right.. if u call the department incharge of garbadge they will call them to clean it up... the pointdouglas residence commity posts the numbers in the point newleter for the area if i was at home i would direct u to the department u should call to haras about the mess ur complaining about..... but i'm down in altona atm working at the tank farm in gretna for couple days dam its beutifull out speacly tonight

[vid]

Thunder Bay contracted out recycling pick up and while we still can't recycle many things, we can now recycle card board and milk cartons, and if you have recycling to be picked up you just call them and they get it the next morning. They did a report about contracting out garbage a while ago but found that the cost saving was too small for their liking so they didn't bother. If water was contracted out, we probably wouldn't have Canada's best water and sewage treatment facilities right now. We've got one of the best water distribution systems in the country right now, and the least lead pipes of any city in Ontario.

Contracting out waste I have no problem with, especially if it is like water and they directly bill homeowners based on the volume of garbage they put out, that could provide an incentive for people to reduce waste (but could also increase illegal dumping). The unionized city waste workers wouldn't be caught dead walking along a back alley picking up litter.

[Boreal]

Mr. Galston, I like your vigour on this topic.

[sledhead35]

Originally Posted by rgalston

I bought my sweater from Club Monaco. How do I know it's not going to tear or fall apart in the middle of a blustery cold autumn day?



Exactly. Unionism is all about encouraging weakness through thuggery. Contract away, City.

i recently broke my union cherry. people around this place have a full time job doing nothing, giving lip to their managers and trying as hard as they can to find loopholes in the system. i agree, contract away!