Councilmembers unanimously supported the staff’s plan to replenish a contingency fund that is nearing depletion, in part to pay for changes brought about by the Confederation Line experience.
article content
The council voted Wednesday to add $60 million to the Stage 2 O-Train project’s contingency and utilities budgets as the investigation into its troubled first phase of LRT in Ottawa moved toward its conclusion.
article content
Before unanimously endorsing the staff plan to replenish a contingency fund that is nearing depletion, in part to pay for changes brought about by the Confederation Line experience, council members had questions about how the city would and could respond to the final report of the independent commission leading the Stage 1 LRT consultation.
That report and its findings, conclusions and possible recommendations are due by August 31, but the deadline could be pushed back to November 30 with the approval of Ontario’s transportation minister.
Earl Shawn Menard wanted to know how those recommendations would be implemented locally for Stages 2 and 3 of the O-Train project (the former is under construction, while the latter has yet to be funded).
The commission’s recommendations may be directed at the city, but staff will also review them and bring anything relevant to the council, said city attorney David White. As for whether that would happen during this council term or the next one starting Nov. 15 or both, White said he believed they had to wait for recommendations to figure it out.
article content
Earl Catherine McKenney asked if it would be possible for this council to request an investigation into Phase 2, “given what we know today about phase one, but certainly if you return the report and the recommendations, and they are as damning as they look like they are going to be.” be.
The council seems likely to be subject to “lame duck” status next month, a set of spending and other rules that would kick in unless three-quarters of council members have confirmed re-election to the office on the ballot. municipality on October 24. Already, seven of the 24 council members say they won’t run again.
City Clerk Rick O’Connor said a request for another investigation may be entirely possible for this council. “However… there may be a feeling that it is more appropriate for the incoming council, who will likely have more to say on the matter. They might want to check it out first.”
article content
“I heard that,” replied McKenney, “but this is the board that made the decision (to approve the Stage 2 contract with SNC-Lavalin) not knowing that they had not met the technical requirement. So as a member of this council, I’m certainly very concerned that I was misled prior to voting on that contract.”
Stage 2 consists of an east and west expansion of the Confederation Line by Kiewit and Vinci and a southern extension of the Trillium Line by SNC-Lavalin.
Of the $152.5 million contingency fund set up by the council for the $4.6 billion Stage 2 project, a staff report says that $132 million has already been committed, much of it for project improvements that were not contemplated when it was planned. set the background.
These contingency commitments fell into four categories, one of which was design improvements and lessons learned from Stage 1. This includes the expansion of the Walkley Yard storage and maintenance facility, an upgrade to gas electric heaters, access improvements at several east-end stations and noise mitigations at locations in the west, the city’s O-Train construction director Michael Morgan said Wednesday.
With at least three years of Phase 2 construction remaining, staff said additional funding requirements would be assessed in 2023, in addition to the $25 million contingency and $35 million utility fund injections awarded Wednesday. .
The additional $60 million would be covered by debt paid for development charges, reserves attached to a related major water project on Cleary Avenue, and debt assigned to the transit department.
Morgan said it was “impossible to know” at this time if more contingency funds would be needed as a result of the LRT investigation.
Archived by Jon Willing