Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 29, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A6 A 6 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015 CITY HALL winnipegfreepress. com CITY CENTRE COMMUNITY COMMITTEE PUBLIC HEARING Date: Tuesday, February 17, 2015 Time: 6: 00 P. M. Location: Council Building, 510 Main Street EAST KILDONAN TRANSCONA COMMUNITY COMMITTEE PUBLIC HEARING Date: Thursday, February 19, 2015 Time: 6: 00 P. M. Location: Council Building, 510 Main Street CAO issue on table THE future of suspended senior administrator Deepak Joshi will be decided at a special council meeting. Meanwhile, a civic committee narrowed its search for a new chief administrative officer. There was no mention of Joshi's fate during Wednesday's council meeting. Mayor Brian Bowman later told reporters the issue will be decided at a special meeting of council, ahead of council's next meeting at the end of February. Bowman told council Wednesday the search committee is working on schedule and expects to have a new CAO in place in March. A source familiar with the search committee's deliberations told the Free Press of the initial 151 applicants for CAO, the city's most senior public servant, there is now a short list of eight. All eight individuals have been invited to city hall this weekend, where they will be interviewed by the entire ninemember search committee. The source said two of the candidates are from out of town. Bowman would not confirm there is a short list or that the candidates are being interviewed this weekend, saying he wanted to protect the confidentiality of the process and those involved. Bowman unexpectedly suspended Joshi with pay from his role as interim acting chief administrative officer Jan. 16. At the Jan. 21 meeting of the executive policy committee, the suspension was extended for 30 days. According to the City of Winnipeg Charter, only council has the power to dismiss the CAO, which can be done with a simple majority vote. No further extensions are allowed, and council must vote to either reinstate him or terminate him. Joshi had replaced Phil Sheegl, who resigned suddenly in October 2013, days ahead of the release of the independent review into the fire hall replacement program, which tied many of the missteps on that project to Sheegl. Council voted Wednesday to formally appoint Michael Jack - the former city solicitor who was appointed acting chief operating officer in February - as the acting CAO. New waste bins for free WINNIPEG'S city council has approved the free replacement of damaged garbage and recycling bins. The plan is expected to cost the city about $ 127,000 annually. Previously, only bins that were damaged by Emterra, the firm responsible for waste collection, were replaced without charge. Coun. Ross Eadie said stolen bins should be replaced as well at no charge, but he voted for the plan as it was presented to council. City hall adopted a unified collection policy in late 2011 and distributed 385,000 garbage and recycling bins. The policy change was the result of an initiative by former councillor Harvey Smith. The water and waste department found only Winnipeg among major cities charged homeowners for replacement of damaged bins. Budgets unveiled in March THE public will get its first look at the city's 2015 operating and capital budgets in early March. Mayor Brian Bowman told council Wednesday draft copies of the budgets will be circulated to civic departments in early February and the budgets tabled for council's consideration in early March. Council has to approve the budgets by the end of March. As previously reported in the Free Press , Bowman confirmed the public consultation process approved for the 2015 budget formulation has been suspended - he said because of time constraints - but said they would be resumed for the 2016 budget. On questioning from Coun. Jenny Gerbasi, Bowman said he expects councillors, not members of his executive policy committee, will have some sort of input into the final budget documents, but said those plans haven't been finalized. The budget is now being drafted by Bowman and his executive policy committee in consultation with civic departments and officials from the office of the chief financial officer. Bowman said finance chairman Coun. Marty Morantz has been gathering input from council members not on EPC for inclusion on the budget - the first time that's been done at city hall. Bowman said he wants Winnipeg to have the most comprehensive public consultation process for its future budgets. Not returning to cop board TWO original members of Winnipeg's police board have not had their appointments renewed. Mayor Brian Bowman said vicechairman Paul Edwards, a lawyer, and David Keam, owner of Best Sleep Centre, will not be returning to the police board. In their place, Bowman appointed Barry Tucket, as vice- chairman, and Ken Matchet. Tucket had once been Manitoba's ombudsman. Matchet is a businessman who once served as president of the Winnipeg Football Club. Bowman reappointed Mary Jane Loustel, who had been the board chairwoman of the governance subcommittee. Other members of the board include Couns. Scott Gillingham ( chairman) and Ross Eadie, and civilian appointees Leslie Spillett and Angeline Ramkissoon. Edwards had been the police board's finance chairman, as well as vicechairman, and his departure could pose delays as the board develops a budget for the police service. CITY HALL Roundup T HERE was no debate on the floor of council Wednesday as the $ 3.75- million settlement between the convention centre and contractor Stuart Olson was approved unanimously. Council ordered CentreVenture to conduct a public expressions- of- interest process ( EIO) for development of the vacant 220 Carlton St. property. Mayor Brian Bowman said Centre- Venture, the city's downtown development agency, will be required to hold the EOI immediately, regardless of the deal it had already made with True North Sports & Entertainment for that site. Bowman told reporters following the meeting the lack of debate demonstrated the unanimity of council to call for public scrutiny on the development of the Carlton Street property. " The will of council is unanimous and solid ( on this issue)," Bowman said of the need for a public EOI process, adding he expects the CentreVenture board to comply with council's instructions. Stuart Olson was required to bring a partner to build and operate a major hotel - initially in proximity to the RBC Convention Centre and later at 220 Carlton - as part of its deal to build the $ 180- million convention centre expansion. But after Stuart Olson's first partner walked away from the deal, the contractor was finding it difficult to find another. The agreement with Stuart Olson allowed the convention centre to withhold up to $ 16 million in payments to the contractor if the hotel wasn't built on time, but convention centre officials said the actions of CentreVenture likely jeopardized Stuart Olson's ability to find another partner, and a settlement was the best alternative. While Stuart Olson was looking for a hotel partner, CentreVenture bought and demolished the Carlton Inn then signed an exclusive deal with True North to develop the property, in conjunction with True North's own plans to develop the surface- parking lot across the street. The $ 3.75- million settlement was subsequently negotiated as a compromise. That money is to pass from the convention centre to council and then to CentreVenture, to help offset any losses it might occur in the resale of the Carlton Street property. " Before money flows to Centre- Venture, we expect there will be a public expressions of interest ( process)," Bowman said. Bowman repeated he and council remain upset and alarmed there were two deals for the same Carlton Street property, adding CentreVenture's secretive dealings were inappropriate and unacceptable. " That was alarming," Bowman said. " We've made the best decision we could under the circumstances." Bowman said the steps council took Wednesday were to make sure the convention centre expansion is completed on time and to ensure the best development occurs on the Carlton Street property in an open and public process. Bowman said he was pleased with the information provided to council by the convention centre - in stark contrast to CentreVenture's initial decision to not provide Bowman any of the information he had requested. Bowman said he was surprised that as honorary chairman of the CentreVenture board, he is not entitled to any relevant documents or information involving their major decisions. " We requested a lot of information from Centre- Venture, which was not forthcoming and we would have liked to have seen," Bowman said. " That's one of many things that needs to change." Bowman said the lack of information provided to council justifies a serious review of Centre- Venture's mandate and how it operates, adding that review will take place soon. " We need to clean things up in a go- forward basis to do whatever we can to ensure we're not in this mess again." Bowman said he remains troubled there is still not a signed deal between the convention centre and Stuart Olson, adding with council's approval of the settlement offer, a signed development agreement between both parties will take place within the week. aldo. santin@ freepress. mb. ca Convention- centre settlement approved Unanimous support for deal with contractor By Aldo Santin Brian Bowman: lack of info ' alarming' Deepak Joshi: suspended quickly JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES The former site of the Carlton Inn, bought and demolished by development agency CentreVenture. A_ 06_ Jan- 29- 15_ FP_ 01. indd A6 1/ 28/ 15 8: 15: 53 PM ;