George Street Parkade Review

Council has reduced the City Manager’s delegated authority to amend project budgets to five per cent of the project budget, up to a maximum of $100,000 per project.

This was approved by Council On November 23, 2020. The report is item F.1 of the meeting agenda:

• View the Nov. 23, 2020 Council Meeting Agenda
  

Subsequently, Council has moved to enshrine this amendment authority into a bylaw, rather than as a policy, to provide for a more effective process and enhance transparency. First three readings of the bylaw were granted on July 26, 2021. See item E.1 of the agenda.

Council will review budget amendments that have been approved under the City Manager's delegated authority once every three months.

Budget amendments were presented during the Council meeting on April 26, 2021. See Item D.3 on the agenda:

• View the April 26, 2021 Council Meeting Agenda
  
• View the 2020 Budget Amendments
  

Budget amendments approved by the Acting City Manager during the first three months of 2021 were also presented during the April 26 meeting:

• View the 2021 Budget Amendments
  

A report about the use of the Acting City Manager’s delegated authority is on the April 26, 2021 agenda at item D.4:

• View the Acting City Manager Delegated Authority Report
  

Colliers Project Leaders has been retained by the City to provide project management for the downtown YMCA daycare project, which is otherwise being funded entirely from grant funding received from the Province of BC and the Union of BC Municipalities.

The Colliers contract amount is identified in the Procurement Quarterly Report presented to Council during the April 26, 2021 meeting:

• View the Procurement Quarterly Report
  

The City has also issued two news releases about the project: one when it was first announced and another when construction began:

• View the Sept. 9, 2020 release on the YMCA project announcement
• View the April 21, 2021 release on the start of construction on the YMCA project
  

The City is exploring external project management services for other impending significant capital projects, especially when internal capacity/expertise is limited or not available.

An organizational project management review was recommended by Acting City Manager, Walter Babicz, during the April 26, 2021 Council meeting. See item D.5 in the Council Agenda for the report and information on project management from the BC Auditor General for Local Government:

• View the April 26, 2021 Council Meeting agenda
  

This recommendation was approved by Council. The City also issued a news release following Council’s approval:

• View the April 27, 2021 release on Council review of City project management processes

On October 4, 2021, Council approved the Organizational Capital Project Management Policy. The policy represents the latest step in a two-phase approach to enhance project governance and give Council a better understanding of City project lifecycle management and practices.

The policy framework Council endorsed includes process maps, process descriptions, responsibility assignments, and other tools to make City project delivery more efficient, consistent, and cost-effective. The next steps will involve creating an operating manual and training City staff to apply the new principles to capital programs and projects. Council will receive a project completion update once phase two ends later this year in December.

For more information:

• Download the 2021 Organizational Capital Project Management Policy [PDF]
  
• Read the October 4, 2021 Roadmap and Policy (item D.4) Council Agenda Project Update
  

As indicated in item 5 above, the City is undertaking a review of its capital project management process. This review will inform decisions about capital project audits.

Council retained Young Anderson, Barristers and Solicitors to fully understand where the parkade project went wrong and why, and to provide recommendations for processes to minimize the risk of something like this happening again.

The legal review was publicly released on June 4, 2021 to provide direct public access to the information.

• Download the legal review of the George Street Parkade Project [PDF]
  
• Read Mayor Hall's June 4, 2021 statement on the independent legal review
  

This has been incorporated into the legal review identified in item 7 above.

A whistleblower policy ensures all city employees and elected officials have a clear, confidential roadmap to bring concerns forward.

• Download the 2021 Whistleblower Policy [PDF]
  

The City of Prince George released an independent report from SSA Quantity Surveyors Ltd on the costs of the George Street Parkade constructed in 2019.

• Download the 2021 Quantity Surveyors Report [PDF]