Fasten your seatbelts
Ron Bolin: July 11, 2013
In less than two months the City of Nanaimo has lost the holders of two of its three positions mandated in the Community Charter: the City Manager and the Corporate Officer; and three of the holders of the Officer positions named by City Bylaw: namely City Manager Al Kenning and Corporate Officer Tracy Samra, holders of Offices mandated by the Community Charter and in addition the Manager of Corporate Services, Doug Holmes.
Ms. Samra was last seen in mid-March though she has been said to be on leave until last week. To the best of my knowledge her absence has not yet been reported by the City (where is our Communications Officer?), and I have not seen an ad to fill this mandated position. Mr. Holmes departed at the end of May under conditions which have not been made clear. And Mr. Kenning gave notice yesterday of his retirement on September 3 of this year. This gave the City 40 working days’ notice-minus any public holidays and ignoring the seven weeks a year of holiday to which he is entitled- to find a replacement. I find it peculiar if the most senior Manager in the City can leave on such short notice. What kind of contracts do we have? It is certainly a slap in the face to Council and to the citizens of Nanaimo.
At the same time, in the day and age of the internet and with numerous websites devoted to municipal employment in Canada, plus the fact that the City could run for some time with a designate in place, Council has also slapped citizens in the face with another back room in camera time appointment. I wish Mr. Swabey well, but suspect that he cannot feel particularly honoured by an appointment to a position which had no competition.
It was announced with Mr. Holmes departure that his position would not be replaced and that his workload would be distributed to other Managers or Directors. One must wonder whether the workload which he carried and cost taxpayers an all-in 2012 cost (salary + benefits + expenses) of roughly $225,000 dollars is so easily dispersed to others in the administration. Either the job was inordinately well paid for the work provided, and/or those who picked up the extra work, do so at little additional cost as the City’s Press Release noted a savings of $170,000 with his departure.
The departure of Ms. Samra leaves a hole in the City which is filled with Deputies who have no Corporate Officer to whom they report. It must be remembered that the position of Corporate Officer carries with it obligations to the public under the Community Charter which go beyond the simple confines of the City Administration. We currently have no Manager of Legislative Services. Nor has her departure been, to the best of my knowledge, officially recognized, nor have I seen an advertisement for a replacement. This leaves the Manager of Legislative Services position vacant as well as that of the Corporate Officer.
To top off this stream of alarming news a look at the City’s bidding opportunities shows a recently closed competition for:
“TRAINING CONSULTANT SERVICES
Respectful Workplace Training Program
ISSUED: June 11 2013
The purpose of this request for proposal is to select a qualified consultant to provide external assistance in desigining (sic) and delivering a Respectful Workplace training program to support the City’s commitment in maintaining a positive work environment that embraces diversity and treats everyone with courtesy, dignity and fairness.”
I don’t know about you, but to me this says that there is a serious problem in City Hall administration. Such problems, if wide spread, are the result of an organizational culture which needs serious review from the inside, not training from the outside. Conditions need to change and the onus for this change is internal. It is a sign of leadership failure, not of employee ignorance. The problems raised by this contract can be much more costly than a few top management positions –though these are problematic enough. It raises the specter of talented and hardworking staff leaving the City in order to leave a toxic environment behind. The laggards are, of course, in for the duration. The problem is not primarily with the staff but with the corporate environment. Will Mr. Swabey, having spent years in our current environment, be capable of bringing a fresh look at the problems of City Hall? Will he be able to modify the environment and take a fresh look at our problems? I wish him well.
Posts and Comments on Nanaimo Governance 
So … let’s see if I have this right …. “a qualified consultant” is being hired to deliver a program to train supposedly-qualified adults, who are employed by the City, how to deal with people in a courteous and fair manner, with dignity. Amazing!
Janet: Even more amazing… the program is to train them in how to deal with each other with courtesy and dignity….
ROTFLMAO … (politely, of course!!)
I have received a message that includes the following:
“I understand that, in addition to accepting Mr. Kenning’s retirement notice including conditions that Mr. Swabey be appointed his replacement, that Ms. Samra’s settlement was confirmed as $75k and Mr. Holmes settlement at $240k at Monday’s in-camera session.”
Can anyone confirm? At least Mr. Kenning is retiring and will not receive a payout on top. Or is there something in an employment contract that will provide more?
How can an employee dictate the terms of his retirement, those terms being the selection of his replacement?
Playing devil’s advocate, if both Ms Samra and Mr Holmes did not leave city employment voluntarily, why in hell are we rewarding them with anything other than 2 weeks severance?
Jim: For the technicalities see: http://www.nanaimo.ca/assets/Departments/Human~Resources/City~Employment/Hiring~Policy/MgtBylaw7000CONSOLIDATED.pdf
On the legal end of things payouts depend on whether the dismissal was with or without adequate cause, a matter which can be very expensive to determine in court. People may also be paid to go away because they know too much or know something that the employer would not want to known.
The case here is a matter of conjecture.
FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS. Errrrr ummmm for what?
As we wait in virtual limbo, we are grasshoppers eagerly lighting on the myriad wet backsides offered to us by our ever diligent, hard working, council and under paid civic staff!
There are, nevertheless, major unresolved issues at stake . . .
Firings, slinkings away etc., staff retirements: hopefully unnoticed, with healthy, confidential comfort packages to keep them more than solvent for the rest of their leisurely lives. Thanqxz to the erstwhile Mayor Korpan/Jerry Berry duo, the latter now safely ensconced in a North Van academic sinecure, for the precedence!
Same old same old!
Colliery dams: we await the deliberations of a very polite pow wow as to the fate of a most popular, indeed vital social and cultural haven. We are told when and if the dams explode scores of innocent men women and children will be at risk by flooding that, as experts calculate, may well inundate to a depth of a few inches. But realtors will have problems selling in that area because of the risk!
Wellcox: the Assembly Wharfs will become a mini container port, serviced by a second hand hoist. For decades the wharf has sat virtually idle as Seaspan and the CPR have been fulfilling that function apparently more than adequately. The city paid millions for waterfront property that has no waterfront and, indeed, will be calling for a charrette to do decide what to do with the property since the city, after expending millions, has no idea what to do with it!
We prols will be kept distracted by discussing the trestle off Crace for access.
VICC hotel: this will be the base accommodation from which many Chinese youth will explore the beauties of North Vancouver Island. An awful lot of money is about to be spent on accommodation that is already in plentiful supply all over the subject destinations.
Downtown: Clr Johnstone tells us with warmth and feeling that Commercial Street and Diane Krall are so beautiful. Some one should tell the rest of Nanaimo’s shoppers as they cruise the air-conditioned malls of Woodgrove!
Out of interest I attended the NRGH 50th anniversary. Casually I inquired of the Chairman of the Regional Health Authority of an issue I had left behind concerning the NRGH operating theaters. The Chairman was unable to engage the subject. He didn’t even know where NRGH’s operating theaters are! And he doesn’t have that many centers to be concerned with.
Nanaimo blogging is both exciting and intellectually stimulating to read and sometimes participate in. But as it afford us old age pensioners a relief from mowing the lawn and television it obviously has zero effect on the course of events: staff still gets off scott free, council continues, over justified objections, to make important public decisions in camera and generally cares less about the functioning of the city and welfare of its citizens.
And Thu Blog awaits in excruciating limbo filling that void with effete on-line gossip.
¡Asi es la vida en la ciudad!
PS . . . It is summer and summer fun is well under way. Downtown we are about to be regaled with a pumpkin eating completion so at least some of us will get our face in the mush.
Council has had its in for as long time.
Is that the best DNBIA can come up with? Is NEDC doing any better? Both are tight nit clubs for old cronies indicative of the decrepitude of better times long gone. They should be disbanded forthwith!
Well, maybe on second thoughts fasten your seat belts may be good advice.
The city recently received a proposal for a C$50M 17-story hotel on the VICC Gordon Street property . . .
http://midislandnews.com/new-nanaimo-hotel-to-attract-70000-young-chinese-tourists
. . . (note Clr Johnstone: the city was built on the backs of English coal miners).
Predictably, Nanaimo hoteliers are not happy give the generous tax incentives offered SS by the city.
And 70,000 young Chinese tourists wandering the North Island just does not sound plausible.
Apparently the proposer, SS Manhao International Tourist Group, has been making similar proposals in Nottingham UK and Atlanta Georgia USA: quite a feat for a company incorporated just a year ago!
Which gives me pause to wonder, is this for real or is SS a scratch group of local realtors hoping (forlornly probably) to liven up a slow market?
This announcement comes juxtaposed with the purchase of the Wellcox property and the rejuvenation of the Assembly wharfs.
Far be it for me to make wild assumptions but a pattern seems to be forming . . .
1. The hotel could be ready for business spring of 2015.
2. The assembly wharfs could be ready to receive small containers well before delivering building materials and skilled labour from the mainland to the adjacent properties.
3. In the interim, while the hotel is being ready for occupancy quite a number of waterfront condos could be ready for realtors to display.
4. As the number of unit completions increase the number of mini containers decrease and the assembly wharfs will gradually be dismantled (along with the second hand hoist) as the properties come on stream: hence all can be sold as waterfront properties (according to the city’s definition).
This also comes at a time when the bloom is rapidly wilting . . .
https://mninews.marketnews.com/content/china-govt-advisor-says-economy-crisis-debt-costs-spiral
. . . on the Chinese rose.
SS Manhao is a Chinese state owned company; possibly subsidised.
Other Manhao projects have used Chinese labour for the higher positions.
Rumor has it they will use interns provided by VIU, in other words cheap labour.
Why would a Chines company that has been in existence for less than a year wander the world, UK US etc with 70,000 young adults in tow.
http://www.google.ca/search?q=Chinese+empty+cities&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=g3flUZPeCeOtiAL9s4FQ&ved=0CDUQsAQ&biw=1009&bih=409
Dozens of Chinese empty cities: evidently they are no better at managing their economy than we are!
City hall is desperate to paper over its failed and failing policies and this one is just another in a long line up.
Why is this blog silent on this hotel that sounds more like a sales office than tourist accommodation. China’s economy is failing! So is ours (VICC, Urban containment boundary, Cable Bay, Sanstone etc)! floggin’ our real estate, i.e. our childrens’ heritage, off shore, is not the answer.
Buying two Wellcox properties with out a clear usage vision, building a tourist hotel of which there are dozens already, a failing VICC, too many empty store fronts downtown about to be exacerbated by the imminent opening of the new Port Place additions, a failing Chinese economy, a failing local economy.
Nanaimo is badly governed. Councillors have their heads in the sand (Clt Johnstone, DKP is beautiful: puleeze madam!) and our able bodied heading for the tar sands . . .
So far nix on this blog. We need to pay attention!
fa, la, la, la, la, welcome to the Hotel er… Nanaimo?
As reported in the MID Island News may 22, 2013
http://midislandnews.com/new-nanaimo-hotel-to-attract-70000-young-chinese-tourists
“They will sell off individual suites to investors in order to recoup capital costs.”
What does this sound like? It sounds like a strata mini condo project doesn’t it.
Who is NEDCOR? Is it the investment bank from South Africa?
Is it a takeover of VICC parking? Yes. “They require a perpetual lease of 200 parking spaces in VICC. “The cost to construct 200 parking stalls is 4 million dollars. “The parking spaces would be leased at $3.17 per day based on usage”. Or roughly 13.2 cents per hour of use! It will take about 3,460 years to pay back the cost of construction assuming full usage 24 hours a day……………..
What would be the value of parking to a Convention Centre? Invaluable
What would be the value of a convention centre with no parking? Zero
Is it a real hotel proposal? Not Likely!
What is it really? Cheap land for $565,000 plus cheap parking and a pencil perfect pro-forma for unwitting investors.
I get your RT point, but here is the rub;
“They will sell off individual suites to investors in order to recoup capital costs.”
This seems to be the idea. You can buy a room. What can you do with a room? You can use the room at your own discretion. Your family can use the room. You can leave it vacant. You can rent it out. You can time share it. You can lease it to a company who in turn rents it out.
None of these uses will support the convention business. None of these uses does a hotel make.
Nanaimo City Council has granted approval in principle. I speculate that promoters are now working on investors. It remains to be seen if this is a real construction project or smoke and mirrors Cable Bay style.
What will City Council do when they realize that this is not a convention centre hotel proposal?
“The Hotel” will be a sales office to entertain prospective Chinese buyers for the hundreds of waterfront condos about to be built on Wellcox: watch out for the Dumas’ second hand hoist!
You heard it here first and you wont hear it from anyone else until it is too late!
Who will be the first real estate company to rent in the Conference Centre?
Once again it’s all about real estate.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/first-nation-pulls-out-of-talks-to-determine-fate-of-popular-nanaimo-park/article13301696/
Council’s behavior leaves me speechless. Why has this not been reported in the local media?
The bad faith represented in the messages from Mr. Hickey and Mr. Kenning leaves me wondering why they would be so open about their dismissal of the Snuneymuxh and the public. Have they drunk their own coolaid?
Message from the City’s Tom Hickey to the facilitator and the City Manager:
————
From: Tom Hickey [mailto:Tom.Hickey@nanaimo.ca]
Sent: July-17-13 4:25 PM
To: ‘Katherine Gordon’; Al Kenning
Cc: Mayor John Ruttan; Marilyn Smith
Subject: RE: Colliery dams: exhausting all options
Katherine,
As an update to your email below, the KCB letter regarding the pumping system assessment as a method to mitigate the risk was circulated today. Also, the assessment of the critical timelines for the removal of the Middle Dam only is being done by Milner Group Ventures Inc.
As far as your question regarding any work being done to revisit and re-assess and/or confirm the existing information on other options, such as remediation or removal/renaturalization, and what is the status of such work?
There is no work being done to revisit, re-assess or confirm the information on other options.
The City has been working with Klohn Crippen Berger (KCB) Engineering since last December on the design for removal and on conceptual level cost estimates of 7 remediation, removal and rebuild options. This work was undertaken to provide the basis for comparison of the options on a consistent cost, feasibility and safety basis. A peer review engineer Hatch Ltd. was retained to: hear input from the CDPS, consider the viability of suggested options, recommend options for costing, and finally to review the costs submitted by KCB.
During the process the Colliery Dams Preservation Society (CDPS) presented a variety of ideas to Hatch. Hatch and KCB agreed on the seven most viable alternatives for costing. Staff added the removal option in the analysis for comparative purposes.
Both KCB and HATCH are highly regarded engineering firms with extensive dam experience. Their work on the conceptual level cost estimates took 3 months to develop and provides excellent information.
In their peer review of the costs, Hatch has indicated that they are in agreement with the options for rehabilitation and replacement and are in agreement with the technical evaluations and costs developed.
These reports are available to you and were provided to SFN when they were received by the City a few months ago. The City has invested over $600,000 in getting expert analysis of the options available to us to mitigate the risks.
Thanks,
Tom
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Messages from Mayor Ruttan and lame duck City Manager Kenning:
Here is the release emailed to media/others at 5:16 pm today from the City …
30 Day Colliery Dam discussion – update
Mayor Ruttan comments on Snuneymuxw First Nation decision to withdraw from process
As residents of Nanaimo are now aware, the Snuneymuxw First Nation has announced its decision to withdraw from the 30 Day Colliery Dam discussion. This decision is a disappointing development; something that neither staff nor myself were expecting.
Since Council’s motion for a 30 day break was tabled July 8th, I, along with City staff, have worked closely with the appointed facilitator, Katherine Gordon, to provide the Snuneymuxw First Nation with information pertaining to the Colliery Dams. The transfer of material – including reports and studies – is consistent with past efforts to share information with the Snuneymuxw First Nation dating back to November 2012.
While the City of Nanaimo remains open to further consultation on the options before proceeding with new dams, the studies and reports provided to the City over the last year are very clear; the Upper and Lower Colliery Dams represent a significant risk to public safety. Similarly, the Province of British Columbia has been equally clear in telling the City that it must take action to mitigate this risk.
With risk comes liability. Should the City take no immediate action, a failure of the Colliery Dams will have a significant impact on the taxpayers of Nanaimo. The Snuneymuxw First Nation have stated in a news release issued July 17 that they had received legal advice claiming the City’s concerns surrounding liability are unfounded. The City of Nanaimo disputes this suggestion – the liability associated with the dams, combined with the identified risk to public safety, requires action be taken.
As has been discussed throughout the community, action may take several forms. Reports and studies discussing the rehabilitation of existing dam structures have identified this option as being the most expensive of the three options available, i.e.) removal, replacement or rehabilitation. Similarly, a recently completed study indicates that reducing the identified risk by simply lowering water levels is cost prohibitive at $8 million dollars, per eight month rain season.
It will now be a Council decision as to how the City will proceed at this point.
-30-
Contact:
John Ruttan
Mayor
City of Nanaimo
250-755-4400
———————————————–
From Chief White:
I thought the public should see these two emails from Monday. They speak for themselves as demonstrating that rather than engage in a meaningful process to explore options, city staff was on a very different course.
To be clear, the comments in the emails about liability are unfounded. This was confirmed on Tuesday by our own senior legal expert who said there is no basis at law for liability for participation in the process for Snuneymuxw or the facilitator. (Comment from Chief Douglas White of the Snuneymuxh)
_____________________________________
From: Katherine Gordon
Sent: Monday, July 15, 2013 9:27 AM
To: Douglas White III; john.ruttan@nanaimo.ca
Cc: Rosh
Subject: City staff position on public safety liability
Importance: High
Good morning again,
Please note that I expect also to receive today a written communication from Al Kenning and Ted Swabey to the effect that they:
• Believe public safety is being significantly compromised by the delay in removing the dams;
• Consider that if there is a catastrophic event and the dams have not been removed that both the Snuneymuxw First Nation and the City will be responsible and that members of both Councils will be personally liable;
• That if the tender is not awarded this week and that work does not begin on the removal immediately it will be impossible to undertake dam removal this year.
They wish this to be on the record. They are also suggesting that anyone participating in this consultation process (including me) may be personally liable.
I will forward the letter to you all as soon as I receive it.
As per my previous email, I have requested that we meet as early as Thursday. I am prepared to meet earlier to discuss this issue further.
Katherine Gordon
Communications, facilitation, strategy and policy consultant
___________________________
From: Al Kenning [mailto:al.kenning@nanaimo.ca]
Sent: July-15-13 1:21 PM
To: ‘Katherine Gordon’
Cc: Mayor&Council; SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM; Jan Kemp
Subject: FW: Colliery Dams
Katherine, you have asked me to put in writing my views related to the imminent public safety danger related to the continued existence of the Colliery Dams and more specifically the recent decision by Council to delay any actions related to removing the dams for 30 days.
We know, based on professional engineering expertise, that the 30 day delay means both the middle and lower Colliery Dams cannot be removed this year. The removal must be done during the summer drought period. Once the fall rains begin it is no longer possible to work in the river. We know from history that the fall rains can begin anytime starting in early October so all planning must be based on being out of the river before then. While it may still be possible to remove one dam if work starts immediately following the 30 day period, the 30 day period effectively means a delay of one year in getting both dams out. In fact, since the tender was not awarded one week ago as recommended by staff it may already be too late to remove both dams this year but every day that passes makes this more certain.
The Dam Safety Branch says that the risk created by the dams must be mitigated this year. Staff are not aware of any other practical way to do this other than removing the dams. There are many suggestions from interested parties as to how the risk can be mitigated without removing the dams but to my knowledge none of them stand up to professional scrutiny (assuming there is a desire to not completely waste taxpayers money). Also, none of them leave the dams and reservoirs in the same form they are in now.
This is a very serious life safety issue. The inundation study clearly identifies the extreme danger to downstream residents. When Council made the decision to delay awarding the deconstruction tender for 30 days, when they knew (or ought to have known) that this would take away the opportunity to remove both dams this year, it is my opinion that this increased the risk of liability being assigned to the city in the event of a failure. In my view this could be catastrophic for the community. I believe the magnitude of the damages could far exceed the ability of the city’s insurers and the local taxpayers to pay. In addition the loss of life would be devastating beyond any financial measure.
I believe that I have a professional obligation to make sure all decision makers making decisions about the Colliery Dams fully understand the implications of their decisions. By accepting this engagement I believe you have become a key advisor to the decision makers and I want to make sure you are fully informed as to the risk. To put it bluntly, I think the decision makers have potentially jeopardized the life safety of members of this community and the financial security of the entire community for an additional one year period by their recent decision to delay removal. I therefore urge you to be cognizant of this fact in your work plan.
In writing this email I assume you are aware of the problems with the dams as articulated by the responsible professional engineers. The middle dam is not safe in an earthquake expected to be experienced once every 475 years. If the middle dam fails in such an earthquake, the resulting rush of water will probably cause a cascading failure of the lower dam, draining both reservoirs onto the land below. The lower dam is only safe in a flood/rainstorm up to the one in 200 year event. Taken together these two risks are far too high to downplay or ignore.
Al
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Al Kenning, City Manager
250-755-4401 (phone); 250-755-4436 (fax)
___________________________________
I have requested from the City copies of any documentation received by Ms. Gordon prior to her withdrawal from the process and which has been forwarded to them by her. I have not yet had a response from the City concerning this matter. Ron Bolin
Ron: I understand from what you posted above, that apparently, Chief White advised and I quote: “ … our own senior legal expert who said there is no basis at law for liability for participation in the process for Snuneymuxw or the facilitator.”
My understanding is that, as the dams are owned by the City of Nanaimo, (aka the taxpayers), and those, who are eligible to vote in the City’s municipal elections, it is they, who are legally responsible for any property damage, or loss of life. — Time is either of the essence, or it is not. — I understand from the City’s website, that information packages were delivered to Harewood residents on Tuesday, October 30, 2012.
Janet: People will be killed in Nanaimo in coming weeks from car accidents, drownings, fires, etc. The odds of something like this happening are, I would venture, better than the 1 in 475 years (or 173,375 days) that has been estimated for the dams (but who really knows?). Is the City and its Staff and its residents responsible for these deaths? Maybe, if IMMINENT danger has been shown to be present, i.e. in the case of the dams, leaks, holes, cracks, etc. To my knowledge nothing showing any danger greater than that of age has been shown. Thus it is meaningful, even necessary to weigh the risk of dam failure against the weight of robbing a community of its heritage, especially if the difference in risk will be minimal. Will the risk be increased to 1 in 474 years next year (1 in 173,010 days)?
As for the info packages, I believe that the secret in-camera decision to do away with the dams was made on Oct. 24. The information behind that decision was available to the City well before that time. Nothing in the decision needed to be secret and the package should have been made available well before either date. There have been studies on this matter going back decades.
This matter has been a pustule which has not yet been treated. I await a physician.
Disaster economics.
When the system fails & quantitive easing( whatever that is) fails then scare the shit out of the taxpayer into parting with hard earned dollars for water treatment plans or dam replacement.
P.S. – And throughout this controversy, I’ve been wondering why issues such as this aren’t dealt with by the provincial government, rather than at the municipal level. Seems to me that there have been several issues that the local level of govt. doesn’t “do” well.
Janet: You will note that the Dam Safety Branch has danced around the danger issue like fleas on a griddle. As it turns out, if they were to order the dams to be removed, they would be liable for the cost. I don’t believe that the Province would be any better in this situation and maybe worse. We just have a particularly dysfunctional Council. I see too many big problems with senior governments where we have an even smaller chance of being heard. If we could first learn to how to govern our municipalities, it might then be time to go for the elephants.
Test Post
Since the City has now spent over $600,000 dollars arguing with citizens about the destruction of their cultural history, we are fast approaching an economic tipping point where the economic argument is lost and it will indeed be cheaper to rehabilitate the dams and retain the lakes.