WINNIPEG – An outspoken Winnipeg city councillor is calling for a senior official to be suspended over delays in the Plessis Road underpass project that could cost the city millions of dollars.
“It’s unacceptable,” Transcona councillor Russ Wyatt told Global News Monday evening. “This is a delay upon delay upon delay and there has to be accountability.”
Wyatt, who is a member of city council’s property, planning and development committee, says he’s asked the city’s Chief Administration Officer (CAO) to suspend Public Works director Brad Sacher “and do an investigation to determine whether or not it’s the city senior administration who have failed to properly manage this project or whether it’s the private sector companies who have failed or both.”
Officials are set to report to the finance committee this Friday that the project to build a railway underpass at Plessis Road near Dugald Road in Transcona will miss some key deadlines this year that were required in order to qualify for federal and provincial funding.
That could leave the city on the hook for up to $50 million dollars if the two levels of government don’t agree to extend the deadlines for having some lanes open to traffic.
READ MORE: Plessis underpass delays could leave the city on the hook for millions
Wyatt says last fall’s civic election results were based on the public wanting change and he is also calling on the mayor to ensure this project is being properly managed.
“We can’t allow this to become another police headquarters,” Wyatt said referring to the over budget and significantly delayed construction project.
Mayor Brian Bowman was not supportive of Wyatt’s call for the public works director to be suspended.
“The CAO, rather than the elected officials, manage(s) the day to day operations of the members of the public service,” Carmen Barnett, a spokesperson for Bowman, said in an email Tuesday to Global News.
“(The Plessis Road underpass is) a complex project that has been ongoing for years; multiple parties are involved, most notably gas/oil and rail companies, and the City does not dictate schedules to external parties, along with the complex nature of the project itself (moving trains over cars) have contributed to delays on the project,” Barnett said.
Bowman’s spokesperson declined to discuss Wyatt’s comments further saying questions should be directed to Wyatt. Wyatt was supposed to attend a city council committee meeting Tuesday but didn’t show up.
On Monday, Sacher said the city is doing all it can to get the project back on track.
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“Right now the team is working very hard, that includes the contractors, to get this thing done as quick as possible,” he said, adding that it’s too soon to say whether contractors will face any financial penalties for not getting the project finished in the agreed-upon time frame.
WATCH: Winnipeg’s director of public works talks about Plessis underpass delays
“All major contract have penalties to cover the eventuality if it is found the contractor is responsible for it going over schedule and we assess it a certain number of days and for each day there is a cost assigned to it,” Sacher said.
Mayor Brian Bowman couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Tuesday on whether he agrees with Wyatt’s demand that the public works director be suspended. Wyatt didn’t show up for a city committee meeting he was scheduled to attend Tuesday morning.
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