Last minute notice on BRT funding announcement frustrates councillors

Poor communication continues to plague London’s bus rapid transit plan, only this time it’s the councillors who are complaining, not the public.

Ward 7 Coun. Josh Morgan raised the issue at city council Tuesday night, questioning why councillors were left in the dark about the province’s $170-million dollar funding announcement on Monday until only hours before the announcement was made.

“I know in the past we’ve placed holds in calendars, that didn’t happen this time. I just want to ensure we have something in place to ensure that we don’t miss this because I was very disappointed not to be there,” said Morgan.

Ward 6 Coun. Phil Squire said on Monday he didn’t find out about the announcement until the last minute. Ward 4 Coun. Jesse Helmer told 980 CFPL on Monday he had “small little gripes” about how he found out about the news.

City manager Martin Hayward said the lack of communication wasn’t intentional and that the city didn’t learn about the funding announcement until the last minute.

Mayor Matt Brown promised to craft specific protocol regarding future funding news.

“I’d like to make a commitment to all of you colleagues to come back with a protocol that we can all agree upon,” said Brown.

Brown said it’s only fair council be given 24 hours’ notice for announcements.

Monday’s announcement saw the province commit $170 million towards London’s $500 million BRT plan. The city has said it will put $130 million towards the plan but the federal government hasn’t said when, or if, it will commit funding for the project.

The money from the province is only good for this specific plan, if council were to change the plan, or scrap it altogether under a new council, the funding would be in doubt.

That led Squire to question how much flexibility the city has for the plan moving forward. What the routes won’t change, the city politicians have yet to decide whether certain routes will have four lanes or six.