Included in the disheartening 10 per cent tax increase city council has all but approved for next year is their decision to hire a procurement manager. This decision may, in part at least, be a consequence of the Graham Avenue reconstruction experience. This project revealed weaknesses in the city’s contract procurement capacities.
Procurements are decentralized and involve the departments linked to projects. Staff members involved are well aware of problems and short-comings, and council recognizes the need for “improved consistency, efficiency, control, collaboration and risk management”. Adding one more management position to the city’s bureaucracy is council’s response to the problem. Could there be another way?
Our community is home to many lawyers, accountants, and engineers with a wealth of expertise relevant to the city’s needs. Coast Mountain College and the University of Northern B.C. are valued local education resources. Would it be worth the effort to call on these bodies, invite them to meet with council to explore the feasibility of developing a contract procurement course aimed at the specific challenges faced by medium-sized municipalities?
Could the city’s local sister organizations, the regional district and the school board, be facing contract procurement problems similar to the city’s? Might they be interested in joining council in an effort to establish a course to benefit their staff? How about the city’s umbrella organizations, the Union of B.C. Municipalities and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, might they be interested in a course that may prove to be beneficial to many of their member municipalities?
The Graham Avenue reconstruction project was a harsh and expensive experience, and we had to swallow it, but its characteristics were not unique. Such occurrences notwithstanding, City staff has performed and continues to perform their duties to the best of their abilities. Instead of hiring an additional manager, why not make an effort to provide the people now doing the work with the skills they need to improve their performance? Surely our people would not object to an opportunity to see improved results for the community from their work and efforts.
Graham Avenue was an all-around costly experience, but it is possible to metamorphose a costly negative experience into a positive asset that will serve the community over the long haul. The process is called “learning from your mistakes” and, for local government, doing so calls for political leadership. Do we have that in our community?
Developing a local contract procurement course would not be an easy undertaking, and there would be costs involved. Slap-dash would not do it. However, unlike establishing a new management position at $160,000, with annual increments ever after, enriching the skills and resources of our current staff, the people with a proven record of doing the best they can with the resources at their disposal, money spent on developing a course and on training would be a long-term investment providing ongoing benefits to the community.
There is no guarantee that the suggested venture would succeed. Success could only result from a colossal political effort on the part of Council, from political leadership in the true sense of the term. On the other hand, it is so much easier to raise taxes and hire more managers. People will grumble and complain, but they’ll pay. They always do – they grumble and they pay – we are used to it. So what the heck, take the easy way out!
