In the wake of the George Street Parkade fiasco, the City of Prince George is continuing its quest to increase transparency and effectiveness of capital project management.
Several reports were brought forward at last night’s council meeting (April 26), including a list of over-budget projects from 2020.
Last year, when the city manager’s delegated authority was still five per cent of the total operating budget, capital budgets went over by $8,582,545.
However, the city was under budget on 23 projects and an operating surplus was able to bring the total overage down to $6,317,274.
The total operating budget for 2020 was close to $165.7 million. Five per cent of that figure equals nearly $8.3 million.
Under the previous delegated authority rules, the overages could have been approved by the city manager without having to report to council.
The city manager’s delegated authority was changed on Jan. 1, 2021, to five per cent of the capital project budget, or $100,000 per project.
City staff says some amounts will continue to come in for 2021 to finish a few of the projects, including the Library's new entrance for $268,659, Fire Hall 1's replacement for $938,059, the George Street Parkade construction for $45,000 and Downtown Utilities Relocation for $100,000.
This totals $1,351,718.
“That’s not a good news story,” said Coun. Brian Skakun during discussion of the report. “We have to do a better job estimating what these costs are going to be and reporting back to council.”
Coun. Cori Ramsay commented on the transparency of the reporting.
“When we made changes to delegated authority we really wanted to see how that would play out and we are seeing that before us,” she said.
“It’s not a comfortable report to show your underbelly and show we are $8.5 million over but we are aware a majority of that is the parkade and we are fixing it.”
Council also reviewed its first 2021 delegated authority report for the first quater of the year, which now details any overages under the city manager’s purview.
There was only one project on the report. The city has made a budget amendment for $67,200 for the Daycare Facility Construction of the original budget of $3,933,092. This money comes from the Northern Capital Planning Reserve Fund and will be used to hire project management from Colliers Project Leaders Inc.
Prince George councillors also voted to review the city’s capital project management and governance practices.
The city says the review was initiated following cost the over-runs on capital projects such as the new Fire Hall 1 and the downtown parkade, but the broader issue of infrastructure reinvestment and renewal is a Council Focus Area.
The objective is to collectively gain an improved understanding of the city’s capital project lifecycle management and practices.
Results of this review would include a City of Prince George Organizational Capital Project Management Policy and Framework and a road map of prioritized improvement opportunity recommendations.
The review is budgeted at $180,000, will be completed by the end of the year and would also come from the Northern Capital and Planning Grant Reserve Fund.
