New Ottawa city manager vows to restore trust after damning LRT report

Ottawa's interim city manager is vowing to restore the public's trust after a damning report on the city's problem-plagued LRT system identified "egregious violations of the public trust."

In her first public remarks since taking over as interim city manager following Steve Kanellakos's resignation, Wendy Stephanson told city council that the senior leadership team is taking the inquiry's lessons to heart.

"Sometimes, it really takes somebody from the outside to point out where change is needed," she said Wednesday morning. "I recognize that council and the public's trust has been eroded over the light rail over a number of years.

"The senior leadership team is taking lessons form the inquiry to heart, and we're committed to taking the necessary actions needed to restore full confidence in the city's public service, and to make sure that the public knows that we put them first."

The Ottawa LRT public inquiry's final report found that Mayor Jim Watson and senior city staff withheld information from city council about the problematic testing period, during which the criteria for the system was lowered.

The report, released last week, said former city manager Steve Kanellakos "deliberately misled council" about the trial running period.

• 10 takeaways from the Ottawa LRT inquiry final report

"This conduct … is part of a concerning approach taken by senior City officials to control the narrative by the nondisclosure of vital information or outright misrepresentation," the report said. "Worse, because the conduct was wilful and deliberate, it leads to serious questions about the good faith of senior City staff and raises questions about where their loyalties lie.

"It is difficult to imagine the successful completion of any significant project while these attitudes prevail within the municipal government."

Kanellakos resigned last Monday, two days before the report was released. Council appointed Stephanson, who had been the city treasurer, to take over the job on an interim basis.

Stephanson said Wednesday that openness and transparency will be of "paramount importance" to the senior leadership team and the organization as a whole.

"We are actively looking at practical ways to enhance our processes and change any parts of the culture that lessen accountability," she said.

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said in his opening remarks to council that Stephanson recognized "work needs to be done to help re-establish council's and the public's trust going forward."

Along with city staff, the commission's report takes LRT consortium Rideau Transit Group to task for deliberately misleading the city as to when the Confederation Line would be ready.

City councillors voted to establish a new light rail sub-committee to oversee non-operational matters related to the system.

NO CITIZEN TRANSIT COMMISSIONERS

There will be no citizen transit commissioners on the transit commission during the 2022-2026 term of council.

The Council Governance Review recommended only elected representatives sit on the transit commission this term, removing the four citizen transit commissioners from the committee overseeing OC Transpo and Para Transpo.

Council voted 18 to 6 against a motion from Coun. Sean Devine and Coun. Jessica Bradley to keep citizen transit commissioners for two years until the mid-term governance review.

"I absolutely agree with the proposal to remove resident commissioners from the transit commission," Coun. Jeff Leiper said. "The more councillor eyes we have on transit who are required to be engaged day-to-day with the work of OC Transpo the better."

The city will set up a citizen's advisory committee made up of transit riders, including at least one Para Transpo user. Council also approved a motion to ensure the committee has a seat for a member of an OC Transpo union.

Council approved the full Council Governance Review, outlining the committee structures and procedures for the 2022-2026 term. The nominating committee will meet next week to vote on the members for each committee.

Some of the changes include:

• The Community and Protective Services Committee separated into the "Community Services Committee" and the "Emergency Preparedness and Protective Services Committee." 
• The Finance and Economic Development Committee renamed the Finance and Corporate Services Committee
• The Built Heritage Committee becomes a full standing committee