Edmonton’s city manager is taking full responsibility for the ongoing problems that continue to plague the Metro LRT line.
Simon Farbrother answered some tough questions Monday morning from Edmonton’s mayor and city councillors, but vows changes have been made.
“I’ll take full responsibility this project is not on time…it’s still not on time,” Farbrother said.
Although problems started in 2010, the city manager said he wasn’t aware until three years later.
The admission comes after a City Auditor’s report revealed a lack of communication was the major issue behind the project’s delay – currently 16 months behind schedule.
According to City administration, there was a culture within departments to only report issues to each other verbally, which has now changed. Officials said written reporting has improved and more changes are being made.
In fact, a 70 percent turnover in leadership within the transportation department has occurred in the past five years – leaving some councillors confident things are moving forward.
“I don’t agree with the public flogging of our staff or our administration,” said Councillor Dave Loken. “They’re people, they deserve some respect. People make mistakes and there’s accountabilities in there.”
However, others aren’t so quick to forgive.
“Knowing that there were no consequences, I would take full responsibility as well,” said Councillor Tony Caterina.
The report also discovered that problems with the Metro LRT line were not being properly reported to council. Even after a number of milestones were missed, council wasn’t notified until December 2013.
While it is clear the project was mismanaged, City staff said there’s no way of knowing whether better communication would have improved the timeline.
The Metro LRT Line extension, running to MacEwan University and NAIT, is planned to open September 6, with modified service – running at half speed for safety reasons.
City council will get another update on September 22.
With files from Nicole Weisberg & Breanna Karstens-Smith
