Thousands of public dollars connected to the barge terminal are in play, but Powell River taxpayers are not privy to any of the details. City of Powell River officials are dealing with the issue behind closed doors at in-camera meetings.
The city-owned facility was relocated to Townsite from Westview at the beginning of the year, due to the south harbour expansion project. The city hired City Transfer Inc., the company that operated the facility for the city in the old location, to construct the new terminal. No tender was issued for the project.
Neither the city nor City Transfer has said how much the move cost, although Craig Long, City Transfer president, told the Peak in March his company had submitted a “transparent accounting of our costs.”
Stan Westby, the city’s chief administrative officer, told the Peak on Thursday, April 28 that the city is “still looking at options and alternatives and wanting to bring that forward to council in a public forum shortly.”
When asked about the bill City Transfer sent to the city, Westby said the company has taken that bill back. “There is no bill with the city, other than about $20,000 for various pilings, out-of-pocket expenses that were reimbursed by the city,” he said.
When asked if City Transfer has re-submitted the bill, Westby said, “They haven’t sent us a bill. We’ll be leasing that on a temporary basis and we’re talking about what fee that would be, but I’m not free to disclose that as yet, as it’s still being negotiated.”
When asked if City Transfer was leasing the facility from the city or if the city was leasing it from City Transfer, Westby said, “It’s their facility, so the city would be leasing it from them.”
When asked for a clarification, Westby said he didn’t have time to talk about it anymore. Subsequently, he sent the following statement in an email: “The city is involved in discussions with a number of parties concerning the barge facility. Those discussions are confidential and we can not provide public comment at this point. Once council has reviewed the matter in-camera it will be brought forward to a public council meeting.”
Transport Canada transferred the barge facility to the city in 1999, along with the tanker wharf. In 2002, the city signed a contract with City Transfer for the maintenance, operation and administration of the barge facility. The contract was for one year, with an additional three-year renewable term. City Transfer was also responsible for administering the city’s fee structure for using the barge terminal.
That contract ended in May 2006 and the city signed another one-year contract with City Transfer that started June 1, 2006, with renewal options that expired May 31, 2009.
On May 21, 2009, Dave Douglas, director of financial services, presented a report to the city’s committee-of-the-whole meeting about the contract. He recommended that the city enter into a new operating agreement with City Transfer for one year, from June 1, 2009 to May 31, 2010.
Minutes from the meeting indicate council had a number of questions about the agreement and directed staff to prepare a report for the June 11, 2009 committee-of-the-whole meeting. That report has never been presented at an open meeting.
According to Douglas’ report, the city received revenues of$109,227 in 2007 and $111,421 in 2008 from the barge facility. According to budget documents, the city had $191,865 in revenues in 2009, $168,222 in the 2010 budget and $170,070 in the 2011 budget.
