By Dominic Abassi

Another twist in Nanaimo foot ferry saga

Nov 9, 2016 | 5:20 PM

NANAIMO — Council’s decision to publicly reveal alleged misconduct by Nanaimo’s mayor may complicate longstanding efforts to establish a coveted passenger ferry between the harbour city and Vancouver.

Island Ferry Services Ltd. (IFSL) has issued a release calling on the city to suspend Clipper Navigation from consideration to establish the service. IFSL is also calling for a provincially-appointed fairness advisor to be put in place to review and oversee the process. The move comes one day after council released a statement, alleging mayor Bill McKay had exploratory meetings with Clipper at the same time the city had a lease and memorandum of understanding (MOU) with IFSL.

“We were in a relationship with the city and others…trying to put in place the passenger only ferry,” said IFSL director of operations David Marshall. “We were very concerned to learn that at the time we were in that arrangement there were negotiations or dealings of some sort going on with a firm that eventually became a competitor for the service in Nanaimo.”

The council release, sent out through the city of Nanaimo on Tuesday, alleges McKay entered into a non-disclosure agreement with Clipper to begin discussions about setting up a foot ferry in Nanaimo. Council alleges McKay accepted a free ferry ride to meet with Clipper in Sept. 2015. McKay says he did have conversations with Clipper after they reached out to the city. He says council did know about the trip, something he can prove, and the non-disclosure agreement is a normal part of doing business.

IFSL signed an MOU and lease agreement with the city in June 2014. The lease agreement expired in March 2015 because the service wasn’t established by a set deadline. Marshall says in Nov. 2015 they told council during an in-camera meeting they were ready to establish the service. During an in-camera meeting in Dec. 2015, council directed staff to terminate the MOU with IFSL and move ahead with an expression of interest process to find operators. McKay and Coun. Diane Brennan opposed the motion to end the MOU.

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IFSL, Clipper and Australian-based Riverside Marine were the only three firms that responded to the call for interest.

“We don’t know why they took that decision (in Nov. 2015) but they did,” said Marshall. “Whether or not that decision was influenced in part by what had transpired and what council apparently knew at the time, we don’t know. But it certainly raised sufficient concerns about the fairness of the process to cause us to ask for the process to be reviewed by a fairness advisor.”

Councils revelation of the mayor’s alleged misconduct came one day before city officials were scheduled to meet Wednesday with consultants tasked with recommending which of the three potential operators would be the best option to move ahead with. Marshall says the timing of the city’s release caught their attention.

“Why is that information coming out now at the same time the technical advisory group is supposed to be reporting? So recognizing the city is putting this in the public domain we thought it appropriate we put our concerns in the public domain as well,” said Marshall.

Marshall says he doesn’t know if there will be any repercussions going forward, adding they are focused on providing a ferry service to Nanaimo.

The city’s communication manager Philip Cooper says the city is aware of the release from IFSL and is expecting to offer a response Thursday.