By Spencer Sterritt

‘Disappointing and disturbing’ review leads to major changes in upcoming City projects

Nov 21, 2017 | 4:44 PM

NANAIMO — It’s hoped rebuilding Nanaimo’s main fire station will be a much smoother process compared to what it would have been before a review of how the City tackles major projects.

The roughly $17 million rebuild was chosen as a pilot project to test out recommendations found in an audit by Deloitte Canada of four departments within the City of Nanaimo. Fire Rescue, Engineering and Public Works, Parks and Rec and IT were looked at in terms of how projects were designed and delivered.

The review made 24 recommendations to fix a disconnect between departments and tighten the organization as a whole.

Nanaimo Fire Rescue chief Karen Fry said if they succeed at listening to and building on the review recommendations, a template for all future development will hopefully be crafted.

“Instead of throwing money at things in the past and having one or two people ad-hoc run the project, it’ll be a much more systematic, fiscally responsible and documented process.”

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With nearly $190 million planned in capital projects over the next five years, Fry said success will pay great dividends for the City.

“Sometimes it might seem more tedious at the outset, a lot more planning, but if we can plan things well in advance then we’re going to run into less roadblocks in the future and make sure we stay on budget and on-time and on-scope.”

During Monday night’s council meeting, coun. Ian Thorpe said he found the Deloitte Canada review “disappointing and disturbing in places.”

“I’m not somebody who believes in looking back and complaining, I want to look forward and make improvements, find better ways of doing things and finding efficiencies and look at how we as a City can operate in better, more positive and effective manners.”

Thorpe noted the review wasn’t all “doom and gloom” and it did say many aspects of City operations were standardized and up to par.

Much of the narrative about the review from councillors and senior staff was negative, about how they inherited outdated and ineffective procedures from previous administrations.

The full review can be found online.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit