WATCH LIVE | Day 13 of the consultation:
From questions about WhatsApp text messages never seen to his role in lowering the bar of test leads, to keeping information from board members, John Manconi faced the toughest question Tuesday. now at the Ottawa Light Rail Public Consultation.
The city’s former director general of transport and, as such, the public figure perhaps most associated with the Confederate Line, sat in the red-hot seat for five hours, much of which was discussed by the councilor. commission leader John Adair.
Increasingly, public investigation lawyers are introducing evidence revealed in hundreds of informal WhatsApp messages in various group chats to provide information about what could have caused LRT breakdowns.
Manconi used the chat channels to ask the mayor to approve the sending of a note to the town hall in the summer of 2019. The mayor’s staff asked daily for updates on how the trains had gone during the tests of the morning. The traffic chair would weigh Allan Hubley.
Adair pointed out a note written by Manconi this would have alerted the entire council that the LRT failed its first days of testing and had to be reinstated. It was never sent after City Administrator Steve Kanellakos said the council had to wait until the entire test was over.
“Why are you updating only the mayor and Mr. Hubley and no one else?” Adair asked.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson in the center and then GM Transport John Manconi on the left traveled to the Confederation Line with other officials on August 23, 2019, the day after the test was held. considered a success. (Joanne Chianello / CBC)
The lawyer suggested that looking back, Manconi would accept that other decision-makers also needed this information, especially about the finance and economic development committee and the traffic commission.
“In retrospect, I would do the same thing we did here,” Manconi said. “I needed a communication channel to keep them informed.”
Although the city’s attorney, Peter Wardle, noted that the mayor has a different role than other council members (legally Watson is the city’s CEO), he didn’t talk about why President Hubley it should have information that other board members did not have.
Osgoode Coun. George Darouze even appeared as part of a WhatsApp chat in September 2019.
Councilors Allan Hubley, right, and George Darouze were included in WhatsApp talks with Mayor Jim Watson and OC Transpo chief John Manconi in August and September 2019. (CBC)
The use of WhatsApp caught the attention of the commission in mid-June when consulting firm STV Inc. tried to include messages as proof.
In early May, Manconi did not mention the existence of WhatsApp messages during his interview with commission attorneys when asked if he had informed the mayor or city official daily during the LRT trial. He now says he forgot to mention group chats.
Adair: Was there no pressure from elected officials to do so in the summer of 2019?
Manconi: Many questions, disappointments, deadlines. Lots of restless people. “There was no political pressure to do so on a certain date exerted on me”
– @KatePorterCBC
Manconi, meanwhile, denied facing political pressure, even with many messages flying back and forth.
“The mayor is known for wanting to have a granular level of detail,” Manconi explained.
Manconi only testified confused about the score
Some of the most timely exchanges took place on the subject of the test: 12 consecutive days of full-service Confederate Line service tests that “must be almost perfect” before being delivered to the city, as Manconi said. to the May councilors. 5, 2019.
It has already been reported that the criteria were changed halfway through the test, but the committee read in the minutes how bad the test was. He revealed that Manconi was sharing this information with the mayor and Hubley in a WhatsApp chat group that included the city administrator.
“Today was the first day we applied very strictly [project agreement] requirements on what constitutes vehicles that are ready for revenue service, ”Manconi sent to WhatsApp on July 25, 2019.
“Unfortunately, [Rideau Transit Maintenance] he didn’t do well and there are only four vehicles on the line. ”
Former OC Transpo chief John Manconi on the right was criticized Tuesday by attorney John Adair in the Ottawa public consultation. (Public consultation on Ottawa light rail traffic)
Adair pointed out a message in the early afternoon, when a member of the mayor’s staff asked how the morning had gone.
When Rideau Transit Group reached the main milestone called substantial completion on July 26, 2019, only four or five of the 15 trains were on track, Adair concluded from the messages.
The commission’s lawyer tried to claim that it was Manconi who recommended that the scorecard be modified.
Manconi stated that he had been confused about how the 98 percent reliability score had been achieved in 12 days, with no day falling below 90 percent; criteria that the heard investigation was created by the construction group of Rideau Transit Group and accepted by city officials. .
At RTG’s proposal, Manconi said there was a discussion and a final agreement between city officials and traffic experts that should reduce the score to 96 percent on average for nine of the top 12 days.
Former OC Transpo chief John Manconi says it was RTG’s Peter Lauch who suggested going back to the easier 2017 criteria for the test. (Stu Mills / CBC)
Adair noted that the investigation heard several witnesses with first-hand knowledge of the process and received 1.5 million documents.
“Do you know, sir, that you are the only witness who has said that there was any confusion as to whether it was 98 or 96? [per cent]? “he asked.” Do you know that you are the only person who has given this evidence? “
Manconi replied that he said he was the only one who was confused.
“Right, and no other witness has said you’re confused,” Adair said.
In fact, a text message from one of the city’s railroad administrators, Richard Holder, on Aug. 6, said, “Fyi, John will not deviate from 98%.”
Earlier in the day, a key traffic consultant in the city, Thomas Prendergast, stated that it is not uncommon to change the criteria during a test if it is considered too demanding.
When a commission attorney asked him if he had been asked for his opinion on the modification of the scorecard, Prendergast said he was only aware that there had been discussions on the subject.
Manconi wants to know ‘what’s wrong with me’: Lauch
The test began on July 29, 2019 and the Confederacy line quickly failed. As he did the next day.
The system did not happen on the third day either.
After a two-day hiatus, the LRT went on for four days in a row, until August 7, when it malfunctioned so badly that it caused a 12-day “restart” of the test.
That day, the then CEO of RTG, Peter Lauch, wrote to the members of the consortium board, telling them that he was waiting for the restart for that day and, although the LRT had passed the previous days, “as passenger experience, the days that are season tickets would be horrible for that day.
As a passenger experience, the days that are season tickets would be horrible for the city and the public outcry would be brutal.- Peter Lauch, RTG
Lauch goes on to write “Manconi made it clear he wants to know ‘what’s in store for me’ to get you a PASS on the race test.”
He suggests that Manconi is taking some heat not only in stage 1 of the LRT, but also in stage 2, where the RTG partner SNC-Lavalin won a $ 1.6 billion contract without reaching technical threshold.
It is unclear what Lauch meant by that – he is testifying Wednesday morning – and Manconi told the committee he does not remember saying so.
“That’s not my style,” Manconi said. “I would never make that statement.”
Former RTG CEO Peter Lauch told his board on August 7, 2019 that even on the days the LRT passed the test, the customer experience would be “horrible”. (Jean Delisle / CBC)
But Adair points to Lauch’s letter as the reason Manconi decided to change the test criteria.
“What happened is,” the lawyer suggested to Manconi, “as you saw on August 7 when you started backing down on bad days, and as you saw that even the days that were past were horrible. , what you did was Did you suggest to RTG that you could pass them back to the old criteria as long as they were ready to help you in stage 2? ”
Manconi replied “I do not agree with that, one hundred percent.”
The criteria were changed on August 14, the test was completed on August 22, and the next day a ceremony was held at the town hall announcing the delivery of the Confederation Line.
MIRAR | Highlights of this handover ceremony: Has the city set September 14 as the launch date for the Confederation Line?
The reduction to 13 trains changed the contract
On several occasions, Manconi told the council, the public, even the higher levels of government that 15 two-car trains were to be operated during the morning and afternoon rush hours.
In fact, 34 light rail vehicles making up 17 trains were always considered a requirement for a reliable LRT system.
In the city’s quarterly report to the province in March 2019, the city wrote that “RTG’s capacity to operate 15 double cars consistently” will determine the delivery date.
Manconi announced on August 23, 2019 that only 13 trains would be needed for rush hour service because passenger levels were lower than expected.
However, the contract provided for 15 trains and reducing this requirement to 13 meant that city officials had changed the terms of their contract with RTG without notifying the City Council in advance.
The investigation continues on Wednesday, with Lauch appearing in the morning and a group of councilors and traffic commissioners in the afternoon.
Mayor Watson is scheduled for Thursday and municipal administrator Kanellakos to …