EDITORIAL: Spending never stops, especially with consultants around

Nelson Star posted Nov 28, 2013 at 3:00 PM
Consultation — it’s a great career if you can get into it. In a time when many businesses and even industries are struggling to stay afloat, consulting seems to have a never ending line up of clients wanting to hire them.That is as long as governments refuse to use their own staff. Governments, be they municipal, regional, provincial or federal seem to have a love affair with consulting companies. The Regional District of Central Kootenay is one example. While it is admirable that the RDCK has agreed to allow the City of Nelson to submit a formal proposal regarding sharing office space in the White Building (310 Ward Street), it also plans to hire a consultant to perform an independent business case analysis. Doesn’t the RDCK have high paid staff that can handle such a routine endeavour? While ensuring the appearance of fairness is important — that is why an “independent” consultant is to be hired — is it worth the thousands of dollars that consultant will be paid? Surely taxpayers have spent enough to foot the bill of regular RDCK employees that it isn’t necessary to add another contracted employee on to the ever-growing list. Staff are hired to help board members, city councillors or other elected officials make decisions by providing insight and expertise. Why do we need an outside source to do their job? It’s not just the RDCK. The City of Nelson could be on the verge of making the same error – again. A marketing firm is asking for $33,000 from the taxpayers to create a new branding strategy for Nelson. While Mayor John Dooley voiced concerns about the proposal, council has directed staff to look into it. If a brand is really that important, doesn’t it make sense to have staff create the strategy, rather than look into it? The last time the city examined a new “look” or marketing tool, it spend $60,000 on a logo (often referred to as the flying bra) which it never uses. Money well spent. At a time when most people and businesses are continuing to be financially frugal, governments need to tow that line. Consulting fees should be the first thing to go.

Consultants raking in city cash

By Wolf Depner - Penticton Western News - November 23, 2007

Penticton councillors have raised questions about a new city policy governing consultants who received almost $1 million in fees last year. Coun. John Vassilaki wondered if council is losing control when staff recommended a measure that will make it easier to hire consultants who received $980,000 last year. “We are making it easier and easier to make decisions without the authorization of city council and it concerns me greatly,” he said. “We need to put a stop to this situation.” He issued that warning as council debated and eventually approved the measure that gives staff more leeway to hire consultants without competitive bidding. The city administrator can now approve consulting contracts of up to $50,000 without competitive bids and approval from council under revisions to the purchasing policy.The past limit was $15,000. The approved revisions also permit the administrator to ignore limits altogether in hiring consultants in a crisis or emergency.

Coun. Joanne Grimaldi also raised concerns about the recommendation. How can consultants gain experience with the city if it makes it more difficult to bid on contracts, she asked. “How can we ensure that we get a fresh perspective?” Purchasing manager Mike Ummenhofer said this additional flexibility would save the city money, provided staff select a consultant who was worked on local projects in the past. “The city would be better served by responding to the issues which required the consultant’s services in the first place, rather than wasting time shopping around for a better price,” he said. Delaying the selection of consultants through a competitive bidding process might actually turn time-sensitive issues into emergencies that would end up costing the city more money, he added. Ummenhofer said the new limit is within the norms of other municipalities, adding that the city has never signed a blank cheque when it hired consultants. “And by increasing this limit to $50,000 it will not do so in the future, either,” he said. Projects exceeding $50,000 would still go out for competitive bids unless the city faces a crisis or emergency.

Mayor Jake Kimberley said the new limit responds to the rising fees now charged by consultants whose numbers are also up. “It seems to be the trade of the day,” he said. Council unanimously approved the new limit and Vassilaki backed off from his earlier criticism when he said his concerns were not a commentary on the competence of staff. “I have all the confidence in the world in staff,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong.”Eight of the existing 13 consulting contracts exceed $50,000, with the remaining five ranging between $25,000 and $47,000.

City hopes to map future with surveys

By Scott NeufeldWednesday, October 18, 2006 http://www.dailycourier.ca/article_626.php

Vernon residents will get to have a say in the future of their city as more than 36,000 surveys are sent out through the mail this week. The massive mail out is part of the city’s review of the Official Community Plan and features 61 questions designed to give citizens a voice in how Vernon develops over the next 20 years.Chief administrative officer Leon Gous said the surveys are only the first step in a lengthy process to gather public input.“What we’re hoping to learn is the direction the community wants to see growth in Vernon go,” he said. “It’s more around what people expect of their city.”Questions range from rating the quality of life in Vernon to whether or not the city has enough activities to offer tourists. Gous said the surveys will help determine if residents want more of a focus on transportation, more emphasis on new parks or on some other need.In addition to the paper surveys, the quiz can also be taken online using the household number included in the mailed out version. However, some residents have contacted the Vernon Daily Courier who have managed to crack the code and log in using random sequences of numbers.When asked if there was a concern about the potential for individuals going online and stuffing multiple surveys into the system, Gous said the city has methods to limit that from happening. He added that the surveys are only part of the public process and people sending in more than one survey will not negatively affect the final results.“This is part of the whole review process,” he said. “A few surveys are not going to skew it.”On the city website, residents are told to contact Darwin Horning for more information on the review, however, that will soon no longer be the case. Horning, the senior long range planner for the city, is taking a new job next month. “It’s certainly never ideal to lose anyone,” he said. “(Darwin) is going to be local; he will be around daily if we need transition work or consulting.”Despite the unexpected loss of the senior planner, Gous said that the plan review will continue on schedule for completion by Dec. 2007. He said the additional workload created by the planner’s departure will be picked up by the private consultant the city is intending to hire for the project.“My message to the politicians is that this will not slow the process,” he said.The deadline for the surveys is Oct. 31. Public consultation will continue in November with a series of workshops. Gous said the success of the review will depend on how many residents decide to participate.“We hope it’s going to be broadly reflective; the problem is sometimes you only get people particularly interested showing up,” he said. “Our hope is to do the survey and get a broader reflection of the community.”