Depot budget remains in the dark

By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express

Despite repeated attempts by The Oshawa Express over the last month to obtain a clearer picture of the bloating budget for the city’s new consolidated operations depot, the current status remains unclear.

Requests for updated figures were first directed the city’s director of facilities management Mark Robinson.

Robinson said he was not sure when a report would be coming forward and forwarded requests for further information to Jag Sharma, the newly appointed city manager.

When contacted, Sharma said an update would be coming in the near future.

“There is intended to be an update. We have a few other items that we’re investigating at this point in time and some of them, especially with a repurpose of a facility, there are unknowns that end up occurring,” he said. “We want to make sure we’re well prepared for our discussion”

However, no updated numbers on the budget were provided.

In April, Robinson noted that the $25-million project was expected to be over budget by approximately $200,000.

However, a further report in June only noted what Robinson already stated: that the project was expected to be over budget, but no figures were provided and none have been available since.

According to Mayor John Henry, an update is expected to come early in the new year.

“I know they’re still working on some of the issues relating to the construction costs, but I expect it to come in. If it’s over budget, it won’t be very much,” he said.

Henry added he had no updated numbers on the depot’s budget, but expected to have them soon, especially with the city’s budget deliberations slated for January.

“The budget always concerns me. I think what we’ve got…staff working on the finalization of the construction of that building, we’ve got change orders that they’re processing so we’ll have those numbers soon,” he said.

Those changes include air quality testing and unlevel floors in the fleet area, says Glen Simmonds, the city’s director of operations.

“From a construction standpoint, we’re finished…we’re just cleaning up what I call some of the outstanding issues that go along with it,” Simmonds said. “We want to ensure the safety of all our staff and anybody else that is working on the site.”

Simmonds was unable to provide any numbers on what the additional costs could be to fix the deficiencies, but noted the budget was slim.

“We’re pretty tight on budget, like really tight,” he said.

Previously, The Oshawa Express, through Freedom of Information requests, was able to detail the change orders issued for the construction at the depot and the associated costs that were pushing the project over its budget.

In April, it was noted that more than 150 change orders had been issued for the project, including $115,000 used to fix grading on the site, over $134,000 for a new fuel management system and framing on the building’s curtain wall in the range of $200,000.