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Kincardine rejects plan to have recreation department run Tiverton Arena By Liz Dadson |
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It's back to the drawing board, sort of, to find someone to run the Tiverton Arena. In August, Kincardine council turned down the notion of the Kincardine parks and recreation department running the arena in Tiverton and directed staff to send out a notice for a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a one-year contract to manage and operate the facility. Last night (Sept. 14), recreation director Karen Kieffer and councillor Kenneth Craig, policy chairman for recreation, presented their report and it was practically stomped on and rejected by committee-of-the-whole. The report noted that RFPs were received from Ev'Rose Layne and Chad Woods, and evaluated based on work plan, cost and experience, by the evaluation committee of Craig, Kieffer and councillor Candy Hewitt. The committee came to the conclusion that neither candidate was qualified so neither submission should be accepted. Therefore, the recommendation was to have the municipality responsible for the operation and management of the Tiverton Sports Centre. This would be done through the use of one seasonal worker and two or three casual workers, said Kieffer. The funding would break down as follows: $28,100 for six-month seasonal worker for inside maintainer duties; $19,000 for casual inside maintainer hours, and $4,000 for funds from lead hand maintainer time, allowing $15,776 as a net contribution to the municipality to form a contingency reserve for the Tiverton Sports Centre and the Davidson Centre. This was based on the original $66,000 paid annually for a contractor to run the facility. Dennis Todd did a great job running the arena for 16 years but retired in the spring. Craig said both candidates were able to provide excellent service in the maintenance and management of the arena, and had qualified support staff. However, neither candidate, himself, was certified or experienced in the laying of ice or the maintenance of ice which was the main qualification. Councillor Randy Roppel said he used to run an arena but if he had applied for the job, he would not have been hired either. "It was a rather enlarged and confusing RFP," he said. He noted several of the items laid out in the RFP were questionable, and doubted the municipality had adequate employees to cover the Davidson Centre and the Tiverton Arena. "In the 2011 budget, we had $66,876 for this job," said Roppel. "Were both candidates at or under that target?" "No," said Craig. Roppel said the people who tendered for the contract to run the Tiverton Arena were notified late Friday so were unable to get their names on the Sept. 14 council agenda to make presentations. He added that the former Tiverton arena manager resigned in the spring and council had all summer to deal with this issue. Now, there's a rush because the ice has to be in by Oct. 3 which is only three weeks away. "It's not about saving money here," said Roppel, "it's about spending money wisely." He asked if the municipality has someone hired to run the Tiverton Arena. "No, not at the present time," said Kieffer. "What is the major hang-up with the two RFPs?" asked councillor Mike Leggett. "The RFP requested people who were experienced in the production and maintenance of an ice surface," said Craig. "If we had our own employees doing it, we would be training them. If we hire a contractor, it's not up to us to train them to do the job." "Given the enthusiasm of the people in Tiverton to have a contractor running the arena, I'm disappointed at the response so far," said councillor Ron Coristine. "Perhaps a one-year contract is insufficient to draw more people, and perhaps the timing of this was too short." Craig emphasized that any reserve would be for both buildings, not drawing from the Tiverton Arena to support the Davidson Centre. "I agree," said councillor Maureen Couture. "If the Tiverton Arena required maintenance, we'd pay for it. It would foster a sense of one-ness in this municipality which we seem to have trouble with from time-to-time. I believe the RFP process was open and transparent and we should go with the recommendation." Councillor Jacqueline Faubert said both candidates had experienced ice expertise as part of their support staff. However, Craig said the person, himself, had to be qualified.
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"But we allow for our contractors to have sub-contractors with different experience," said Faubert. "But the same as our airport manager has the ability and qualifications to run the airport, that's what we were looking for in an arena manager," said Craig. Coristine said he didn't realize that the candidates hadn't been interviewed. Craig said there was no formal interview, but each candidate was invited for a site visit and had the opportunity to discuss the proposal with the evaluation committee. "I think it would be a wise decision to interview them," said Roppel. "Yes, perhaps we should finish the process," said Coristine. Acting chief administrative officer Donna MacDougall said there is nothing in council policy that states a requirement for an interview for an RFP. "This is a one-year contract," said Faubert. "We're not looking at 10 years. We could declare it a failed search, refine the RFP and include experienced staff in the contract." "However, we are under a time crunch," said Craig. "We should interview the two people who responded and go from there," said Coristine. "Is it normal to ask for interviews for all candidates?" asked Hewitt. "It's been our policy that interviews are required for all qualified candidates," said MacDougall. "We could move forward with interviews of the two candidates in this case and bring a recommendation back next week." "If you were told that the candidates have ice expertise in their support staff, could you reverse your decision?" Faubert asked Craig. "I know that both applicants have highly-qualified ice expertise but I stick with my recommendation," said Craig. "I'm not going to get involved in the politics of this decision. We're looking for efficiencies here." "This actually has to do with process, job descriptions and fairness," said Faubert, "and how clear the RFP was." "I agree," said deputy mayor Anne Eadie. "This is not about politics. We want to get the best service we can for the Tiverton Arena, and we have to find the best solution here." "Let's not jump all over them (evaluation committee)," said Leggett. "They followed the RFP and it stated a required set of qualifications, and they based their decision on that." "This is a political decision," said Roppel, and turning to Craig, he said, "If you are not interested in a renewed push to interview these people, then you should step back and let somebody else in there." Committee-of-the-whole defeated the recommendation from the recreation department, with Hewitt, Couture and Craig in favour and the rest against. Mayor Larry Kraemer had declared a conflict of interest. It was agreed to have a sub-committee of Kieffer, Roppel, Eadie and Hewitt interview the two candidates and bring a recommendation back to council. Council later endorsed that decision. Scrolling stops when you move your mouse inside the scroll area. You can click on the ads for more
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