Time to fine snow-clearing contractors who leave Toronto in the cold, city councillors say

Toronto city council has asked staff to more rigourously police its $1.5 billion snow clearing program after last winter's service was plagued by complaints, equipment and personnel shortages and ran $26 million over budget.

Councillors adopted two reports on Thursday containing a long list of recommendations from Toronto's auditor general. Among them: that the city keep better records and use them to apply "liquidated damages," essentially fining contractors who don't provide service according to the terms of the 10-year deal. 

City staff say they're already moving to make many of the changes suggested by the auditor and approved by council, including fining contractors at the beginning of this winter.

Charges range, but if a contractor is late leaving the city depot yard, for example, could be charged $200 per minute.

Councillor Jamaal Myers said the penalties need to be enforced.

"We're not going to wait to apply liquidated damages this time," he said. "We will start applying them immediately if there are problems with this contract." 

As snow clearing started in late 2022, the city tracked but didn't apply fines. It wouldn't do that until February because staff believed the companies might not have been financially viable if it pursued the penalties.

When it did, it only fined contractors for leaving a depot late and not correcting problems within two hours of being notified.

No way to ensure city got work it paid for

Last winter was the first in a new system that has two companies and their joint venture handling all of the snow-clearing in Toronto, except for the Willowdale area, the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway. 

At the start of the deal, contractors were not able to obtain the right equipment, leading to the use of substitute vehicles. That included using cement trucks as plows. The contractors also struggled to hire vehicle operators because of labour shortages. 

The auditor makes it clear that due to issues with GPS installation in hundreds of vehicles and poor accountability practices, there was no way to ensure the city got the work it paid for.

Transportation Services Division General Manager Barbara Gray told council that GPS has now been installed in all of the approximately 1,200 vehicles. That will help staff enforce the contract, she said.

"We worked very diligently to …  install the GPS units in every piece of equipment that came forward and certainly some of those lagged behind a bit," she said.

'It's not rocket science': Coun. Fletcher

Councillors recounted a litany of complaints about the service on Thursday, including roads that were half-cleared or ignored and lawns damaged by contractors.

Coun. Paula Fletcher said city residents expect the service to be delivered right. When councillors voted for the new contract in 2021, they were told it was going to save the city money, she said.

So far, it has cost millions more than anticipated.

"We're $26 million over instead of having $40 million in savings," she said. "And is the service up to standard? It snows every year. It's not rocket science."

Myers, who represents a Scarborough ward, said he received numerous complaints from seniors who were afraid to leave their homes because sidewalks weren't cleared. In some instances, plows would clear one side of the road and leave snow on the other, creating a frozen windrow in the centre of the street, he said.

"It wasn't a success, let's not sugarcoat it," he said of the first year of the contract. "So we really have to be vigilant with how these contracts are managed, what type of oversight we're giving them, and making sure that what we're actually paying for is being delivered."

McKelvie defends staff work on snow clearing

Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie defended city staff and said that contract management is done over time. 

"We've learned a lot through this winter," she said. "I am sure city staff are committed to continuous learning."

Coun. Paul Ainslie voted against the contract when it was initially awarded in 2021 and said the auditor's finding validated his concerns that the contractors would not be able to get the vehicles or staff needed to fulfil the terms.

He's now frustrated the promised savings have not materialized.

"If we don't see those savings, I certainly am going to be raising red flags again," he said.