Councillors say no to bureaucrats' bid to gain authority over $65M worth of road contracts

City councillors havebalked at arequest to hand bureaucrats the authority to approve the award of up to $65 millionworth of roadwork projects on their own this spring.

Winnipeg's public works department came before city council's public works committee Tuesday with a request to delegate the authority to approve seven major projects.

The list of projects includes $19.5 million to rebuildthe Fermor Bridge, $15.5 million to conduct more Polo Park-area road improvements and $14.5 million toextend and improve downtown bike lanes.

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Normally, city councillors sign off on any spending above $5 million. But public works engineering manager BradNeirinck sought the authority for the administration to approve these projects on its own inorder to ensure the work took place quickly.

Three out of four members of council's public works committee did not agree.

Couns. Marty Morantz(Charleswood-Tuxedo-Whyte Ridge),Devi Sharma (Old Kildonan) and Jeff Browaty (North Kildonan) each raised concerns there would be a loss of oversight over major city spending decisions.

"I think that's what taxpayers expect us to do protect their interests. The threshold is $5 million," Morantz said."The public service is going to have to out up with a little bit of an inconvenience and come back and ask us for the award."

Sharma suggested the committee hold special meetings, on short notice, in order to satisfy the needs of the public works department.

Coun. Mike Pagtakhan (Point Douglas) disagreed, calling special meetings cumbersome. He said what the public service has proposed is innovative.

"There's a new discipline at city hall," he said.

Pagtakhan wound up a lone voice, as the committee voted 3-1 against the plan, which still moves forward to council in March.

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The vote comes in the wake of tensions between thepublic works committee and the city's public works department.Last fall, the committeeshelvedplans to extendSterling Lyon Parkway west through a semi-rural portion of Charleswood after Morantzcomplained he and area residents were left in the dark about the preferred route.