LRT Inquiries: Mayor Watson defends receiving more information than Congressional colleagues

Mayor Jim Watson believes in "excessive communication" I said yes, but I needed to explain on Thursday why I didn't let my colleagues know that the criteria for measuring LRT performance had dropped during the August 2019 test run.

Watson testified on the 14th day of the LRT's investigation that Congress was following a city official's pledge that Congress would not ask about the conduct of the trial until the trial was successfully completed.

However, his office staff was in an instant message chat group with Transport Manager John Manconi and Mayor Steve Canellakos, so he was aware of the test run situation. I did.

Coun. Allan Hubley, chair of the Transit Committee, also joined the WhatsApp chat group, with Manconi providing regular updates.

No other council member knew the information shared in the chat group.

Commission co-chief adviser John Adair pressured Watson why the chat group was not revealed during a formal interview with the Mayor's Commission in April. .. The lawyer claimed that Watson and other members of the chat group worked together to keep the chat secret, and the mayor denied it.

"I never talked to them about WhatsApp," says Watson.

Coincidentally, the Commission learned during the evidence gathering process that the city was using WhatsApp to share messages about LRT issues.

The city's consultancy, STV, was asked to create an LRT record for the committee, a WhatsApp message popped up, and the city was asked to compose a message from the instant messaging service. I urged you to do it.

Watson was the mayor and chairman of the Treasury and Economic Development Commission, which oversaw the construction of the LRT, so during the test run he would receive information in addition to the information available to the rest of the council. Defended.

"It's not a ward council member, it's delegated from the whole city to the whole city, so there's nothing wrong with getting more information," Watson said.

In addition, the chairman of the committee will receive more information to properly run the meeting, the mayor said.

However, there was no financial and economic development committee between the effective completion date and the delivery of the LRT system, Adair said.

Adair created an LRT-related note from Manconi to the Council on August 16, 2019, which did not communicate the staff's decision to change the test run standards on the same day.

Watson knew that the standard had changed. When asked who suggested lowering the trail running standard from 98% to 96%, Watson said Thomas Prendergast, one of STV's leading LRT advisors to Mankoni. I said that.

This is the third version of the story heard by investigator Judge William Hooligan.

In his testimony, Mankoni stated that the Redo Transit Group had proposed to change the criteria for trial running.

And Rauff said in his own testimony that the city brought it out.

RTG has achieved a test run performance rate of 97%.

WhatsApp message thread revealed Mankoni's frustration when problems began to occur on the LRT system in the fall of 2019.

Adair brought up a WhatsApp chat in October 2019 when Mankoni was complaining about Civil Transport Commissioner Sarah. Wright Gilbert "destroyed us with false information" in a radio interview. It has been with.

In a message thread, Watson suggests that if Wright Gilbert "attacks" a staff member at a meeting between Hubley and the city's secretary, she will be said to be removed from the transit committee. did.

The meeting was not held in the end.

(Wright Gilbert was watching Watson's testimony andtweeted: "He's trying to ruin my good name. I'm fighting back. increase").

At the end of the answer to Adair's question, Watson was invited to make other observations about Stage 1 project governance.

According to Watson, the state-mandated Canadian content rules for trains "confused us from the beginning" because Ottawa did not have skilled workers to maintain vehicles. ..

The mayor, who did not seek re-election in the October local elections, also said that future projects would include "a committee of council members and paid independent experts to provide a challenging function. It should be included. "

In the morning, the Commissioner heard evidence from two consultants who worked in Stage 1.

TUV Rheinland's Mario Murti was an independent safety auditor hired by the city who concluded that the LRT system is safe for passenger services.

SEMP's DerekWynne has signed a contract with RTG's construction department to provide a "health check" for systems engineering.

Wynne's Track Safety Justification Report in August 2019 suggests that the type of rail is too stiff for train wheels and can return vibrations to the train. In his testimony, he explained that it was a "mismatch" that did not require stopping driving and could be mitigated by increasing vehicle and truck maintenance.

Win's observations could be considered prophetic through the August 2021 derailment framework near Tannies Pasture Station.

Alstom's root cause analysis claimed that the RTG's track design did not meet the expected specifications of the Citadis Spirit train. The RTG disputed Alstom's claim, stating that the truck was built to the specifications of the project contract.

The general public can hear LRT inquiries online on the video screen at the Fauteux Hall at the University of Ottawa on Rogers TV's www.ottawalrtpublicinquiry.ca orで見ることができます（英語のチャ​​ンネル470とフランス語のチャンネル471）。

final week of the hearing Beginning Monday, witnesses to City Manager Steve Canelacos and Monica Sekiari, an independent certifier for the Stage 1 project, are scheduled.

jwilling@postmedia.com

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