Who scored contracts for the City of Vancouvers riot-destroyed Stanley Cup fan zone and were the deals awarded without competition?
City hall is keeping that information secret for now.
The Freedom of Information office is withholding the list of companies and individuals who were hired and how much they were paid. City engineer Peter Judd said before the June 15 riot that the fan zone on streets around Library Square would cost taxpayers $680,000.
Three separate requests were filed in the wake of the post-Game 7 riot for records of expenditures, risk assessments, concepts of operations, daily planning meetings, situation reports and the contract with CBC to show Hockey Night in Canada to tens of thousands of people.
Tuesday was the deadline for the citys FOI office to respond. Director Barbara Van Fraassen unilaterally declared Sept. 14 the new deadline, citing the large number of records that must be reviewed and/or the third-party consultations that must be completed.
The city received the requests June 17, three days before a joint provincial/civic review was announced.
Appointees Doug Keefe and John Furlong have until Aug. 31 to submit their report to the city and province. A publication date has not been announced. There is no reason whatsoever that you should not have these documents, NPA Coun. Suzanne Anton told the Courier. This review is not a judicial review, so there is no legal reason for them not to give them to you.
Anton, who wants to beat Mayor Gregor Robertson in the November election, said the procurement information should already be public.
That seems pretty dead easy, that one, Anton said. [Robertson] ran this event out of his office.
Robertsons assistant Kevin Quinlan said the mayor was on vacation and unavailable for comment. City manager Penny Ballem was also on vacation and unavailable for comment, according to city hall spokeswoman Wendy Stewart.
When Robertson was sworn in, he promised to ensure transparency at city hall.
When the city uses your money, you have a right to know where its being spent, and what its being used for, Robertson said on Dec. 8, 2008. When leaders fall short of that standard, public confidence is shaken.
Among the equipment seen in the fan zone were Pit Stop portable toilets, Super Save rental fences and Impact Video truck-mounted TV screens.
The citys supply management website includes a list of contracts awarded through June 8 but none of the deals appears related to the fan zone.
As of Wednesday, no entries on the websites closed bids section appeared fan zone-related.
City staff seek at least three bids for purchases under $75,000 ($200,000 for construction). For purchases over that threshold, the city issues a public invitation to tender or request for proposals.
The annual procurement report to council on April 5 said the city spent $2,271,031 on 32 no-bid contracts in 2010, including 16 deemed urgent and highly specialized worth $526,175 and one for $15,000 that was considered so confidential that it was censored from the report.
