Metro Vancouver chair changes plans for finding a candidate to review wastewater plant

Metro Vancouver's board chair was forced to reverse course over a proposed candidate to lead an independent audit into the North Shore's new wastewater treatment plant project, which is four years overdue and five times over budget.

Mike Hurley, who is also the mayor of Burnaby, had put forward a motion to appoint Burnaby real estate expert William McCarthy to lead an independent audit of the $3.86 billion North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant (NSWWTP). But having faced criticism earlier this week, he amended the motion at Friday's board meeting to instead call for a more formal process to find an independent and qualified reviewer. The revised motion was passed.

The move was the latest development as the regional government seeks to understand how the costs have escalated since the NSWWTP was first announced as a $700 million project in 2011.

The ballooning costs have been publicly criticized as they will be passed onto all Metro Vancouver taxpayers in the region.

In June, after pressure, Metro Vancouver announced it would conduct an independent review of the NSWWTP to address concerns about whether Metro Vancouver was managing costs effectively.

It was the last major announcement at the board by then chair, Delta Mayor George Harvie, who was replaced by Hurley, after Harvie's council no longer supported him as a Metro Vancouver representative.

After Hurley was chosen by his fellow 40 directors as the new chair, he vowed to correct "mistakes of the past," and said the independent review of the NSWWTP would be a priority.

In selecting McCarthy, Hurley said he wanted to get an independent person in place quickly, who offered his services for free and could push forward the review.

"I had intended to make it possible for someone to begin immediately, overseeing the process, which would result in information coming back to us much sooner," he said.

'Failure of leadership'

Hurley, a former firefighter, said he had known McCarthy for "several years," as part of the report supporting his motion.

According to McCarthy's resume, he was designated an honorary Burnaby firefighter in 2022. Data from Elections B.C. show a William McCarthy donated $1,250 to Hurley's mayoral campaign in 2022.

New Westminster Coun. Daniel Fontaine, who is not on the Metro board, has been part of a group of councillors from various Metro Vancouver cities that have been highly critical of governance over the project.

In learning of Hurley's pick for the independent advisor for an independent audit, they asked for Hurley to resign as chair, less that a month after Hurley assumed the role.

"One of his first acts as chair [was] to tap on the shoulder of one of his friends and donors and ask that person to oversee the performance audit at the NSWWTP," said Fontaine. "And that is just a complete and utter failure of leadership.

"It makes the public have absolutely no confidence."

Alternative motion

Board members also questioned Hurley's pick, which had him change his motion for Friday's meeting to a formal search to obtain external legal counsel to recommend a process to select "an independent and qualified reviewer." The process would also define the scope and terms of reference for the audit.

Director Lisa Muri with the District of North Vancouver applauded the move.

"I appreciate you listening and bringing forward an alternative motion," Muri said at the meeting.

"There is an issue of trust in the community and we are being taken to task in the media for decisions of the past and how we move forward and we are all sensitive to that."

Muri and other directors expressed an interest in the province's auditor general being brought in to run the audit, but Hurley said, in communication with Premier David Eby, that the province had no intentions of doing that and wanted the regional government to manage the issue on its own.

Before approving the new motion, many directors spoke about the amount of scrutiny Metro Vancouver was facing over its spending and projects, and how a third-party audit was needed for the NSWWTP to try and restore public confidence in the project.

Director Bill McNulty with the City of Richmond said: "It's a price we have to pay for the situation we're in now."

No costs were announced in relation to finding someone to run the review and no details were released about when someone could be in place.

The person would need to be approved by the board, which does not meet again until Sept. 27.