Halifax auditor general says 'no way to know' if winter crews are doing good job

Halifax's auditor general says the city is not properly managing its winter operations, with no evidence to show how things are going.

A report looking at the two winter seasons across 2022-23 and 2023-24 was released to Halifax's audit and finance committee Wednesday.

"I don't understand how some basic questions either aren't being asked, or certainly aren't being answered," Andrew Atherton told reporters after the meeting.

Municipal crews clear the downtown cores of Halifax and Dartmouth, while the city spent about $30 million annually for those budget years on private contractors that handle the rest of the region.

The audit said public works staff could not say how much Halifax Regional Municipality spends on its in-house winter operations crews.

Atherton said staff have told him it's difficult to keep track of internal spending because multiple departments are involved during winter storms. 

But he said it's important to track that money so council and staff can see trends over time, and compare what's spent in-house to what Halifax is paying its contractors.

"What if council wants to have a discussion — 'Well, should this new subdivision be in-house, should it be contractor? Which one's the most effective? Do we have excess capacity with our in-house teams?' We have no idea. There's no way to know if we don't start to collect some more information on it," he said.

"And it would make me very uncomfortable to be in that position as a manager."

The audit showed staff did not monitor whether any crews were meeting the municipality's service standards. These standards outline when roads and sidewalks are expected to be clear, ranging from 12 to 36 hours depending on the type of street and how much snow has fallen.

Although public works supervisors complete reports after every weather event, they are simply given a blank text box to fill out with no specific questions about how crews handled their duties.

"Each time, the supervisor is saying, yeah, everything was done great and that's the … extent of the information," he said.

The audit showed public works management said they can't measure whether the standards are being met because they don't have the "required technology."

While Atherton said it would be ideal to have tracking technology in the future on plows, like the province uses, it is very possible now to take a sample of roads and sidewalks to check how quickly they were cleared across each storm.

The audit also said that when residents call 311 to report property damage from any crews, Halifax doesn't track when or if the repairs are ever done.

Atherton said staff have told him there are informal conversations with contractors on most of these topics, and it's very possible that all crews are doing a great job. But he said it's important to record everything so staff and councillors can see if there are patterns, like a certain neighbourhood being cleared late in every storm.

The city has not penalized any companies for not fulfilling their contracts since 2019, and each year Halifax staff gave the private contractors positive evaluations.

"I'm at a loss as to understand what information was used to do so," Atherton said.

Councillors hope report brings change

Coun. Shawn Cleary said he was expecting this outcome based on complaints from residents, especially about property damage not being promptly addressed.

"It is damning, but it's also heartwarming in the sense that maybe we can actually change some things," he said during the meeting.

"I hope the result of everything that you're suggesting here will wind up actually moving the needle forward so that we can ensure that we're getting the best value for our residents," said Coun. Jean St-Amand. 

Halifax staff have accepted all 13 recommendations from the audit.

The audit and finance committee asked for a plan to address the recommendations within three months.