58 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

Instead of building a new $300 million centre, where is the third party report suggesting cost savings by contracting out some of this work?




About 300 parks and public-works staff work at or report out of the location and are responsible for transportation, parks, water, sewer and solid-waste services in the municipality, Machielse said.

The site houses a “fleet centre” that provides mechanical services for police vehicles and most other municipal vehicles, except for more-specialized fire department vehicles, he said.

Machielse said that all of the municipality’s vehicles and equipment have daily maintenance requirements, safety checks, replacement schedules and other needs that are overseen through the operations centre, where about 250 vehicles are stored.


https://www.timescol...million-5260686

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 April 2022 - 02:46 AM.

[Spy Black]

Instead of building a new $300 million centre, where is the third party report suggesting cost savings by contracting out some of this work?

One word why no contracting out:

Unions

(in this case CUPE)

 

Secondarily, their current property on McKenzie is a complete dump, and has been a complete dump for the past two or three decades.

[Victoria Watcher]

One word why no contracting out:

Unions

(in this case CUPE)

 

Take the sign shop, for example.  I can probably order a sign on the internet today and it'll be here Friday.  Does the municipality still need a sign shop, in 2022?

 

Why does the municipality need 250 vehicles?  I understand heavy work trucks and emergency vehicles, but what are all the rest?  You do not see private companies running fleets of passenger vehicles, there are cheaper ways of doing it.

 

De-centralize some of the landscaping stuff to storage compounds in parks.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 April 2022 - 10:06 AM.

[Spy Black]

I think it's a by-product of Saanich being around 40 square miles in size, and the equipment needed to support the infrastructure contained within those 40 square miles roughs out to 250 assorted vehicles (or so).

 

I think the rest of it is all a by-product of CUPE and the lock they have on all the work being done, as well as who will do that same work.

The guy(s) in the Sign Shop are CUPE guys, and their collective agreement with Saanich locks their services down tight ... thus there will always be a Saanich Sign Shop.

 

I think most residents of Saanich (I'm one of them) consider that they get a fairly good bang for their tax dollar from Saanich work crews and infrastructure support.

[lanforod]

I wonder if they've considered a residential or commercial at ground level component along McKenzie. It's super prime real estate.

[Victoria Watcher]

Saanich borrows $25 million for public works redevelopment

 

 

 

Last spring, when the previous council approved an early concept for the redevelopment, the price tag was estimated at between $183 million and $212 million.

 

Mayor Dean Murdock said given the high interest environment and cost of material and labour, that price has probably changed significantly.

 

 

https://www.timescol...lopment-7412909

[Mike K.]

Maybe now isn’t the time to pursue redevelopment?

[Victoria Watcher]

As I asked in the first post, where is the study that shows another way of doing things?

 

Somehow every single private property in Saanich - both business and residential - seems to manage their properties without the need for a central compound to coordinate things.  

 

Now most businesses and residential properties have less "roadwork" than Saanich, so I see some needs for a works yard, but a lot of it can probably be curtailed or dispersed.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 16 August 2023 - 06:25 AM.

[Kilo95]

See with amalgamation there wouldn't be a need for every fiefdom to shell out hundreds of millions for their own individual works yards..

[Ismo07]

See with amalgamation there wouldn't be a need for every fiefdom to shell out hundreds of millions for their own individual works yards..

 

I think there would be more than one yard though, so not sure there would be much savings, but certainly some.

[Mike K.]

Langford doesn’t have a yard.

Or at least it didn’t for 30 years. Now the new council might want it to have a yard.

[Ismo07]

Langford doesn’t have a yard.

Or at least it didn’t for 30 years. Now the new council might want it to have a yard.

 

Everything was contracted out in Langford.  Those contractors have yards etc.  It does depend on if the politicians have businesses that their municipality can hire. 

[Victoria Watcher]

How does Langford manage with no works yard?

 

It's half the size and population of Saanich.

[lanforod]

Like, Alpine etc. do have yards.

[Victoria Watcher]

Like, Alpine etc. do have yards.

 

And they pay property taxes on those yards too.

 

Sort of the opposite of the Saanich plan.

[Ismo07]

And they pay property taxes on those yards too.

 

Sort of the opposite of the Saanich plan.

 

If you don't have employee's, vehicles, equipment and supplies, you don't have a yard.

[Mike K.]

How many yards does Canada Post have to service all 13 municipalities?

How many yard does BC Transit have to service all 13 municipalities?

How many yards does Victoria Contracting have, to service its clients like the City of Langford?

I think we can see, you don’t need a 1:1 ratio to service a community. You can consolidate.

[lanforod]

I don't disagree, however those scale better. A single yard for multiple munis would be huuuuuge. Saanich's current yard is pretty big.

[Victoria Watcher]

I don't disagree, however those scale better. A single yard for multiple munis would be huuuuuge. Saanich's current yard is pretty big.

 

 

 

 

Same scale, Victoria vs. Saanich.  Although Victoria also has the parks yard at BHP.

 

 

 

 

[Ismo07]

I don't disagree, however those scale better. A single yard for multiple munis would be huuuuuge. Saanich's current yard is pretty big.

 

Yeah like I could see consolidating a couple here and there but not one big yard for the CRD - (CRD has a yard for servicing Langford water etc.)