In an unusual move, the city could waive its own procurement process after already going ahead with infrastructure work along Keish Street and Second Avenue.

And that’s not sitting well with at least one councillor.

“This is not in our policy,” Coun. Dan Boyd said at Monday’s council meeting after the recommendation came forward. “It’s sole-sourcing a $90,000 contract.”

The contract saw the infrastructure work done to service 150 Keish St., where the Raven’s Inn is being built.

Mike Gau, the city’s director of development services, told council when the former Motorways trucking site – where the hotel is being built – was underway to put in mixed-use commercial lots, three of the properties did not have water and sewer services added.

“This was done intentionally, as the lots are very large and there was a risk that Second Avenue could be dug up twice if a proposed building design did not align with where services were installed,” Gau stated in his report to council.

“Once the preferred location was confirmed, the city intended to pay for the service extensions within the city right-of-way. The lots were appraised and sold as though services were installed.”

When 150 Keish St. was sold and development permits issued, city staff arranged for the contractors working on the hotel to also do the infrastructure work.

“The developer’s civil contractor provided a quote that aligned with (the city’s) engineering services’ internal estimate,” Gau stated.

“It was also felt that the rest of the civil contracting industry did not have capacity to take on the work on the developer’s schedule. Both parties agreed that the city could reimburse the contractor once the work was done.”

Council authorized funding for the work under the 2018 lot development and servicing project, Gau noted. As it was the developer, not the city, procuring the service, no bid process had to be used.

“This scenario is not addressed in the purchasing and sales policy,” Gau said.

Administration can’t process the invoice of $89,250 received for the work without having council waive the procurement process, he pointed out.

“This unique situation will be addressed in the rewrite of the procurement policy underway,” Gau said.

“While the arrangement that resulted was expedient for the developer, it does not ensure that a competitive price was received. The remaining two unserviced lots in the Motorways area will not be handled in the same manner.”

With that, Gau put forward the recommendation to waive the process for this case.

Like Boyd, Coun. Betty Irwin said she’s also not comfortable with the situation. If it’s a one-time situation, she wondered, why would it be pondered as part of an updated policy?

Gau said the suggestion to include it is there to acknowledge the situation.

Council will vote on waiving the procurement process for 150 Keish St. next week.

Coun. Rob Fendrick was absent from Monday’s meeting.