The city will no longer lead the consultation on proposed new bylaws governing cabs and limousines.

Instead, it has contracted Outside the Cube to do the work, city manager Dennis Shewfelt announced at a press conference at city hall this morning, with Dee Enright, president of the local firm.

The decision to spend $15,000 to have an outside company do the work comes after numerous arguments from cab drivers against the city doing the consultation

itself because many stated they didn't trust municipal officials.

"Basically, we wanted someone completely impartial,” Mayor Bev Buckway said in a brief interview following the news conference.

In February, the city's bylaw department brought forward drafts of two new vehicle for hire bylaws – one governing limos and another governing cabs and other such hired vehicles.

As Shewfelt explained, the draft was prepared as a discussion point to begin consultations and there had been no formal process started to adopt the bylaw.

It began as a usual process for the city – writing a draft that serves as a discussion point during input sessions with stakeholders and the public, he said.

The city typically has its own staff conduct the input sessions before making changes to the draft. Those changes then come before council in the form of a new bylaw for first reading, but in this case cab drivers came forward arguing against many aspects of the draft and stating their distrust of city officials.

When staff indicated to council it could look at hiring a consultant to oversee the consultation, members supported the move.

Shewfelt said this morning the contract was small enough and the timelines short enough that staff opted not to put it out for competition.

Instead, they opted to go on the reputation of Outside the Cube.

Anyone who knows Enright knows she'll call a spade a spade, Shewfelt said. Based on other work Outside the Cube has done, the city is confident Enright will get

honest feedback and everyone will have an opportunity to bring forward their thoughts on the issues.

"We want to be inclusive,” Enright said, later making clear that her expertise is not in drafting bylaws, but in getting input.

Her job, she said, will be to listen to all parties who have an interest in the taxi industry: owners, drivers, user groups, organizations like the local chamber of commerce and the tourism association, among others and the general public.

Between now and the end of May, that consultation will take place in the form of meetings, including one major public gathering, and a survey by DataPath Systems (included in the $15,000 price tag) in an effort to get an unbiased view of what Whitehorse citizens are thinking about the issue.

As Enright pointed out, that will give her a better view of what average residents are thinking over simply inviting input via a website or other means.

In many cases, simply inviting input only brings in those who are more passionate about an issue rather than all those in the community as a representative survey does.

Shewfelt also noted residents can submit their thoughts on the matter to the city, mayor and council as they normally would on any issue.

Those submissions will be forwarded to Outside the Cube.

"That avenue is there,” he said.

As Coun. Florence Roberts pointed out after the press conference, many people around the city seem to want to have their say on the draft that was put forward.

"The bylaw seems to have created a lot of interest,” she said.

Following the consultation, the input will be compiled and presented to the city by the end of June at the latest, Enright said.

Shewfelt cited a number of issues in the draft that have been met with contention by the industry, such as a cell phone ban, meter operation rules and new insurance regulations.

Enright said she will familiarize herself with the basic issues but doesn't want to come into the project with any preconceived ideas on the matter. Rather, she wants to simply hear what people have to say and report that to the city.

"My goal is to walk in pretty clean,” she commented.

With her work starting today, Enright said she has yet to schedule meeting times with stakeholders and the general public. When it is set though, advertisements will be published detailing information about the public meeting.

In the meantime, the city's cab and limo industry continues to be regulated in Whitehorse through the current Vehicle For Hire Bylaw.