Ottawa looks to dissolve committee overseeing LRT construction, create new efficiency working group

Ottawa City Hall (CTV News Ottawa)

The City of Ottawa sub-committee overseeing construction on the Light Rail Transit (LRT) system is set to be dissolved by council, as part of a series of changes to committees for the final two years of the current term.

The 2022-2026 Mid-Term Governance Review was tabled at Council Wednesday morning, proposing “typical ‘tweaks’ to governance structure to address any issues that have arisen” since the term began, according to the report.

One of the recommendations is to dissolve the Light Rail Transit Sub-Committee and shift the responsibilities of the committee’s mandate to the Transit Commission for the final two years of the term.

The LRT Sub-Committee Committee was created by council at the start of the current term to oversee “non-operational matters” related to the system, including overseeing construction of the Confederation Line and the Trillium Line and the city’s response to the Ottawa Light Rail Transit Public Inquiry.

Phase 2 of the construction sees Line 1 extended from Blair Station to Trim Station in the east end and the line extended to Algonquin College and Moodie Drive, while the new Lines 2 and 4 operating between Bayview Station and Limebank Station, with a spur to the Ottawa International Airport, opened on Jan. 6.

The report says the LRT sub-committee “has largely achieved its mandate,” and shutting down the committee would reduce the number of committees councillors sit on. The sub-committee’s mandate to oversee non-operational matters and construction on the Confederation Line will move to the renamed Transit Committee.

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe was asked why the city is looking to dissolve the committee while construction continues on the east and west expansion.

“The Light Rail Sub-committee was formed, in large part, to respond to the recommendations from the public inquiry that came out in late 2022 and a lot of that work has been done. The remainder of that work is ongoing and continuous going forward,” Sutcliffe said Wednesday. “We consulted with members of council and city staff, and the feeling was that the work could continue under the Transit Commission going forward.”

The mayor notes there was some “duplication” between the work of the LRT sub-committee and the Transit Commission.

The LRT sub-committee met three times in 2024 and eight times in 2023.

Staff are also recommending reducing the frequency of committee meetings from eight to six meetings a year, after councillors advised the mayor and staff “of a need to balance workload and to improve the efficiency of the legislative progress.”

“There has been a heavy legislative agenda that is expected to continue throughout the remainder of the term,” the report says.

Council and the Planning and Housing Committee will continue to meet twice per month.

New working group for government efficiency

The Mid-Term Governance Review is also proposing the creation of a new “Agile Government Efficiency Review Working Group.”

According to the report, Sutcliffe, working with several councillors, proposed the “new working group to review service responsiveness, recommend a process review and make suggestions to reduce timelines for service delivery.”

The working group will “identify areas for review,” and may identify potential improvements and determine the best way to accelerate and streamline service delivery.

“The 2025 work plan will include a concentrated review of efforts underway through service excellence and continuous improvement initiatives underway on the Service Ottawa ‘closing the loop’ for service requests, the development review process within the Planning, Development and Building Services and the parks planning process within Recreation, Cultural and Facility Services,” the report says.

Council will vote on the Mid-Term Governance Review report next Wednesday.