For a while, county councillors were unsure who to get upset at – but they eventually supported Wellington North Township’s resolution to protect local school bus operators.
That council sent its June 1 resolution to county council June 25, asking the province to discontinue a Request For Proposal (RFP) process lately used to settle school bus route contracts. The province plans to restart the process on Jan. 1.
Wellington North council cited several reasons, it:
– is causing hardship to small school bus operators and their employees in Ontario;
– has awarded school bus runs to multi-national school bus operators; and
– the Ministry of Education is using local property taxes to aid in the growth of multi-national transportation companies which affects small, local, family owned companies.
County councillor Mike Broomhead said his municipality has several bus lines, and asked council to support having Warden Joanne Ross-Zuj send the complaint to the province and school board.
But councillor Bob Wilson, who is employed by the Upper Grand District School Board, was of two minds.
“I certainly don’t agree with what they did” in awarding contracts to multi-nationals, he said. But Wilson said he would urge council to “tread lightly” in opposing another elected group because the board had little choice.
Councillor John Green said those comments were “groundbreaking” because he and Wilson are on opposite sides of the political spectrum. Green said, “I disagree with the Liberals,” and their RFP policy for school boards. He predicted, “You’re going to end up with three companies in all of Ontario. It’s supposed to save money, but if it’s a monopoly, there’s no savings.” He supported Wellington North’s resolution.
So did councillor Rod Finnie. He said local school bus companies “have done an excellent job of looking after our children. Multi-nationals have less concern about people and more concern about the bottom line. No disrespect, but this is how multi-nationals work.”
Councillor David Anderson agreed. He talked to his MPP, and learned school boards are running a deficit, but he thinks saving money will work only in the short term. He said there is a moratorium on awarding more contracts through RFPs until Jan. 1, so, “It’s imperative we move quickly.”
Councillor Lynda White agreed. “I don’t see enough of provincial people working with struggling businesses.” She said local bus lines help communities. “I care about our children, and I will vote to support this,” she said.
Broomhead wants it clear his council is “not challenging the provincial government,” but, “We need to protect our local businesses. They’ve all been in our municipalities for years, and their employees live in the municipalities.”
He said his council is making a statement, “Protect everybody within these four walls.”
He said that is necessary because the continued use of RFPs “will affect local communities. We should challenge everybody who challenges our small town identities.”
Green said he would like to meet with the school board and is not questioning its integrity.
How it works
Wilson said he is “not sure county council understands how it [an RFP for a school bus route] works.”
He said when the school board followed the provincial directive for Requests For Proposals for local bus routes, those included much information about the businesses. The RFPs are 60 to 70 pages long, and include such things as how companies train their workers.
“They score these things,” Wilson said. “The highest score wins.”
But Wilson explained those RFPs are unfair to smaller local companies. He said none of the details of an RFP is available to local companies, so they are unsure how to compete.
Wilson cited an example of the county asking for bids on a new bridge. There is a list of bidders, and how much they bid. The low bid wins, and other companies learn to sharpen their pencils the next time.
But with the RFP, nothing is disclosed, so those who did not win are still in the dark about why they lost.
“School bus operators can’t find out,” he said of the local companies. “It’s pretty unfair. They still won’t know how to bid in the next round.”
And, he said, the larger companies can lowball prices in Wellington County in order to win bids, and make up that lost cash from profits in other areas. Local companies do not have that luxury.
Once the small companies are gone, only the large ones will be left to compete when the contract runs out – and the bids can jump.
“I hope I don’t get fired before I get back to work,” Wilson quipped.
He said he has not called the system “deceitful,” but he added that no disclosure on winning bids makes it nearly impossible for smaller companies to compete.
Council then considered a motion by Broomhead, seconded by councillor Walter Trachsel, to ask the provincial government to discontinue the RFP method of letting contracts for school bus routes.
It carried unanimously. Councillor Brad Whitcombe was absent.
