OC Transpo chief calls councillor's questions about performance reviews 'a personal attack'

A tense exchange over late buses led the head of OC Transpo to brush off what she called a "personal attack" after a city councillor asked who is doing her performance reviews.

The chair of council's transit commission said the questions were disrespectful and urged River Ward Coun. Riley Brockington to apologize.

Brockington had pressed transit services general manager Renée Amilcar during the budget debate Wednesday, saying he sees no investments that will fix the chronically late buses that his residents are constantly bringing to his attention.

But he began his line of questioning by asking the city manager, Wendy Stephanson, how she is overseeing Amilcar's performance.

"You develop her personal work objectives and assess her at the end of the year on her performance?" Brockington asked.

Stephanson confirmed that is the case.

"Despite that we have a transit commission, transit commissioners are not formally asked by you to provide input on that assessment, is that correct?" he continued.

The city manager said she does reach out to councillors for feedback. Brockington then moved on to ask whether bus reliability is a top priority.

But Mayor Mark Sutcliffe interrupted, asking Brockington to stay focused on the budget. Orléans East-Cumberland Coun. Matt Luloff suggested debate about a specific staff member should take place behind closed doors.

Amilcar took the helm at OC Transpo in 2021. She was the second-highest paid city employee last year, according to the Ontario Sunshine List, earning a salary of $330,687 plus $7,973 in benefits. Stephanson was the highest paid.

1 of 4 buses late on many routes

Brockington has repeatedly pressed Amilcar on late buses during transit commission meetings, where her team presents statistics about bus service. While 83 per cent of buses on more frequent routes are meeting their service targets, according to November data, just 75 per cent of buses on less frequent routes are arriving within five minutes of their scheduled time.

At the budget meeting, Brockington said progress is flat and asked for a timeline to fix that.

"I cannot tell you what I will do, but what I can tell you is we know we have this problem, so we will address it and we will find a solution." Amilcar said.

She later expanded on her feelings about the exchange in a news conference with reporters.

"It was a personal attack, and I'm going to stay focused with my team to do what I love the best, which is deliver a good service for Ottawa residents," she said.

"And I think, as well, that I will need to take it as maybe good advice that I need to explain better what we need to do to be able to improve the service here in Ottawa."

Brockington called it "unfortunate" that Amilcar viewed his questions as a personal attack.

"I'm not after one person. I'm not after anyone. I want us to be able to have a mechanism in place to provide feedback," he said. "I did not personally attack her."

'Accountability' a concern: Brockington

After the meeting, Brockington explained to reporters what he was driving at.

"Even though the transit commissioners act as a board of directors, at the end of the day, if certain objectives are not being met, we have no authority or tools to enforce the priorities that we set," he said.

"If Madame Amilcar says bus reliability is a priority and there aren't sufficient resources in the budget that covers off this priority, how is the city manager holding her accountable?" Brockington asked. "So that is a significant concern for us."

He explained that when he served on the public school board, there was a formal process for trustees to weigh in on detailed appraisals of senior leadership positions. In his view, informal "coffee chats" with the city manager don't have the same impact.

Asked whether Amilcar should be disciplined or fired if there's no progress on bus reliability, Brockington said he simply wants to see improvements. 

"I'm not going to sit here for another year with our data month to month showing static, that we're not making improvements, because it's impacting our residents and our passengers," he said.

"Renée Amilcar has my support,' he added. "She is probably the most experienced person in Canada for a bus network."

'That room got tense,' says transit commission chair

Stittsville Coun. Glen Gower, who chairs transit commission, came to Amilcar's defence on Thursday morning.

"I think the questions yesterday showed a real lack of respect for city staff and for Madame Amilcar," he said. "Councillors have a responsibility to ask difficult questions, but in this case I think it crossed the line."

He said questions about what the budget does for bus reliability are fair, but Brockington's lead-up with Stephanson was not.

"That room got tense," he said. "You could see the body language of everyone, of council and staff, everyone was very uncomfortable with where he was going with that. It was no longer a respectful, safe place for that debate.

"I think the councillor should apologize to the general manager of transit and to the city manager as well," Gower added. "Whether or not he intended, I think an apology would be appropriate here."

He said the city manager is solely responsible for the management of city staff, a structure he called an important division of powers. He said councillors have "every opportunity" to share their opinions with Stephanson.

"In terms of any kind of formal involvement of council, no, that's not appropriate," Gower said. "You never want to blur the lines between the role of council and the role of staff. You need that clear distinction between political authority and administrative authority."

At the news conference following the budget, Sutcliffe would not directly comment on Brockington's questions.

"I'll leave that to Madame Amilcar," he said. "I would just reiterate that I think we have a lot to be proud of in terms of the progress that the team at OC Transpo is making."

He mentioned the opening of the Trillium rail line, set to begin in phases next month, as one example.

"Obviously, it's our responsibility to ask tough questions and hold the team at the city and at OC Transpo responsible for their mandate," Sutcliffe said. "But I think we also have to celebrate the progress that's being made and celebrate the achievements."

He later said in French that he has "a lot of confidence in the team at OC Transpo."