Changes ahead for St. Catharines Hydro

Councillor explores idea of city-run company

Niagarathisweek.com
Dec. 19, 2017
By Melinda Cheevers

With its only two employees set to leave by the end of January, there are changes ahead for St. Catharines Hydro.

Wholly owned by the city, St. Catharines Hydro is a shareholder in Alectra Utilities Inc., the electricity distribution company that serves customers in St. Catharines, Hamilton, Markham, Vaughan, Barrie and Mississauga areas. It is also a holding company for St. Catharines Hydro Generation Inc., which currently operates the Heywood Station at Port Dalhousie.

Overseen by a six-member board of directors, St. Catharines Hydro will be losing its current general manager and office assistant - its only two employees.

In August, the company posted for the general manager position, seeking expressions of interest to manage St. Catharines Hydro In. and its generation company. The posting specified that it can be in the capacity of a general manager or contracted through a management company that has the necessary experience and can provide the necessary services, reporting to the company's board of directors.

At the Nov. 27 St. Catharines council meeting, Coun. Matt Harris one of the three city councillors who sits as a hydro board director put forward a notice of motion, asking for a staff report exploring the possibility of having the city take over operations of St. Catharines Hydro along with legal comment on how to dissolve the current hydro board.

His proposal would see Mayor Walter Sendzik sit as the representative of Alectra's board, city chief administrative officer Shelley Chemnitz act as the sole director of the holding company and the committee of the whole act as directors of the generating company.

"It makes total sense to have Walter sit on Alectra's board," Harris said after the meeting, noting that all of the other municipalities have their mayors as the representatives on the board. "You want someone parochial who will fight for the city. I don't want to see in eight years that we lose the call centre to Vaughan. If anything, we should be expanding the call centre."

Harris said the infrastructure is in place to make the changes proposed and with Hydro's employees leaving, now is the time.

"With the cancellation of Shickluna (Hydro Generating Station project), we don't really need a general manager anymore there should be an opportunity here for the city to step into the role as manager of the generating station and administrator of the service contracts in hopes that we can manage it effectively and perhaps achieve a bigger dividend for the city," said Harris.

Shickluna was a hydro generating station project that had been in the works for years. The city first announced its long-sought approval from the Ontario government for construction in March 2014, approved under Ontario's hydroelectrical standard offer program. However, during his state of the city address this January, Sendzik announced that pursuing the project no longer seemed like a viable option for the St. Catharines Hydro board and council approved withdrawal from the project later that month.

Escalated construction costs were cited as the reason.

Included in the Dec. 11 council package, a report from Chemnitz' office, prepared by executive research assistant Maggie Riopelle and submitted by director of transportation and environmental services Dan Dillon, outlined city staffing capacity to operate and manage Heywood Generating Station. The report was requested during an in-camera council meeting on Oct. 16.

While the report finds that the city does have the capability of managing projects, no current staff have experience managing and operating a hydro generating station.

"If council determines that it wishes to move forward with the operation and maintenance of the Heywood Generating Station, it is the recommendation of staff that additional city staff and/or a company with the necessary skills and experience in management and operation of a hydro generating station would be required," the report reads.

With current employment contracts at St. Catharines Hydro set to expire, the report said it is "crucial that a decision be made" regarding the management of Heywood.

For council to move forward with the operation and maintenance of Heywood, the report estimates it would take six months to hire the necessary expertise and an anticipated nine to 12 months for the full transition to occur.

Calls to St. Catharines Hydro general manager Frank Perri were not returned.