SCARY REPORT SHOWS DIRE RESULTS OF CITY CONTROL OVER PARK BOARD, SAYS TEAM

New Auditor General’s Report Says 72% of Recreational Facilities in Poor Condition, and Council Has Not Addressed Root Causes

VANCOUVER (Sept. 15) -- A shocking report that 72% of Vancouver’s recreational facilities are in poor or very poor condition and some may be lost altogether shows what happens when the City grabs key controls away from the Park Board, says TEAM for a Livable Vancouver.

“This proves the utter recklessness of ABC Mayor Ken Sim’s plan to eliminate the elected Park Board and take over full control of Park Board land,” said former TEAM Councillor Colleen Hardwick. “We need an independent board that ensures our pools, rinks and other recreational facilities are properly cared for, not starved of resources until they keel over.” 

The reason that chunks of wall are falling off buildings and there’ll be no Stanley Park train for another winter is well known to City Council. Independent Auditor General Mike Macdonell’s report notes that a year and a half ago, the Mayor’s Budget Task Force highlighted the glaring lack of a capital asset management framework. And he said that lack is “a root cause of deficiencies identified in [this] report.”

TEAM’s Hardwick was instrumental in the creation of the auditor general office, established in 2020, to help hold the City accountable. This includes ensuring quality stewardship of public funds and achieving value for money in City operations. 

The report just released was undertaken at the request of the Park Board.

It cautioned that chronic underfunding, neglect and deferral of maintenance – since 2014 the responsibility of the City, not the Park Board – mean increased costs down the line and loss of important operating revenue. For example, deferred repairs to the barn doors of the Roundhouse exhibition hall meant events couldn’t be booked some months in 2023 and 2024.

Some alarming findings in Macdonell’s report:

• The City has not put aside funds for the replacement of assets as they reach the end of their useful lives and has more than doubled the average life span of building systems beyond what was originally planned.

• Approved funding levels “fell significantly short of the most conservative estimate to address the capital maintenance needs of recreation facilities, meaning critical maintenance needs were projected to be unmet…”

• The roles and responsibilities of the Park Board and the City’s Real Estate, Environment and Facilities Management (REFM) department weren’t properly set out in a 2014 Partnership Agreement. The City department wasn’t required to report performance metrics to the Park Board to show it was fulfilling its obligations.

• During the audit period, the City department failed to close high-priority maintenance work orders 56% of the time.

TEAM’s policy is not just to keep the elected Park Board, but to ensure it has the structure and funding needed to manage parks and recreation facilities properly. This includes re-establishing the Park Board's independent planning, operations, and maintenance resources.