Who’s Paying Amilcar’s Extra Costs: THE VOTER
It would be very useful to have an accounting of how much of OC Transpo general manager Renee Amilcar’s time is spent on work, whether at the international, federal or provincial level, that is external to the City of Ottawa.
How is this external work funded, for example travel (including meals, accommodation, hospitality, etc,), attendance at meetings, and so on?
Is any OC Transpo staff time besides hers being used to support her participation in these external efforts, for example booking travel, arranging meetings, etc.? Are other city employees involved in these external organizations and what city resources, including their time, go towards that activity?
When we have a multi-million-dollar hole in the transit budget, what is the total involvement including, among other things, staff time, memberships, participation expenses and the like that is not available to provide adequate, reliable transit locally because it is going to support external organizations.
Given her salary + benefits last year was about $364,000 and paid by the taxpayers of Ottawa, how much of that was to do non-Ottawa activities? There will be those who say that working with these external organizations that promote public transit is ultimately of benefit to the residents and businesses here who are footing the bill.
Forget The World, Fix Transpo In Ottawa
I would suggest that, with the mess that is public transit in this city, her time should be spent 100 per cent on trying to resolve the problems here at home. That may, of course, be somewhat of a double-edged sword. We obviously need someone working to improve OC Transpo however, if she is part of the problem as she may well be, it might actually be a good thing if she spends her time and efforts outside of the transit company.
If Amilcar is spending only five per cent of her time on non-city endeavours, it means we are paying her $18,200 to work outside the city. If it’s as much as 15-per-cent, that number goes up to $54,600. Added to that amount would be any city resources, human or financial, that go towards supporting that external involvement.
While she is doing this external work, who’s covering off her position in Ottawa and at what cost?
Maybe in better times I might be prepared to support city staff redirecting some of their time as well as city resources to working to make transit better around the world but, at this point in time, this is a very poor use of our resources. I also wonder if those people from around the world who chose her for this position are aware what chaos reigns under her command at OC Transpo. She is not someone to be held up as an example of how to run a transit system. In fact, I would suggest she would serve as more of a cautionary tale.
The Voter is a respected community activist and long-time Bulldog commenter who prefers to keep her identity private.
For You:
Cutting OC Transpo Makes It Worse: PATTON
Faulty Transpo Revealed At Inquest: MULVIHILL
Staff Got Traffic-Camera Money Wrong: GRAY
The AG’s Take On Traffic Camera Revenue
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– The Bulldog – News Feed Enter 
Apparently – a bright light on the global bus scene…….
A new term begins…
With actions and activities
An active two-year term awaits the new President, as UITP works towards implementing our strategy to bring our first Annual Summit to Hamburg in 2025.
As the first female President of UITP, Renée holds the topics of diversity and inclusion and a better gender balance within the sector close to her heart.
She will work alongside our staff and members to shine a further spotlight on what needs to be done to bring more women into public transport as valued workers across all levels.
The new President played an active role in our 2023 output for International Women’s Day (8 March) and will be working closely with UITP to further that message through our overarching focus on Women in Leadership.
“It is always a special moment for UITP and our global membership when a new President is voted into office. In Renée, our association has a passionate advocate of public transport, who will listen to their viewpoints and help to advance UITP well into the future. As Renée begins her tenure following our Global Summit, I wish her well in her new role, and I look forward to working closely with her across the next two years and beyond.”
Mohamed Mezghani
UITP Secretary General* acting on behalf of Mohamed Mezghani SARL
A changeover in Presidents…
From Alhogail to Amilcar
Rénee and OC TRANSPO will be familiar faces to our international audience due to the huge success of our record-breaking series “The Way We Move”, produced for UITP by BBC StoryWorks.
The story of Daniel has touched the hearts of millions of our viewers in which he speaks about his daily journeys across Ottawa with OC TRANSPO and the role public transit played in helping him to rebuild his life, by allowing better ease of access for those with disabilities.
The mini-documentary from OC TRANSPO was our first award winner for #TheWayWeMove, winning a special award this year in the United States!
And now UITP is delighted to welcome Renée Amilcar to her new role as President, where we know that she will lead our association to many more successes along the way!
David:
And now if we can just get the buses on time in Ottawa and stop replacing those LRT axles …
cheers
kgray
FYI, a ticket to the UITP Summit mentioned above which takes place in Hamburg in June costs $4,600 including VAT.
Fortunately, Glen Gower, chair of Ottawa’s Transit Commission who is also attending along with Mme Amilcar, will be getting a reduced rate of $1,840 because he’s a speaker. He will get a free registration if he only attends the day he is speaking. What do you think are the chances he’d go to Germany to a four-day conference and only attend one day?
That registration fee is, of course, only the first expense to attend the Summit. You have to add to that his travel, accommodation, meals and incidental expenses. Luckily, breakfast and lunch are included in his registration fee which will help reduce the add-on costs.
Voter:
The City of Ottawa cannot afford such expenses at present and perhaps not at all.
This is terrible. Get your own house in order before you start preaching to others.
This is not about a better OC Transpo. I’m disgusted.
cheers
kgray