HRM will go at least one month without parking enforcement contractor

HALIFAX – Halifax Regional Municipality will have compliance officers and Regional Police personnel writing parking tickets for at least a month starting Saturday, as the new enforcement contractor selected by Regional Council will not be able to start until mid-November at the earliest.

G4S Secure Solutions Canada was awarded the contract for parking enforcement Sept. 20, after HRM decided to not renew its contract with Independent Security Services Atlantic because of performance issues.

That decision was made shortly after three former ISS employees were charged and fired for allegedly submitting fake parking tickets to out-of-province plates in 2014 and 2015.

ISS has been providing the service on a month-to-month basis since their contract was terminated back in March, but decided not accept HRM’s latest one-month extension offer for a variety of reasons, according to the company’s owner.

“We extended for six or seven months and I have my staff on 30-day renewals,” Lawrence Conrad said, adding the uncertainty and cost of an extra vehicle over the last few months means the company is only breaking even on the contract.

“The last extension they asked us for, I had people and equipment that were already being absorbed into the company and we just couldn’t extend it any longer,” Conrad said. “It was a pretty gracious agreement to extend as long as we did.”

City spokesperson Tiffany Chase said shortly after the contract was awarded to G4S, discussions began surrounding when the new contractor could take over with Nov. 15 decided as the earliest start date, to “allow them time to establish their routes, train staff and hire any additional personnel needed to carry out the work.”

Chase confirmed a one-month extension offered to ISS to continue the service in the meantime, was declined, and the company’s contract with HRM ends at 9 p.m. Saturday.

Chase said the month-long service gap or “transition” doesn’t mean tickets won’t be written.

“Parking enforcement services will continue to be delivered on a 24/7 basis through a combination of municipal Compliance Officers and Halifax Regional Police personnel,” Chase said,

She said residents should continue to report illegal parking issues to 311, abide by on-street parking signs and pay to park where necessary to avoid a potential ticket or a tow.

Spokesperson for G4S Secure Solutions Canada, Katie McLeod, said from the company’s perspective, they’ve fulfilled their obligation to the city since being awarded the contract, as it’s their understanding there was never a start date set out.

Conrad said he had 30 employees ready to go when ISS was first awarded the contract, so he thinks the company should be disqualified from the contract and it be awarded to his competition, Commissionaires Nova Scotia, who scored second highest during the procurement process.

G4S was also recently awarded a five-year contract to provide security services at Halifax’s Stanfield International Airport.

The global company employs 10,000 people in Canada.