Toronto city staff dismissed idea of tracking work trucks ahead of damning parks audit
CTV
Toronto city staff opted not to install GPS devices on untracked parks maintenance vehicles even though they only cost $200 apiece, the audit committee heard Tuesday, in the fallout of a damning investigation that revealed field crews systemically parked at plazas and restaurants while logging on their timesheets that they were on the job.
Toronto city staff opted not to install GPS devices on untracked parks maintenance vehicles even though they only cost $200 apiece, the audit committee heard Tuesday, in the fallout of a damning investigation that revealed field crews systemically parked at plazas and restaurants while logging on their timesheets that they were on the job.
"This is the stuff that just drives people crazy – when, as a city, we're working hard to improve things," audit committee member Jamaal Myers told CTV News.
"All of that work is undercut when we see things like this."
The municipal Auditor General determined that in a standard eight-hour workday, city crews reported spending more than four hours a day at parks maintenance locations – but of the vehicles with trackers, GPS systems indicated they were there just two hours and 36 minutes a day.
In 86 per cent of cases reviewed by the auditor, the vehicle's GPS data showed the work trucks parked at restaurants, grocery stores, malls and more.
"The optics here are not good," Coun. Vincent Crisanti told the committee Tuesday.
"We've had such an enormous tax increase – we expect better service."
