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Photo by Sheena Roszell
By Curtis Galbraith
DTS

City, DTS have talked about city hall taking over before says councillor

Jun 6, 2019 | 5:30 AM

One member of council says discussions about the city taking over handi-bus services from the Disabled Transportation Society have happened before.

Eunice Friesen says such talks date back to before she was elected to council in 2017 and became its representative on the DTS board.

She says the city had agreed in principal to a request from DTS to take over. Since then, though, a new council was elected and DTS employees unionized, leading to lengthy negotiations.

“So it’s not a matter of the DTS board not necessarily wanting the city to assume operations. It’s not a matter of the city not wanting to do so. It’s simply a matter of the two organizations have not come together at the same time to say that now is the time to do so.”

Friesen says she made a motion at a DTS board meeting over a year ago about the city taking over, but it was voted down.

“I think at that time the board had a new executive director, in place and was feeling really quite confident that it would be in a good position going forward, and it’s clear now that that is not the case.”

She is hoping the two can find a solution to the current difficulties.

“It’s not about DTS, it’s not about the city and I think the one thing both organizations agree on is that it isn’t about us. It truly is about the residents that need that service in order to participate fully in community life.”

City staff and people from the Disabled Transportation Society will have a closed-door meeting today. City councillors will not be there.

by Curtis Galbraith