Long time executive and ATCO board member, Siegfried Kiefer, has been selected by an advisory committee to head up the independent review panel for the Bearspaw South feeder main break.
He was selected by Dawn Farrell, Wayne Stensby and Dr. Edward McCauley, and said that he accepted the role as chair as a result of the promise that the review would be indeed independent of any influence from the City of Calgary or city administration.
“We have free reign to design our study, obtain whatever information we need, and make our recommendations,” he said.
“That’s what made me happy to take on this role, and I believe that will be a strong necessity for all of the other panel members. So, the city has been very gracious in making sure that that’s been put in place.”
The panel would be made up of between three and five members, Kiefer said.
“As you can well imagine, this type of review requires a breadth of understanding of the engineering discipline, operations, capital budgeting, organizational design and accountability frameworks, and so we want to make sure we have the breadth of expertise and experience on the panel,” he said.
“But be sure that what I want to do is make sure that all of those bodies of expertise are well represented, and we can give a very comprehensive set of recommendations to the city.”
The focus of the review would be on the ‘why,’ rather than the ‘how’ of the feeder main break.
A report focusing on the causes of the break from an engineering perspective was given to Calgary City Council earlier in the week on Dec. 10, indicating that there was a strong correlation between distress and corrosion of the wires around the pipes and the chlorides in the soil around the main.
Kiefer said that he has reviewed that report, and that he was interested into what transpired to cause the damage to the feeder main, but that the panel would focus on other issues.
“Our study is going to look more into why that occurred and why it occurred without knowledge within the city earlier so, something could have been done to prevent it from occurring and causing that kind of impact to the citizens of Calgary,” he said.
The review is expected to take 12 months, with a final report being released to Calgarians at the completion of the process.
“I’m born and raised in Calgary, and a long-standing Calgarian, very in love with the city and love to live here with my family. I’m very pleased that the panel thought I had the appropriate expertise,” Kiefer said.
“I’m very pleased that the panel thought I had the appropriate expertise—I believe I do—to make a difference in terms of how the city operates these critical infrastructure assets, and lend them the advice that I’ve gathered over the past 40 years in the business, and put together a blue ribbon panel of executives that will help me in that exercise and will make the city better.”
