City paid Bearspaw feeder main panel chair $1.7 million

The City of Calgary has released the amount paid to members of the Bearspaw Feeder Main Review Panel. And according to the figures, the chair made more than $1.7 million. The mayor says the total funding amount was similar to other government reviews, and the deal was struck by a previous council. A news release from the city says the review took nine months. I have no choice but to accept that this has been done, but I'm not going to accept that we'll continue to pay out these types of large sums. The independent panel was brought in to review the 2024 catastrophic water main break, why it happened and what needs to change. A memo released by the city Wednesday shows in total, the panel and advisory group members received about $2.3 million. The vast majority went to chair and former ATCO executive Siegfried Kiefer, who the city says has more than 40 years experience managing critical infrastructure. It is not divided out as equitably as we thought. It's more aligned with a single compensation. On Tuesday, Council voted unanimously to share the figures. The Ward 2 Councillor originally proposed the motion, saying Calgarians should see the numbers. I think they'll be livid at least one of the compensation set up in there. I spoke to Kiefer over the phone before Council voted to release the compensation. He said the review was objective, written by industry experts, the city is acting on all the recommendations, and it will continue to serve Calgary well for decades to come. The city has already made major changes based on the review, including setting up a water oversight board and appointing a chief operating officer of water. Brendan Coulter, CBC News, Calgary.