DON RAMSAY speaks with grader operator John McAlpine. He'll once the next round of contracts are awarded. It's part ce be doing surprise audits on maintenance workers more often overall plan to change how contractors manage their operations. Road rules. o Highways contractors prepare for more accountability as new contracts start. . By SARAH A. ... ZIMMERMAN “GOVERNMENT cuts have hurt “the ability of the transportation ministry to check up on work of highways maintenance contrac- ~ tors. - “That means the contractors “themselves will be responsible to ~ do their own quality checks when it-comes to plowing, sanding and other work, says a local transpor- . tation ministry official. » - “The ministry no longer has ~ the. staff;to..b¢"able.ta, carry, out, . .the: former quality. management .. system. that existed,” says Don . Ramsay. _An.the past inspections were conducted by ministry employees, recorded and forwarded to main- tenance contractors which were also given a certain rating. -*That system has really been abandoned,” Ramsay says, add- ing the ministry will still assess a contractor's performance based on schedtiled and surprise audits, .”* “Highway travellers will be en- - couraged to phone their local “Maintenance contractor and the ministry will be checking those -- calls and the contractor’s re- _ sponse. “> The new quality control sys- .tem will be a feature as mainte- nance contracts around the pro- vince come up for tender. ~ Tenders for the contract in this . area, now held by Nechoko - .Northeoast Construction, go cut - Aug. 2003 and close in October. ‘Maintenance contractors bid- ding on the next contract here — “for 2004-2014 in this region — are ‘being asked to provide extremely _ detailed plans for how they ex- “pect to comply with specifica- tions for maintenance as set out by. the ministry, The ministry has a 36-point -checklist it'll use to evaluate the quality management systems of potential contractors, That checklist reflects a num- ber of issues the ministry wants addressed before awarding the contract. That includes whether or not the contractor has a detailed man- ual outlining procedures for doing their work including identifying jobs that needs to be done, The contractor must show the ministry everything from the qua- lifications of its staff, to how they anticipate work.,to be, done and... evaluated to how it plans to ad- dress concerns of road users. “We're expecting a tremen- dous amount from them,” says on. “If our contract were renewed as opposed ta going out to bid again, we would be on the same timetable to produce the same manual,” he says. “Because we just think it’s the right thing to do in this day and age.” That type of management sys- tem allows employees to follow programs more easily and shows the company where its strengths and weaknesses are, Ryan says. anul he, wording , of, the. upcoming contract has also shifted to place a heavier emphasis on a proactive approach to the work. For example, says Ramsay, “it will require more work from us to keep better track of things than we did in the past.” Ramsay, adding in the past con- tractors had to present a business plan which included what re- sources the company had and how they would be used. “Now it’s just a far more com- prehensive documentalion of how they are going to manage their | business that we're requiring.” - That means companies bidding on contracts have a lot of paper- work to get completed before the contracts come out for tender, Nechako Northcoast officials say that type of accountability was expected before, only the new contract is formalizing it more, “Tt will require more work from us to keep better track of things than we did in the past,” says company president, John Ryan, adding his company was already in the process of developing the same type of quality control sys- tem, the ISO 9,000, that the mini- stry is basing it's specifications while contractors were required to do regular road patrols to asses winter conditions, now if a storm is forecast the contractor will have to increase those patrols, re- cord how they were increased and be able to show the ministry that was done when records are audi- ted, Ramsay says that proactive emphasis comes, in part, from feedback from drivers around the province. Over the past few years, the ministry has received input from drivers throughout the province who say contractors are doing a good job once crews are on the roads, but feel crews need to be there faster at the onset of bad weather, For instance, the last contract oullined the maximum snow depths “at which point the con- tractor will have started plowing.” On class A roads such as Hwy 16 which runs through Terrace, the maximum build up of snow permitted before plowing starts is 4cm. “Now we're encouraging them to start before it gets to 4 cm,” Ramsay says. “Because if you wait and the rate of snowfall is too high he’s going to have less of a chance of meeting those maximum allow- able accumulation guidelines.” Ramsay adds there will be some leeway built into that speci- fication offering some understand- _ing in, extreme . situations where the contractor can't keep up with the rate of snowfall, In those situation (he contractor will be expected to contact the ministry with details of the situa- tion. The new specifications will also see the contractors answering to the public more now than in the past. . “We're moving to require them to become the primary communi- cators with the stakeholders,” Ramsay says. That means calls from the pub- lic will increasingly be handled by the contractor than the ministry. The public will also have a hand in a new bonus system the ministry is implementing based on contractors’ performances. Those evaluations are done by local district ministry officials, of- ficials from other districts and by stakeholders ~ bus drivers, ambu- lance, fire department employees and truck drivers. + Depending on the contractor's rating they could get a bonus worth up to two per cent of the contract’s annual value, Nechako’s current contract is worth $7,066 million. . If they secure the next contract and score at the highest level they could receive up to $140,000 per year in bonus money, Terrace Nisga’a Society sets sights on global economic market By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN THE TERRACE Nisga’a Society may become the province’s first First Nations group to adopt an internationally recognized management program which the group hopes will raise its profile in the global economic community. -The society has already started the process of becoming ISO 9000 (International Organi- ~.gatlon for Standardization) certified ~ the =. §ame management model the highways mini- " stry is requiring its maintenance contractors to “follow, - Terrace Nisga’a Society (TNS) officials say by getting certified any future economic ven- turés will have a built-in level of accountabil- . ity:aid. transparency that will give them the ‘competitive edge in the global market. “"“The Asian market will not get involved with any products that are not ISO says Charles McKay, TNS vice president. -" It takes between 12-14 months for the certi- fication process to become complete - mainly because there is plenty. of paperwork involved and a revamping of how operations are run. . First Nations people. certified,” While it’s an extensive process, McKay It says the ideas of transparency and account- ability which are at the core of ISO standards compliment the existing cultural practices of the Nisga’a people such as the feast system which is based on openness, The local group was selected by Western Economic Diversification Canada to undertake ISO as a demonstration project with the hope that the management and operating guidelines will be a national and international model for Western Economic Diversification kicked in $100,000, the Royal Bank contributed $10,000 and Aboriginal Business Canada gave $66,900 to the society to get the project off the ground and contribute to capital costs. While TNS is a non-profit group, it an- nounced June 19 the development of SkeeNass Ventures Lid, — a for-profit corporation owned by the society. The new-economic arm of the -organization is focussing on what they call ve-. getation management which includes slashing and harvesting contracts. | no Only opens door for future possibilities such as selling pine. mushrooms on the globai market or even getting into information tech- nology, says TNS administrator David Roothman. SkeeNass Ven- tures will also adopt the man- agement system, Roothman says. other aboriginal groups in Canada, all in the east, have [SO certifi- cation including a Quebec based group that sells millions of blueberries on the internation- al market every year, he says, of an the three Charles McKay The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 2, 2003 - AS CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag Knitting makes sense Dear Sir: Re: “Welcome to the circus that is the four-day week" letter to the editor from Mr. Clay Dunsford, June 25, 2003. I guess an explanation of my knitting during school board meetings is in order. Kitimat people are so used to me knitting all the time that it never occurred to me that others might not understand. Those of your readership who are educators, or interested in learning styles, will know that there are basically three learning styles; visual, auditory and tactile-kinesthetic. The visual fotks learn best by reading. The auditory folks learn best by hearing. The kinesthetic folks learn best by involving the body and movement. I am one of the latter. Research based studies in neurophysiology have shown that physical experiences create especially strong neural pathways in the brain. When people participate in tactile/kinesthetic activity, the two hemispheres of the brain are simultaneously engaged. This type of learning experience helps assure that the new information will be retained in long term memory. An ancient Chinese proverb says, I hear and I forget, I see and f remember, Ido and I understand. You will appreciate that the learning curve for a senior citizen joining the school board is very high, even though I am a retired educator. So I knit (sweaters for world relief). And have done for the last 60-plus years. It's interesting that it was World War 11 that taught my elementary school brain how I learned best. Today you can take all kinds of tests to see which type of learner you are. Not then. We didn’t have school libraries, so each day after Junch our teachers read novels to us. “I hear and I forget” kicked in. But because it was wartime we were expected to knit scarves for the Canadian soldiers overseas. The Red Cross provided the wool. The young girls knit scarves, the older girls, Grade 4 and up, knit socks. My teacher one year said that we could knit during story time as. long as we didn’t ask for help, Voila! “J do and I understand” kicked in. So I knit my way through life — university classes, workshops, conferences, conventions, TV programs, and school board meetings. At the end of an all-day educators workshop on the brain, its functions and enhancements last year we three knitters amongst 200 attendees were praised by the presenter for doing the very best thing to quietly improve our brain function and use it. For those on the internet, search out the word “kinesthetic” through google.com or askjeeves.com Maybe you should be knitting also. Dorothy Leuze, Coast Mountains School District Trustee, Kitimat, B.C. “So what do you expect? An open letter to: Christy Clark, Minister of Education Dear Ms. Clark: es When we had the pleasure of your brief visit early this year we were encouraged fo consider a shortened instructional work week as one of the tools our school district could enlist. Spurred by both your counsel and Boundary School District’s experience in both areas — fiscally and educationally — the board later voted to implement a four-day instructional week. You were recently quated in The Terrace Standard that school boards are required to put student achievement ahead of finances. Please rest assured that this board throughout its deliberations always puts students first. Predictably the board of school irustees’ decision was not well received by our communities throughout our school district. In view of what is happening in this district, that is, having to deal with a serious decline in enrolment, a frail economy where young people are looking for work elsewhere, and an underfunded school system, the board was left with very few and mostly troublesome options. The question remains, minister, how do you expect us to meet today and future educational objectives and fiscal responsibilities without us taking this drastic measure? The Rural Task Force report posted on the government website may address some of the issues. 0 that end, we strongly urge your ministry to act on many of its recommendations today. Our heartland students deserve better. Peter King, Chair, Coast Mountains School District, 7 Kitimat, B.C, Moving on in Dear Sir: , It appears like there's a new province in the making and B.C. citizens, the ones that built ‘this province, will not be a part of it. One church in Terrace reports about 100 families have left the area due to lack of employment, That's just one church. Our premier has announced that people are coming back to B.C. He has allocated $10 million for the development of immigrant children. As British Columbians are leaving the province, the premier is filling it back up with foreign immigrants. These people will work for less wages and vote for the party willing to hand out tax dollars for the development of foreign people. _Lloyd Brinson, Nass Camp, B.C. About the Mail Bag The Terrace Standard welcomes letters, Our address is 3210 Clinton St., Terrace, B.C. Vag 5R2. You can fax us at 250-638-8432 or e-mail us at newsroom @terracestandard, com, No altachments, please. We need your name address and phone number for verification. Our deadline Is noon Friday or noon Thursday if it's q long weekend. tO pen]