Head of $4.6B Green Line project exits

Giannelia could take other role: transportation committee chair

The head of the city’s $4.6-billion Green Line project — a man city councillors were warned could “ruffle a few feathers” when he took over the role in the spring — has left the job, Postmedia has learned.

Seven months after being hired by the city, Paul Giannelia has left his post as director of the massive LRT construction project.

The city’s general manager of transportation, Michael Thompson, has taken over the role on an interim basis. City staff have openly and privately discussed Giannelia’s difficulties acclimating to the municipal workplace after years in the private sector overseeing the successful construction of megaprojects including Calgary’s Olympic Oval and Confederation Bridge in P.E.I..

Transportation committee chair Coun. Shane Keating said Giannelia has already contributed a lot to the Green Line and could continue working on the project in a different role.

“Paul’s role (is) being redefined and that redefinition allows for his expertise to still be used, but within circumstances that are beneficial to both parties,” Keating said.

“I think he had a great background in megaprojects. I thought many of his ideas were a great inspiration to making sure the project stays on time and on budget, or even ahead of schedule and under budget,” Keating said. “I would hope that will continue.”

Asked for the reasons behind Giannelia’s departure, Keating said it was an “HR matter.”

“There is a transition and a redefining of the role, and that’s all I can comment on at this time.”

The city’s transportation department declined to immediately comment on the shakeup in Green Line leadership.

Giannelia’s short-lived tenure as director was punctuated by a handful of colourful appearances before council to provide progress reports on the project.

Asked in May by councillors what he thought he could learn from some of the young Green Line team members he was leading, Giannelia said they didn’t share the same mindset.

“The staff that we have on our team that came from a background of the city haven’t been used to the word ‘deadlines’, like we have in construction,” Giannelia told councillors.

“It’s a philosophical thing that they’re not used to.”

City leadership repeatedly urged the veteran construction manager to look for ways to adapt to the city’s corporate culture. At least once, the city’s top bureaucrat explicitly raised the issue of workplace respect.

“My expectation is that Paul will live up to a standard that reflects the respectful workplace that we put in place here for the city,” city manager Jeff Fielding said in May.

“Paul is also going to bring some energy to the project that might at a certain points in time ruffle a few feathers. (We’re) going to have some give and take on both sides in order for that relationship to work.”

Keating said the change in leadership on the project isn’t likely to delay the Green Line’s opening.

“Anytime you have a transfer from one individual to another there’s always a little bit of a lag, but I don’t think it’s going to be detrimental to the Green Line,” he said.

The first stage of the Green Line, a 20-kilometre long section from Crescent Heights to Shepard, will begin construction in 2020, with an anticipated opening day in 2026.

The city is currently working to secure land and relocate utilities along the Green Line route, with a procurement process beginning in early in 2019.

Giannelia told council last month that the Green Line team would be recommending a massive ‘single-bore’ tunnel for beneath the down town—a move that was anticipated to reduce street-level disruptions during construction.

At the same meeting, Giannelia’s repeated emphasis on cost control wasn’t always well received by councillors looking for broader details on station design and the Green Line’s impact on surrounding neighbourhoods.

“Our objective is to end up with the lowest cost,” Giannelia said. “That is an objective we can’t ever lose sight of.”

Coun. Jyoti Gondek, who has passionately advocated for the city to push farther north with the Green Line, pushed back.

“Everything is about cost-perkilometre but it’s not about ridership and modal progression, and it tends to be buried in page seven of whatever report we’re getting. While I respect and appreciate everything has to be done in a costeffective manner, I am not seeing attention to very important considerations.”

The next quarterly update on the Green Line project is expected to come to council in December.