30 bidders apply to run Expo Centre parking

Automated parking may finally be coming to the Expo Centre, replacing the work done by cashiers who staff entry booths to its lots.

A request for proposals to operate automated parking services for the five lots surrounding the Expo Centre opened on May 7, and will close May 31. So far, about 30 businesses or individuals have registered interest in bidding on the project, according to the provincial website where the request is posted.

The Edmonton Economic Development Corporation, the city’s arm’s length economic agency, took over operations of the Expo Centre from Northlands on Jan. 1, 2018. The move by the Expo Centre is not linked to an ongoing court case between Northlands — the non-profit that used to manage the property — and 19 parking cashiers who lost their jobs in circumstances that they allege amount to defamation and wrongful dismissal.

The bidding package posted by the Expo Centre states that the timeline for a contract to be awarded is July 1, though spokeswoman Heather Sanregret stated in an email that “we are early in the process and no formal investment decisions have been made at this time.”

At present, guests to the Expo Centre drive through manned gates where cashiers take flat-rate payments of $16 for most events to access one of over 4,000 parking stalls spread around the property.

According to the bidding package, the Expo Centre is looking for an automated system that would decrease wait times, allow for all payment types, and operation that requires minimal-to-no staff intervention.

Sanregret said in an email that if an automated parking system is put in place, parking cashiers whose positions are eliminated will be offered different jobs in the Expo Centre.

Meanwhile, a civil case filed against Northlands and its former CEO Tim Reid remains before the courts. The lawsuit, filed March 16, 2016 at Court of Queen’s Bench in Edmonton, stems from a mass termination of 38 Northlands parking employees in October 2015. Following an audit that found between 12 and 19 per cent of parking transactions weren’t accounted for, the parking cashiers were dismissed. But when Northlands and Reid subsequently made public statements alleging theft by staff involved in parking operations, 19 of the employees decided to sue for $9.7 million in damages.

According to a January 2019 judgment on an application in the case, Northlands admitted it never invested the resources to prove any theft took place. Northlands filed an appeal of that application being dismissed, which must be resolved before the lawsuit can go to trial.

The appeal hearing will be held June 3.