The province has called in the Mounties to investigate city hall.

Manitoba Justice officials confirmed Friday they have asked the RCMP to review whether any criminal wrongdoing occurred at city hall in light of three contentious reports that revealed gross mismanagement. The reports — a fire hall audit, real estate department review, and a report on the new downtown police headquarters — have dominated headlines at city hall for the past year.

Greg Graceffo, Manitoba's assistant deputy minister of justice, said the decision to send the two audits referred to them by council last month, plus the addition of the fire hall audit, was made in the last few days after reviewing all the materials.

RCMP will then decide whether their findings will warrant a full investigation.

"Not every review leads to an investigation and not every investigation leads to charges," he said. "When we looked at the material we had and some other related materials, we reached the decision it was best to go to the RCMP for additional review."

The fire hall audit was not part of the initial referral by council, he said. However, upon review of the materials given to Manitoba Justice, they chose to also include it in their referral.

RCMP spokeswoman Tara Seel confirmed they received the review Friday morning.

"It depends on what the review determines," she said, on whether an investigation will be launched.

She noted these matters can be complex and couldn't give a timeline on how long it would take for the RCMP to make the decision whether to launch a full investigation.

Mayor Sam Katz said he hopes this review brings closure.

"The province has made their decision and chosen to exercise their right to refer to the RCMP, and all of council would support their decision, and I hope this brings closure," he said, in a written statement.

Meanwhile, Coun. Russ Wyatt, chair of the city's finance committee, said Friday the province didn't go far enough, repeating his previous call for a full public inquiry to take place.

"They need a full public inquiry, with the power of a subpoena in order to take testimony under oath, (the) power of a full investigation — a forensic audit to follow where all the transactions went," he said.

Bob Downs, development manager at Shindico, the development company at the centre of many of the transactions. said the company would not be commenting.

"We have no comment, we know what we did and what we didn't do and we are not concerned about any of our actions," he said.

Phil Sheegl, the city's former CAO and key figure in many of the questionable transactions, couldn't be reached for comment.-

THE THREE STRIKES:

Fire hall audit

Released Oct. 21, 2013

Contracts for the city's fire hall replacement program were split up to avoid council oversight on a project that's now $3.2 million over-budget and counting, according to a long-awaited audit released in October 2013. The Ernst & Young report lays blame primarily with Phil Sheegl, the city's former chief administrative officer, for providing oversight, "where oversight occurred." The audit echoed some council members' concerns that the single-sourcing of city contracts aimed to prefer just one developer, namely Shindico. Elements of the program were awarded on a "non-competitive basis," the audit found. The city still doesn't own the Taylor Avenue property that Fire Station 12 was built on, even though a council committee eventually overturned the land swap and prepared to buy it. The deal trading three plots of city land for that one private piece was arranged by ex-fire chief Reid Douglas without council approval. Fire Hall Audit by tessavanderhart Real estate review Released July 2, 2014 A review — or audit depending which city hall official you spoke to — revealed a lack of oversight, and checks and balances in development deals for different real-estate deals in Winnipeg. The review examined transactions from 2006 to 2012. Some of the deals in question: Sale of Winnipeg Square Parkade: “The role of a real estate broker engaged in an advisory capacity to assist the City with the sale of the Winnipeg Square Parkade was not clear.”

Sale of Polo Park stadium site: Review suggests miscommunication on responsibility for cash dedication and lot fees, valued at $842,000

Proposed sale of Parcel 4 lands: Review found information on higher valuation of land by The Forks was not presented to council.

Acquisition of 266 Graham Ave.: Review found the city did not seek out an independent appraisal of the police headquarters land and firm is unsure if it received value for the purchase. Ernst And Young Report on Winnipeg Real Estate Police HQ audit

Released July 15, 2014

The city may have gotten "value for money" in the construction of its vastly over-budget police headquarters, but KPMG's audit of the process found a litany of errors made along the way.

Mayor Sam Katz blamed outside engineers — arguing the inaccuracy of the $105-million budget estimate approved by council in 2009 created the mess the now $210-million project is in now.

The audit highlights the city's lack of consistent understanding of its own procurement policy and inability to promote "open, competitive and transparent procurement related to major capital projects."

It found the project steering committee, designed to report to council, fraught with problems.

The project's budget skyrocketed from the initial estimate in 2009 of $105 million, to an early stage development budget created and approved later that year for $135 million, with designs only 30% complete.

In the end, the project had 81 change orders, which cost an extra $19.89 million, and a final price tag of $210 million.

The audit states these changes, about 14% of the total contract, were not properly reported to council and "not only resulted in under-reporting of the project's estimated cost ... but also meant the city lost the opportunity to proactively negotiate, monitor and respond to the actual cost of implementing these changes."

WPS HQ Construction Project Audit Report

WPS HQ Quantity Survey