INNISFAIL - A shocked town council has immediately ordered a replacement handivan after being told its current aging and deteriorating unit was transporting the town's most vulnerable citizens for six months with a potentially dangerous smoking steering column issue.
"It was a little shocking but we kind of got our eyes open and in this day and age there is no need for that kind of vehicle to be on the road," said mayor Jim Romane, of the handivan that has been plagued with ongoing electrical and mechanical issues. "This bus is in need of replacement. I wish it (smoking steering column) had been brought to our attention sooner the condition it is in. This is the first report I have ever heard."
Romane and town councillors were told about the handivan's smoking steering column, which occurred intermittently from December 2015 to May 2016, at its regular meeting on May 28 when council was asked to consider options for the vehicle's replacement.
"I was shocked to hear that, for sure. Without question it is an urgent matter," said Coun. Jean Barclary, who first heard of the dangerous issue at a Transportation Service Review Committee meeting in May.
Council unanimously agreed to have administration immediately move forward with a process to replace the current handivan, a 2004 Ford eight-seat model that has logged about 243,000 kilometres. The handivan, which was pulled from out-of-town service last year, was most recently grounded last month for four days to address an electrical issue. While the town owns the handivan, the service is operated by the Innisfail Royal Canadian Legion.
Council also directed administration to lease a 16-seat 2009 handivan from the Edmonton area for $2,500 a month until a new and permanent handivan can be purchased, likely by the end of the summer.
"It's about time," said longtime handivan driver Laurie Millier, who publicly broke her silence to council at the May 28 meeting about the startling intermittent smoking steering column incidents that took six months to fix. "I'm passionate because it is so important. It's important to 30 per cent of this community to have this service. If it's left to the powers who have handled it so far they wouldn't have it."
The handivan driver said she appealed to senior town and legion staff, who are no longer with both organizations, about the deteriorating condition of the handivan, including the smoking steering column.
"So for six months I drove with an intermittently smoking column. Smoke was coming out of the steering column through the shifter lever and four-way flasher button," she said.
Miller added she did not speak out publicly about the handivan's ongoing electrical and mechanical problems because she was afraid of being fired or seeing the service terminated. In the meantime, while the aging vehicle's smoking steering column was heating up and releasing smoke, she continued her driving duties, despite knowing it was potentially dangerous for herself and elderly clients.
"I guess I felt it was more of an obligation to continue the service than anything else. I felt obliged to make sure the seniors could get to where they needed to be when they needed to be. I actually trusted the people in authority to be making the resolution happen, whatever that looked like," said Miller, adding she did talk to lower level town staff members. "I said to him, why are they not replacing it. Where is the funding?
"The most common (response) I got was, 'It's above my pay grade," she added.
Don Harrison, the manager of the legion since 2017, said he was unaware of the handivan's ongoing problems until earlier this year. He said he recently ordered its service to stop for several days last month when outside temperatures reached 25 C and the handivan's air conditioning unit failed to operate properly.
In the meantime, Harrison said he was pleased council directed an adequate temporary solution and is finally moving aggressively forward with a permanent one.
"We're very happy, ecstatic actually. We've got an interim fix for the seniors now. We can go out now and start booking trips on a regular basis. The work now begins on the next step," said Harrison, adding he would be immediately talking to committee members about a go forward plan for a new permanent replacement handivan that could cost up to $110,000. "There is a lot of work to do."
Harrison anticipates the committee will discuss many financial options to pay for the new handibus, including the town's contribution, available provincial grant monies and fundraising. He said the committee also has to decide the scope of the future service, whether it will include out-of-town transportation and whether the future might include two handivans for the community.
