IN THE MATTER OF THE TORONTO EXTERNAL CONTRACTS INQUIRY: BEACON AND REMARKABLE SUBMISSIONS OF WANDA LICZYK - 2 - Introduction and Perspective 1. The City of Toronto has a fully functioning efficient tax system. No one has suggested otherwise. There has been no evidence that the actual cost of TMACS was excessive or unwarranted. In fact, any evidence about waste and squandered money related to other failed tax systems like the former Toronto’s Banner system which appears to have been an utter financial disaster and the curiously ineffective and unproductive five (5) years of development of the Tax Manager 2000 system. 2. Three people essentially built TMACS for and on behalf of the City of Toronto. These same three individuals also built a water taxation system for and on behalf of the City of Toronto. Again, there has been no question that the City of Toronto has not been provided with excellent, efficient tax and water billing systems or that the City of Toronto did not receive good value for its money with the development of those systems. 3. This phase of the Inquiry was never about whether the City of Toronto got fleeced by its consultants, Beacon and Remarkable. This phase of the inquiry was always about publicly humiliating Wanda Liczyk and attacking her character. There is a certain blood sport associated with most public inquiries, and this one is no different. 4. In 1998 Ms Liczyk found herself front and center in the Toronto Star as a rising star of municipal public administration. Ms Liczyk was a high profile, well paid young woman. Ms Liczyk was also closely associated with Mayor Lastman and the North York guard. She has also made a few political enemies herself along the way. No longer an employee of the City of Toronto when this inquiry was called, she made an excellent target. - 3 - 5. Ms Liczyk had a brief relationship with a North York consultant in 1989 when she was twenty-eight (28) years old. If she were a man, this would not make much of a story. However, as a woman and a woman in authority, it titillates and gives cause for great sport. Unlike a man, a woman is apparently fettered by her emotions, whatever they might be. She is no longer capable of making objective, rational decisions in the best interest of her employer. 6. Barely any notice is taken of the friendships which were forged with Mr. Saunders by others in North York. Their objectivity is not questioned. Not so with Ms Liczyk because she had relations with Saunders 15 years ago and somehow that makes her emotionally incapable of performing her job. This theory is arcane, provincial, patriarchal and should be offensive to all women. 7. The issue of the Saunders relationship formed the backdrop for many witnesses’ recollections of what they believed may have happened almost 10 years ago. It is like a light bulb went off in their heads, with some encouragement: Oh, that’s why Toronto switched tax systems to TMACS. Giuliana Carbone’s epiphany at paragraph 74 of her affidavit, in which she realizes that she may have unwittingly become Ms Liczyk’s pawn, was truly inspired by some higher being. It is pure fiction. 8. What is the alternative? This is simply an inquiry about two tax systems and an administrative decision by a group of people who believed one was better than the other. Hardly enough to keep the media’s attention. 9. The entire issue of how and why TMACS was selected as the City of Toronto’s tax billing system was raised with City Auditor and Chief Administrative Officer in 1999, three years before Toronto City Council deemed it necessary to conduct a public inquiry into the issue. - 4 - In September 1999, NOW magazine, in its not so subtle manner, inquired into the “close working relationship” between Ms Liczyk and Mr. Saunders. A review of the matter was conducted by the City Auditor and he satisfied himself that there was nothing untoward or inappropriate about the City’s selection of TMACS and the City’s water billing system WMACS. However, three years later, it is now seen as appropriate to play the issue out in a public forum. 10. Ultimately, in any undertaking of this magnitude and expense individuals have to be seen to be accountable and publicly censured, otherwise those individuals calling for the public inquiry were unjustified in doing so. This Inquiry for the City of Toronto becomes not so much about the facts in their proper context but more about finding a public justification for calling the Inquiry in the first place. Naturally, when one calls for an expensive public inquiry, one also must insist upon getting entertainment value for one’s money. 11. This is a very dangerous and political game. Ultimately, the real losers are the City of Toronto employees who now have to fear that they also may become politically expedient fodder, and, of course, Ms Liczyk whose character and professional integrity have been severely compromised because she had a brief relationship with a consultant in 1989 when she was twenty-eight (28) years old. The Development of TMACS 12. The commencement of this story pre-dates any involvement of Wanda Liczyk (“Liczyk”). Liczyk began working with the City of North York in June of 1985. Liczyk commenced her employment in a relatively junior position where she worked as a Budget - 5 - Analyst. Liczyk continued to work as a Budget Analyst until 1987, during which period she reported directly to Al Shultz. 13. In 1984, prior to Liczyk’s employment, the Finance Department was reviewing all of its technology systems. As a result of this evaluation, it was determined that the existing systems were no longer fulfilling the City’s requirements and significant upgrades were necessary. 14. The first major system to be upgraded was the general ledger system. In order to identify what the City required from an upgraded system, particularly from a business standpoint, a consultative process was initiated whereby members of the Finance Department consulted and met with members of other departments. As Liczyk has testified, this ‘team approach’ was typical of the manner in which the City of North York administration functioned throughout her tenure at the City. The administration was sufficiently small so as to enable its members to meet frequently to discuss relevant issues. The ‘team approach’ was inherent at the City of North York and was how they operated on a day to day basis. It was not like the mega City bureaucracy. (Liczyk Affidavit, p. 6, para. 22) (Shultz Transcript, p. 248, lines 5-25, p. 249, lines 1-25, p. 250, lines 1-5) 15. The business requirements identified during this consultative process formed the basis for an RFP. The successful proponent of this RFP was American Management Systems (AMS), a company that operated out of Arlington, Virginia. 16. In 1984, the City of North York entered into a written contract with AMS. The terms of this contract were negotiated and finalized prior to Liczyk commencing her employment in North York. There is no evidence that North York City Council did not approve the AMS agreement and all its commercial terms, including fees and expenses. - 6 - 17. When Liczyk joined the City in June 1985, she became part of the team that was implementing the LGFS system. The City of North York went “live” with LGFS in January 1986. 18. In May 1986, Shultz requested that an experienced Project Manager be sent by AMS to assist in resolving some outstanding programming issues. In response to Shultz’s request, Michael Saunders, a Certified Public Accountant (“CPA”) and a former Finance Director in several large American cities, attended at the City of North York. 19. Upon his arrival at North York in mid-1986, Saunders regularly worked with City staff to successfully resolve the various implementation issues. Shultz and Edwin Ngan, both of whom worked very closely with Saunders over the years, describe Saunders as very hard working, with a terrific track record of success. As a project manager he delivered the results that were expected. (Ngan Transcript, October 27, 2004 p. 204 and 207; Shultz Transcript, November 2, 2004, p. 253) 20. In 1989, Shultz and Liczyk divided the reporting of the various Finance divisions between them. They worked together effectively as a team meeting daily in respect of all matters relating to the operation of the Finance Department. As Shultz has testified before this Inquiry, he and Liczyk worked very closely together and had “reciprocal level[s] of trust for each other’s opinions”. (Shultz Transcript, November 2, 2004 p. 247, lines 9-12, p. 248, lines 5- 8, p. 253, lines 14-18) Liczyk and Shultz also met with Robert Davie in their ongoing management of the Finance Department. (Shultz Transcript, November 2, 2004 p. 253, line 3-6) 21. In 1990, Saunders left AMS to form an independent contracting company known as Saunders & Associates. In addition to the work he was doing at other client sites in North - 7 - America, Saunders advised Shultz and Liczyk that he could continue to work directly for North York on the procurement module that North York had recently purchased from AMS. Saunders proposed to perform the implementation and modification assignments, which would in the ordinary course have been performed by AMS, at rates that were 20% less than those of AMS. All other terms of the retainer stayed the same. This was a great deal for North York as it got the same services for less money.