Calgary has disclosed that the independent review and related work following the 2024 Bearspaw South Feeder Main rupture cost approximately $2.29 million, including $1,752,414 paid for work by the review panel's chair.
The figures were made public Wednesday, October 28, 2026, after council approved a disclosure motion the previous day. The City released a memo from Chief Administrative Officer David Duckworth setting out compensation for the six original panel members, other review expenses and separate payments for later advisory-group work.
What the City paid the panel
The City lists $1,752,414 in hourly payments for panel chair Siegfried Kiefer, through Kiefer & Associates Ltd. The five other members, Michael Crothers, Gordon Engbloom, Nancy Foster, Bob Kerr and Stephen Stanley, were each paid a fixed $79,600. Combined panel-member compensation was $2,150,414.
The current City cost memo also lists expenses for engineering consultants, panel coordination, equipment, travel and administrative incidentals. The City's public review page puts the overall review and related-work cost at approximately $2.29 million.
Before contracts were executed in late 2024, council received a confidential briefing estimating that the initial review scope would cost between $1 million and $2 million, along with information about the chair's hourly rate. According to the City's updated memo, the rate was negotiated by the City, and council subsequently authorized administration to proceed.
The City says the eventual cost reflects a nine-month assessment covering its broader water utility, specialist engineering and advisory expertise, and work added as the review's scope developed. Officials also point to additional support during the response to a second feeder main failure in December 2025.
Separate payments for implementation advice
After the original review, a separate six-member implementation advisory group worked from March through June 2026. The City's memo records $126,000 in advisory-group compensation: $36,000 to Kiefer and $18,000 to each of five other members. This is a separate set of payments from the original panel-work compensation, and should not be presented as part of Kiefer's $1,752,414 panel-work figure.
Council approved a $3-million operating-budget adjustment in February 2026 for preparatory work on implementing the review's recommendations, including governance design, recruitment and transition support. That authorization is broader than the $126,000 paid to the advisory group and does not represent another $3 million paid to panel members.
Council response and oversight
Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness, who pressed for the disclosure, criticized the compensation arrangement and argued that the City needed more controls over panel spending. Mayor Jeromy Farkas said the earlier compensation decisions were made before his term and that the new Water Utility Oversight Board uses compensation caps rather than an open-ended hourly structure, according to reporting by LiveWire Calgary.
The independent panel's final report was delivered in January 2026. Its recommendations included stronger water utility risk management, clearer organizational accountability and an independent expert oversight board. The review itself is not newly completed; the October 28 development is the public release of its cost breakdown.
Sources and records
City of Calgary: October 28, 2026 updated cost memo to council (PDF).
City of Calgary: October 28 newsroom release announcing the disclosure.
LiveWire Calgary: October 28 reporting on councillor and mayoral responses.