Body: Committee of the Whole Type: Agenda Meeting: Committee of the Whole Date: May 4, 2016 Collection: Council Agendas Municipality: South Frontenac
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TOWNSHIP OF SOUTH FRONTENAC COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING AGENDA
TIME: DATE: PLACE:
9:00 AM, Wednesday, May 4, 2016 Community Room - Sydenham Library.
Call to Order
Declaration of pecuniary interest and the general nature thereof
Focused Group Disucssion
(a)
Confirmation from Council of Priorities Identified in the Strategic Plan
2-3
(b)
Confirmation of Challenges Identified in Organizational Review
4-7
(c)
Identification of further challenges from Council and Managers
(d)
Comment from managers on adequacy of current resources to address the priorities and challenges identified in a timely mannger
(e)
Are there other barriers beside resources to addressing the challenges?
(f)
Did the Organizational Review address the challenges?
(g)
What are the barriers to the proposed solution besides money?
(h)
What other options are proposed and how do they meet the challenges?
Adjournment
8 - 11
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2015-2018 Strategic Plan MISSION: To sustain and enhance the quality of life for residents of South Frontenac. This will be achieved by: • providing essential and important municipal services and infrastructure in an efficient, well-planned and cost-effective manner; • being an advocate for responsible growth, with a sensitivity to the environment; • supporting South Frontenac’s unique identity, rural / small-urban lifestyle, culture, history, agricultural diversity, natural assets and economic vitality.
VISION: The Township of South Frontenac will be a proactive, well-managed and accountable municipality that engages residents, collaborates with partners and champions the community’s unique lifestyle. This will be achieved by: • following a balanced approach to costs and benefits, needs and circumstances, ambition and financial capacity; • setting high standards for its municipal services and infrastructure, and maintaining them at levels the community can be proud of; • managing finances in ways that are a model of fiscal responsibility; • making decisions from a long-term perspective, considering the implications, trends and risks; • informing and engaging citizens and collaborative partners in the process of helping South Frontenac to advance.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES: South Frontenac is committed to: • acting in the interests of and for the benefit of the entire municipality; • conducting business and treating individuals in a fair, respectful, professional, supportive and consistent manner; • pursuing excellence and best practices in customer service and use of communications technology; • taking a long-term perspective to pro-actively plan for future infrastructure and services; • upholding the community’s unique identity and lifestyle; • helping address climate change by improving energy efficiency and supporting renewable energy production • considering decisions in light of the desire to be an (any) Age-Friendly community; • advancing transparency and collaborative processes by actively informing, educating and engaging the public.
STRATEGIC PRIORITIES:
- Encourage and foster responsible growth in South Frontenac. Through an effective policy framework, planning processes and managing demand for services, the Township will encourage responsible growth by:
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Page 3 of 11
•
• • •
•
Developing a clear vision, goals and plan for future development in the community through an updated Official Plan and related work that articulates the type of development desired (residential, commercial, industrial), where in South Frontenac it should be encouraged or not, plus applicable processes, incentives and conditions that influence the context for development. Positioning South Frontenac as a vibrant “destination of choice” for yearround and seasonal residents, visitors and businesses. Following processes that acknowledge agriculture and its diversity as an essential part of the community’s character. Making decisions sensitive to environmental concerns with the aim of sustaining healthy lakes, waterways, wetlands, agricultural lands and other natural assets. Making decisions consistent with quality rural / small-urban lifestyles in our varied rural, hamlet and lake communities.
- Be a catalyst to support and help build vibrant communities. Recognizing that South Frontenac has many varied communities including lake associations, neighbourhoods and hamlets: • As a first priority, begin by supporting efforts to build vibrant hamlets that are friendly to residents of all ages, sustained by community and economic development, beautification plans, municipal services and facilities, social safety nets, housing options, and appropriate social, recreation and cultural opportunities. • Pursue efforts individually and in collaboration with community leaders, the County, CFDC and other partners to support economic development in areas of potential strength and good fit (e.g. agriculture/value-added agriculture, new and current small business, tourism, buy local campaigns, etc.) • Ensure there are no unnecessary municipal roadblocks to economic and community development or other initiatives that enhance the appeal and vitality of our communities.
- Continually improve how the Township conducts its business. Building on the foundation established in the last strategic plan, the municipality will improve how it does business with several specific objectives: • Step up our community relations processes through initiatives related to public outreach and engagement (especially in significant decision-making processes), public education, communication and access to information. Two areas of particular interest include using multiple channels of communication to seek and provide information to residents as well as digital media contact with associations, communities of interest, seasonal audiences and so on. • Improve customer service experiences and enhance responsiveness, reliability, customer care, communications and easy access to services. • Develop an infrastructure master plan to identify and guide where the Township should be going over the long term in terms of water, waste, sewage, gas, Hwy 38, service levels, budget requirements, meeting increasing needs and so on. • Enhance municipal coordination and partnerships. Assess and adjust to the impacts of growth in all of its multiple dimensions (such as determining service levels and priorities, managing demand through staffing and delivery structures, and working within multi-party planning processes). Build on and seek out new productive working partnerships with the County of Frontenac, neighbouring municipalities, the CFDC, community associations, service clubs and other organizations to pursue common interests in areas such as economic development, service delivery, procurement and volunteer programs. • Continue to enhance practices that help ensure financial responsibility, effective capital asset management, prudent planning, decision-making, transparency and accountability. Adopted May 5, 2015
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Organizational Review - Challenges Strategic Plan 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
There is not enough consensus around the details of the overall strategic plan and direction of Council There needs to be a tighter link between the strategic plan and on-going management decisions There needs to be a greater focus on specific important strategic issues The strategic plan approved by Council is not sufficiently reflected in operating plans and budgets There is not an implementation plan in place to action the proposed strategic director Staff reports do not, as a matter of course, comment on a matter’s impact or relation to the strategic plan Strategic and long-term items such as policy development and multi-year planning performance measurements are not being completed Council
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Council meets too frequently Council needs to rebalance its agenda to focus in on key strategic matters The frequency of Council and Committee of the Whole meetings is tasking on senior management and staff Senior managerial staff feel they spend a disproportionate amount of time servicing frequent Council and COW meetings Frequent meetings result in hastily prepared reports that may fall short in providing Council with information they need to make decisions There could be improvements in reports and decision-making support materials At present, Committee recommendations typically must go through COW before being brought to Council By eliminating COW meetings, there must be greater authority and trust delegated to its committees Organizationally
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10
Concerns that both parties are “kept up at night” coupled with an ability to address these issues Senior Management staff noted that close to 100% of their time is devoted to day-today operations Senior Management staff describe themselves as “working managers” Increased public expectations in response times, statutory reporting requirements and service level requirements have placed additional pressures on municipal staff that did not exist in the past There needs to be more of a culture of innovation The absence of common service standards/public complaints process; requests are often being left unanswered A customer service policy is necessary to manage residents client service expectations. All staff identified differing approaches to customer services across departments Customer service issues being left unaddressed by “other departments” Investing in a customer/client relationship managements system (CRM) to inventory, track and report on customer service communications and interactions Staffing Complement
Page 5 of 11 1 2 3
Generally, there is a strong possibility that the municipality is under-staffed in certain areas The total full-time staffing complement is below average on a per-capita basis The Townships fulltime staffing levels are below the average of its peers Communications
1
2 3
There are concerns about internal communications with respect to staffing decisions, understanding who does what within the organization, Council decisions and internal consultation on policy and operational matters External communications are currently a distributed functions. It is both everyone’s and no one’s responsibility. There is limited use of social media Economic Development
1 2 3 4
Economic development was raised in Council interviews as an area of priority for the Township The strategic plan’s first two strategic directions inherently require local economic development capacity in order to achieve them There is a need to spur economic activity that would contribute to the Townships overall quality of life The County has an economic development function but it is largely focused on the County’s trails system.
5 6
There are inadequacies of relying on the County’s economic development function The CAO /Clerk does not reasonably have capacity to deliver what is required with respect to the economic development function Administration
1 2
3 4
5 6 7
The administrative function is lean compared to peers There is a challenge of being unable to appropriately allocate time to strategic management, policy development and long term planning that is particularly acute in the CAO function The CAO is responsible for managing seven direct reports which is an aboveaverage span of control compared to peers THE CAO must focus a disproportionate amount of time to service the Council process as the Deputy Clerk is not able to provide much support because of the demands of his primary planning function responsibilities With the exception of West Grey, all of the peer municipalities have separate CAO and Clerk functions A municipality’s CAO should be its chief strategist The current weight of the CAO and Clerk responsibilities combined with an unwieldy span of control, the CAO simply does not have the capacity to be South Frontenac’s chief strategist at present. Building and Planning
1 2 3 4
There is a lack of Council consensus on growth planning priorities Growth management is both a key concern and priority of Council The role of the Township vis a vis the County and setting clear roles for each level of government needs beOfficial reconciled The County has its to own Plan and is the approval authority for the Township’s Official Plan under the Planning Act, thus making it necessary that the Township work collaboratively with the County in addressing Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendments
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9
Planning and development service costs are below average when evaluated again the total construction activity The Planning Department is currently not working towards driving a comprehensive, streamlined development process: very transactionally focused There are concerns with respect to the responsiveness of both the Planning and Building Departments in approving applications Both Planning and Building lack a customer service orientation, customer inquiries are not responded to promptly and resolution of customer concerns/issues are left to the last minute Building Inspectors do not feel qualified to interpret the Zoning By-law/Building Inspectors need to be supported and trained to appropriately complete this work Fire
1 2 3
4 5 6 7
Fire costs are below average when considering both the number of residents and the land area served The Township employs less full-time fire staff that all of its peers The Fire Chief currently appears to be operating at over-capacity and is finding it difficult to complete planning, long term forecasting, report and reviewing by-laws There is a need to do more with respect to public education and awareness and fire inspection services. Properly enforced fire codes, building codes and other regulations along the fire prevention, lessen the frequency and extend of fire related risks There are concerns regarding the struggle to keep volunteer firefighters satisfied The Fire Chief is often in the field responding to calls due to the department’s lean structure. Public Works
1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9
Public Works Department staffing is below average on a per-kilometer basis The lack of codified service level standard underscores the need for strategic management of a very important spending category for the twp The Public Works Department has operational pressures and sub-optimal role divisions that are pushing out strategic management, particularly in the areas of policy development (particularly service level policies), asset management, long term capital planning and procurement/capital project management An asset management plan is a key requirement for municipalities to receive provincial funding, it is essential to appropriately manage thisthe function There is a capital high level of investment in roads infrastructure; however absence of a policy standard has made it difficult for the municipality to determine if the spend is optimal The Township’s responsibilities for roads are higher than would be expected for a typical lower-tier municipality Relative to its peers, SF invested a disproportionately high amount of its capital budgets in transportation infrastructure from 2009-2014 The Township’s total operating costs for transportation services were above average, both on a per-capita and on a per-kilometre basis Since very few calls regarding roads complaints are received, this suggests that the roads may potentially be over-serviced Recreation
1
The total costs for parks, recreation programs and recreation facilities on a per capita basis is below the average of peers Treasury
Page 7 of 11 1
There is a need to establish the optimal mix of reserves and debt necessary (to best lever capital funding)
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Organizational Review - Recommendations 1
Council should reduce its meeting frequency to 1-2 Council meetings per month
2
Committee of the Whole should be eliminated and the committee structure be reviewed, develop an approach to optimize the structure, including defining clear mandates, accountabilities and the relationship of the committee
3
Staff reports should include a section that describes a matters relationship to the strategic plan and its impact on the implementation of the directions set out in the plan
4
The CAO and Clerk functions should be separated by creating and recruiting for a new standalone Clerk’s position
5
The Township should streamline its departmental structure and enhance its managerial capacity through the creation of three new integrated departments of Infrastructure Service, Corporate Service and Development Service.
6
The Director level positions would be responsible for the strategic management of their departments which would include policy development and review, annual and multi-year budgeting, operational planning, human resource and success management planning, performance measurement development, monitoring and reporting and legislative and regulatory compliance
7
The Township should streamline the Roads Supervisor positions by re-profiling one position to be focused on service policy, long-term asset management and capital planning procurement/ capital project management, and fleet management. The other supervisor solely responsible for roads operations and in-house construction. 8
The Township should undertake a general review of its corporate policy suite to identify gaps and develop a multi-year plan to develop and seek Council approval of required corporate policies.
9
The Township should, in the near future, develop a common roads, customer service and communications service policy
10
The Township should create a new Corporate Communications Officer position to be housed in the office of the CAO.
11
The Township should charge its new directors with the responsibility for maintaining the Township’s corporate policy suite under the direction of the CAO
12
The Township should create a new Economic Development Officer position to report to the Director of Development Services
13
The Township should develop a multi-year economic development strategy
14
The Township should integrate planning and building under one integrated Development Services Division
15
The Development Services Director should: Work with the County to develop a comprehensive and streamlined development process endorsed by both Councils Manage the relationship with the County’s planning and economic development departments
Page 9 of 11 Re-align various planning and building functions where appropriate Lead Council reporting and community engagement for development projects Inform the Township’s customer service standard with planning and building related considerations 16
The Township should create and hire a Fire Prevention and Education Officer to assist the Fire Chief in providing an improved standard of prevention, inspections, staff training, staff relationship management and public education. The creation of this positing would also free time for the Fire Chief to handle administrative aspects that are currently being left unaddressed due to capacity constraints.
In the near-term, it is recommended that the Township streamline certain key existing positions and create new strategic management positions Legend:
Council
Adjusted Position (4) New Position (4) Moved Position (1)
CAO
Executive Assistant
Director, Corporate Services Roads Secretary
Manager, Public Works
Capital Planning Supervisor
Operations Supervisor
Facilities & Solid Waste Supervisor
Technical Assistant
Lead Hands (4)
Facilities & Solid Waste Secretary
Crew (19)
Treasurer
Receptionist
Deputy Treasurer Accounting/ Treasury Clerks (3)
HR/Legislative Compliance Officer
Fire Chief
Planner/ Deputy Clerk
Chief Building Official
Volunteer Deputy Chiefs (3)
Planning Assistant
Building Inspectors (2)
Fire Prevention/ Education Officer
Arena/ Recreation Supervisor
Planning & Building Admin Assistant
Volunteer Firefighters (150)
1
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Shop foreman
Clerk
Director, Development Services
Over the medium-term, the Township should complete the implementation of key strategic management and operational positions Legend:
Council
Adjusted Position (0) New Position (2) Moved Position (1)
Communications Officer
CAO
Director, Infrastructure Services Arena/ Recreation Supervisor
Director, Corporate Services
Manager, Public Works
Roads Secretary
Capital Planning Supervisor
Operations Supervisor
Facilities & Solid Waste Supervisor
Technical Assistant
Lead Hands (4)
Facilities & Solid Waste Secretary
Crew (19)
Clerk
Treasurer
Receptionist
Deputy Treasurer Accounting/ Treasury Clerks (3)
Director, Development Services HR/Legislative Compliance Officer
Fire Chief
Planner/ Deputy Clerk
Chief Building Official
Volunteer Deputy Chiefs (3)
Planning Assistant
Building Inspectors (2)
Fire Prevention/ Education Officer
Economic Development Officer
Planning & Building Admin Assistant
Volunteer Firefighters (150)
2
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Shop Foreman
Executive Assistant
