Universal Program Review

Transcription

1 1. DEPARTMENTAL DESCRIPTION A. DEPARTMENTAL DESCRIPTION The Corporate Services Department provides centralized professional support services to all City departments (Centres of Expertise or COEs) and direct service to residents through its seven program areas: 1. City Hall Services, which provides support to City Council, standing committees and advisory committees, manages the administration of the municipal elections, Provincial Offences Act and Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, provides French-language and volunteer services, and delivers services to residents through the Client Service Centres and Call Centre. 2. Communications and Marketing, which engages and informs residents on City programs and services, provides translation, graphics and advertising services, and co-ordinates marketing and opinion research, and media monitoring and analysis. 3. Facilities and Property Management Services, which manages the properties required for City programs, provides expertise in the purchase, construction, security and disposal of facilities and properties, and plans, approves and implements new investments in facilities, including life-cycle maintenance. 4. Financial Services, which establishes all financial policies and provides services required by the City and its ratepayers, provides financial and supply management services to the City s operating departments, and provides front-line services to residents for property taxation, water billing, and Corporate accounts receivable billing and collections. 5. Information Technology Services, which manages information technology hardware, computers, telecommunications, networking, software applications, and the City s electronic and paper records. 6. Legal Services, which provides legal and procedural advice, drafts contracts, agreements, by-laws and legislation, prepares and executes development agreements, and manages litigation by and against the City and the Ottawa Police Services Board. 7. Vehicle and Equipment Services, which manages fuel for the City s fleet of vehicles and equipment, preventive and corrective maintenance, rentals and leases, acquisition and disposal, life-cycle management and replacement planning, and safety compliance.

2 B. DEPARTMENTAL OBJECTIVES The objectives of the Corporate Services Department are to: Provide centralized expertise, standards and support to other City departments in a way that will help them provide services and programs to residents, and to meet their statutory legislative requirements; Ensure the safety and long-term viability of City-owned assets and properties, including buildings, facilities, computers, vehicles and equipment; Provide Corporate financial strategies and policies to ensure the long-term fiscal strength of the City; Engage citizens in discussions and consultations on municipal issues, and encourage them to participate fully in the life of their community; and Provide good quality, accessible information and comprehensive services to Ottawa residents. 2. DEPARTMENTAL REDUCTION OVERVIEW In general, Corporate Services reduction scenarios were developed with the first objective of meeting legislative requirements, and then meeting the requirements mandated by City Council. The Corporate Services Department had some unique challenges in developing their scenarios because of the three distinct services types it provides. Some program areas provide services directly to the public (i.e. the Call Centre, Client Service Centres and Lansdowne Park). Others support the basic functions required by every Ontario municipality (i.e. such as treasury management and legislative support). The remainder provide centralized professional services (Centres of Expertise) to other City programs that are providing resident-facing services (i.e. facility operations, vehicle and equipment maintenance, and business system applications). For those areas providing direct public-facing services and supporting the basic functioning of the municipality, the reduction scenarios are consistent with those of other departments. For COE services, the methodology applied to the reduction scenarios was the same. Therefore, the programs that are supported through the COEs would experience a direct impact on the levels of service they are able to provide the public. However, these programs and the COEs have conducted their reductions scenarios independent of one another, according to the methodology. As a result, there

3 are inconsistencies among the reduction scenarios that would have to be resolved in any budget exercise. Further, some of the COE reduction scenarios (i.e. Facilities and Property Management and Vehicle and Equipment Services) chose to reduce the capacity within each service area rather than reduce the standard of service in order to best meet legislated requirements and minimize service impacts on residents. There are no service areas that can be reduced by 100%. City Hall Services Some but not all City Hall services are mandated. The Municipal Act 2001, Part IV states that the statutory positions of City Clerk and Deputy City Clerk (S.228) are the primary point of contact for the public under the Municipal Act As well, the City must meet statutory obligations under the Municipal Elections Act and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA). As well, Provincial Offences Act Services are mandated by legislation pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of the Attorney General. At the 20% reduction scenario, City Hall Services focused on reducing service levels rather than eliminating or reducing core services. With this approach, most services can continue at some reduced level, although not at the standard that the public currently receives. For example, at the 20% reduction level, hours of operation for Client Service Centres and the Call Centre will be reduced, resulting in less access to City services, particularly in rural communities, and increased waiting times for residents attempting to access services in person or by phone. The 20% scenario would also see reduced administrative support for City Council, agenda and minute preparation for advisory committees, and the elimination of funding for advisory committee workplan budgets. This would mean that advisory committees would see their core function return to providing advice to City Council, and would not be able to conduct outreach activities.

4 As well, administrative support for City Hall and facility bookings would be eliminated, so that no assistance would be provided to community groups or major festivals in the booking, management, set-up or teardown of City Hall space. The City would continue to provide Provincial Offences Act administration services under the reduction scenario, but Lottery Licensing Services would need to be eliminated, resulting in a loss of $550,000 in revenue to the City, the closure of seven bingo halls, and the loss of about $8 million in fundraising revenue for charitable organizations. Communications and Marketing The reductions scenarios in this program attempt to ensure the basic level of communications services is retained (i.e. for statutory notification, basic public information), and that resident-focused communications services would be largely maintained. With a 20% reduction of services, the translation of documents for internal use would be eliminated, contravening the Council-mandated Bilingualism Policy. However, levels of service for the translation of documents for the public, particularly those required to meet specific legislative requirements for public notice or advertising in both official languages would be maintained. Support for small-scale Corporate special events would be eliminated, while support for larger-scale festivals and fairs that provide economic benefits would continue. Support for lower-risk communications initiatives would be reduced or eliminated, while the present service standards for higher-risk initiatives (including crisis communication support) would be maintained. Facilities and Property Management Services In developing its reduction scenarios, Facilities and Property Management Services focused on those that would have the least impact on services to residents, while keeping other factors in mind such as legislative requirements, the potential for liability, and the safety and security of residents and employees.

5 There is no legislative requirement that the City provide this service; however, as the owner of a variety of facilities, the City is required to meet legislated standards for their maintenance and operation including those under the Day Nurseries Act, the Health Protection and Promotion Act, the Technical Standards and Safety Act, the Homes for the Aged and Rest Homes Act, the Long-Term Care Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. No reductions were considered in those areas where programming generates revenue to match or exceed the cost of providing the programs (i.e., Lansdowne Park, Parkdale and ByWard Markets, and PineView Golf Course). In the 20% reduction scenario, housekeeping standards and the consumption of hydro and gas (through changes in air conditioning standards) would be reduced, affecting citizens using City facilities, and the quality and aesthetics of the facilities available for programming. Because maintenance and property standards cannot be reduced beyond a certain level without consulting stakeholders, the reduction scenarios were built around reducing capacity. As a result, more than 1.7 million square feet in City programming space (facilities and property) would need to be disposed of affecting residents, community partners, agencies, and businesses. Other service areas would see reductions in security assessments and asset protection projects, in parks and building lifecycle renewal and accessibility projects, and in building rationalization projects. Financial Services Financial Services is a program that is highly legislated. While not all service areas are 100% regulated, all service areas have activities that have legislated requirements that must be met. The reduction scenarios for Financial Services focused on meeting minimum legislated standards throughout. This has been difficult to achieve, particularly in the area of Property Taxation, Water Billing and Collections, where there is a loss of viability for water revenue billing service at the 5% scenario.

6 Property Taxation, Water Billing and Collections are legislatively mandated services. The legislative standards are contained in the Municipal Act, 2001, the Tenant Protection Act, the Limitations Act, the Provincial Offences Act, the Ontario Works Act, the Assessment Act, and the Payments-in-lieu-of-Taxes Act (Canada). Budget Development, Treasury Management and Risk have a number of areas that are legislatively mandated. The Budget is mandated through the Municipal Act, Risk Management and Insurance is mandated by the Insurance Act, the Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act, the Occupier's Liability Act, and the Municipal Act. Treasury and debt are mandated through the Municipal Act, Similarly, there are some legislative requirements relating to Accounting and Reporting. They are: the Municipal Act, the Retail Sales Tax Act, and the federal Excise Tax Act. The City would be unable to maintain a viable water billing service at the 5% reduction scenario. Therefore, in order to fulfill minimum legislated standards under the Municipal Act and the Provincial Offences Act, the City s consumption-based water billing system for residential and commercial water customers would need to be eliminated. It would be replaced by a non-usage based system where residents would receive water charges twice a year on their property tax bill. At the 20% reduction scenario, accounting, reporting, financial processing, analysis and support services to City departments would be reduced. This would result in an increased risk of non-compliance with Corporate financial policies and procedures, less reliable financial reports, increased risk of duplicate payments to suppliers, and a greater opportunity for fraudulent activity. The development of budgets, policies and long-range financial plans would be delayed, and economic research and fiscal analysis would no longer be available. Procurement services would be discontinued for two major clients, the Ottawa Police Service and the Ottawa Public Library. As well, procurement support and advice for public-private partnerships and other Council-mandated projects would be eliminated. Accounting and reporting services for Business Improvement Areas (BIAs), would be eliminated, resulting in an increased cost to BIAs for those services and the potential for delays in the receipt of Community Reinvestment Funding.

7 The elimination of inventory management services at a number of locations and reduced hours of operation at others would affect 11 inventory locations serving many City departments and service areas. Inventory stock and non-stock parts, such as emergency protection supplies and vehicle, bus and equipment parts, would no longer be controlled through inventory, directly affecting departments ability to deliver services to the public. In addition, the removal of these items from an inventory system would increase the likelihood of items being out-of-stock when needed. Information and Technology Services Information and Technology Services focused on retaining basic services in its reduction scenarios. The only major legislated service is Corporate Records and Information Management. It is governed by the Municipal Act, 2001, the Health Protection and Promotion Act, the Homes for the Aged Act, and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA). Overall, the 20% reduction scenario would see reductions in support services for IT infrastructure, which would mean increased delays in fixing any problems with the City s Web site, the 600 public computer terminals in libraries and at Sm@rt Sites, or Web applications such as 1,2,3, GO for online parks and recreation registration. As well, there would be reductions in the functionality of essential business systems impacting internal clients and their ability to serve residents. Security for the City s electronic information resources, and operation of the City s telephone, voice mail, computer and systems would be reduced. As a result, the City would not be able to guarantee compliance with the confidentiality requirements of the MFIPPA legislation. The quality and efficiency of Corporate Records services would be reduced, increasing the risk that the City would not be able to meet its legislative requirements for the retention and management of Corporate records. As well, strategic planning, and project-management and monitoring services would be reduced, affecting all departments capacity to ensure the quality of systems and applications, and to implement new technologies aimed at improving service to residents.

8 Legal Services Legal Services reduction scenarios focused on meeting the City s legislated and Councilmandated services in the areas of Provincial Offences Act and by-law prosecutions. As well, service will be provided first to the City over external boards and agencies. A 20% reduction in service levels will mean procedural and legal advice to external boards and agencies would be reduced, causing them to access and finance their own legal services at an increased cost. Legal Services will no longer provide counsel and advice on Council-initiated special projects and public-private partnership (P3) projects, unless Council specifically provides for the funding. They will eliminate the advice provided for environmental law, corporation-related legislative and By-Law drafting and review, and the preparation and presentation of preventative law programs for City Council and staff. They will decrease the advice provided in the fields of employment and labour law, reduce the capacity to prepare development agreements, reduce provision of legal services on Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act matters, and the carriage and management of litigation. As a result, there would be a greater risk of increased litigation for the City, and a need for internal clients to seek external legal services at a greater cost. Vehicle and Equipment Services Bbecause 97% of the program costs are directly related to the fleet size and usage, Vehicle and Equipment Services chose to remove units and kilometres from service when building its reduction scenarios. As well, the reduction scenarios allowed for basic legislative requirements to be met. The Highway Traffic Act (HTA), the Land Ambulance Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Environmental Protection Act regulate aspects of the services provided. With the 20% reduction scenario, maintenance support for non-legislated annual inspections of municipal vehicles, air-conditioned buses and the Bus Bike-Rack program

9 would be eliminated. As well, the frequency of semi-annual interior cleaning of buses is reduced, affecting the quality of transit service, cleanliness of buses, and ridership. A 20% reduction in fuelling services and contributions to the vehicles and equipment replacement reserves would result in the removal of 1,040 out of 4,400 City units, and 28 million kilometres from service (including 240 buses, 112 Police Service units, 68 Fire Service units, 20 Paramedic Service units, 60 utility services units, and 296 park maintenance, road and sidewalk operations units). Preventive and corrective maintenance services for City vehicles and equipment would be reduced, resulting in the further removal of 968 units used by transit, police, fire, paramedic and utility services, and by park maintenance, road and sidewalk operations. 3. DEPARTMENTAL COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE ANALYSIS Currently, there are a number of services delivered to Corporate Services client departments that are either partially or fully provided through external contractors. These include the electronic billing of water and tax accounts, legal services, mail and printing services, translation services, security, facility maintenance and repair, architectural design services, vehicles and equipment maintenance, and technology infrastructure management. The services that are appropriate for outsourcing are those where the City requires a current, specialized knowledge base or expertise, and the ability to manage peak workloads, and where Alternate Service Delivery (ASD) is the most cost-effective means of delivering programs and services. Over the coming months, the Department will be looking into expanding and enhancing ASD in these areas, where business cases support the change in service delivery. As well, it will continue to examine opportunities in areas that show a high to moderate potential for the City to either partially or fully divest itself of the service, including: those services with a high commercial or business orientation, such as programming associated with Lansdowne Park and Lynx Stadium, and City facilities like PineView Golf Course and Carp Airport; and, those related to specialized projects or services, such as information technology applications development, surveys and mapping, and vehicles and equipment.

10 There are a number of services which have not and should not be considered for ASD because the costs to the City would be higher (claims management, MFIPPA, preparation of financial statements, benchmarking analysis, some legal services), the losses in revenue would not justify the changes in the delivery method (investment services), the legislative requirements would not be met (preparation of the municipal budget, POA, lottery-licensing services, property taxation), the unique knowledge of and compliance with Corporate policies and procedures would be compromised (municipal law advice, municipal accounting and reporting, program management associated with the Parkdale and ByWard Markets), or there would be little interest in the private sector to deliver the service (specialized City facilities where the potential for revenue generation is limited).