Chief Administrative Officer CAO

1. THAT Report CONF-2024-007, Service Delivery and Organizational Report of Prioritization for Council Consideration, be received;
2. THAT Council endorse the priorities proposed;
3. THAT staff be authorized to proceed with actioning the high priorities during the 2024 year; and
4. THAT the CAO share details of the Blackline report and approved priorities with staff

On February 26, 2024, Blackline Consulting presented a report that identified recommended opportunities and implementation plans.

Staff were directed to identify recommendations for opportunities to be actioned in 2024 and report to Council prior to the finalization of the 2024 operating budget.

The Blackline report identified 49 opportunities derived through the data collection and analysis phase of the study since June of 2023. The process evaluated the Township's service delivery areas and Blackline presented a preliminary report in November 2023, that summarized key findings and key issues for consideration during the insight and report phase in preparation for a final report.   

Blackline's identification of potential opportunities was presented to the Technical Committee comprised of subject matter experts in each department, and the Steering Committee comprised of the Mayor and the Senior Management Team (SMT). On Feb 26, 2024, Blackline presented all 49 potential opportunities for changes in service delivery to Council.

The municipality is continuing to experience pressures from growth, changing expectations, legislation, and efforts to modernize service delivery. Recent turnover in key staff positions has impacted the resources available for Scugog to implement change, continue normal service delivery, and address strategic action plans.

Some of the suggested 49 opportunities were already in progress or planned, and the remaining opportunities required analysis to further define priority actions. Realistically, some opportunities will be easier to address than others, some will require significant analysis or background work prior to implementation, timing of some actions may depend on other actions, and most changes identified require either funding, dedication of staff resources, or technology to implement.

While it is not feasible to act on all the possibilities, it's important to prioritize high-impact, achievable results that will benefit the municipality in the short term or set the stage for the long term.

Senior Management reviewed the options from a corporate perspective balancing the impact on operational service delivery, the capacity of staff, the costs to implement, and the impacts on other initiatives such as the strategic plan actions.

In evaluating the priorities, staff also considered many of the issues that are current, and recurring issues identified by Council and the public, including:

• Customer service and delays in the development process
• Proactive oversight related to development sites to minimize the impacts of construction on residents
• Updating policies to accommodate current challenges such as business attraction, additional dwelling units, proposed developments and the review of the official plan
• Concerns about the ability to manage the level of on-going, and new, building activity and reviews
• Communication and public engagement
• Recruitment and retention of staff due to turnover and labour market conditions
• The need to focus on the capital program and proactive asset management to ensure we continue to see improved infrastructure trends
• Continuing the efforts at expanding digital services for efficiency and customer service enhancements.

Staff identified general prioritization of opportunities as high, medium or low. Those ranked as high can realistically be achieved, have the most impact in a reasonable timeframe, have an urgency to act understanding the benefits, and considered the availability of existing staff capacity, financial resources, any dependency on others or prerequisite actions, and a lens of customer service.

The first attachment shows the relative priority list identified by SMT as High, Medium or Low priorities, and identified those initiatives underway, or considered not applicable by Blackline. It does not further prioritize projects within the High, Medium, or Low rankings.

Several of Blackline's proposed opportunities were previously identified by staff and the projects were previously budgeted. Many were initiated during the study, or after the initial data-gathering stage in the SDOR. As they were in the initial phase or just underway, they still have merit to be listed as part of the report to provide an overarching picture for ongoing service improvement.

The following are the highest-ranked priorities identified by SMT. Timing and phasing of these opportunities will be dependent on the capacity of staff to analyze and implement, and the ability to finance the recommendations.

Develop an employee investment strategy to address the challenges in recruiting and retaining skilled staff at the Township in the current labour market. This is considered to have a high impact and high urgency due to the challenges facing the municipality in recruitment and retention of staff. Any solution will require an ongoing multipronged approach to investigate various opportunities and implement those identified as important for employee retention and attraction. This could include items such as a salary review for non-union positions, a mentoring program for aspiring leaders, staff recognition, flexible work weeks or other initiatives. Although not specifically identified by Blackline, additional HR support/capacity will be required to explore options, develop and implement programs, and maintain the focus on ensuring the Township is a desirable place to work. As such, it is proposed to expand a part-time HR associate to full-time to provide ongoing support for the employee investment strategy. (Blackline presentation Feb 26, 2024).

• Recruit a senior planner to address ongoing challenges and customer service issues related to the Township's ability to process planning applications on a timely basis, meet legislative obligations, and undertake policy reviews to address current issues. Consultants are currently hired to fill gaps in the workload which is growing. Consultants are also experiencing high workload demands and are not always responsive to the needs of the Township which requires significant oversight. The senior planner would deal with more complex applications often handled by peer consultants and provide more direct control on applications by the Township. The cost can be covered by a combination of planning fees and a reduction in consultant costs. (Blackline presentation Feb 26, 2024).
• Transition contracted spending to recruit an additional engineering technologist to bprovide timely, effective oversight of active developments and engineering reviews. Extensive construction is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, and one technologist is not able keep up with managing engineering reviews and providing timely construction oversight through the use of Peer Reviewers who are difficult to coordinate, and expensive. The cost of the position will be offset by savings from consultants and inclusion in new planning fees. This will provide a more economical option for developers for general engineering issues on a regular basis. The Township will still require the use of specialist knowledge when circumstances or specific expertise is warranted. (Blackline presentation Feb 26, 2024)
• Recruit additional building staff to meet legislated timelines so the municipality can better serve the builders and residents. The level of building activity and building permits, both for new builds and for other building activities, has been trending higher, and is expected to remain for the foreseeable future. The addition of a plans examiner/engineering tech focused on building issues will assist building inspectors with providing better customer service and quicker turnaround for applications. The Township has budgeted for a contract building inspector for the last 2 years but has been unable to fill in today's competitive labour market. The ability to fill both positions full-time is expected to assist in recruitment, and these positions (1 existing building inspector, 1 new plans examiner/engineer) will be able to address current demands and improve customer service to residents. (Blackline presentation Feb 26, 2024).
• Redistribute roles and recruit an additional associate to improve customer service for recreation programs at the SCRC. This will allow a focus on front line customer service and reduce overtime and temporary fills during peak periods. A significant benefit results with the existing staff who are subject matter experts in other areas. This will allow current staff to focus on communications to continue to expand our communication efforts, and a more in-depth program coordination and analysis to improve programs and revenue opportunities. (Blackline presentation Feb 26, 2024).
• Establish an approach to eliminate the planning backlog which will benefit from the capacity freed up through additional resources and the ability to focus on planning matters rather than coordinating and managing various consultants. Although a solution was not identified, Blackline is aware of the planner position budgeted in 2023. Staff support the release of the freeze on hiring this position budgeted in 2023 to allow the planner that was previously budgeted to free up capacity to address the backlog and review processes and other planning issues related to the new legislation.
• Budget for additional staff in capital works to offset some of the consultant costs required for project management and oversight of construction projects. This will allow staff to focus on the capital program and more economically utilize staff rather than more expensive consultants to deliver the growing capital program. The costs will be charged to capital projects in place of consultant costs budgeted and will help ensure we support the importance of managing and improving the significant asset base owned by the municipality.
• Consider additional IT staff to implement the ITSP as part of budgeted project costs and continue the focus on modernizing the use of digital services and technology in the Township. This will be based on need considering the major technology initiatives in place each year and allow for dedicated project management of significant technology initiatives. The costs will be included in the cost of the project as needed.
• Convert seasonal positions to full-time roles considering the seasonal demands for workload as well as consistent skillsets required to provide consistently trained staff, avoid the costs of training and recruitment, balance workloads where possible, and retain qualified staff. It is expected most seasonal positions may not be able to be combined due to conflicting peak season workloads or differing expertise required for various positions. However, some areas may lend themselves to the concept and would have minimal cost impacts. (Blackline presentation Feb 26, 2024)
• Acquire a cloud learning management system to help provide consistent learning opportunities and reduce costs of in-person training where appropriate. This would benefit onboarding, mandatory statutory training obligations and other on-demand training needs. The ability to have a flexible training alternative will support a focus on training and development to appeal to a broad section of the workforce and provide flexibility without the costs and time to schedule and attend specific sessions. The ability to consider staff's existing workloads and schedules, benefits both the employee and the organization. The Township had identified this as an opportunity previously and further work needs to be done to investigate an appropriate solution that is effective and saves time.
• Improve the level of G.I.S. services received from the Region through a Service Level Agreement. This is the first step in utilizing a GIS system and related information for analysis, asset planning, work scheduling, and customer-facing services. The ability to develop current and accurate data for importing into a GIS system as well as developing and expanding the capabilities of a GIS system is a challenge without the appropriate staff skillset and capacity to manage the information. (Blackline presentation Feb 26, 2024)

The remaining opportunities were ranked as medium and low priorities after considering the time commitment or cost vs the benefit received, the need to engage the union for possible options, the stage of technology maturity or projects already identified for the future, the immediacy of impacts, the ability to deliver considering other priorities and initiatives or the complexity or further analysis needed. These will be reviewed in future years to further the process and opportunities identified by Blackline.

Blackline discussed 14 of the 49 priorities during their presentation to Council on Feb 26, 2024.

These included:

Recruit an additional planner (26)

• Consolidate Engineering peer reviews by:
  • Transition to fewer engineering forms for peer reviews (25)
  • Investigate the economics of recruiting an engineering technologist (31)
• Develop an employee investment strategy (2)
• Formalize Scugog's approach to staffing projects (6)
• Redistribute roles and recruit an additional associate (15)
• Create generalist positions (1)
• Expand the use of technology to perform HR processes (4)
• Convert seasonal roles to full time (12)
• Develop a knowledge, operations, and records repository (9)
• Improve level of GIS services received from the Region (20)
• Balance building application review by:
  • Conduct a 6-12-month study to reduce resubmissions (24)
  • Add a Plans Examiner funded from application fees (32)
• Automate the Ticketing and permitting process (28)

Of the 14 items above, 7 were identified as a high priority by SMT, 3 were already identified and in progress, 2 were identified as medium priorities by SMT due to the investment in technology required, 1 is ranked low due to the limited staff capacity, and 1 will be addressed when the customer service strategy is updated, and the use of the CRM matures.

The 11 opportunities ranked as high priority by SMT can have an impact on service delivery in 2024. If approved by Council, these recommendations can be initiated, although the timing may need to be phased during the year, based on capacity of staff, the ability to find qualified applicants, or the results of any required analysis.

During the Council meeting on Feb. 26, 2024, it was discussed that Council was welcome to provide comments on the identified priorities at the Council meeting or discuss with staff before the report came back to Council with SMT's recommended priorities. To date Council has not commented on the priorities, however, should Council choose to change the priorities identified by SMT, it is recommended that Council confer with staff regarding the ability to deliver on different priorities over the next year, and understand the potential impact on the ability to deliver on the other priorities identified.

A substantial portion of the estimated costs can be offset in a sustainable manner and help provide better customer service in areas of concern.

Most recommendations provided by SMT address current issues faced on a regular basis and will show improved service delivery to our residents within 2024 at no cost to the tax base this year.

The full Senior Management Team participated in the evaluation of the opportunities identified and are supportive of the recommendations provided for Council's consideration.