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1998-02-09_Minutes 86-840 COMMON COUNCIL FEBRUARY 9, 1998 At a meeting of the Common Council, held at the City Hall in the City of Saint John, on Monday, the ninth day of February, AD. 1998, at 4:00 o'clock p.m. present Shirley McAlary, Mayor Councillors Arthurs, Ball, Brown, Chase, Fitzpatrick, Gould, Knibb, Trites, Vincent and Waldschutz - and - Messrs. T. Totten, City Manager; P. Woods, Deputy City Manager; J. Nugent, City Solicitor; A Beckett, Commissioner of Finance and Commissioner of Corporate Services; J. C. MacKinnon, Commissioner of Environment and Development Services; W. Butler, Commissioner of Community Services; W. Edwards, Building Inspector; J. Baird, Manager of Community Planning; S. Lodhi, Manager of Real Estate and Facility Management; M. Chisholm, Manager of Process Improvement; G. Tait, Fire Chief; C. Cogswell, Acting Chief of Police; J. Richardson, Police Constable; Mrs. M. Munford, Common Clerk; and Ms. C. Mosher, Assistant Common Clerk. 1. MeetinQ Called To Order - OpeninQ Prayer Mayor McAlary called the meeting to order, and offered the opening prayer. 2. Approval of Minutes On motion of Councillor Knibb Seconded by Councillor Arthurs RESOLVED that minutes of the meeting of Common Council, held on February 2, 1998, be approved. Question being taken, the motion was carried. 3. Mavor's Remarks Mayor McAlary proclaimed February 15 as National Flag Day, and February 15 to 22 to be Scout and Guide Week in the City of Saint John; and thanked those involved in the Moosehead Skate To Care '98 held on February 7. Appreciation was extended to the City's Intergovernmental Affairs Officer Edward Farren for his efforts in the February 5 visit to the City of Saint John by the Governor of the Bank of Canada, Gordon Thiessen, who spoke on monetary policy and the Canadian economy at a luncheon at the Trade and Convention Centre, which attracted extensive media coverage. Note was made of two events scheduled for Heritage Day on February 14, being an exhibition on aviation at the Public Library and an opportunity for citizens to visit Loyalist House. 4. Ernst & Young Re BPI Projects Representatives of Ernst & Young were present at the meeting in response to Council's recent request to be updated with regard to the City's strategic planning process and business process improvement projects. Stephen Gallagher noted the last presentation to Council on June 23, 1997 at which time the City's business process improvement projects were about mid- course, and expressed appreciation to City staff for their outstanding commitment and contribution to the projects. Through an overhead slide presentation, Mr. Gallagher reviewed the time line to date, starting in the 4th quarter in 1996 when the initial assessment had been completed culminating in a presentation to senior staff in December 1996 at which time the recommendation, which was accepted, was that a 86-841 COMMON COUNCIL FEBRUARY 9, 1998 series of projects be undertaken by the City to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes prior to the selection of a new management information system that would be used enterprise-wide and also be compliant for Year 2000 issues; and also noted the City's proposal process through which, on April 14, 1997, Ernst & Young's proposal was accepted to assist the City with the business process improvement projects that had been identified. Jeanie McKibbon, Ernst & Young's project advisor with each of the City's individual BPI projects, reviewed the status of the major projects completed to date, including the overall project management from which the City would benefit through (1) an increased likelihood that each of the projects would succeed in its individual objectives; (2) training of City staff in project management skills, thus building in-house a greater capability to take on these projects in the future, independent of any assistance from outside consultants in these areas; and (3) identification, by each of the teams as the individual projects go forward, of other initiatives that could go on after these individual projects were finished, with City staff leading the initiatives. Ms. McKibbon commented on the Information Technology (IT) Strategic Plan, completed in July 1997; and, in terms of implementation having asked City management for an update, advised that, from Ernst & Young's point of view, the most significant steps forward in this regard were with Andrew Beckett having been made responsible for IT spending and William Todd having been made Director of Information Technology responsible for implementing the rest of the Strategy, thus putting IT spending front and centre within the organization and ensuring that future spending on IT dollars would be aligned with the Strategy and the City's overall objectives; and also that, with regard to follow-on projects identified by the IT Team to be completed by City staff in the years to come, five of the ten, which were considered items that should be moved along quickly, were in the stages of implementation and twelve other major projects were in various stages of planning. Ms. McKibbon also commented on the currently-in-progress Customer Service Business Process Improvement Project, for which the time-line was from October 1997 to mid-March 1998 and for which the overall objective was to set some guidelines or a blue print of how to better manage customer service at the City of Saint John to ensure that citizens' needs were met in a timely fashion and that there was a greater level of satisfaction with the services that citizens receive from City staff, with the result being improved service levels for citizens and better management about citizens' requirements so that, on an ongoing basis, senior staff and Council can use that information for planning service levels and types of services to deliver, as well as savings in staff time by being more efficient and pro-active in dealing with citizens' requests. (Councillor Vincent entered the meeting during the above presentation.) Mr. Gallagher commented on Ernst & Young's involvement in the City's strategic planning process, including facilitation in February 1997 of a retreat with management to start the process, and assisting Council and staff in September in a process to identify some of the City's priorities and assign some rankings to those, followed up with correspondence to and meetings in mid-October with the City Manager about how to take this to the next stage, and the subsequent intervention of the City's budget process; and suggested that it would be appropriate for a meeting to take place with the City Manager to map out at a high level what the next steps in the project should be. Mr. Gallagher advised that Ernst & Young's recommendations identified in a letter to the City Manager in the fall were (1) to assign individual responsibility for each of the major priorities identified at the retreat with Council and senior City staff; (2) that each of those individuals should assemble a team that would be responsible for developing the strategies and the detailed action plans, with implementation plans to take these high-level priorities and turn them into creative action plans for the City; and (3) assigning responsibility for implementation. In addressing the issue of cost/benefit relating to the various projects, including project management, the IT Strategic Planning process, the Budget and Control BPI, the Customer Service BPI, and the strategic planning process, Mr. Gallagher asked Council to keep in mind that the objective of the broad project was to look at the key processes at the City to ensure that they would be aligned with the new management information system that would be selected at some point, as it was planned then, in the fall of 1997. Messrs. Gallagher and Beckett addressed Councillor Brown's concern that, on December 15, 1997, Council authorized the purchase of software and services 86-842 COMMON COUNCIL FEBRUARY 9, 1998 to convert the LGFS to bring it into compliance with the Year 2000 at a cost of $250,000, knowing the key role the LGFS played as identified in the IT Strategy which listed eleven issues identified in the current state, recommended action and identified the departments impacted, as well as a concern that the authorized purchase would only accommodate the Year 2000 issue and that Council was not made aware of Ernst & Young's recommendation to City staff, coming out of the IT Strategic Plan, that the City look hard at selecting a new management information system that would take the City forward into the Year 2000 and be Year 2000 compliant. Mr. Totten advised that Ernst & Young, in a letter in mid-October 1997, offered to assist the City for a fee in the area of $75,000 in doing another BPI which would allow the City to prepare a call for proposals for new financial software to be installed before the end of 1998, and commented on the reason for his recommendation to Council on December 15, 1997 to convert the LGFS rather than proceeding with a new financial management information system. As to the role of Ernst & Young in the implementation of the IT Strategy, Mr. Gallagher advised that Ernst & Young was not engaged to be involved in the implementation process and implementation of the recommendations of the IT Strategy were turned back to City staff on completion of the Strategy; and made the observation that, if a new management information system was to be selected as a platform for all the other various IT initiatives, there would have to be some outside assistance provided to City staff by IT specialists in view of the rapidly-changing technology and ever-increasing complexity of the business systems and so on in today's environment; and Mr. Totten advised that, if it were Council's intention that the City pay a fee for service to Ernst & Young or another firm to periodically review what the City was doing in adhering to the IT Strategy and update Council, he would enter into that sort of an arrangement for follow-up, and Mr. Gallagher added that the structure now in place with Messrs. Beckett and Todd would go a long way toward ensuring that any decisions relating to committing resources in the information technology field would have to funnel through them and they would be aware of what was going on in one department versus another so as to ensure that there was alignment in those decisions, and he would presume that there would be a checking going on periodically to ensure that the Strategy was current and the direction being taken was in an appropriate fashion relative to the City's resources. Councillor Ball proposed a motion, which was seconded by Councillor Brown who subsequently withdrew as seconder, that, in keeping with the present momentum of the IT Strategy, the City Manager in cooperation with the Ernst & Young and specialist staff immediately initiate (a) the strategic planning process through the formation of a planning team as outlined in the Strategic Plan's recommended next steps in the report to Council in October 1997; (b) to formulate a creative action plan leading to (c) implementation of a strategic plan so integral to the future of the City of Saint John. Mr. Totten expressed the understanding that the motion would direct the City Manager to put together a committee of staff in conjunction with Ernst & Young and specialists to carry forward on the four priorities established by Council in September, one being economic development, two and three being on relationships Council has with others, and four being customer service. The Mayor questioned the need of a motion as Council had decided last September to move forward on these four initiatives. Ms. McKibbon addressed the Mayor's question as to how, if at some time the City decided to have a full internal audit, the Customer Service Business Process Improvement project would benefit that in terms of time saved and how long it would take to do an entire internal audit, as well as on the activities being undertaken by the Customer Service BPI Team; and Mr. Gallagher commented in terms of completing the strategic planning process undertaken by Council. During discussion Councillor Fitzpatrick advised that he would not support the motion because he did not think it would do anything; and Councillor Brown advised that he was not sure if strategic planning was understood by all concerned and, even with the motion on the floor, he did not think Council would get there, thus he would be withdrawing as seconder of the motion as he did not think Council understood the whole thing; and suggested that Council should re-group and get together and have Ernst & Young explain exactly what should be done and the direction to take. 86-843 COMMON COUNCIL FEBRUARY 9, 1998 On motion of Councillor Trites Seconded by Councillor Gould RESOLVED that the above matter be laid on the table for a period of one week and Councillor Ball be asked to bring his motion back in writing. Question being taken, the tabling motion was carried with Councillor Ball voting "nay". The Mayor thanked the Ernst & Young representatives for their presentation. 5. Greater Saint John Economic Development Board Read a letter from Mayor McAlary putting forth the names of nominees, as recommended, from the City of Saint John and from the Saint John Board of Trade in anticipation of the establishment of the new Greater Saint John Economic Development Board. On motion of Councillor Knibb Seconded by Councillor Trites RESOLVED that effective immediately upon the anticipated establishment of the Greater Saint John Economic Development Board, the following persons are hereby appointed to that Board for the terms indicated: Mr. Neil McKelvey for a term of three years, Dr. Rick Miner for a term of three years, Mr. Peter Murray for a term of two years, Mr. John Thomas for a term of two years; and the Saint John Board of Trade nominees Mr. Bruce Dowd for a term of one year, Mr. David Barry for a term of two years, Mr. Darryl Goyetche for a term of three years, and Ms. Helen Halliday for a term of three years. Question being taken, the motion was carried. 6. Trade And Convention Centre OversiQht Committee Consideration was given to a letter from Mayor McAlary submitting, on behalf of the Nominating Committee, the four nominees from the City of Saint John for appointment to the Trade and Convention Centre Oversight Committee, as well as the nominees from the Towns of Rothesay, Quispamsis and Grand Bay/Westfield. On motion of Councillor Knibb Seconded by Deputy Mayor Chase RESOLVED that the following persons be appointed to the Trade and Convention Oversight Committee, Mr. Stephen Appleby for a two-year term, Mr. Ralph Holyoke for a three-year term, Ms. Margaret Hackett for a one-year term, and Mr. Richard Tingley for a two-year term; and Dr. Derek Hamilton from the Town of Rothesay for a term of three years, Ms. Beth Thompson from the Town of Quispamsis for a term of one year, and Mr. Ed Betts from the Town of Grand Bay-Westfield for a term of two years. Question being taken, the motion was carried. (Councillor Trites withdrew from the meeting.) 7. Abolition Of Office Read a report from the City Manager submitting, as discussed with Council, a resolution for consideration with regard to the abolition of the position of Executive Secretary to the City Manager. 86-844 COMMON COUNCIL FEBRUARY 9, 1998 On motion of Councillor Knibb Seconded by Councillor Vincent RESOLVED that Common Council abolish the position of Executive Secretary to the City Manager, effective February 14, 1998, and that the current incumbent be provided with severance equal to one year's salary, plus six thousand dollars in lieu of future employee benefits. Mr. Totten expressed appreciation to Sarah Wilson, the incumbent of the above position, for her service to the City of Saint John. Question being taken, the motion was carried. 8. Taxi Bv-Law Read a report from the City Manager regarding the long history of this municipality's interest in the taxi industry, including the many committees appointed by Council at the request of stand owners, drivers, citizens or the hospitality industry while, nevertheless and the more recent referral in 1997 of the matter to the City Manager and the Chief of Police, a consensus has never been reached and the current Taxi By- Law, in the words of the Taxi Inspector, is simply unworkable; submitting a fact sheet on issues addressed in the proposed revision of the Taxi By-Law and a draft of the proposed Taxi By-Law prepared as a result of a tremendous amount of research and work by a committee comprising Constable John Richardson, By-Law Inspector Brian Shanks, and community member Harold Mayes; and advising that both the Chief and the City Manager support the direction being taken should this draft document ultimately be the basis of a new City of Saint John Taxi By-Law, recognizing that there still may be a few concerns that need to be addressed and only by bringing the information forward can Council be assured it has received all of the necessary input on such a significant change. On motion of Councillor Knibb Seconded by Councillor Waldschutz RESOLVED that as recommended by the City Manager, the information submitted with the above report be circulated to industry representatives and referred to the City Solicitor for review and advice to the committee and that Common Council be kept apprised of developments by the City Manager and/or the City Solicitor. Constable Richardson responded to questions in the above regard. (Councillor Trites re-entered the meeting.) Question being taken, the motion was carried. 15. Gerry Holden Corporate & Executive Services - Proposed New Taxi Bv-Law On motion of Councillor Knibb Seconded by Councillor Ball RESOLVED that the letter from Gerry Holden Corporate & Executive Services asking to secure Council's support and intervention in a situation of concern in that, if the proposed new Taxi By-Law were implemented, it would be forced to become affiliated with an existing taxi company and, as such, would be forced to display taxi signs on vehicle roofs, pay vehicle registration fees and share its revenues with the taxi company owner; and explaining why a limousine service was not a taxi-cab service and should not be subject to taxi by-laws -- be referred to the City Manager and the City Solicitor. Question being taken, the motion was carried. 86-845 COMMON COUNCIL FEBRUARY 9, 1998 9. Municipal Plan Amendment And Re-ZoninQ 439 Prince Street West Read a letter from the Common Clerk advising that, following the procedure for amendments to the Municipal Plan, the necessary advertising and public presentation have been completed with regard to the submitted application of Home Harbour Estates concerning property at 439 Prince Street West and the date for objections expired on February 4, with no written objections having been received in this regard. On motion of Councillor Knibb Seconded by Councillor Fitzpatrick RESOLVED that the application of Home Harbour Estates for a Municipal Plan amendment and re-zoning of 439 Prince Street West be referred to the Planning Advisory Committee for a report and recommendation and the necessary advertising be authorized in this regard, with the public hearing to be held on Monday, March 16, 1998 at 7:00 o'clock p.m. Question being taken, the motion was carried. 10. Municipal Plan Amendment Re Parts Two And Nine On motion of Councillor Fitzpatrick Seconded by Councillor Waldschutz RESOLVED that the by-law entitled, "A Law To Amend The Municipal Plan By-Law", by deleting the existing Part Two - Land Use, and Part Nine - Implementation, and adopting a new Part Two - Land Use, and Part Nine - Implementation, be read a third time and enacted and the Common Corporate Seal be affixed thereto. The by-law entitled, "A Law To Amend The Municipal Plan By-Law", was read in its entirety. Question being taken, the motion was carried. 11. Zoning By-Law Amendment To Re-Zone 339-341 Lancaster Avenue On motion of Councillor Knibb Seconded by Councillor Vincent RESOLVED that the by-law entitled, "By- Law Number C.P. 100-457 A Law To Amend The Zoning By-Law Of The City Of Saint John", insofar as it concerns re-zoning a parcel of land with a frontage of approximately 80 feet on Lancaster Avenue and a lot area of approximately 27,600 square feet, located at 339-341 Lancaster Avenue (NBGIC Number 36137), from "R-1 B" One- Family Residential to "B-2" General Business classification, be read a third time and enacted and the Common Corporate Seal be affixed thereto: AND FURTHER that pursuant to Section 39 of the Community Planning Act, the said re-zoning be subject to the following conditions: (a) the use of the property is restricted to: (i) business or professional offices, excluding a doctor, dentist or similar medical practitioner; and (ii) residential uses; (b) a sign, having a maximum area of 4 square feet, must be posted at the side of the building indicating "No parking in driveway - Parking at Rear" at all times that the business is operated from the premises; (c) the on-site parking area to the rear of the building must be maintained with asphalt pavement; and (d) all on-site parking must be located in the year yard. The by-law entitled, "By-Law Number C.P. 100-457 A Law To Amend The Zoning By-Law Of The City Of Saint John", was read in its entirety. 86-846 COMMON COUNCIL FEBRUARY 9, 1998 Question being taken, the motion was carried. 12. Fundy Region Solid Waste Commission Re BorrowinQ For Capital Expenses Read a letter from the Fundy Region Solid Waste Commission informing Council, as required under the Clean Environment Act, that a resolution would be brought before the Commission for approval at a meeting scheduled for March 5, 1998 for the Fundy Region Solid Waste Commission to submit to the Municipal Capital Borrowing Board an application for authorization to borrow $2,127,000 for capital expenses for a period not to exceed 3 years for the provision of Environmental Health Services, such application being undertaken to fund the portion of capital expenditures approved in the 1998 capital budget that will ultimately be paid by the Department of the Environment; and advising that the short-term financing would be retired once the Provincial funding was received. On motion of Councillor Knibb Seconded by Deputy Mayor Chase RESOLVED that Council's representative on the Fundy Region Solid Waste Commission, Councillor Sterling Brown, be authorized to vote in favour of the Commission's application for authorization to borrow $2,127,000 for capital expenses for a period not to exceed 3 years as outlined in the Commission's letter dated January 29, 1998. Councillor Vincent spoke against the motion on the basis that the matter should be referred to the City Manager and appropriate staff. Councillor Brown advised that the amount of money concerned would provide for further construction, and all the Commission was doing in the above letter was advising the municipality what it was going to do. Councillor Trites agreed with referral to the City Manager, and Councillor Fitzpatrick suggested that the letter should be received and filed. The Mayor asked if, on the basis that Councillor Brown did not need direction from Council in this regard, Councillor Knibb would like to change the motion to which Councillor Knibb replied that he would prefer to show support for Councillor Brown in this regard. The Mayor called for the question on the motion, whereupon Councillor Vincent, on a point of order and in acknowledging that Councillor Brown did not need any authorization by Council, clarified that his reason for requesting referral was to obtain information, not that it be withheld, turned down or denied. Question being taken, the motion was carried with Councillors Fitzpatrick, Gould, Trites and Vincent voting "nay". 13. P.L. Meier - Declining Appointment To Harbour Station Commission On motion of Councillor Knibb Seconded by Councillor Waldschutz RESOLVED that the letter from P.L. Meier advising why he was declining appointment to the Harbour Station Commission -- be received and filed and Council accept Mr. Meier's resignation and thank him for his service to the City of Saint John. Question being taken, the motion was carried. 14. J.E. Wilson Roofing Co. Ltd. Re-ZoninQ 1918 ManawaQonish Road On motion of Councillor Knibb Seconded by Councillor Ball RESOLVED that the application of J.E. Wilson Roofing Co. Ltd. for the re-zoning of property at 1918 Manawagonish Road be referred to the Planning Advisory Committee for a report and recommendation and the necessary advertising be authorized in this regard, with the public hearing to be held on Monday, March 16, 1998, at 7:00 o'clock p.m. 86-847 COMMON COUNCIL FEBRUARY 9, 1998 Question being taken, the motion was carried. 16. Saint John Canada Day Committee Appointment Of Council Liaison On motion of Councillor Trites Seconded by Councillor Waldschutz RESOLVED that the letter from Saint John Canada Day Committee Inc. advising that it is developing a program for Canada Day 1998 and, in order to ensure proper coordination, would be pleased to have Council appoint its liaison, either a Councillor or a City official or other person who would represent the City and who could meet with the Committee and assist it and its deliberations -- be referred to the Nominating Committee. Question being taken, the motion was carried. 17. Edward W. Keyes - Resignation From PlanninQ Advisorv Committee On motion of Councillor Knibb Seconded by Councillor Trites RESOLVED that the letter from Edward W. Keyes asking for acceptance of his resignation from the Planning Advisory Committee as his appointment to the Police Commission would not allow him time to commit to both -- be received and accepted with regret and Council thank Mr. Keyes for his service to the City and refer the vacancy to the Nominating Committee. Question being taken, the motion was carried. 18. Board Of Directors - Turner-Brewer Memorial Park - Development Of Park On motion of Councillor Trites Seconded by Councillor Fitzpatrick RESOLVED that the letter from the Board of Directors of the Turner-Brewer Memorial Park advising of its identification of the City-owned Broad Street playground as the location in Saint John that best meets its goals and objectives in developing a high-quality community park in memory of Ryan Turner and Jacqueline Brewer; requesting Council's preliminary support for the project, pending, of course, City approval of the name of the park, detailed construction plans and yearly maintenance costs and responsibility; and suggesting that Council appoint a member(s) of City staff to act as a liaison with the Board and its Planning and Building Committee --be referred to the City Manager. Councillor Knibb noted the interoffice memo to the City Manager from the Commissioner of Community Services (copies of which were forwarded to Council members as an information item) advising of staff's attendance at a meeting of the above-mentioned Board of Directors. Question being taken, the motion was carried. Adjournment On motion of Councillor Knibb Seconded by Councillor Trites RESOLVED that this meeting be adjourned and a Committee of the Whole meeting of Council be held. Question being taken, the motion was carried. 86-848 COMMON COUNCIL FEBRUARY 9, 1998 Common Clerk