2003-10-14_Minutes--Procès-verbal
October 14, 2003
At a Public Committee of the Whole meeting of Common Council, held at the City Hall in
The City of Saint John, on Tuesday, the 14th day of October AD. 2003, at 6:00 o'clock
p.m.
present
Deputy Mayor White and Councillors Ball, Chase, Court,
Desmond, Fitzgerald, Teed, Titus and Trites
- and -
Messrs. 1. Totten, City Manager; J. Nugent, City Solicitor; A
Beckett, Commissioner of Finance and Commissioner of
Corporate Services; P. Groody, Commissioner of Municipal
Operations; J. Baird, Commissioner of Planning and
Development; W. Edwards, Commissioner of Buildings and
Inspection Services; R. Simonds, Fire Chief; A Bodechon,
Deputy Police Chief; J. Mcintyre, Director of Human Resources;
B. Morrison, Director of Parks and Recreation; G. Yeomans,
Comptroller; D. Logan, Purchasing Agent and Manager of
Materials and Fleet Management; S. Galbraith, Director of Works;
D. Crawford, Deputy Building Inspector; and Mmes. M. Totten,
Manager, Tourism Saint John; A Poffenroth, By-law Enforcement
Officer; D. Robichaud, Assistant Comptroller; and E. Gormley,
Assistant Common Clerk.
1. MeetinQ Called To Order
The Deputy Mayor called the meeting to order.
The City Manager introduced the 2004 Budget Presentation referring to a submitted
report placed in binders for ease of reference with the City's 2004 budget summarized in
the first few pages of the binder and each Department's budget located in the remaining
sections of the binder. He explained that each section includes the presentations and
budget items to be delivered during this session, that of Common Council, City Manager,
Corporate Services, Building and Inspection Services, Planning and Development
Services, Tourism and Fiscal Charges. He noted that Council had already received the
budget presentation from the Police Commission, adding that the remaining
Department's budgets, Municipal Operations, Leisure Services (Recreation and Parks),
Fire, Common Clerk, City Solicitor and Market Square Common Area would be added to
the binder and presented on October 27, 2003.
Mr. Beckett explained that the submitted budget is essentially the same as the 2004
budget already submitted in December 2002 with few exceptions. He added that with
the inclusion of binders the budget will be built with Council, noting that changes in
previously submitted budgets, such as in the Police Commission budget and grant
requests that have already been received, have been inserted in the binders.
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October 14, 2003
Common Council Budget - $324,000.
Referring to the submitted budget report, the City Manager explained the increase of
$22,000 in this budget as being expenditures associated with the Cities of New
Brunswick Conference and the up-coming municipal election.
City Manager's Office Budget - $400,000.
The City Manager's Office budget was presented by Mr. Totten as being consistent with
the amount previously placed before Council reflecting all costs associated with the
positions of City Manager, Deputy City Manager and an Administrative Assistant.
Corporate Services Administration Budget - $209,759.
Mr. Beckett introduced the budget of Corporate Services indicating that each of the
Divisional Managers will profile their divisions offering submitted projected revenues and
expenditures as follows: Greg Yeomans - Finance, John Mcintyre - Human Resources,
Andrew Beckett on behalf of Bill Todd - Information Systems & Support and David Logan
- Materials & Fleet Management.
Finance Budget - $1,188,850.
Mr. Yeomans listed the functional areas in his Division: Billing & Collections; Accounts
Payable; Accounting; Administrative Support and Pension Administration servicing the
General Fund, Water & Sewerage Utility, Reserve & Trust Funds, Saint John Parking
and Transit Commissions, Saint John Non-Profit Housing and Long Term Debt. He
presented yearly statistics to demonstrate the scope of his Department: number of bills
issued - 45,000, payments processed - 100,000, cheques issued - 9,000 and invoices
processed - 50,000.
Human Resources Budget - $1,010,825.
Mr. Mcintyre presented the Human Resource budget referring to the recent information
session given to Council on that Department's Strategic Plan for the future which
included the strategic priorities, Human Resource Planning, Employee Development and
Performance Management. He advised Council that as part of their plan there will be
measures introduced, namely: predetermined employee competencies to match their
position; performance evaluations; realigned services and employment levels to reflect
the available funding to the organization; issues resolved by the parties versus by third
party, and reduced absenteeism. He further explained that these measures will allow for
the matching of numbers to competencies. He illustrated this concept by referring to the
number of successes realized in dispute resolution, which will be reflected in numbers.
Information Systems and Support Budget - $1,569,611
Mr. Beckett spoke on behalf of Mr. Todd regarding the budget for Information and
Support Services explaining that one of the ongoing challenges for technology is
determining user problems, and finding technical solutions to those problems to improve
efficiencies. He also noted that under e-government there is the push to drive services
for the public on-line, noting our ever increasing reliance on technology. Mr. Beckett
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Public Committee of the Whole
October 14, 2003
pointed out other challenges for Information and Support Services such as managing
expectations both internally and externally; keeping technology current; ensuring skills
and competencies for staff; mobile and wireless communication; and information
management referring to the importance of being able to access the most up-to-date
information in a timely fashion.
Public Service Communication Centre (PSCC) Budget - $1,314,638.
Mr. Beckett updated Council on the (PSCC), noting that this centre is not only an
emergency centre, but is also the communication response centre for police and fire
services. He indicated that the number of calls to this centre has dramatically increased
(24,000 '911' calls annually) attributed to the increase in cell phone ownership adding
that there is a review of the PSCC services currently taking place.
Materials and Fleet Management Budget - $1,315,543.
Mr. Logan referred to the budget report for Materials and Fleet Management Services,
updating Council on this Department. He advised that his Department is responsible for
purchasing, inventory, insurance and risk management, fleet services and fleet
administration and noted several accomplishments during the year such as reducing
automotive parts inventory by approximately $15,000.; reducing adjuster costs by in-
house handling of claims by $125,000.; improved capabilities and productivity by
renovating satellite operations in East and West Works Depots; success of the vehicle
auction, and the implementation of vehicle charge-back system. He added that the
same efforts that realized the above accomplishments would be carried forward into
2004.
Building and Inspection Services Budget - $3,650,000.
Mr. Edwards presented Facility Management's budget, noting that the difference
between this year's budget and last year's is attributed to employee movement with a
number of employees retiring and two employees transferring within the Department.
He called attention to the number of buildings owned by the City Oust over 90 buildings)
some of which are in need of repair, as well as decisions to be made as to which of the
buildings need to be demolished. The challenges for 2004 as reported by Mr. Edwards
are: human resources, age of buildings, future of City Hall, operating costs from
operating budget, fire training facility, bilingual signage, demolitions, and salt storage.
He noted that his Department has changed its business practices in order to
accommodate the recent reduction of staff from 10 to 5 in order to maintain the service,
and added that this is a challenge and workload is an issue.
Planning and Development Budget - $1,282,800.
Mr. Baird reported on the Planning and Development Department which consists of
Community Planning, Real Estate, Heritage and Geographic Information System. He
pointed out that there has been an increase in new residential subdivision development
this year which leads to housing growth thereby increasing the processing required in his
Department. He added that there is normally a 2 week turn-around in responding to
public applications, adding that recently they have not been able to meet this timeframe
as they are reaching their workload capacity. He also spoke about a challenge in the
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Policy area with only 1 staff person who mainly concentrates on updating the Municipal
Plan, not allowing time for work on special projects. He explained the computer based
mapping and information computer systems with zoning and by-law information,
easement mapping available on-line, and capacity to view different pictorial information
with coded back-up information available, adding that plans for future software includes
orthophotography which will allow the depiction of space between buildings, other
constructions, and land detail such as contours, not discernible with present technology.
Mr. Baird pointed out that this software would allow for greater knowledge, accuracy and
efficiencies in interpreting properties.
Tourism Saint John Budget - $823,000.
Mrs. Totten presented Tourism Saint John's Budget making reference to partnerships
formed, such as those with New Brunswick Department of Tourism and Parks, Uptown
Saint John, and Atlantic Canada Cruise noting that this allows her Department to sell the
City without bearing the full cost using as an example the fold-out Saint John feature to
be published in the provincial publication "Experience N.B. Guide". Mrs. Totten advised
that in order to stay competitive, stable funding for Tourism is necessary until such time
as a hotel levy can be realized. One of the challenges for Tourism, other than human
resources, is the need for a central location for staff to facilitate interaction with visitors to
Saint John.
The meeting adjourned at 10:30 o'clock p.m.
Assistant Common Clerk