Staff Report: Chief Administrative Officer Update
Update from the CAO regarding land acquisition, insurance savings, and FOI request trends.
TOWN OF VIEW ROYAL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE REPORT
TO: Committee of the Whole DATE: March 5, 2014 FROM: Kim Anema, CAO MEETING DATE: March 11, 2014
CAO UPDATE
RECOMMENDATION: THAT the Committee receive the March 5, 2014 CAO Update Report for information.
PURPOSE OF REPORT
To provide Council with information from the office of the CAO regarding material events and happenings at Town Hall.
BACKGROUND
Council, as part of the 2013 performance review, requested that the CAO provide an Administrator's report at each Committee of the Whole meeting to apprise Council of the highlights of significant activities of the Town.
INFORMATION
Administration
"George's" Park – Staff have succeeded in acquiring without property cost a parcel of land that makes up a portion of the park at the corner of Helmcken and Island Highway. The land is acquired as a portion of the highway.
Freedom Of Information – Local government is mandated to provide to the public access to information without consideration of the cost to produce that information. The Act provides opportunity to recapture some of the costs, especially from commercial applicants; however, the spirit of the Act dictates accommodation of the public's right of access to information. This service is not intended to be a revenue generator; it is rarely even revenue neutral as in the majority of cases, most costs will not be recovered.
The Town of View Royal averages 35 requests a year. The majority of requests we receive are for building/property information. There is an increase in requests for electronic records. There is an increase in requests for strata building plans due to a new requirement for depreciation reports. We now contract out the production of plans due to volume of requests and to reduce staff time that would be required for copying. All of these external costs are passed on to the applicant.
Fees are not charged for:
- any services relating to the applicant's own personal information;
- the first 3 hours of locating and retrieving a record; or
- the time spent severing information from a record.
The trend of FOI requests is increasing. This activity has a direct impact on the taxpayer given that cost recovery is less than 50%.
Park Land
After reviewing the ownership status of Glenairlie Park, staff have established an inventory of all View Royal parks currently in the name of the Crown. Staff will attempt to have 17 parcels vested into the name of the Town of View Royal on the basis of the language in the Community Charter and the Local Government Act.
Building Inspection and Bylaw Enforcement
The transition of Building and Bylaw moving to the Fire Hall is nearing completion. While change generally experiences some "storming" we are moving into a "norming" mode.
Planning
Trails Map to PREAC – The trails map is near a stage where feedback and comment is appropriate. Council can expect a copy by email during this next week. We intend that it go to PREAC at the end of this month.
Engineering and Operations
Island Highway Traffic – The Pye townhouse development required some Island Highway utility crossings. There has been some discussion to have these works done at night. It may be time to explore this initiative to ameliorate traffic flow issues; however, the residential impact to night work will need to be considered.
Finance Department
Banking – We are still experiencing challenges with respect to electronic payments. This has been an issue for a few months. We are working with our bank to resolve the issue.
Insurance – Our Property Insurance has been moved to AON insurance with a savings of $12,625 over the prior year. In addition to the cost savings, staff believes that the insurance coverage is now more comprehensive. The required property appraisal is due for an update in 2014. These appraised values form the basis of our property insurance. The appraisals will be updated in 2014 using the remainder of the insurance budget.
ICBC – Vehicle and Property Insurance were renewed on February 28th. Vehicle insurance remains with ICBC. The review of vehicle insurance identified an adjustment. We expect a rebate of $6,900 for prior years' premiums.
RECOMMENDATION: THAT the Committee receive the March 11, 2014 CAO Update Report for information.
SUBMITTED BY: K. Anema, Chief Administrative Officer
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