CAO Update
Update from the Chief Administrative Officer on administrative activities, finance, development services, and engineering projects.
TOWN OF VIEW ROYAL
FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION REPORT
TO: Committee of the Whole FROM: Kim Anema, CAO DATE: September 9, 2021 MEETING DATE: September 14, 2021
CAO UPDATE
RECOMMENDATION:
THAT the report dated September 9, 2021 from the Chief Administrative Officer titled “CAO Update” be received 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:
An Administrator’s report for the Committee of the Whole meeting to apprise Council of the highlights of significant activities of the Town.
INFORMATION:
Administration:
The Annual Report, providing highlights and achievements for the year ended December 31, 2020, was adopted by Council on July 20, 2021 and is now available on the Town’s website.
Administration staff have been involved in the hiring process for three new positions: Finance Clerk, Bylaw Enforcement Officer and GIS Technician. All positions have been successfully filled.
The Archival Digitization Assistant has been busy working to lay the foundation for online access to the community collected archival collection. A test database is being set up and metadata is being entered along with some of the first photos that were donated to the Archives over twenty years ago. After it is set up, the database can continually be added to as residents donate to the Archives and will provide an online portal for people to access the collection from their computers at home.
Classic photos in the Archives collection is one of the new boards on display in the Town Hall foyer. As well, a board titled “Pedalling Through the Past” shows archival photos of community members using the Town’s vibrant parks.
Finance:
In July and August, Finance staff worked to collect outstanding delinquent property taxes. These are taxes that were levied in 2019 and remain outstanding. If these taxes are still unpaid by 10:00 AM on the last Monday in September, legislation requires the property to be sold at tax sale. All delinquent property taxes have now been collected, so for another year no tax sale will be held. None of the present finance staff recall the last time View Royal had to hold a tax sale (at least thirteen years).
This August, Finance staff began the process of preparing for the October sewer utility billing, requiring thorough analysis of water consumption data provided by the Capital Regional District (CRD). Staff leveraged Microsoft 365 data analysis tools and the experience gained in implementing the new rate structure in 2020 to recommend reliable and supportable sewer rates which will sufficiently cover the costs of both View Royal’s and CRD’s sanitary sewer systems.
Work toward finalizing the Budget Variance Dashboard continued this summer. After the dashboard’s original iteration in June, staff incorporated feedback and created a tool that displays the operating revenue and expense components of the budget, with year-to-date financial results and prior year comparatives. Additionally, the dashboard includes information about the status of both non-core and capital projects along with related operating budget and spending to date. The dashboard is now live and available on the Town’s website along with a video tutorial to guide users through the process of reviewing the information. Analytics relating to dashboard use will be reported to Council in the future.
The work invested in the Budget Variance Dashboard was leveraged to create a secure internal version of the dashboard that allows View Royal staff to drill down to the transactional level to monitor operational and project transactions against the related budget. This provides quick and easy access to detailed financial information from Microsoft Teams – staff no longer need to log into the financial system or remember how to run the relevant reports.
Development Services:
Development Services has two significant policy projects underway.
The first is the update to the Town’s Official Community Plan. There is content on the Town’s webpage related to this project along with a video featuring the Mayor inviting the community to participate in the project. The Town is also using social media and word of mouth to communicate about the project.
The second project is the Community Climate Action Strategy. Website content will launch next week along with community engagement opportunities. There has been a slight change to the dates of the workshops due to a scheduling conflict. The first workshop will now be on October 4, 2021 and the date of the second workshop will be confirmed shortly. The project lead from the Community Energy Association will be presenting to the Committee this evening on this project.
Engineering:
At the end of August, the Engineering Department said goodbye to summer students and the GIS Technologist and welcomed a new GIS Technologist.
Staff have applied for funding through the B.C. Government’s Active Transportation Infrastructure Grant program. If received, funding will go toward development of a new Active Transportation Network Plan for the Town.
Each year the Town of View Royal’s ponds and wetlands are inspected for blockages and invasive species. This year, the Town cleaned out sediment, fallen trees and other debris from Marler Pond.
The development of the Crane Place road right-of-way is complete and open to the public. The trail was constructed with wood chips using a geotextile underlay to protect the Garry Oak root system and leads to a viewpoint of the Portage Inlet.
The Engineering Department continues to communicate with BC Transit regarding the proposed handyDART development. The Town has also entered into servicing agreements with various residential house construction projects for the provision of on-site stormwater management and standard site services.
In conjunction with the Engineering Department, the Parks Department has cleaned out the ditch in View Royal Park which is along the backside of the houses on Paddock Place. The build-up of grasses and silt was impacting the flow of water in this drainage course area.
Renovations at Beaumont Park opened up a much nicer viewpoint, the Town has recently received an amenity request/donation for a memorial bench at the top of the access and the start of a concrete pad for the bench is being installed.
RECOMMENDATION:
THAT the report dated September 9, 2021 from the Chief Administrative Officer titled “CAO Update” be received for information.
SUBMITTED BY:
K. Anema, Chief Administrative Officer
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