CAO UPDATE

CAO UPDATE

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT the report dated May 3, 2018 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 last tour of the school year took place in late April. The group of grade 3/4s from View Royal Elementary School had many great questions and expressed both amazement at the prices of clothing shown to them in Archives from the 1901 Eaton’s catalogue and shock that children ever dressed that way.

Members of the Occupational Health and Safety Committee attended the recently held Western Conference on Safety. Staff attended break-out sessions which included topics such as safety regulatory updates, OHS Committee effectiveness, WorkSafe BC claims, employee mental wellness, fatigue management, domestic violence, and marijuana in the workplace.

Work is underway on the municipal elections with the Chief Election Officer having taken a one-day refresher course, covering changes in legislation, and website content development this month. As well, two bylaws were prepared to address elections-related items and were given initial readings on May 1, 2018.

The Archives is starting the third phase of its digitization project. In this phase, more of the photographs and documents in the Town’s archival collection will be digitized, including donations received in the past year, a selection of oversized material, slides, and negatives. Digitizing will facilitate access to the material for researchers and residents.

We recently received our order for new Town-logo water bottles which are now on display, along with other merchandise for sale, in our foyer cabinet. Lighting in this cabinet has recently been restored, increasing the visibility of displays to our visitors. The water bottles will be mentioned in an upcoming e-newsletter as a great summer item to have on hand.

Administration staff, along with the Parks Supervisor, are gearing up for the jointly-hosted Canada Day event. An initial meeting was held between a representative from Volunteer View Royal and staff and, as well, dialogue has begun with the co-host, Victoria Highland Games Society. All seems to be well in hand as arrangements are made and plans based on last year’s inaugural event are fleshed out.

Staff participated in the 2018 TC 10K run again this year. Injury and illness reduced our team from six to two hale and hearty competitors.

Finance:

April saw the completion of the yearly financial statement audit with draft financial statements being presented to Council on May 8, 2018. Staff focus has turned to completing the issuance of property tax notices and Grants in Lieu of Tax requests which is the initial step in the property taxation cycle. In preparation for the busy tax season, two Finance Department staff attended a customer service and property tax 101 workshop in Nanaimo.

The cabling portion of the 2018 IT Strategic Plan implementation is underway at Town Hall, with the next phase being the Voice Over IP telephony upgrade. Concurrently, staff is administering the ever-greening of information technology workstations.

Administration staff members are working closely with Finance staff on the issue of access to information vis a vis the use of Microsoft Office 365 and its cloud-based storage.

Development Services:

The Development Services Department continues to be busy with development applications and policy work. Staff will be making changes to application forms in the coming weeks as we implement the new sign bylaw.

A project meeting for the Chilco Trails project is in the process of being scheduled and Council will be kept up to date on this project through the monthly CAO Report. We are also preparing for our yearly Climate Action reporting and will bring reports forward in the coming months.

James Davison is our team lead for Bike to Work Week (aka Crash to Work Week), happening May 28-June 3, 2018. We look forward to full bike racks and a small amount of inter-municipal competition as we field a team of riders.

New sections of the E&N Trail through the Esquimalt Nation lands appear to be in use and our usual cyclist commuters are reporting an increase in riders on the trails and roads. This could also be attributed to a very long and wet winter riding season finally being over….

The end of May also sees Victoria and region hosting the Planning Institute of BC annual conference. Jeff Chow, our senior planner, has been on the organizing committee for this conference for the past few years. We are looking forward to hosting planners from across BC and highlighting the best in planning practice across the region.

Engineering:

• Hallowell Road – construction to start mid-May;
• Burnside Watkiss Park trail to 1950 Watkiss Way is open for use;
• Roundabout at Vickery safety improvements have been completed;

• Colwood Interchange pedestrian crossing has been installed and activated;
• Crack sealing and line painting is expected to occur over the next few weeks;
• Boulevard/ditch low spring maintenance through the Town will start this month;
• DCC Bylaw review is progressing and Council should see a presentation in June.

Parks:

• Centennial Park playground replacement project contract has been awarded, equipment to be ordered.
• Spring at the Welland Community Orchard has been a successful one! Lifecycles has grafted and planted fifty new fruit trees from the heritage collection and sold the first generation of fruit trees that were grafted in 2015. With the Tree Care Apprentice program they have been able to prune the whole orchard, replace the fence around the nursery, and a whole host of other orchard maintenance activities. Thanks to some donations and diligent volunteer care, the native bees have been busily pollinating away this spring. Lifecycles is looking forward to an early summer full of school visits, volunteer days, and watching fruit slowly mature on the trees.

Protective Services:

The month of April remained busy for the Department. Both the Fire Chief and I have been working through the dispatch transition with Surrey Fire Services. Several meetings, which include discussions and work specific to contracts, mapping, pre fire plans, GIS data, personnel, operational guidelines, fire and emergency response logics, CREST and infrastructure are being addressed. We are receiving full co-operation from CREST and anticipate a seamless transition in the next 6-8 weeks.

Bylaw complaints and investigations continue at a steady pace. Complaints involving parking, noise and unsightly premises are dominating the case load. The Building Official signed off on the occupancy of the Casino, however works continue on and off site.

The Fire Department Emergency Program is hosting the annual Emergency Preparedness Fair at the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre on May 6, 2018. As well, the Fire Department is hosting their annual Open House at the Public Safety Building on June 9, 2018.

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT the report dated May 3, 2018 from the Chief Administrative Officer titled “CAO Update” be received for information.

SUBMITTED BY: K. Anema, Chief Administrative Officer