Finance & Administration Report: CAO UPDATE

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:

With a January 31st deadline for business licence renewals and a secondary suite renewal deadline fast approaching, staff have been busy at the front counter this month.

Advertisements for the Town’s two advisory committees ran in January with appointments and reappointments to be considered by Council shortly.

Communications work took place earlier in the month for the January 17 open house concerning the potential increase to council size. Seven posts were made on both Twitter and Facebook; the Town’s website had extensive and easy to find information – listing the topic and associated documents both as an item under “What’s New” as well as one of the “Spotlight” items; three newspaper ads ran; local media ran their own articles; and FAQ-based personally addressed invitations were mailed to almost 4,000 households in Town the first week of January. The open house had approximately sixteen attendees and at the January 18 Council meeting, four people engaged during the “Public Participation” section in which a portion was set aside specifically to provide feedback on this topic.

The annual file rollover for 2022 is well underway. Older files are being boxed and moved to on site storage while those at the end of their lifecycle are being prepared for secure destruction.

Administration staff are coordinating staffing competitions to hire a new Building Inspector and Director of Engineering to fill position vacancies.

Staff continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and messaging from the BC’s Provincial Health Officer as new variants emerge (Omicron and its sub-variations). Measures to ensure staff health and safety are top of mind – with physical distancing amongst staff being continued and improved mask options provided – as a more elastic approach seems to be increasingly promulgated from the Province and BC Centre for Disease Control.

Finance:

In January the 2022-2026 financial planning process continued with budget workshops scheduled to begin February 15. Finance staff have also been focused on preparation of the 2021 financial statements in advance of the year-end audit scheduled for early April. These processes are an entire team effort and Finance staff appreciate the support received from other departments who provide timely information, critical to finalizing these tasks and meeting legislated reporting deadlines.

Grant-in-aid applications are currently being accepted for consideration in the Town’s 2022 Financial Plan. The deadline for applications is March 1, 2022 and staff have begun informing potential applicants through the Town’s website and social media platforms.

Staff have continued to focus on cyber security in IT, with planning underway for further phishing test campaigns and continued training for new and current employees.

Development Services:

January was full with a variety of projects at various stages of completion. Major policy projects such as the Community Climate Action Strategy (CCAS) are nearing conclusion. A draft of the CCAS is on the Committee of the Whole agenda this evening for review and discussion. In conjunction with the CCAS, the Official Community Plan (OCP) update is progressing with online workshops and a second survey launched at the end of January. In addition to using the Town’s website and social media platforms, posters were placed in four parks, and a mail out inviting participation in online workshops and a survey was sent to 3,960 property owners and 790 rental units in View Royal. The three workshops saw good participation and a ‘What We Heard Report’ will be on the March Committee of the Whole agenda.

The search for a new Building Inspector continues, and in the meantime, staff are turning their attention to policy in this area. A report is on this agenda regarding the Step Code and how the Town is beginning to work collaboratively with other municipalities to advance energy efficiency in new buildings.

On the development side, there are rezoning applications, development permits, and development variance permits in process. Applications to the Board of Variance (BOV) have been slow over the past year though the BOV convened in December for a half day training session. Board members and staff felt this was a productive learning opportunity and these volunteers look forward to reviewing future applications.

Engineering:

Following a series of weather events, poor regional road conditions, and vehicle malfunctions, the residential curbside garbage and kitchen scraps program is back on schedule.

A call for service on Kerwood Avenue resulted in the replacement of a Town-maintained grinder pump. During incorporation, thirty-four private grinder pumps were inherited from the Capital Regional District (CRD). Through Sewer Bylaw No. 397, the Town has been able to transfer responsibility for many of these grinder pumps to the property owners (e.g. when there is a change in property ownership). At present, View Royal maintains sixteen of the original thirty four private grinder pumps.

(Above left - old grinder pump being removed; right - new grinder pump to be installed)

The Town entered into two Works and Services Agreements in January – for the subdivision of 148 Atkins Road and the development of 2379 Lund Road townhouses. The offsite works at BC Transit’s handyDART site have commenced with the realignment of the Galloping Goose Regional Trail (GGRT). The GGRT will be closed between Burnside Road West and Talcott Road for the next several weeks while the Trail is realigned to create a shallower incline. Trail users will be directed to use Watkiss Way during the closure.

Prolonged periods of cold weather in January kept snow and ice removal at the top of the priority list. While the Town’s contractor clears snow and ice from the streets, Town Hall, bus stops, sidewalks, let-downs and crosswalk accesses are cleared by the Town’s Parks staff.

Town Hall parking lot before and after.

Tree well and shrub bed maintenance is now underway. Preparation for the spring season includes pruning, removal of the weeds, and mulching. Mulch is a great weed suppressant and assists in keeping moisture in the ground.

Tree wells at View Royal Park (left) and Chancellor Park (right).

Maps were created to supplement the 2022 OCP workshop presentation and January COW discussion on View Royal’s sidewalk snow clearing.

The View Royal GIS portal has been updated to include 2022 Engineering Incidents and Tree Permits – which can be viewed in their respective dashboards. The Engineering and Parks viewers have been updated so the “Street Furniture” layer in “Appurtenances” has been symbolized to distinguish the distinct types of infrastructure owned by the Town.

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT the report dated February 3, 2022 from the Chief Administrative Officer titled “CAO Update” be received for information.

SUBMITTED BY:

K. Anema, Chief Administrative Officer