Stephen Vance, Staff
The Municipality of Meaford is about to embark on a massive project to review its delivery of services.
Meaford CAO Denyse Morrissey told council at their March 7 meeting that the project will review services provided by the municipality in 65 distinct categories, and she said that 12 to 15 months will be required to complete the process.
Morrissey also said that as part of the review process, the public will be consulted extensively.
“This project will be completed internally, led by the CAO, utilizing internal Service Delivery Teams, with comprehensive stakeholder and public input,” advised Morrissey in her report to council. “The survey will run from mid-May 2016 to February 2017. Approximately 65 topics will be presented to Council with staff reports from June 2016 to July 2017. These presentations will be added to and incorporated with the existing Council schedule.”
The CAO told council that the 65 reports that will come out of the service delivery review process are expected to add an average of 90 minutes to each council meeting once the reporting phase of the review begins.
A total of seven public engagement sessions will be held between May 16 to May 31 of this year, and those sessions will be held across the municipality, including Leith, Bognor, and even just outside of Meaford in Fairmont, in order for Meaford’s most southern residents to have an opportunity to share their thoughts on municipal services. An electronic and hard-copy survey will also be launched in order to gather opinions from as wide a range of residents as possible.
Deputy Mayor Harley Greenfield asked the CAO to revisit the schedule of public consultations in hopes of incorporating a Saturday afternoon meeting in order to allow Meaford’s ‘weekender’ population to participate. The schedule for the seven public meetings presented to council on March 7 provides for both afternoon and evening meetings, however all are currently scheduled on weekdays.
Morrissey warned council that the project will bring challenges aside from its large size and scope. Some services provided by the municipality are not considered mandatory services and could be discontinued as a result of the review, while others could see fee increases in order to make them viable. She noted that some might be surprised about which services are mandatory and those that are not.
“We provide, as the Municipality of Meaford, a wide range of services. They fall into two general categories – those that are discretionary, meaning we don’t have to provide them, and those which are mandatory, meaning we have an obligation through the municipal act that we must provide them. We also recognize that many of the services that we provide may not be wanted by those that reside in the Municipality of Meaford because they may not use them,” Morrissey told council during her presentation.
In her report, Morrissey noted that most municipal services are available to any who may choose to use a service, however she acknowledged that not all services which are supported through property taxation (or user fees) are used or wanted by some residents. At the same time, she also noted that some residents would like to see new and expanded services provided with their property tax dollars.
During the review process, every service offered by the municipality will be tested with 10 questions:
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Do we really need to continue to be in this business/service?
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What do citizens expect of the service and what outcomes does Council want for the service?
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How does current performance compare to expected performance?
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Do the activities logically lead to the expected outcomes?
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How is demand for the service being managed?
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What are the full costs and benefits of the service?
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How can benefits and outputs of the service be increased?
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How can the number and cost of inputs be decreased?
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What are the alternative ways of delivering the service?
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How can a service change best be managed, implemented and communicated?
The CAO advised that after review, a given service could be subject to several ‘opportunities for improvement’, including cost savings opportunities, service level adjustments, alternative service delivery, or in some cases, elimination of the service.
