Recommendations from the Gazda efficiency audit

NVCA Organization and Staffing

1: Implement the organization realignment covering full-time permanent management/supervisory and professional technical positions; allocate balance of full-time positions in the administrative and operating support category while not exceeding 31 headcount; with permanent full-time contract staff, do not exceed total full-time complement of 34-35.

2: Take necessary steps by the CAO and Department Heads to maximize the use of part-time and seasonal employees including cost effective deployment of student interns, coop students and

seconded staff from other CAs, Member Municipalities.

3: In conjunction with the Board direction given re: NVCA’s primary mandate, determine current NVCA service delivery that is to beoutsourced in full or in part.

Service Delivery

4: Charge the CAO and Department Heads to investigate ways and means NVCA can implement a solution finding approach in dealing with target customer/client groups, i.e., Member Municipalities, small individual land/property owners (agricultural and nonagricultural), consulting engineering firms, developers, other CAs, and upper tiers of government.

5: Excluded from public release for reasons of confidentiality.

6: Direct the CAO and Department Heads to develop and implement an action program to build closer working relationships with all (not just some) Member Municipalities; program to include increased NVCA presence at Member Municipalities, harmonization of policies for Member Municipalities served by more than one CA, use of consultative (vs. dictating) approach for the budget process withMember Municipalities.

Finance

7: Revisit planning fee schedule in conjunction with the completion of Recommendation 5; taking into account comparative data from the reference group of CAs, identify opportunities and stage implementation of reduced user fees/charges to better align with other CAs in the comparator group as well as market practices (i.e., “going rate”).

8: Mandate the CAO and the Director of Corporate Services to review the NVCA expenditures breakdown vis-à-vis the median of the comparator group; the review to determine actions to be taken to reduce percentage of expenditures allocated to Watershed Management and Administration and increase amount for Land Operations; report to be submitted to Finance & Administration Standing (or Ad Hoc) Committee with recommendations for consideration by the Board.

9: Same as above (including Board Committee report) for the review of the NVCA revenue breakdown vs. the median of the comparator group; the review to identify actions to increase percentage of revenue coming from grants/subsidies and municipal projects with less reliance on the municipal levy as well as planning user fees/charges.

10: Working with a seconded financial expert (one from the Member Municipalities or other sources), charge the CAO and Senior Management Team to develop a sustainable funding model and mechanism with pilot project implementation.

11: Complete a feasibility study for establishing a NVCA Foundation with recommendations to the Finance & Administration Standing (or Ad Hoc) Committee; study to determine the critical success factors based on experience of revenue generating Foundations now operated by 12 CAs.

12: Create a new Senior Development Officer and Funding Coordinator to work with the Department Heads to identify, track, evaluate and prepare applications/submissions of grants, subsidies and sponsorship from the public, para-public and private sectors.

13: Complete a best practices review with the assistance of a seconded financial expert of Asset Management Programs in place in Member Municipalities and CAs; prepare a report for the Finance & Administration Standing (or Ad Hoc) Committee on next steps for NVCA.

Human Resources

Consultants’ recommendations covering succession planning, replacement charting and performance management will be included in the presentation of the second phase of the Review Project to the Board at its June meeting.

14: Undertake a market compensation review to determine the market competitiveness of NVCA salaries.

15: Expand the use of career paths to eliminate/reduce the number of dead-end jobs at NVCA, contributing to retention of qualified staff members; career paths example: Planning Technician, Planner I, Planner II, Senior Planner, Manager Planning and Regulations.

16: Implement a multi-phase program of internal communications covering: 1) expansion of the role and output of the internal Communications Committee, 2) conducting of “all staff” meetings on a quarterly or trimester basis, 3) greater use of employee newsletters/bulletins, 4) increased management presence (ref. Recommendation 26), and 5) annual or semi-annual meet and greet functions for NVCA staff and the Board.

Board Direction Setting, Role Execution

17: Establish a Finance & Administration Standing (or Ad Hoc) Committee to complete an identification of options and alternatives for the Board to consider re: the definition of NVCA’s primary mandate; schedule a special meeting of the Board to discuss the

mandate and decide on the services to be covered by the municipal levy and services funded by other revenue sources or outsourced.

18: Operationalize NVCA’s Strategic Plan making it actionable, directly linking strategies prioritized by the Board on an annual basis to the work plans of the CAO and Department Heads (i.e., top down – bottom-up Corporate Plan).

19: Address the seven improvements referenced in role execution by the majority of the Board members; action plan to be prepared and recommended to the Board for implementation by the Ad Hoc Efficiency Audit (EA) Committee.

Board Setup and Operation

20: Reduce Board size to match median of the comparator group at 16.

21: Implement a new voting protocol for the Board in order to achieve fairer representation of Member Municipalities in terms of levy contributions. The nine largest levy contributors would have two votes and the balance, a single vote with the exception of the three Municipalities making the smallest levy contributions. The latter group would have a single vote or be represented by one of the other Member Municipalities (ref. Recommendation 20).

22: Re-establish Standing (Advisory) Committees of the Board with specific terms of reference and modus operandi to be recommended by the Ad Hoc EA Committee.

23: Revisit practice of having Department Heads attend all Board meetings so as to gain a better understanding and awareness of individual Board member view and concerns.

24: Promote practice among Member Municipalities of full term service (4 years) by Board members.

25: For four of the Board meetings per year, the meeting would be scheduled for four hours (9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.) with a shortened agenda for regular business (9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.) and an in camera two-hour session for Board continuing education/training.

CAO and Senior Management Team Leadership

26: Excluded from public release for reasons of confidentiality.

Link to report of the efficiency audit committee  (click on the title line of item 6)