CAO Rob Trembley outlined the 2022 Departmental Work Plan for the Township of Whitewater Region to the Council.
“This is our way of showing to the public the kind of work we’re going to be doing.” he said.
He highlighted the ‘asset management plan’, pointing out the 2022 election and council orientation and an on-boarding module for new staff.
“We’re at the point where we’ve cleaned up our policies and really have a good onboarding plan.” he said.
He said they also planned to execute the Building Services Review and the Park and Recreation review,
He said the firefighter department was “focusing on firefighter training”.
“You’ll see technology as a theme here.” Trembley said.
Mayor Moore asked about the Road Review, asking if they’d be including asset management such as culverts.
“It’s not actually a road review as the actual assets itself but It’s more of the operation of the department and also compare to neighboring municipalities.” Roads Manager Lane Cleroux said. “One example, is that they will look at plow routes and does it make sense we have eight plow routes and how they are configured.”
He also said they would be moving to online rather than paper documentation.
“But does it help with the asset management?” Mayor Moore asked.
“It does help with the asset management.” Cleroux said, citing that it would help with cost assessment as well.
Councillor Nicholson asked why the Active Transportation Plan was not listed in the report.
“The Active Transportation plan has been actioned already, it’s a living document.” CAO Trembley said. “It’s being actioned in the closed session today. The budget has a number of initiatives that flow directly from the active transportation plan.
Nicholson asked which department was heading the Plan.
“We’re kind of teaming it.” CAO Trembley said. “If we maintain pathways, Parks and Recreation will be involved. If it’s a pathway then Roads will have to deal with it, Every department has a piece of it.” “For now we’re more focused on the community initiatives. It will continue to involved”
“The reason I ask is because I’m getting calls from the community asked if there’s any way we can chisel away at this one little item of the plan.” Councillor Nicholson said.
“Send them my way and we can direct from a staff perspective.” CAO Trembley said.
No other questions, and the motion was carried.
Public Consultation and Engagement Policy
The Council moved to approve The Public Consultation & Engagement Policy, Updated Public Notice Policy, Update Corporate Communications Policy.
“Debbie [Ready] really does a lot of the heavy living.” CAO Trembley said.
He also said they had their own newsletter called the Current which can be delivered to households int the region.
“We’ll go to every house in the whitewater region nine times a year. It’s a very cost-effective way to get the message out.”
He said the Current would be posted on the website. “This allows us to go directly to each household.”
He also outlined the Empower initiative for the policy, which would be where they ‘hand off’ issues to other committees or boards empowered to administer to areas such as the Library Board, or traditional ones such as the airport, the Ross Museum.
“What I always caution is that if that is to happen to have to make sure the responsibilities, the accountabilities are all accounted for and clarified.” Trembley said. “They don’t happen very often, they’re very historical. Empower happens very rarely and it’s often historical.”
“It doesn’t take away from the day to day stuff involving informing .” he said, citing that policy was ‘being proactive’ in informing the populace of municipal action.
He also clarified all the communications with their social media, including that they do now allow or monitor comments on the announcement on the Facebook page.
He acknowledged that Debbie Ready has taken most of the work from him of managing the Township social media.
Councillor Jackson and Councillor Nicholson praised the initiative.
“I like the Current.” Councillor Nicholson. “It puts stuff in people’s mailboxes. We want engagement.”
He asked if they could also allow the empowered organizations to use those avenues of contact.
CAO Trembley said ‘as long as we have room’, and they would ‘try as much as possible’ to include all the information for the empowered organizations.
Councillor Nicholson also asked if other programs such as “Bang the Table” could be looked at, which CAO Trembley said that they would look at when ‘they got this stuff rockin’ and rollin’”.
The motion was carried.
