Frontenac County Council - Dec. 11/13

Jeff Green | Dec 18, 2013

County review points to political stagnation, missing Christmas party

An organizational and service delivery review prepared by the KPMG consulting group for Frontenac County provides a varied shopping list of 27 “recommended opportunities” for county's consideration.

These recommendations have a vast range of scope and implications. For example, Recommendation #7 “Re-implement a staff Christmas party" should be easy to accomplish, but # 23 “Work with the townships to develop a plan to increase the level of shared services in the county” is not as simple a task.

Aside from making specific recommendations, the author of the report, Bruce Peever, made reference to the political stalemate that, in his view, has been holding the county back. Peever wrote that the stalemate represents two divergent views about the role of the county relative to the Frontenac townships.

“There is a belief among some members of Council that the County should remain a management board delivering a minimal level of service through contracted services with the private sector ... In contrast, there is an opposing position that believes county government should be at the forefront of providing shared municipal service delivery, coordinating and guiding the townships in how they deliver their services,” he wrote.

The lack of consensus has thwarted efforts at developing a strategic plan for the county, and has “frustrated staff” in Peever's view. His report tends to side with those, chief among them being out-going warden, Janet Gutowski, who favour a more central role for the county.

“The key finding of this report is the need for the county's member municipalities to work together under shared services agreements so that collectively the county can achieve the necessary economies of scale to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the county's operations,” said the report.

However, the report also calls for the county to release more money to the townships. It recommends that all federal gas tax money that the county receives should be transferred to the townships, and that savings the county has realized from provincial uploads, which it says “will create $3.3 million in vacated tax room” for the 2014 county budget, should enable the county to cut its levy to its member townships and free them up to spend more in direct services for ratepayers.

“If the County is considered as one community, then the uploading of social services is a tremendous opportunity to improve the financial sustainability of the member municipalities,” according to the report.

The report also pointed to a centralization of control of county activities in the office of former Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Liz Savill, who left for a job as CAO of Northumberland County last month.

It points out there are 12 positions in the county who “report directly to the CAO, including several administrative and technical staff” leading to “a widespread belief throughout the organization that there are too many positions reporting directly to the CAO, limiting her ability to provide strategic leadership.”

One expression of this problem is the fact that all the mail that comes to the county is delivered directly to the CAO's office and is then distributed to each of the departments, a job that would more efficiently be done by the receptionist.

In terms of efficiencies and costs for county services, the report notes that the major services offered by the county, such as land ambulance, Fairmount Home and ferry services to Frontenac Islands are all well run, although in some cases costs are higher than other similar-sized operations in other municipalities.

The report also encourages the county to lobby for changes in provincial legislation that would make it possible for the county to transition Fairmount Home from municipal ownership to a not-for-profit corporation

As far as IT and GIS operations, contracting out services is recommended instead of adding to the departments, and it says that the communications officer at the county should become a full-time permanent position.

The report was only presented to committee last week and will be considered by council in an in camera session this week. Some of the recommendations, if implemented, could impact pay grades.

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