By Aaron Mahoney (@Mahones93 on Twitter)

Timeline, other details revealed about independent fiscal performance review of all City of Lethbridge operations

Jan 22, 2019 | 9:15 AM

LETHBRIDGE – During budget deliberations, Lethbridge City Council tasked City Manager Bramwell Strain to conduct an independent operational review of all city operations over the next three years, and on Monday, Jan. 21, Strain reported back with an overview of how things are going to work.

The reviews will look at the process structures, outcomes and expectations of the organization and its stakeholders, and additionally, they will take into consideration industry standards and best practices.

Strain says these reviews will be driven by innovation and efficiencies, focused on cost-containment and re-investment opportunities.

“The work that will go into these reviews will be turned into an action plan with outcome-based recommendations for City Council’s consideration.”

Through a competitive process, an independent third party will be selected to build on benchmarking work that’s already been completed as well as lessons learned in other jurisdictions.

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“It’s important not to be insular,” Strain replied when asked about the third party overseeing the reviews. “When you’re comparing yourself to other jurisdictions, you’re looking at it from your point of view, so what we’re looking at is not having that tainted solely by navel-gazing. Having a third party look at it brings a fresh set of eyes to it and objectivity that perhaps we may not have internally.”

Council also directed that they receive regular updates to stay up to date on progress, decision points and implementation timelines.

The company selected through the RFP process, which will be completed in February, will perform a comprehensive organizational review and management analysis of existing operations, organizational structures, services, service levels, service delivery model, management, and staffing levels.

From there, they will create a set of guiding principles in partnership with the City of Lethbridge.

The operational reviews will be broken into two phases.

Phase one will see a general review of all city departments, as well as comprehensive reviews of selected departments including Real Estate and Land Development, Integrated Risk Management, Information Technology services, Recreation and Culture, Transit, the ENMAX Centre and Facility Services.

Phase two will consist of a comprehensive review of additional areas identified in Phase one.

“What we’re going to get in Phase one is initial blush about what needs to be looked at in Phase two. However, what you also notice in Phase one is we did identify some very specific business units which we will be doing that deep dive on immediately,” Strain stated.

The contract for the third party is expected to be awarded in April, with the reviews set to commence not long after.

From there, the timeline is expected to look like this:

– Phase one complete November 2019

– Phase two commencing January 2020

– Phase one implementation plan January 2020

– Phase two implementation plan Summer/Fall 2020

While council will be provided with monthly updates on planning, progress, and implementation, Strain says the public is also going to hear a lot of that information.

“This is about being open and transparent, we started that process during the budget, and we’ll continue to do that. As much information as can we shared will be, but obviously, there are a few things we don’t share. Things like personal matters, there’s the odd dollar value we may not always disclose, especially on the land side we are literally in competition with some others. Other than that, everything should be readily available,” Strain said.

Expected completion of the entire operational review is three years.