Community leagues struggle with red tape, auditor says

Edmonton officials promised to increase flexibility and cut red tape around funding for neighbourhood playgrounds, community gardens, tennis courts and other amenities.

Auditor David Wiun dug into the issue Thursday, telling council’s audit committee half of the neighbourhood volunteers who tried to get something built locally were disappointed with the city process.

Volunteers had to fill out so many repetitive forms, they ranked paperwork as an even bigger challenge than raising money — in many cases hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Approvals often took years, involved many city departments, and the costs were unclear. Some leagues were charged three per cent extra for the city’s project management while others were not.

This matters deeply to communities, Wiun said.

“Many residents have a personal connection to their city and communities in the same way they do to their homes.”

City councillors didn’t seem surprised but expressed concern at what this was doing to volunteers.

“The last thing we want to do as a city is disempower volunteers,” said Coun. Michael Walters, saying these small projects aren’t celebrated in the city budget but add up to something very significant to the city.

“This shouldn’t be a four-year process to build a playground,” added Coun. Andrew Knack, before councillors voted to follow this issue closely.

Officials set up a task force with community league members and will report back in February on what changes they’ve made.

Most neighbourhoods have a community league, some of which are more than 100 years old. They help rally parents and other volunteers when the playground, tennis courts, splash pads, central hall or other amenities need to be renewed. They’re responsible to research what’s needed, consult with neighbours, raise funds and apply for permits and grants.

City manager Linda Cochrane said what happened is that, early on, the city had less oversight on these projects and several went a bit off the rails. When staff had to go to council several years ago to ask for funding to cover the overspend, they were criticized for a lack of accountability.

It seems that caused the city corporation to swing the other way.

“It’s time to look at our processes and introduce some flexibility.”