NPCA road map to be unveiled in 2021
New strategic plan will take close to a year to produce; officials want to ‘get it right’
The newly elected chair of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority says the agency has put its troubles behind it and is looking toward the future.
But it will be nearly a year before the tomorrow that Hamilton’s Brenda Johnson envisions will take concrete shape.
After spending a year repairing damage caused by the previous NPCA board and administration, the agency’s current leadership is charting its future course with the creation of a new strategic plan.
That plan will define the NPCA’s goals and provide a multi-year road map for how it will do everything from tree planting to flood mapping, as well as put the recently declared “climate emergency” into action.
Recently hired NPCA chief administrative officer Chandra
Sharma — whose first day on the job was Wednesday, where she oversaw the election that saw Johnson replace West Lincoln Mayor David Bylsma as chair — said she wants to have the plan ready with all possible speed.
“It’s important that we get it right, but I am not a fan of drawn-out processes,” Sharma said.
“It’s a lot of work, but I would like to see the plan ready to be executed by February 2021.”
The last NPCA plan, created in 2018 by the board led by former Fort Erie regional councillor Sandy Annunziata, was to guide the agency through to 2021.
NPCA staff could not immediately say Thursday if that plan is still in effect while the new one is being developed.
Aside from creating a road map for the NPCA, the strategic plan and the process of creating it has another purpose, Sharma said.
“Absolutely, this is about restoring the public’s trust,” she said.
“This is absolutely a priority for me and for the NPCA.” The Annunziata-era NPCA board and its senior administrators were at the heart of a string of high-profile controversies — from promoting the scientifically dubious notion of “bio-diversity offsetting” and political assaults on a board member, to labour disputes and the failed lawsuit against a local activist (and now NPCA board member) Ed Smith.
It was also the subject of an Ontario Auditor General’s investigation that found a host of problems at the NPCA, including questionable hiring and procurement practices.
The agency was also caught up in the Ontario Ombudsman’s probe into the Niagara Region
CAO hiring scandal.
On Wednesday, Johnson told The Standard the reputation of the NPCA was so poor that when the current leadership sought to hire a new CAO, it had to put out a call for candidates twice before Sharma applied.
Many qualified candidates would not touch the NPCA with a “10-foot-pole,” she said.
Many of the Auditor General’s recommendations were implemented by the NPCA board led by Byslma over the past year, and the lingering labour issues have been resolved.
Still, Sharma and Johnson are aware it will take time to rebuild the public’s trust in the agency.
Like Sharma, Johnson said she doesn’t want to see the strategic plan’s development drag on, but said it is more important to get it right than to get it done quickly.
“We want to make sure it is done properly, and that means consultations and public input,” she said. “If we have to take a step back to ensure we get all of that input and it takes a little longer, then we will.”