City hall workshops ensure managers have better sense of accountability, urgency

Accountability workshops have been held at city hall for all supervisory staff to help close identified gaps in customer service and ensure staff performs better in the future. The purpose of the workshops was to create a culture with a heightened sense of accountability, urgency and more defined philosophy of service to city council, the community and each other.

“While we have great staff, we can always get better at what we do. There are always things we can do better,” city manager Jim Puffalt told city council during its Aug. 12 regular meeting.

This meant getting senior leadership into a room together and going over foundational documents that Puffalt brought with him when he arrived last year. He pointed out after a year, it was time to dust off the documents and ensure they were meeting the goals and objectives city administration wanted to accomplish. It was also important to drive these objectives down to the rest of the organization. “Sometimes edicts from on high are not 100-per-cent well accepted,” he said, so it’s important to get the day-to-day decision-makers into one room where discussions can happen about enhancing service.

“We don’t profess to be perfect at everything. There is room for improvement and we’re trying to get there,” Puffalt added.

The accountability workshops were listed in Puffalt’s city manager report, contained with a larger report presented to council about the activities of all departments during the second quarter of 2019.

Puffalt noted in his report that city administration had a 98-per-cent response rate in acknowledging council inquiries that were received within 48 hours. In turn, there was a 90-per-cent response rate in providing answers to those inquiries within 48 hours.

“As our important customers, we need to get answers to people and not let them think that we’ve forgotten,” he said. Sometimes councillors’ questions are detailed and a quick response is not possible, Puffalt continued. Summer is also a poor time to have every department manager meet in a room to acquire those answers. Emails can only go so far, so he believes having face-to-face meetings with supervisors to go over the questions is important.

City administration also wants to ensure the objectives council has set are being met, while ensuring the entire team is behind council’s direction and what it wants to accomplish, he added. That is why a workshop on accountability was needed.

Council’s strategic plan should be coming out in September, said Mayor Fraser Tolmie. He wondered if city hall staff and administration would be part of that plan since he thought that was part of accountability and understanding the community’s vision.

“It’s absolutely critical to have the directors (and) senior leadership team following up on the strategic plans or meeting the objective that council has set,” Puffalt replied. “We’re trying to make sure that the organization is ready to move and meet the objectives.”

There were 15 reported injuries among municipal staff during the second quarter of 2019, compared to 37 during the same time last year, according to Puffalt’s report. The main cause was overexertion.

Five incidents of medical aid were needed — compared to 11 in 2018 — due to staff being struck by or against an object, falling or overexertion.

One lost-time incident was reported — versus two last year — due to an employee tripping and falling. Three days were lost due to injuries, compared to five last year. There were 18 motor-vehicle incidents in the second quarter, compared to 15 during the same time last year, due to backing up and inattention among municipal staff drivers. The next regular council meeting is Monday, Aug. 26.