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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil - 2010-09-07 S SPECIAL COUNCIL MINUTES SEPTEMBER 7, 2010 CITY OF KITCHENER A special meeting of City Council was held at 2:34 p.m. this date, chaired by Mayor C. Zehr with all members present except Councillor G. Lorentz. Councillor J. Gazzola was in attendance for part of the meeting. Notice of this meeting had been previously given to all members of Council by the City Clerk pursuant to Chapter 25 (Council Procedure) of the Municipal Code. Moved by Councillor B. Vrbanovic Seconded by Councillor K. Galloway “That an in-camera meeting be held this date to consider a personal matter, three land acquisition / disposition matters and two matters subject to solicitor-client privilege.” Carried. It was noted that this portion of the special meeting was a strategic planning session which was being held to allow discussion on various strategic initiatives and directions being taken by the City. Council considered Corporate Services Department report CRPS-10-139 (Corporate Technology Strategic Plan), dated August 30, 2010. Mr. T. Speck introduced this report and reviewed a chart showing the “Evolution of Information Technology at City of Kitchener”. He then introduced Ms. N. Prior, President, Prior & Prior Associates Ltd., the City’s consultant, who presented the report titled City of Kitchener – Plotting the Course to a New Partnership. Through her presentation, Ms. Prior advised that the strategic plan is a “business centric” initiative which will help the City identify opportunities to be leveraged through technology rather than implementing technology for technology sake. This leveraging will support, innovate and improve the City’s businesses. Ms. Prior then outlined the key findings: ? a recommendation to implement a governance framework; ? a requirement for enhanced technology to support program service delivery, process management; ? performance measurement and staff productivity; ? the City has a strong technology foundation; ? the City has acquired large Enterprise Applications that are under-utilized and can be further exploited; ? there is an ever-growing demand for technology which exceeds the supply of technology and resources required to implement and support it; and, ? Information Technology Division must be more involved in technology leadership and management of the Enterprise Applications. Ms. Prior advised that in order to enact this strategy, the City needs to transform the way it approaches technology, to bring it to the forefront of the City’s business strategy. This will elevate the decision-making responsibilities which should be made by senior management. Such an approach to technology will ensure that technology decisions are aligned with the broader corporate priorities. Such an approach will also require a paradigm shift in organizational culture. As part of this strategy, Ms. Prior also recommended a specific re-organization of the Information Technology Division, including new staff positions and redefining some existing positions. The 7 major recommendations contained in Prior & Prior’s report are: ? formally acknowledging the City’s Enterprise Applications to leverage investments and to simplify the technology environment; ? integrate technology planning into the business planning cycle; ? implement a technology governance framework; ? consolidate technology funding / budgets under the oversight of the IT Governance Committee; and, ? align the IT Division organization to support this new environment. In response to questions from Councillor B. Vrbanovic, Ms. Prior advised that this report has been shared with IT staff. In response to the recommended increase in staff in this period of fiscal restraint, Ms. Prior advised that the Program Mangers could be contract positions and some of the functional roles can be undertaken by existing staff. She noted that the suggestion is for 10 new staff positions over the next 5 years. Ms. Prior then suggested that comparing one municipality to another SPECIAL COUNCIL MINUTES SEPTEMBER 7, 2010 - 225-CITY OF KITCHENER is not useful in an IT setting, as most municipalities are in the same situation. Looking at larger organizations, they are putting in more resources. Respecting shared services with other municipalities, Ms. Prior noted that there is already such a partnership involving the Fire Department, and there is a Regional Directors’ forum. She stated that there may be an opportunity to partner with the private sector. Councillor J. Gazzola stated that the strategic plan makes a lot of sense, but it requires a substantial expenditure. He questioned where the City could save and how much can be done with what we have. Ms. Prior responded that the recommended positions require different skill sets. Respecting savings, she advised that there will likely be benefits on the operations side. Commuting technology should save money and there should be savings in clerical resources; however, that level of detail can only be determined at the project level. Ms. Prior then advised that the City can not deliver what it needs with what it has. Councillor Vrbanovic stated that he wants some assurance that there will be savings over time to counterbalance some of the costs. Ms. Prior advised that the mobile strategy will increase work units in the field through mobile computing and on-line programs will also save money. She also noted that some technology aspects in the People Plan have not been met. Councillor Gazzola questioned how projects are being prioritized at this time and Mr. T. Speck responded that there is no prioritization done now. Current decisions are made absent of other technologies. Ms. Prior advised that there is currently a substantial amount of money being spent on technology Corporate wide and a lot of capital dollars are being spent on technology. In response to Mayor Zehr’s question, Ms. Prior advised that if nothing changes, departments will continue to acquire what they need, which wastes money and creates overlap. Mayor Zehr then questioned whether changing the governance will provide a benefit without undertaking all the other recommendations of the study, and Ms. Prior stated that what the report presents will give the City the greatest benefit. Council then discussed the recommendations in the staff report, deciding that it would be better to table the report rather than adopt it and have staff report to the future Council, in 2011, on the 5 major recommendations in the Prior & Prior report. Moved by Councillor B. Vrbanovic Seconded by Councillor K. Galloway “That the report titled Plotting the Course to a New Partnership, authored by Prior & Prior Associates Ltd., dated August 2010, be tabled; and, that the following 5 major recommendations in this report be adopted: 1. endorse, consolidate & leverage enterprise (core) applications; 2. integrate technology planning into the business planning cycle; 3. implement a corporate level technology governance framework; 4. consolidate technology funding/budgets; and, 5. align the IT Division to support this new environment; and further, That staff review the recommendations of the Prior & Prior report and, in 2011, present Council with an implementation plan including a detailed schedule, resource requirements and costs.” Carried Unanimously. Council considered Financial Services Department report FIN-10-127, (Customer Information System [CIS] Assessment), dated August 30, 2010, attached to which was the report titled City of Kitchener Customer Information System (CIS) Assessment, prepared by Prior & Prior Associates Ltd., dated August 2010. Ms. J. Evans presented the staff report and Ms. Prior presented the assessment. Councillor B. Vrbanovic commented on this assessment in light of the strategic plan report which Council had just considered and Ms. Prior responded that the 2 reports can operate independently noting that a business plan is required before proceeding. Councillor Vrbanovic then commented on the amount of money that has been spent on CIS and Mr. D. Chapman advised that a small portion of the money has been carried forward from year to year. He also advised that a different staffing model with be implemented which may result in savings which can be carried forward. He suggested that SAP could be paid for from the Operating Budget. SPECIAL COUNCIL MINUTES SEPTEMBER 7, 2010 - 226-CITY OF KITCHENER Councillor J. Gazzola questioned why staff has not done something about the CIS system before now and was advised by Ms. P. Houston that other gas utilities have used custom-made systems until this software became available and it has just recently been put on the market. Mr. Chapman advised that Enbridge now uses SAP and the Cities of Toronto and Ottawa are considering a purchase subject to further investigation. With respect to SAP, Ms. Prior advised that at some time in the future, it is possible to consolidate Human Resources into SAP, the manufacturer is very reliable, this is an industry strength solution and there are no comparable products on the market. Moved by Councillor B. Vrbanovic Seconded by Councillor J. Smola “That in accordance with the findings in the City of Kitchener Customer Information System (CIS) Assessment, prepared by Prior & Prior Associates Ltd., dated August 2010, staff: 1. Continue with due diligence to pursue the possible acquisition of the SAP tax and utility solutions to replace the existing CIS system and further consolidate the number of major applications at the City; and, 2. Establish a senior level position within the CIS project using the existing budget, in lieu of continuing with the external CIS consultant, to support ERP Business Transformation to lead the business process design and optimization processes for the new system; and further, That staff report to Council in 2011 with a detailed business case for the Customer Information System, including refined costing and a more detailed project schedule, prior to moving forward with a system change.” Carried Unanimously. On motion the meeting adjourned at 4:20 p.m. MAYOR CLERK