HomeMy WebLinkAboutCompass Kitchener - 2021-02-03COMPASS KITCHENER ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES
FEBRUARY 3, 2021 CITY OF KITCHENER
The Compass Kitchener Advisory Committee met electronically this date, commencing at 4:00 p.m.
Present: Ms. J. Stephens -Wells - Chair, Ms. E. Duhaime, Ms. L. Gazzola, Ms. L. Kochut, Ms. R.
Lavender, Ms. L. Terry, Ms. L. Trumper, Ms. K. Williams and Mr. J. Orbegoso.
Staff: K. Cooper, Manager, Strategic & Business Planning
L. Korabo, Committee Administrator
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The Committee was in receipt of a draft staff report outlining the accomplishments achieved
during a shortened 2020 Compass Kitchener term, being: finalizing/presenting the Strategic
Plan Evaluation Guide to Council; and, reviewing the citizen dashboard project charter as drafted
by staff.
A draft work plan for 2021 is being shared this date for the Committee's comment and approval.
Once approved, the staff report will be finalized and submitted to the February 22, 2021 Council
meeting for feedback. Work plan priorities for 2021 include: development of a Citizen's Report
Card evaluating the work to implement the 2019-2022 Strategic Plan; continuing to build
connections between the city's citizen advisory committees; and, commencement of planning
for the public engagement process and citizen survey to be carried out prior to development of
the City's next Strategic Plan. Items on the Work Plan were drawn mainly from the Committee's
Terms of Reference responsibilities.
Ms. K. Cooper reviewed each item identified in the 2021 Work Plan and where appropriate,
provided background or context. Ms. L. Trumper asked for clarification regarding the public
engagement plan to begin informing the next iteration of the Strategic Plan and Ms. Cooper
provided an overview of the tactics employed during the last round of engagement and their
relevant success factors (e.g. Environics surveys; stakeholder meetings). Ms. Cooper
suggested that she could develop a list of engagement options for the Committee's consideration
if there was a desire to try different tactics. Additionally, she reminded the Committee that
members have control over their level of involvement in the process. Regarding the Environics
survey, Ms. Cooper reflected on observations the Committee had made following review of the
responses to the 2018 Environics survey. In particular, with respect to the drafting of survey
questions, she noted Compass Kitchener's view that shaping more questions with a focus on
the future, rather than framing questions around the actions and goals of the previous plan,
would elicit more open-ended input into the new strategic plan.
Ms. L. Terry requested a copy of the questions used in the last Environics Survey; Ms. Cooper
agreed to circulate these to the Committee.
Ms. J. Stephens -Wells commented on the dashboard project which is now getting underway as
a new reporting tool on Strategic Plan implementation. A further discussion on how members
can become involved in this project will be held later in the meeting. It was generally agreed
that this discussion as well as the length of time to conduct the Strategic Plan evaluation may
require timing adjustments to the draft Work Plan.
On motion, by Ms. L. Trumper —
it was resolved:
"That the 2021 Compass Kitchener Work Plan, as amended, be approved and forwarded
to Kitchener Council."
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Ms. K. Cooper provided an overview of the current Strategic Plan (2019-2022) and the process
undertaken to develop it. The Plan received Council approval in June 2019 after which staff
began better alignment of annual Business Plan (BP) projects to support its success and
reporting to Council three times per year on project status and accomplishments. Evaluation
criteria developed by Compass Kitchener will be used to measure BP work and how it advances
the goals and actions of the Strategic Plan (SP).
The Committee discussed the evaluation guide Compass Kitchener had previously presented to
Council outlining the criteria established to evaluate the 2019-2022 Strategic Plan overall, as
COMPASS KITCHENER ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES
FEBRUARY 3, 2021 - 4 - CITY OF KITCHENER
2020 STRATEGIC PLAN EVALUATION PROCESS (Cont'd)
well as implementation of the actions / goals contained in the Strategic Plan. The following are
the evaluation criteria for the overall Plan:
1. does the SP connect Kitchener's mission to its vision?
2. is the SP realistic?
3. is the SP integrated?
4. is the SP balanced?
5. is the SP complete?
6. is the document clear?
Under each of the five goals/themes in the Strategic Plan (people -friendly transportation;
environmental leadership; vibrant economy; caring community; and, great customer service) five
actions have been outlined. Progress relative to the strategic goals and actions will be evaluated
based on four criteria: timing; budget; impact; and, accountability. With respect to "impact",
Compass Kitchener's intent is to focus specifically on the progress impact in each area on people
living and working in Kitchener. To achieve this, the Committee identified the citizen impact and
related data it wishes to review relative to each of the actions in the Plan. The evaluation guide
circulated in advance of the meeting had been updated to reflect the requested citizen impact
data that is currently available for each of the actions. Where information is missing, staff are
following up to gather the missing data. However, it was acknowledged that in some areas,
given the newness of project completion, no data is yet available and thus a modified approach
to evaluating citizen impact will need to be taken in the current year.
The Committee was in receipt of staff report CAO -20-008 — 2020 Business Plan Year -End
Progress Report and Recommended 2021 Business Plan Project List as well as the evaluation
criteria document. Information contained in these documents will help to inform the evaluation
and development of the Citizen's Report Card for 2020. Members will use the annual Business
Plan updates and various reports to Council to evaluate the implementation of the 25 strategic
plan actions. It was noted the Strategic Plan also contains a commitment to localize the United
Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with each of the Plan's 25 action statements
connected to at least one of the 17 identified SDGs and, that this, too, is an area Compass
Kitchener will cover in its evaluation, once the City's consultant has completed their work on
localizing the SDGs.
A target date to report to Council on this evaluation is tentatively set for late Spring 2021. To
provide sufficient time for discussion around each of the actions, it was suggested that review of
the five main goals (and their related actions) be divided over three Committee meetings. In
addition to this evaluation, members will be required to provide an opinion on the overall
Strategic Plan achievements and their ties to the SDGs. Members provided feedback on the
proposed process and timeline, indicating a preference to evaluate only one goal at the March
meeting and then two goals for each of April and May. Ms. Cooper agreed and suggested the
first goal for evaluation be `Great Customer Service'. When asked about obtaining additional
data and budget information to aid with the evaluation, Ms. Cooper reiterated staff's commitment
to have materials posted a week prior to the meeting date. Ms. J. Stephen -Wells requested that
members pre -read the materials and encouraged them to email Ms. Cooper if there were
questions of clarification regarding provided information.
Ms. E. Duhaime suggested the previously agreed upon evaluation criteria for the strategic
actions may need to be slightly adjusted, based on the feedback received from staff and what is
learned as this new criteria is used for the first time in this evaluation process. She noted that
if additional information could be obtained specifically related to effects of the pandemic, it may
help Committee members to better understand the data and make a more informed evaluation.
Ms. L. Kochut suggested that a framework to help members work through discussion and
evaluation more efficiently may be beneficial. Ms. Kochut, Ms. Cooper, and Ms. Stephens -Wells
agreed to meet to discuss developing such a framework.
COMPASS KITCHENER ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES
FEBRUARY 3, 2021 - 5 - CITY OF KITCHENER
OTHER BUSINESS
The minutes of the January 1, 2021 were reviewed
Ms. J. Stephens -Wells provided an explanation of how the Citizen Dashboard Prosect was
conceived; a tool to provide easier interface and providing access to cascading levels of
information related to the Strategic Plan implementation online, in a format that can be updated
between annual report cards.
There are several options for Compass Kitchener members to engage in the development of the
dashboard via an upcoming `design sprint' event. Opportunities are:
• to serve as the Compass Kitchener representative on the project team, This would
include an invitation to the design sprint kickoff meeting Feb 16; participation in an
ideation/solutioning session Feb 19; involvement in priority mapping / planning on Feb
22; and, participation in prototyping sessions Feb 23-25. All these activities would be
held during business hours; or,
• to be a stakeholder interviewee or user tester which would involve a 20 -minute interview
between Feb 17-18; a further interview after each prototyping session; and, a 20 -minute
user testing activity on either Mar 1-2. Timing for all of these would be flexible.
As a final opportunity to participate, the project team will present at the March 3rd Committee
meeting to allow for full committee check-in before finalizing the staff report to the Corporate
Leadership Team.
Ms. L. Trumper, Ms. J. Stephens -Wells, Ms. E. Duhaime, Ms. R. Lavender and Ms. L. Gazzola
volunteered to participate as needed. Ms. L. Kochut volunteered to act as a tester.
Ms. J. Stephens -Wells reminded members of the upcoming orientation sessions being delivered
via Zoom on February 11, 2021.
Ms. K. Cooper encouraged new members to email her directly to share ideas on how to ease
absorbing the large amount of information to be shared.
Regarding upcoming discussions about All Committee meetings delivered via Zoom, members
were encouraged to share ideas on how to make a sizeable Zoom meeting more successful.
Ms. L. Kochut offered to share webinars on facilitating large group discussions via Zoom.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 5:10 pm.
L. Korabo
Committee Administrator