HomeMy WebLinkAboutCAO-07-050 - Referral of Projects to 2006-2017 Capital Forecast - Chief Administrator's Officee
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REPORT
Report To: Councillor Berry Vrbanovic, Chair and Members of the
Finance and Corporate Services Committee
Date of Meeting: November 5, 2007
Submitted By: Pauline Houston, Acting Chief Administrator
Prepared By: Michael May, Director of Communications & Marketing
Wards}Involved: n/a
Date of Report: October 17, 2007
Report No.: CAO-07-050
Subject: Referral of Projects to the 2008-2017 Capital Forecast -Chief
Administrator's Department
RECOMMENDATION:
THAT the following capital projects be included in the 2008-2017 capital forecast for
consideration by the Finance and Corporate Services Committee as part of the 2008 budget
deliberations, as outlined in staff report CAO-07-050:
401 Signage $ 200,000 2008
Website Redevelopment 250,000 2008
BACKGROUND:
Two new capital projects from the Chief Administrator's Department with budgets in excess of
$50,000 are to be referred to the City's ten-year capital forecast by a resolution of Council.
These are then evaluated during the budget approval process against all other project priorities
and funding constraints. This report provides information and recommendations with respect to
new project priorities for the Chief Administrator's Department, Communications and Marketing.
REPORT:
401 Signage
In 2005 Council approved $200,000 for staff to proceed with a detailed design and specific site
selection for two entrance features to be located on the 401 (CSD-04-165).
In 2007, staff divided the project into two components: (1) the design stage and (2) the
implementation stage. The design stage is being headed up by the corporate communications
and marketing division (Terry Marr) and a staff team of creative individuals from across the
Corporation -Kathy Weiss, director of business development; Cheryl York, arts and culture
facilitator; Ted Potworka, operations supervisor horticulture; Mike Selling, manager of building;
Brian Page, supervisor site development; and Grant Nixon landscape architect. The second
phase of the project (implementation) will be coordinated through the Design and Development
Section of CSD and the Site Development Section of DTS.
To date staff has: confirmed the Clock tower logo should be the main focus of the entrance
feature; identified potential locations din the midst of consulting with the Ministry of
Transportation); researched budget impacts for similar projects completed by other
municipalities, and; drafted the terms of reference for a design consultant.
Proposed Selection Process: After issuing an RFP aimed at receiving preliminary design
concepts from multi-disciplinary design firms staff will choose four semi-finalists whose designs
will be presented to the public for feedback. Those semi-finalists will be paid an honorarium of
$2,500 for their concept designs. Following a public consultation process where the public will
be asked to judge the four semi-finalist designs, the staff committee will make a
recommendation to City Council on the preferred design.
The selected finalist will then further develop their design concepts. A future payment will be
made to the winning consultant for the completion of all construction drawings including all
required approvals, tender documents, site supervision, and contract administration
Implementation Stage 2}. Stage 2 will also involve negotiating with property owners,
construction access and power requirements and gaining approvals from the Ministry of
Transportation.
Website Redeveloament
Over the years, the City of Kitchener and its Enterprises have established an online presence
through the development of a number of different websites. In total the City currently operates
nine separate websites including the main City site ~www.kitchener.ca}, sites for each individual
Enterprise unit, and an Intranet site for City staff. In addition, smaller websites are established
from time to time on specific projects die. Who are you Kitchener?, Centre Block consultations}.
On numerous occasions in recent months members of City Council have clearly indicated their
desire to have the City's main website (www.kitchener.ca) redesigned to make it more user
friendly and easier to find information and services.
Recently, a new cross-corporate project committee was established to redesign the City's
website. That staff committee, which will report directly to CMT, will include representation from
IT, Corporate Communications and Marketing, Economic Development, Corporate and
Community Planning, Customer Service and the Enterprises. The first phase of the committee's
work will be to consult more widely with citizens, staff, Council and other stakeholders to clearly
identify what they expect in a municipal website. This stakeholder consultation will help ensure
the redesigned website is more user friendly and customer focused.
In addition to addressing feedback received from members of Council, staff, the general public,
and other stakeholders, redesigning the City's website would contribute to a number of larger
City initiatives and strategies. Those strategic drivers to this project include: the City's Customer
Service Strategy; a Plan for a Healthy Kitchener (public consultation and two-way
communication};the City's recently updated Economic Development Strategy, and; the City's
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goal of taking better advantage of online communications tools as away of getting information
to its stakeholders and engaging them effectively in policy decisions.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
401 Signage
$200,000 is currently allocated in the capital budget for the design and construction of entrance
features and signage along the 401 corridor. After researching the cost of similar entrance
features for other municipalities, staff believe that an additional $200,000 will be needed in 2008
to complete the design and construction of two entrance features and signage on the 401.
It is important to note that additional costs may be incurred (above and beyond the $400,000 to
design and construct the signs themselves) depending on eventual site selection (possible land
acquisition) and servicing required (electrical, grading of land, etc.). As these costs are unknown
at this time, and will not be known until a preferred design is chosen, they are not included in
staff's current estimates for the project. Staff is committed to finding a location that will keep
these costs to a minimum and will take those additional costs into consideration when
determining which design to recommend to City Council.
Once the staff committee has chosen a preferred design and site location it will be bringing a
recommendation to City Council in June 2008. Depending on the magnitude of those potential
additional costs (ie. land acquisition and servicing) and their impact on the overall project
budget, staff will also make a recommendation at that time as to whether or not to proceed with
the construction of two entrance features on either side of the 401 or scale the project back to
one entrance feature (westbound) in 2008. Construction of the second entrance feature
(eastbound) could then be delayed until later in the capital forecast when additional funds are
available. Funding for a second sign could be considered through the 2009 budget process if it
is deemed necessary.
Examples of existing entrance features in other municipalities and their costs are as follows.
These costs are for the signs only and do not include additional costs die. land purchases). The
costs listed below are in the dollar figures for the year in which they were built and do not take
into consideration inflation and rising construction costs.
^ City of Barrie: $400,000 for two signs installed May 2006. Sign includes landscaping,
irrigation and lighting.
^ Sarnia: $175,000 in 2001 for construction of one sign. Sign is constructed with concrete and
metal design details, set on stones with landscaping and lighting.
^ Stoney Creek: $160,000 for one sign ten years ago. Natural stone with landscaping rocks
and lighting.
^ County Wellington: $140,000 in 2004. Two concrete signs with logo on a wall of natural
stone with landscaping and lighting.
^ Port Hope: $94,000 for construction only of one sign in 2000 does not include sign design}.
City staff also donated their time to build part of the sign and only charged for materials.
Sign consists of two brick pillars with a painted wood sign in between. Structure is built on a
cement retaining wall with landscaping and lighting.
Website Redeveloament
A budget of $84,300 currently exists within the capital budget of the IT Division for website
upgrades and improvements. That funding will be directly allocated to the website redesign
project in 2008.
While the staff committee working on this project has yet to determine how it will proceed with
the redesign of the website, it has done some preliminary investigation and calculations on two
potential approaches: (1) hiring a project manager on atwo-year contract, or (2) issuing an RFP
for an outside website development company to redesign the website.
Each approach has specific strengths and weaknesses and while no decisions have yet been
made by the committee as to which approach is most favourable, preliminary research indicates
that in addition to existing funding already in the capital budget, redesigning the website require
capital funding of $250,000 in 2008.
It is important to note that once the site has been redesigned there is a strong possibility that it
will require additional operating dollars at a future date to help maintain the new site.
CONCLUSION:
If supported, the capital projects proposed in this report will be referred to capital budget
deliberations. They will then be evaluated against all other capital projects and funding
constraints within the ten-year forecast.
Michael May
Director of Communications & Marketing
Pauline Houston
Acting Chief Administrator
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