PERIOD REPORT
DATE: September 28, 2026 Report No. ADM-26-047
TO: Dan Horan, Chief Administrative Officer
FROM: Deb Hopkins, Director of Corporate Services
SUBJECT:TITLECorporate Services - 2026 Second Period Report
Body
The following is a report on the activities pertaining to the Corporate Services Department from May 1, 2026 to August 31, 2026.
1. Staff Time Distribution
The table below illustrates how staff in Corporate Services spent their time during the second period of 2026. This is intended to provide information on the main areas of focus for the team. While not an exhaustive list of all tasks undertaken, the identified categories include activities outlined in Attachment 1.
• Period 2 includes the Council summer recess, reducing Meeting Support metrics from typical levels.
• Additional recess time was allocated to staff vacation, Records Management projects, training, and other miscellaneous projects and activities.
The chart below contains data from Period 2 and 3 of 2025 and Period 1 and 2 of 2026 and calculates the average time spent per category. It highlights the business cycles across periods while illustrating the average time spent per category.
This is the first report presenting metrics for a period-over-period comparison (P2 2026 vs P2 2025). The chart quantitively supports resourcing claims made in previous workforce plans. Most tasks and responsibilities fall into predictable and repeatable time allocations (e.g. Administration, Records Management), some tasks are predictable and non-repeatable (e.g. Elections), and some tasks are unpredictable black swan events (2025 Human Resources and 2026 FOI & Privacy).
The department is undertaking the quadrennial General Local Election internally, reducing overall election costs and doing so within the current department capacity. Increased requests for FOI & Privacy result in additional capacity requirements to provide responses within statutory deadlines. Although staff workloads are balanced, leadership continues to fill gaps when demand outpaces capacity. An increase in one area decreases the available resources to address the other service areas.
The comparison data below highlights the service demands for the department which helps to inform future workforce planning and better understand the impacts of the variability for informing future needs and efficient management of current resources.
2. Corporate Services
+ P1 numbers restated from P1 2026 report as it did not include the weekly notice of meetings
* Reduced number of agendas produced when there is a closed meeting scheduled prior to an open meeting by combining them into one
# New metric added in 2024
^ Revised process for Advisory Body agendas to include Corporate Services staff review
$ Number of meetings reduced in an election year (no meetings in summer recess or in month of the local election)
Highlights:
• Coordinated presentation of two Spirit Awards.
• Conducted recruitment for a Police Board Community Representative and Environment, Parks, and Recreation Advisory Committee Youth Representative.
• Developed General Local Elections Public Awareness Postcard to be delivered to Esquimalt residences, and launched a robust communications campaign promoting mail ballots, advanced voting to reduce lineups on General Voting Day and our inclusive and accessible voting options, all of which are new initiatives for the 2026 election to support voter awareness and engagement, and increase voter turnout.
• Staff attended conferences/training related to Strategizing for UBCM Ministers Meetings, TabFusionRMS SaaS training, Information Governance, Electronic Document and Records Management (EDRMS), SONAR Leadership Workshop, ARMA Canada Virtual Exchange 2026 Conference, Indigenous Cultural Awareness Workshop, and Esquimalt Alert training;
3. Communications
Highlights:
Please see Attachment 4 for an overview of Communications staff activities and achievements in Period 2.
4. Records, Information, and Privacy Management
*New metric established
Highlights:
• Progressed Privacy Management Program with development of procedures for responding to an FOI for Managers and Directors, and reviewed the Township’s index of available records (those records not requiring a formal FOI request).
• Collaborated with all municipal departments to complete the annual destruction and off-siting of records process.
• Developed a tip sheet to help staff clean up their email conversations for enhanced record keeping and realization of administrative efficiencies.
• There was a significant increase in FOI requests this period requiring considerable time and effort from Corporate Services staff. This was made more challenging by the complexity of the requests and the corresponding volume of responsive records. In addition, Corporate Services also had to locate and retrieve records for 6 of the requests in addition to processing all received requests and preparing the Township’s response for each.
• Completed 10 records management projects for municipal departments this period.
5. Archives
Highlights:
• Provided research presentation “Unveiling Women in Archives” at the Association of Canadian Archivists Conference (CAC) 2026.
• Published article “Capturing Changing Esquimalt Neighbourhood 2025” in the Archives Association of British Columbia (AABC) Newsletter, Winter, 2026, vol. 28, no. 2, pp.11-15.
• Community outreach included hosting a pop-up exhibition at the annual Fort Macaulay Historic Interpretation Event and providing an interactive presentation to the Renaissance Retirement Residence on Esquimalt History Through Archives, and provided an article for the Township’s spring newsletter, The Current, “Souvenir Plate Crafted From Esquimalt Clay has Deep History”.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Overview of CS Task Categorization
2. 2026 Period 2 Council Resolutions
3. Granicus Analytics Dashboard 2026 Period 2
4. Communications Activities & Highlights 2026 Period 2
5. FOI Request Dashboard 2026 Period 2