PERIOD REPORT
DATE: December 27, 2019 Report No. ADM-20-002
TO: Laurie Hurst, Chief Administrative Officer
FROM: Vicki Gannon, Director of Corporate Services and Human Resources
SUBJECT:TITLE Corporate Services Department - 2019 Third Period Report
Body
The following is a report on the activities pertaining to the Corporate Services and HR from September 01, 2019 to December 31, 2019.
• DIVISION ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
1. Corporate Services
Ø 21 meetings including preparation of:
• 10 Public Hearing Notices and associated newspaper advertisements
• 30 Meeting Notices and associated newspaper advertisements
agendas and minutes for Regular, Special and In Camera meetings of Council and Committee of the Whole, including posting on website Community Notice Board
• 161 agenda late items
• 19 Action Reports and completion of all follow up correspondence and distribution to third parties
Ø Corporate Officer and Deputy Corporate Officer commissioned 27 documents for residents of Esquimalt (77 Total for year).
Ø Staff prepared 2 Proclamations and posted to the Municipal website.
Ø Staff processed 489 mail items for retention and distribution.
Ø Staff prepared 33 Township business letters on behalf of Mayor and Council.
Ø Corporate Officer amended text on Council meeting agendas to provide clarity on public input opportunities.
Ø Corporate Officer and Deputy Corporate Officer completed 27 electronic registrations at Land Title Office (41 total for year).
Ø Corporate Officer responded to 5 requests for access to records under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (18 total for year) and a further 14 requests for access to public records.
Ø Staff provided clerical support for Business Licencing: processing and monitoring applications, answering questions and inquiries from the public and preparing 757 renewal notices for 2020.
Ø Office Administrator and Administrative Clerk attended two web conference sessions for the Greater Victoria Ride-Hailing working group and web-based training for the Provincial Mobile Business Registry facilitated by the Ministry of Jobs, Trade and Technology.
Ø Staff completed The Office of the Ombudsperson Fairness 101: An Introduction to Administrative Fairness online course.
Ø Executive Assistant coordinated 13 Senior Management meetings, 1 Police Board meeting, 2 Mayors’ Open Door meetings and the CFB Esquimalt Base Commander & staff and Municipal Senior Management Luncheon.
Ø Executive Assistant assisted Communications Specialist with promotion of community events including Council’s participation in the Island Farms Santa’s Light Parade in Victoria and Celebration of Lights Parade in Esquimalt.
Ø Executive Assistant coordinated registration and made arrangements for travel and accommodation for 2019/ 2020 conferences for Council, and coordinated compilation and drop off of 3 new resident packages.
Ø Staff coordinated the New Year’s Leveé event held at the Recreation Centre.
Ø Corporate Officer prepared the 2020 Council and Committee of the Whole meeting schedule, and Corporate Services staff updated the Council outlook Calendar, Municipal website, and Municipal Notice Board and Granicus/Legistar software with all 2020 scheduled meetings.
Ø Corporate Officer participated in two LGMA webinar sessions: Conflict Resolution and Public Hearings 101 and a LGMA virtual Bylaw Drafting Course.
2. Committees
Ø Office Administrator, as Recording Secretary for the Environmental Advisory Committee [EAC], coordinated 1 EAC meeting, including preparation and posting of notices, Agendas and Minutes.
Ø Staff posted 4 sets of Agendas and Minutes of the Advisory Planning Commission [APC], APC Design Review Committee [DRC], Parks and Recreation Committee and EAC to the website and responded to inquiries relating to Committees.
Ø Corporate Officer and Deputy Corporate Officer attended three Committee meetings for an annual “check-in” with members.
Ø New Youth Representative appointed by Council to the EAC and another re-appointed to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee.
3. Records Management
Ø Paper Records:
• 1431 new paper records were created and entered in the TAB Fusion software, Including 507 annual records generated for 2020 filing
• 8 new boxes sent to Access Records off-site records storage facility and entered in the TAB Fusion software
• 164 boxes were retrieved and reviewed from off-site storage facility (Access Records), with 36 boxes returned to off-site storage, and the remainder destroyed or relocated to Archives
Ø Records Storage: The Corporate Officer and the Archivist/Records Coordinator have also initiated new staff procedures so that all future deposits in Access Records are processed through Corporate Services.
Ø Electronic Records: Corporate Services has taken the lead on restructuring the Township’s electronic records by creating new shared drives, incorporating LGMA’s system. 1267 files have been moved or deleted as part of this restructuring project.
Ø Training: The Archivist/Records Coordinator continued training other departments on the TAB Fusion software and assisting each department’s office administrator with the initial classification of records. The Township uses a modified version of the LGMA Classification and Retention Manual that incorporates all legal and regulatory recordkeeping requirements for local government operations.
4. Archives
Ø 622 Volunteer Hours.
Ø 44 Research Requests completed.
Ø 3 Terms of Use Agreements signed for use of archival photos in publications.
Ø 25 brochures distributed.
Ø 3 donations of archival material.
Ø 3 photos taken of buildings with approved demolition permits.
Ø Awarded $1000 from the Terry Reksten Memorial Fund for the purchase of archival supplies for storing and preserving the Archive’s collection of property assessment rolls.
Ø New Council Policy No. HER-07, approved by Council to provide a framework for the Archives and replace previous Council Policy No. HER-01.
Ø Organized a tour of our facilities for View Royal Archives volunteers and staff.
Ø Other notable activities:
• Received a memorable donation of material around Remembrance Day. The donation included a painting of WW2 veteran and Esquimalt resident, “Jack” Lionel Cockrell, and a portrait of the five McVie brothers, who all served in WW1
• Archival images continue to be regularly featured on the Township of Esquimalt’s social media on #TBT (Throwback Thursday)
• Archivist continues to update internal processes to improve retrieval of archival material
5. Communications
Ø Drafted Social Media Policy for circulation to Senior Management for review.
Ø Drafted Communications Policy for circulation to Senior Management for review.
Ø Authored, designed and published the fall edition of “Current” newsletter.
Ø Continued with program of news releases and media advisories, posting 19 news items to the website and issuing five releases using the regional news media contact list. Earned media coverage due to releases: Fire Chief for a Day; Esquimalt Alert launch; Esquimalt-Gorge Park public engagement.
Ø Launched Esquimalt Alert notification system on September 27, in conjunction with Emergency Coordinator. This includes creating a comprehensive communications campaign:
• Created Esquimalt Alert logo and designed complimentary promotional collateral including posters, business cards, postcards
• Ran social media promotional ads
• Designed print media ads
• Issued media release announcing the launch
• Gained earned print and radio exposure
• There are currently 1,051 subscribers
Ø Planned and executed communications activities such as creating digital and print collateral (posters, postcards, business cards); sharing information to website, facility displays and social media; creating print and digital ads; writing news releases, hiring photographer, live tweeting from event and coordinating media queries for various Township initiatives and events, including:
• McLoughlin Amenity Funds public engagement campaign
• Hither Green public engagement campaign
• Fire department open house
• “Fire Chief for a Day” event
• United Way internal fundraising campaign
• Designing Density open house
• Budget information session
• Youth Parliament opportunity
• New Year’s Day levée promotion
• ShakeZone public event
• Staff food drive
Ø Supported other seasonal/minor campaigns as needed (e.g., CRD wastewater treatment project, fall storm preparation, etc.).
Ø Supported Celebration of Lights and Ribfest organizers with communications assistance and event promotion.
Ø Submitted article, images and content for December’s “Experience Esquimalt”.
Ø Wrote or edited 7 articles or speeches on behalf of the Mayor and assisted with minor media messages.
Ø Revamped the public hearing notification process along with CS admin staff to ensure a consistent approach to online promotion using both the website and social media.
Analytics (last period in brackets)
Ø Legistar:
• 1,595 (785) total page views (all pages in the Granicus system)
• 953 (442) total visits (total number of times visitors came to the site)
• 806 (383) total unique visitors - individual views of the site
• 38% (52%) desktop, 63% (48%) mobile
Ø Website:
Top three pages:
1. Parks and Recreation
2. Parks and Recreation drop-in schedules
3. Home page
Total page views: 246,322 (244,992 last period)
Ø Twitter:
• Average 1,409 post views per day (impressions) (1,718 last period)
• Total 303 posts; 2.5 avg posts/day (423 last period)
• New followers: 116 (75 last period); total followers: 3,332
Ø Facebook:
• 1,444 followers September 1 to 1,552 on December 31 (+108); (+135 last period)
• 1,397 page likes September 1 to 1,492 on December 31 (+95); (+132 likes last period)
• 195 new timeline posts (240 last period)
Ø Instagram - launched November 15, 2019:
• 201 followers
• 26 posts
Ø LinkedIn:
• 54 followers
• 70 page views
Ø Communications - related online newsletters:
• Events list: 271 contacts
• News list: 248 contacts
• The “Current” newsletter list: 193
Ø Website Updates:
• Enhanced information on the website regarding Council Meetings to include:
o Information regarding Council Meetings, COW Meetings and Public Hearing processes
o How to access agendas, minutes and reports
o How to provide public input at a Council Meeting
o Council Meeting schedules
o Section on Frequently Asked Questions
• Updated links within the website to improve visibility of the Council Meeting information
• Added a direct link from the home page to the Council meeting page
6. Human Resources
Ø Employee Family Assistance Program [EFAP]: The Township ended the use of counselling services with WestCoast Clinical as of December 31, 2019, and assumed the services of Walmsley effective January 1, 2020 as the new provider. Employees were notified via memo, email with notices displayed on staff bulletin boards and the internal intranet.
Ø Flu Clinic: 53 staff participated on November 7 (45 regular staff and 8 auxiliary).
Ø Performance Evaluation Forms for CUPE Staff: The Township’s evaluation template was reviewed, updated and distributed to managers.
Ø Long Term Service Employee Recognition Presentation: There were13 employees acknowledged on December 9th in Council Chambers for either 10 or 15 years of service with the Township. A further 16 staff were recognized with perfect attendance for the 2018 calendar year.
Ø Recruitment (Regular Positions): There were 7 regular positions posted and filled, and 2 in progress as of the end of December. Those completed were:
• Administrative Assistant - Fire
• Assistant Fire Chief
• Manager of Financial Services
• Custodial Maintenance Worker (part time)
• Accounting Coordinator
• Information Technology Support Technician (internal)
• Senior Accountant (internal)
And those in progress included:
• Combined Esquimalt & Oak Bay Fire Department Firefighter competition
• Planning Technician
Ø Labour Relations:
• CUPE: No new grievances were filed. Of the five that were outstanding, all have been resolved.
• IAFF: No new grievances were filed and there were none outstanding.
Ø Staff Training: Marli Rusen, a specialist in workplace communication and team dynamics, provided a 6 hour team-building workshop, offered over two days (December 17 and December 19): “How to Build Better Teams Through our Day-to-Day Actions: Tips and Tools for a Productive Workplace”.
On Tuesday, December 17th there were 25 participants, and on Thursday, December 19 there were 28 participants. There were participants from Fire, Development Services, Corporate Services, Finance, Engineering and Public Works, and Parks and Recreation.