Larry O’Brien

As Mayor of the City of Ottawa, I have the privilege of witnessing first hand the work of citizens who are fiercely committed to making our city a better place in which to live.

As a token of recognition for the immense contributions that these individuals have made, I have started to award Agent of Change Coins to deserving members of our community.

Most recently, on February 1st, City of Ottawa Police Chief Vern White was presented with an Agent of Change Coin for his work in establishing the Ottawa Police Service’s Guns & Gangs Unit, which has played a significant role in reducing crime on our city streets.

On January 20th, Agent of Change medallions were presented to the following members of the Mayor’s Taskforces on

(1) Transit & Transportation:

• Hon. David Collenette, Chair
• Mr. Roger Beauchesne
• Ms. Susan Brownrigg-Smith
• Mr. Terry Findlay
• Mr. Harry Gow
• Mr. Hanif Patni
• Mr. Hume Rogers

(2) E-Government:

• Mr. Rob Collins, Chair
• Dr. Gerald Grant
• Ms. Kelly Kubrick
• Mr. Andrew Moffat
• Mr. Ben Robitaille
• Mr. Ed Shepherdson
• Mr. Robert Thompson
• Mr. Michael Turner

and (3) Governance:

• Dr. David Zussman, Chair
• Mr. Rob Collins
• Mr. Graham Fox
• Ms. Katherine Graham
• Mr. Gerald Grant
• Mr. Bob Plamondon
• Mr. Pierre Richard
• Mr. Nick Tilgner
• Mr. Richard Van Loon
• Ms. Debbie Weinstein

Today I delivered my State of the City Address to Council. Please see below a copy of my speech. 

This morning I would like to provide Council with some thoughts relating to priorities for 2009.

We have just passed the halfway point of our mandate and I think it is important to put our priorities in the perspective of what we as a Council have accomplished in the last two years.

In the hectic blur of dealing with so many different issues, sometimes people forget all that we’ve accomplished together so I thought I would take a few moments to congratulate you on your many successes.

In the past two years we have improved on the following:

Tourism

You approved the funding for an amazing new Ottawa Congress Centre. The new OCC will be an incredible addition to the Capital. This was long overdue but you made it happen.

Environment

You have approved an organics waste diversion green bin program after years of failed starts. Again, this was long overdue. You made it happen.

Transportation

You have improved the mass transit plans for Ottawa. Ottawa now has a magnificent plan that will transform the City for decades to come. This was an emotional and difficult debate, but together we got it done. This new plan has significant public and almost unanimous Council support. Together we made it happen. 

Technology

You approved a multi-year technology enhancement program for the City that will see Paperless Council and many additional improvements by 2010. Again, a few years late but you got it done.

Budget

During the last two years you have improved the budget process in many other ways.

You started in 2007 by developing a fiscal framework through a facilitated planning process in our first summer. This year you introduced a budget challenge function that saved our taxpayers about $10 million from our baseline. We got there because most of you worked with staff to find savings at the start of the budget process.

I personally was not happy with the result of 2009 budget, but I was encouraged that we moved ahead with a more transparent and easier to understand process. We have now set the stage to improve even more in 2009 and 2010.

Infrastructure renewal

You approved a 2 per cent infrastructure levy in 2007 that helped us invest over $300 million in infrastructure in 2008.  This was an important and critical decision.

Education

City Council donated land to help build two new trades schools at Algonquin College and Cité Collégiale. This will ensure we train and keep the future of our workforce here in the Nation’s Capital. Good decision for the long term.

Ottawa River and environment

You also committed to investing  $100 million with the help of the federal and provincial government in to repairing the sewer systems in Ottawa so that we will reduce all accidental spills and 65 per cent of the planned spills into the Ottawa River. This was the right decision for our future.

Transformation

You have also approved the de-layering of and re-organization of City Hall that will result in reducing staff levels, the elimination of management silos, and better operational control of city operations. This is the most significant management change at City Hall since amalgamation. You have given management the okay to restructure and that took courage.

Public safety

You have worked with the Police Services Board to approve a budget in 2007 that resulted in officers back on the beat and a new squad focusing on street crimes. As a result the City feels safer and is safer. Congratulations!

And we did this along with conducting the regular business of Council and all that it entails. This Council has done an amazing amount of high-quality work. People forget all that we’ve accomplished together. Well done to all of you.

We have come a long way, but there is still much important work to be done. 

After public safety and security of our water, electricity, police, fire and paramedics, the next priority for a municipality is the prosperity of its residents. The single most important economic tool we have is our public transit system.  

Transit

Now that the strike is over, we are working hard to get all our buses back on the road and grow our ridership levels. Our next priority is achieving funding for our new public transit plan.
 
Already our staff is working with the provincial and federal governments to reach a common understanding of the technical aspects of our plan. 

Once that is complete we will invite the federal and provincial government to become fair funding partners and become part of our shared vision for the City of Ottawa transit plan.

As a Council we will also explore and debate the various alternate funding models that may accelerate the implementation of the entire plan. City Manager Kent Kirkpatrick has made it a priority of his own.

We as a Council will have important policy debates around these issues as we proceed in the best interests of the taxpayers.

Spending infrastructure stimulus money

The next priority we have will be to maximize opportunities provided by federal and provincial government stimulus funding.

Next week we will be producing a list of shovel-ready infrastructure projects and this Friday I am meeting with industry representatives to ensure we are ready to meet the challenge of spending this money effectively by the spring and in the best interests of the Citizens of Ottawa.

Lansdowne Park

Another priority is the renewal of Lansdowne Park.  

Lansdowne Park is the largest and most significant City owned property. I know all of us agree it has the potential to be the most important meeting place in our City. It should be the jewel of Ottawa.

It is time to bring Council together on this city building project and work out a process to establish the principles for this property development, reach a conclusion and move forward.  

During this debate we will also look at two competing proposals to bring new important sporting assets to Ottawa.

High quality contributors are presenting MLS Soccer and CFL Football to Ottawa and we owe it to our citizens to make a thoughtful choice of which proposal to support and what is in the best interest of the taxpayer.

Accountability and governance

We have committed to reviewing our governance process in 2009…how will Council decide to structure itself to make decisions in the future.

I believe this is an important long-term improvement that we should make in the coming year.

Our citizens have made it clear – they want our governance process to improve. 

My Task Force on Governance is set to release their report in the coming weeks.

City staff will also be circulating a series of discussion papers to help facilitate our deliberations.

These white papers are a direct result of consultations and interviews they have had with each member of Council.

Finance committee

According to staff, Council has made many valuable suggestions on how to improve our decision making process.
My belief is that we also need to include in this debate the potential of altering our committee structure to create a standing committee on finance.

I hope we can reach an agreement on creating this committee to keep an eye on spending year round and give this committee the tools and the human resources to build and recommend a budget to Council instead of leaving the heavy lifting to city staff.

The budget process is one of our most important responsibilities.

The budget is far too important not to have the checks and balances of the budget process going on all year long.

In closing I want to congratulate you again for the work you have accomplished in the past two years. 

It has been rocky at times but that is the nature of transformation.  

We are past the halfway mark in our 1,000 days of transformation and we are doing well.

Thank you and lets start the meeting.

I want to thank my colleagues for passing “on consent” two of my key agenda items last week at City Council. 

The budget challenge function will give Council a clear and easy-to-understand budget document that will reflect a sound business approach to our budget process. This will be a challenge for staff to adapt to new methods, but I strongly believe they are up to the task. These changes we approved will pay huge dividends for the City in years to come.

Also on last week’s success, the approval of a paperless Council and Committee project will also pay off for taxpayers and our environment. Money and trees will be saved. But more than that we will be asking staff to present proposals to engage technology to reduce our staffing needs as we continue to lose people through retirement and attrition. Good work to all.

The above two motions, along with the approval of a 500 staff cut proposal at our previous meeting, will go a long way towards cutting waste and duplication of efforts at City Hall.

Transit Briefing yesterday was good news

Hats off to Alain Mercier and the team at OC Transpo! They increased customer satisfaction last year by 18 % and also decreased the crime rate by 30% —Wow! Good work. We are all looking forward to continued steady improvements as we take on the biggest project in our City’s history—the downtown tunnel. As mentioned in the transit briefing yesterday “People will use mass transit ONLY if it is faster and more convenient than their car”. That was my battle cry during the 2006 election campaign and one of the key reasons we had to prevent the previous LRT plan from being approved (Please click here to view Transit Services Annual Performance Report). The previous LRT project would not have met that criteria and would have been a disaster. Well done to committee and management!

Memo to Council today on technology investments and eGovernment

The Task Force’s approach continues to amaze me as some of the best professionals in North America volunteer their time to help our great City. Next week the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee will receive the Mayor’s Task Force on eGovernment report and I will be bringing four motions to Council, along with the proposal to create paperless Council and Committee meetings. These four motions will provide staff with policy direction to implement the recommendations from the Task Force report and the project proposal will be a demonstration of Council’s desire to save money, decrease our environmental footprint and save approximately 250 trees a year. This is just good business and good governance.

Below is a copy of the Memo I sent to Council today:

Dear Colleagues,

In both our private and public conversations, finding efficiencies and reducing our environmental footprint are priorities we share.

I believe we have an opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to both by moving towards paperless Committee and Council meetings within the next year.

With the help of the City Clerk’s office, I learned that last year the City of Ottawa printed 1,515,686 pages for Committee agendas, 1,167,634 pages for Council reports, 110,250 pages for Council agendas for a total of 2,793,570 pieces of paper. To put things into even more perspective, one tree makes about 8,333 sheets of paper. Hence, 2.79 million sheets divided by 8,333 sheets gives us the equivalent of 334.8 trees that we used at Committee and Council just last year (because the City already uses paper with 30% recycled content, I am told that the actual equivalent in trees was 234.4 – still a large number).

The City spent a total of over $153,000 at 0.055$ per page to print 2,793,570 copies in 2007. The printing cost of $0.055 per page does not include labour costs incurred for labeling agendas and reports.

Moving towards an electronic agenda will streamline Council procedures, reduce costs and help us lower our environmental footprint by reducing the amount of paper trail.

I asked staff to prepare a preliminary estimate on the cost of this investment and the likely return on that investment. With the information I have been provided, I am proposing we invest in technology and reduce our printing on an incremental basis by 1/3 in year one and another 1/3 in year two, which would lead us to a paperless Council by year three.

To achieve this target at Committee and Council, we will have to invest approximately $150,000 to install the technology required to implement electronic agendas as part of the 2009 capital budget. In year one alone, a projected savings of 1/3 would result in a reduction of 931,190 pages based on 2007 numbers with an associated $51,215.45 in savings.

The savings as a result of this investment will recover the cost within three years. The savings over subsequent years will add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars just from Committee and Council. Imagine how many more savings can be achieved if we, as a City, move the bulk of our work away from paper.

This proposal is consistent with my Task Force on eGovernment’s report, which identified that “information technology must be regarded as an investment in critical infrastructure much like roads and sewers. Investment decisions must be made on a multi-year, return-on-investment basis.”

This investment is a strong commitment to greater technological change at the City of Ottawa led by Council to reduce our paper use, cut costs and transform the way Council operates. I am sure you will all agree that we need to recognize Councillor Jacques Legendre for his ongoing efforts to work with electronic documents, preserve our environment and cut costs.

I will be bringing forward this specific recommendation as part of our upcoming discussion on the Mayor’s Taskforce on eGovernment on August 19th at the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee meeting. With the help of Councillors, I will also be proposing the following ideas in support of the recommendations in the taskforce report.

1. Use technology investments to reduce costs.

Whereas new technologies are being developed every day to improve how services are delivered; and

Whereas City Council has already identified that it wants to see technology used to improve efficiency (through initiatives like the Integrated Business Systems program) and improve services to citizens (as with the On-line Development Application System-check); and

Whereas City staff are not directed by Council to seek out new technologies when developing or changing programs and services; and

Whereas the Mayor’s Task Force on eGovernment has recommended that,

“All plans for changes or additions to any city service put forward by branches should include a technology component or alternative. Each branch must be responsible for identifying these investments with the support of Information Technology Services. These plans should be identified as potential investments with identified returns.” Mayor’s Task Force Report pg. 13

Therefore Be It Resolved that staff be directed to assess the business case for strategic investments in technology in their day-to-day operations, and that a technology assessment and business case be included in every Committee and Council report accompanied with investment opportunities, so that Council has as much information as possible regarding the potential for technology investments to improve service to citizens and reduce costs.

2. Promote open access to public data to benefit citizens.

Whereas the City of Ottawa is known as the technology capital of Canada; and

Whereas many citizens of Ottawa are both technologically skilled and involved in the community; and

Whereas the Mayor’s Task Force on eGovernment has recommended that,

“Rather than build a full solution in-house, it may be more practical, cost effective and powerful for the city to provide common infrastructure and allow other groups to build, populate or maintain an application. Given the plethora of talented technologists in Ottawa, it requires little imagination to allow groups, like sports associations, to do much of the work if the city will cover the costs of infrastructure. This combines the city’s economies of scale with the nimble initiative of user communities.” Mayor’s Task Force Report pg. 16;

And Whereas open access to public data could lead to the cost-effective development of community- and user-friendly applications for City information;

Therefore Be It Resolved that the Executive Director of Business Transformation Services be directed to bring forward a report to Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee and City Council that reviews the City’s Data Dissemination Policy and makes recommendations to amend the policy to allow for open access to public data that will benefit the City and citizens.

3. Create a governance structure to enable Council to take leadership on technology investments.

Whereas the Mayor’s Task Force on eGovernment has recommended that responsibility for technology investments must begin at the political level, as Council’s key accountability is to establish policies and mandates for strategic investments in information technology.

The Task Force calls for “the establishment of a committee or subcommittee that will advise council on large-scale investments in information technology and ensure that appropriate consultation with stakeholders occurs. For example, this group could provide guidance to Council on issues such as reducing the need for additional staff by applying technology or mandating the automation of workflow for new businesses dealing with the city.” Mayor’s Task Force Report pg. 19.

Therefore Be It Resolved that an option for the establishment of a committee or subcommittee of Council that reviews the potential for large-scale investments in information technology and makes recommendations to City Council on those investments be included in the Mid-Term Governance Review.

4. Create the position of Chief Technology Advisor to assist Council.

Whereas the Mayor’s Task Force on eGovernment has recommended that,

“The use of information technology offers the potential to transform the City of Ottawa and break the cycle of increasing budgets and reducing service. But this can only be achieved if the City of Ottawa implements a system of governance that recognizes and assures that information technology is applied in a strategic and accountable manner across all city endeavors. This will involve everyone — from City Councillors to individual city employees — and give them an appropriate voice in the process, clear direction, defined measurements and a process to manage change as it occurs.” Mayor’s Task Force Report Pg 18.

Therefore Be It Resolved that the City create the position of Chief Technology Advisor with a fixed 2-year term that reports directly to City Council assigned to the office of the City Manager to support the work of staff and Council regarding strategic technology investments.

This person will act as an advocate for technology, supporting council to identify opportunities for technology investments and also advising the management team on process changes that can be implemented to enhance technological change.

I look forward to working with all of you on these initiatives. Feel free to contact my office for additional information.

Larry