Larry O’Brien

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.

My Priorities for Fall 2008: Transit, Taxes, Changing the way we make decisions and Trash

I’ve recently updated the priorities section of my website to reflect the busy legislative agenda set for this Fall.

I am looking forward to working with Council to deliver positive results for the citizens of Ottawa. This section outlines objectives we will have in each of these areas for the 2008 Fall legislative session.

Public Transit

This term of Council we have already had the opportunity to hit the reset button on the proposed Light Rail Transit (LRT) project and as a result Council has approved a new comprehensive transit plan that will solve the congestion problem from the downtown core out.

With a solid vote of 19-4, Council approved this new plan that will provide riders from the east, west and south affordable and reliable public transit that will benefit residents and visitors for decades to come.

We have taken that important first step by approving the network configuration and now in the weeks and months ahead we will begin work on deciding which parts of the system should be built first and I cannot stress enough how important it is for you as taxpayers, riders and citizens to provide your feedback.

Ultimately we need a faster more reliable transit network built from the core out. I’ve always said that any world class transit system starts with a ride down an escalator. That’s why I support the construction of a downtown tunnel to eliminate the bottleneck downtown. We have a second and last chance to get this major investment right and we need your participation to make this vision a reality.

It is never too late to do the right thing!

Keeping taxes under control is still job one!

This year we will actually see a new budget format that the average individual will be able to understand!

Gone are the days of an arcane budgeting system that only a few could claim they understood and in my experience if it is that complicated it is simply wrong minded and needs a fix. With the new format we will actually be able to see where the money is going and where spending is increasing so we can ask why? This is a start to making some real sense out of the budget process.

Council will also give rise to a Budget Challenge Group formed by a few Councilors and supported by financial professionals to evaluate every line item, identify every opportunity to save money and challenge city staff’s estimated budget numbers. While we are doing all of this for the 2009 budget I believe that the budget process should be a year round affair. That’s why I will support the formation of a Finance and Audit Committee during the governance review this Fall to keep our city’s finances in check throughout the year rather than our current rushed budgeting process.

Rising oil prices and changing economic times in Ontario are all working against us this year as we start out on the budget process in the Fall. But we will also have some good opportunities for savings.

For example the City Manager is working on his own plan for $100 M in savings and Council has given direction to develop a plan to trim the size of our organization to cut an additional 500 jobs from this years baseline employment levels and report back to Council. Council has also directed City Staff to identify up to 57M$ in additional revenue options to lower this year’s tax rate.

At the same time the recently completed report by the Mayor’s taskforce on E-Government will also provide significant opportunities for investment in technology to reduce staff and increase efficiency.

Keeping our spending under control, challenging staff’s estimates, working with staff on identifying cuts and making well thought through investments will be the theme of this years budget process.

Transformation - Changing the way we make decisions

At the beginning of this term of Council we agreed to review our decision making process at the mid-term mark that is coming up in the Fall. That means everything from committee process, Council meetings, delegated authority to Councillors, arms-length Commissions and so forth.
To put it in easier terms: How do we avoid 3 hour debates on small planning matters at a city-wide Council meeting so that the focus stays on major issues such as the budget and transit.

The Deputy City Clerk and the City Solicitor are preparing a report to help us in that debate. As well I have commissioned a Task Force on Governance to report back in mid-September. The staff report along with the taskforce report will provide a framework for the debate.

I believe this will be one of the most important debates we have during this term of Council. The objective is to set the stage for a better and faster decision making process. With the help of a first class independent taskforce coupled with pragmatic staff recommendations will give Council all the tools it needs to improve our municipal Government. The choice of course will be up to this Council if it wants to take advantage of the opportunities that will be before us.

Trash—a new age is coming!

The era of this city throwing our trash in to a hole and hoping the problem will go away is changing. Between capturing emissions from our existing dumps, diverting organics back to soil and brand new technology that will convert waste to energy, Ottawa is on track to becoming a world leader on managing our trash.

We have already made some good progress on waste management over the last 18 months. Last Fall Council approved the Source Separated Organics program that has the potential to exceed Council’s target of 60% diversion from landfills.

The City is also monitoring the pilot project of Plasco Energy Group.

Over the last few months the plasma gasification facility at the City’s Trail Road Landfill has been accepting some municipal household waste. If this process proves successful the Plasco facility will produce enough electricity per ton of waste to power the average household for weeks at a time.

We are also pleased to see our other landfill partners looking at introducing new technologies to capture gases like methane to produce electricity from existing landfills which will also reduce the environmental impact on the residents living close to the operating landfills.

This new technology will require us to be patient as the test bed at Trail road continues to evolve from concept to operational reality.

Looking forward to working with Council.

These are exciting times with an ambitious agenda that will include issues we can’t predict and several new and exciting projects that individual Councillors are working on.

I encourage all members of Council to bring forward ideas particularly in these four areas and I look forward to working with all of them and focus in setting the stage over the summer for a productive Fall.

As many of you know, I am marrying my angel Colleen this weekend.

During the busy and exciting time ahead I won’t have much time to blog but I did want to take this opportunity to reflect on the last few months – we have been busy and we have made some real progress for the City of Ottawa!

This past week was very satisfying for those at City Hall who are committed to improving our local government. The secrecy and back room deals of the past, which hid the performance of the previous administration, are now a thing of the past. But we still have some significant and perhaps even healthy conflict at City Hall. Never before has the contrast between the tax and spend Councillors versus the more prudent and ‘willing to cut’ Councillors been so evident. But this difference of opinions can be illuminating and important as we move forward and from time to time I have to say vive la difference.

Wednesday was a great example of where we managed to get a lot of work done despite the political differences between us. Yesterday we approved a number of very important recommendations and motions during our Council meeting. This is a good indication that Council is getting good work done. And we are doing this despite the constant obstreperous action by ideologically opposed Councillors. We have done much but there is still a lot of work to be done to give the citizens in Ottawa a government they deserve. My enthusiasm for change is stronger than ever now that we have moved forward on transit and finally have some opportunities to make real changes in finance and governance.

Budget Directions and Finance

On a vote of 15-6 Councillors supported my motion directing City staff to cap the total number of employees and deliver options to reduce the organization staff by 500. Council also directed staff to come back with options ranging from $19 million to $57 million to reduce the 2009 tax rate.

Yesterday Councillors realized we must consider staff cuts and service cuts to bring our financial house in order. Cutting staff is both prudent and necessary to deliver the most cost-effective services to the taxpayers of Ottawa. The six Councillors who voted against this wise motion were Councillors Holmes, Hume, Doucet, Feltmate, Cullen, Legendre.

The same motion cleared the way for Council to finally get away from a budget process that hides mistakes in a blizzard of data. At last citizens will finally have some way of easily understanding the status of the City’s finances. This is finally good news for those of you in the City of Ottawa who have given up trying to figure out our finances in a business-like fashion. That debate of business vs. government is always a good one.

I have learned that municipal government is not a business. The city government is rather an important extension of our family room and gives us the life style we desire. But there should be some similarities. What city government should have in common with our homes and our business is a hate of waste and inefficiency. Those of us on Council that hate waste want to make changes that will enable us to offer better value to our citizens and recover from the first wasted years of amalgamation. And now it’s time to tackle the big issues.

Governance

My business experience has taught me that you can judge the potential for the long-term success of any organization based on the quality of their decision-making. This is where the difference between our Councilors will start to become even more apparent. There are some that hate change and are quite happy not making decisions in a clear and effective manner. They like big government and they have no interest in making it smaller and better. I think these Councillors are quite wrong and it will be my job to convince them this will be good for the citizens of Ottawa.

About two weeks ago I announced my third Mayor’s Task Force focusing on City management and governance (click here for more information on this Task Force). They are an outstanding group of people who will provide Council and I with an independent set of recommendations to improve Ottawa.

Over the past two weeks the Task Force on Governance has been busy meeting with Councillors. The members will continue to meet weekly as a group to examine the current governance model at the City of Ottawa and develop recommendations to fuel the debate this fall.

This is my third Task Force ( Mayor’s Task Force on Transportation Report and Mayor’s Task Force on eGovernment Report) and I can tell you that Ottawa is fortunate to have some of the brightest minds in the country volunteering their services to improve our City. Transit, IT and now governance will be better as a result of the hard work and insight these task force members deliver.

Transit

Another important debate taking place this fall will be the implementation of the City’s new transit network.

Council’s vote of 19-4 in favour of this new plan will see our City literally transformed by improving congestion from the core-out with the use of a downtown tunnel. My Council colleagues and I worked hard with City staff to develop a vision that encompasses all of Ottawa. The vision is now clear and we now need to aim our energies at the execution of our vision.

One of the most important recommendations from the Mayor’s Task Force on Transportation was the formation of an independent authority to provide professional and skilled leadership to our hard working transit organization.

Transit Commission

It’s now time to get transit governance right. Fortunately we are going to have the chance this fall to debate the pros and cons of a commission because by a vote of 18-0 with 2 dissents Council directed staff to review transit commission or authority options for the City. This is very good news for transit riders in Ottawa. The management and leadership of transit over the past ten years has been very troubling with both client satisfaction and financial performance declining.

The mission of an independent transit commission would be to create the most cost effective and user friendly transit system in North America. Now that we have a great technical framework for transit, it is time to bring in  good leadership to move this forward quickly and effectively. I believe a commission is important for the City of Ottawa.

Plasco Conditional Contract

I have always said “Cities have too much waste and not enough energy.” This observation could very well change for every city in the world if the Plasco technology meets my expectations.

Yesterday Council unanimously supported a letter of intent to enter into an agreement with Plasco Energy Group to take 400 tones of waste a day and transform it to energy. This project has real potential and will move forward if the technology is proven and approved by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.

If Plasco works it will change the world of waste management forever. Over the past 19 months Council has changed the debate on waste and I am pleased we are taking the necessary steps to divert garbage from our landfills and preserve our environment for the future. Not only that I believe the clean energy and environmental industries will be the next high-tech boom in Ottawa and Plasco could be our next Mitel.

I am proud of being able to help Councillors like Shad Qadri, Marianne Wilkinson, Eli El-Chantiry and Peggy Feltmate as they lead the battle against the landfill sites in Ottawa.

Needle Clean –Up

Yesterday Council also approved a new clean needle program. We will be providing $100,000 in funding for picking up discarded needles and we also approved $50,000 to identify a safer model of needle handouts.

I am pleased to see my colleagues recognize the value of the report by our newly appointed Medical Officer of Health Dr. Isra Levy. This report is a result of teamwork and a common vision of improving safety for the citizens of Ottawa.

I am delighted Dr. Levy has taken on the role of MOH. I have had many fascinating conversations with him and find him easy to work with. Congratulations Dr. Levy and I look forward to working with you in this new capacity.

Major Projects Approved by Council

Over the past few months their have been some milestone projects that have been delayed for political and other inappropriate reasons. The highest profile project is the Congress Centre:
Council has shown strong support for the redevelopment of the Ottawa Congress Centre with a $40 Million contribution to the project. With the renewed Centre we will be able to welcome the world to Ottawa, increase tourism and promote economic development.
Another exciting element to this project is the Centre’s recent announcement of their efforts to develop an environmentally friendly and green meeting facility.
The new Congress Centre will set a high standard for new convention facilities in Canada and across the world!

Algonquin College:

This week Premier Dalton McGuinty announced the Province’s contribution of $35 million to support the building of a new trades centre at Algonquin College.

Ottawa’s contribution to this project was the donation of a parcel of land near OC Transpo’s Baseline station and $5 million in funding for a pedestrian footbridge across Woodroffe Avenue. We will be linking the Baseline Station in with our new transit network and the City is proud to play a key role in moving this exciting project forward.

Lansdowne Park:

Over the past several months we have had an unprecedented amount of public consultation over the future of Lansdowne Park and have heard many different opinions.

I would like to see football here but also want to take a long-term view of the use of these 40 acres of park. Is there a better place for the stadium? Our issue now is to find a solution that meets the needs of the residents living close by and residents citywide for a world-class area we can all be proud of and enjoy.

As you can see, City Hall has been busy working for you and I would like to congratulate my colleagues for making such great progress despite the clear differences of philosophy between many Council members. This healthy tension is good and we are now dealing with opposing views in a much more transparent manner and staying away from those back room deals and secrecy. To all of you who have helped make this past three months so productive a warm and heart felt thank you.

And now I can relax and get ready for a wonderful day when I marry my angel.

Some mornings I am sent articles from the Ottawa Citizen, particularly when they are insightful or biased. Today’s City editorial was titled “1000 days of spin” and this unfortunately fell into the latter category. 

It seems they are suggesting everything that is wrong in this City is a result of my efforts to move away from the old way of doing things. It appears the Citizen prefers the “same old same old” approach to the structure of our City government. 

In fact it was this “same old” governance that brought us close to the edge of disaster with a flawed LRT plan and the same approach that brought us the Ottawa River sewage spill in 2006 and “out of control” panhandling and downtown crime rates. It was this “same old” approach of secrecy and backroom deals that residents were tired of and elected me to fix.

The Ottawa Citizen also suggests the Taskforce on Governance is a public relations exercise – I fully disagree. The end goal is to deliver a more reliable, efficient and accountable City government to our residents working to enhance the effectiveness of the decision-making process at City Hall to allow the Mayor and Council to take a more strategic approach to governing. 
 
This Taskforce (for more information view press release here) has some of the brightest minds in Canada volunteering to review the status of our governance system and I look forward to hearing the results of their review in August. The previous Taskforces have been very independent and this one will be no different. City staff will be conducting their own review and making recommendations to Council this fall and then we will have an open and transparent debate on the issues. I am in awe of how much talent is available to work on important City projects.

I am confident this new approach will work because the best ideas will float to the surface and be embraced by all.  It happened with mass transit when a timely change in direction that narrowly avoided a disaster for Ottawa Transit users.  When given the better alternative Council jumped on board. Look at the 19-4 vote to approve transit –who would have thought? 

It is clear to many Citizens that things are already changing and for the better. But with this change will come resistance and we saw signs of that today with this morning’s editorial.