June 21, 2018

Public Sector Digest would like to remind you to participate in their Geospatial Maturity Index (GMI) survey. Like the Open Cities Index, the GMI is a national benchmarking initiative for Canada's cities, this time measuring GIS maturity.  They just launched the survey and already have participants from around the world!  The deadline to complete the survey is July 6th. 
 
There is no cost to participate in the program, and every City that fills out the survey gets a free maturity assessment report for their GIS program. 
 
You can find everything about the GMI here, including the link to the survey and a map of the participants to date. 
 

The Capital Regional District in Victoria, BC has received national recognition for its effort to improve the success of Corporate Planning through an Organizational Development Plan from the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA).  The Capital Regional District (CRD) was presented with the 2018 CAMA Professional Development Award, in the Over 100,000 population category, during CAMA’s national conference in Fredericton, NB.   CAMA’s Professional Development Award recognizes a community that has developed a unique and innovative program for their staff and can be replicated in other communities
 
CRD’s corporate planning framework brings the organization’s strategic, corporate, service and financial processes together to set out the direction, path and resources needed to achieve the region’s corporate priorities and service delivery mandate.  In 2017, the CRD CAO and the Human Resources Division created an Organizational Development Plan (ODP) to complement the corporate planning process. 
 
The ODP has two key strategies to increase and ensure organizational resilience –Strengthening our Foundational Core and Engaging Our Employees and demonstrates CRD’s commitment to building internal capacity to ensure the success of the region.  The goals and actions identified will help to develop a culture that:

The City of Kitchener, Ontario has received national recognition for its Love My Hood: Kitchener’s Guide to Great Neighbourhood Strategy from the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA).  Kitchener was presented with the 2018 CAMA Willis Award for Innovation, in the Over 100,000 population category, during CAMA’s national conference in Fredericton, NB. 

This project is a bottom-up approach to neighbourhood development that can be used by municipalities across the country.  Every municipality invests in physical infrastructure. The truly innovative cities also invest in social infrastructure – creating the conditions where residents can connect and work together to influence the future of their neighbourhood. Kitchener’s Love My Hood neighbourhood strategy embraces a simple, yet powerful vision: Residents take the lead and the city supports them along the way.
 
With eighteen action items in three areas of focus – Great Places, Connected People and Working Together – Love My Hood is giving residents the tools, resources and support they need to shape the future of their neighbourhood. When residents come up with cool ideas, they’ll find a municipality that actively shields them from red tape and provides exemplary customer service to make their ideas a reality.
 
Just one year in, residents are embracing the Love My Hood movement by leading the way on new community gardens, painted crosswalks, creative placemaking, fun events and more.
 
Kitchener residents don’t expect someone else to make their neighbourhoods great. They’re ready, willing and able to do it themselves. Of course, the city should be there to help. But in the end, the best neighbourhoods are made by the people who live there.
 
For additional information contact Colleen Collins, Marketing & Communications Associate, 519-741-2200, x 7094, [email protected] or submission summary  Love My Hood: Kitchener’s Guide to Great Neighbourhoods (Video)

Maple Ridge, BC has received national recognition for its Open Government Portal from the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA).  Maple Ridge was presented with the 2018 CAMA Willis Award for Innovation, in the 20,001 to 100,000 population category, during CAMA’s national conference in Fredericton, NB. 
 
Launched in 2017, the portal provides a gateway for the public to access municipal datasets in their raw format; where they have been transformed into meaningful information through tools, applications and infographics that are relevant to citizens and deliver real business value to the organization.  Through the process of developing the portal, city staff partnered with community stakeholders to tailor the experience to their needs.
 
The true innovation of the platform lives in the values on which it was built: increasing community engagement, promoting transparency, and gaining business value from data.
 
From these values, the City of Maple Ridge created a tool that has improved the quality and efficiency of customer service, enabled managers to make real-time evidence-based decisions, and empowered a more informed public to engage in community dialogue.
 
Not only can citizens download the data, but they can also use the interactive portal to delve into it on their own in a way that is quick and intuitive.  Set to disrupt local government data administration, the City of Maple Ridge Open Government Portal is a novel approach for how citizens and local governments can gain value from municipal data.

For additional information contact Fred Armstrong, Manager Corporate Communications, 604-467-7452, [email protected] or submission summary Maple Ridge Open Government Portal (Video)

Surrey, BC has received national recognition for the Surrey Biofuel Facility from the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA).  Surrey was presented with the 2018 CAMA Environment Award in the over 100,000 population category, during CAMA’s national conference in Fredericton, NB.   CAMA’s Environment Award recognizes the commitment of a municipality to environmentally sustainable governance, to protecting the environment and to combating climate change.  Awards are granted to programs, projects or services that have made a significant and positive impact on the environment.  

This biofuel facility is the first fully integrated closed-loop organic waste management system in North America.  The facility will divert more than 115,000 tonnes of residential and commercial organic waste from the landfill, producing approximately 120,000 gigajoules of renewable natural gas (RNG) and approximately 45,000 tonnes of nutrient-rich compost annually.  This energy will be enough to fuel the city’s entire natural gas powered waste collection and service vehicles, as well as provide a renewable fuel source for Surrey’s district energy system.
 
The largest of its kind in Canada, the Biofuel Facility will be instrumental in reducing community-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by approximately 49,000 tonnes per year, which is the equivalent of taking 10,000 cars off the road annually. This GHG reduction will completely eliminate the City of Surrey’s corporate carbon footprint of 17,000 tonnes per year. Further, it will also help the Metro Vancouver region achieve its regional waste diversion goal of 80% by 2020.
 
The facility is part of Surrey’s Rethink Waste program. The first phase involved the introduction of an organic waste diversion program.  The second phase was to develop the Biofuel Facility.  The City-owned facility is a flagship Public-Private Partnership (P3), with the Government of Canada contributing up to 25% (to a maximum of $16.9 million) of the capital cost of the facility and the remaining funded by its private sector partner.  The Biofuel Facility project is now one of P3 Canada's flagship projects.
 
In 2015, the City selected Orgaworld Canada, part of Renewi plc, to design, build, operate and maintain the facility for a 25 year period.  Construction commenced in the spring of 2015 and operations began in 2017.
  
 For additional information contact the City of Surrey:  Oliver Lum, 604-591-4519, [email protected] or submission summary at Surrey Biofuel Facility (Video)

The Town of East Gwillimbury was presented with the 2018 CAMA Professional Development Award, in the 20,001 to 100,000 population category, during CAMA’s national conference in Fredericton, NB.  This national recognition from the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA) was awarded for the town’s innovative new Growth Management and Development Dashboard.
 
The dashboard is instrumental in improving the town’s ability to provide reliable data related to municipal growth.  East Gwillimbury is in the midst of dramatic urban growth and the population is projected to double to 50,000 residents by 2025. Council is committed to ensuring that there is a smooth transition for both existing and new residents.
 
In 2017, the town’s Information Technology department developed an in-house web-based software solution, a Growth Management and Development Dashboard, to assist staff with effectively managing growth and proactively developing processes that ensure consistent communications and data-sharing across the organization.
 
The software solution runs nightly to connect internal databases, provide automatic updates to various internal departments, and create a readily available dashboard for reporting.  This innovative project ensures that staff are able to access accurate, near real-time information to drive work flows; resulting in greater data confidence, and ultimately resulting in better decision making and long-term planning with regards to municipal growth.
 
“As we experience growth, our staff continue to look for innovative new ways to ensure that we meet the needs of our residents,” said Town of East Gwillimbury Mayor Virginia Hackson. “This project has pulled together critical functions to ensure that our new residents feel at home right away, and the services they need are immediately available.”

For additional information contact Laura Hanna, 905-478-4283 ext. 3854, [email protected] or submission summary at  Growth Management and Development Dashboard (Video)

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