St. Albert moves forward on operational review

The City of St. Albert is one step closer to conducting a $1 million fiscal and operational review ahead of budget discussions in the fall. 

On Monday evening, St. Albert council approved the terms of reference for the reveiw, with a full scope and list of deliverables prior to issuing a request for proposals (RFP) for a third-party to conduct the review.

The terms of reference outline the structure and mandate of the operational review, an undertaking long overdue for the city.

On June 1, council passed a motion to allocate up to $1 million to the review using the $160,000 remaining in the internal audit steering committee's budget and $100,000 from the budget for internal service reviews. The $700,000 remaining would come out of the city's stabilization reserve fund. 

The price tag isn't set in stone if a proponent comes in with a lower bid, said chief administrative officer Kevin Scoble. 

The review will look at city spending as the municipality grapples with economic challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"t's timely because COVID-19 is putting pressure on us to economize and find new ways of doing business. I hate the term 'new normal', but I do believe that the world has changed," said Coun. Wes Brodhead. Other municipalities, including the City of Lethbridge, have undergone operational reviews within the last year.

"We're not the only one as a municipality to do a service review, and I believe the consultant community is well primed to do this kind of work."

The two-part review will recommend the addition, modification or discontinuation of some services, programs and service levels, identify long-term sustainable expense management solutions to ongoing budget challenges, and recommend measures to provide quality affordable municipal programs and services with responsible taxation. 

Phase one will be completed by Oct. 31, before council considers the 2021 city budget. Phase two will be completed by June 30, 2021, for the 2022 budget. 

The time crunch remains a concern, Coun. Sheena Hughes noted. She estimated the consultant would realistically have just 51 days to do a full review of the first seven city departments, including Servus Place. 

"You can have it done fast, cheap or right," Hughes said. "I'm not really sure how we can confidently say that beginning Aug. 10, there's going to be a report in any capacity that would be of value by Sept. 30."  

Scoble said he's seen other municipalities conduct operational reviews within 60 days, noting it will require a "focused effort." 

When it comes to finding new revenue opportunities, Hughes said she wanted reassurance that discussions around a municipal utility corporation (MUC) would not be brought back up. In December, council voted against having administration take the next step toward an MUC.

While not explicitly encouraging or prohibiting MUCs to be part of the proposals, Scoble said MUCs have a different definition than not-for-profits, which are included in the document.

Hughes then asked what the document meant by 'insourcing' alternative service delivery, asset ownership and utilization opportunities.

"An example of insourcing would be moving away from a contract service provider we had currently and moving it in-house," Scoble said.

Coun. Ken MacKay said he would want to see opportunities for public engagement and feedback built into the review process. Stakeholders, business and the community were involved in Lethbridge's review process, he said. Doing that here, under a time crunch, would be challenging. 

Scoble said there would be minimal engagement during the review, but opportunities would come before the recommendations are implemented. Doing so during the process would add on another year to the project, he estimated. 

City council approved the terms of reference unanimously. Staff will now process an RFP to find a third-party consultant.