Report to/Rapport au :
Finance and Economic Development Committee
Comité des finances et du développement économique
28 March 2011 / le 28 mars 2011
Submitted
by/Soumis par: Diane Blais,
Committee Coordinator / coordonnatrice du Comité
Contact Person/Personne ressource: As above/tel qu’indiqué
(613) 580-2424 ext/poste 28091 – Diane.Blais@ottawa.ca
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Ref N°: ACS2011-CMR-FED-0003 |
REPORT RECOMMENDATION
That the Finance and Economic Development Committee receive this report for information.
RECOMMANDATION DU RAPPORT
Que le Comité des finances et du développement économique prenne connaissance de ce rapport.
BACKGROUND/ DISCUSSION
The attached memorandum from the City Clerk and Solicitor was originally listed as Information Previously Distributed (IPD) on the Finance and Economic Development Committee agenda of 1 March 2011. At the meeting, it was requested that this item be placed on the 5 April 2011 Committee agenda as an item for discussion.
The original IPD (ACS2011-CMR-CCB-0009-IPD) is listed as Document 1.
CONSULTATION
This item will be advertised in the local daily newspapers as part of the Public Meeting Advertisement on the Friday preceding the Finance and Economic Development Committee meeting.
LEGAL/RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS
As this is an information report, no Legal or Risk Management Implications have been identified.
RURAL IMPLICATIONS
N/A
COMMENTS FROM THE WARD COUNCILLOR
Not applicable, as this is a City-wide issue.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Financial implications are as noted in the attached IPD Memo.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Document 1 - IPD Memo dated 22 February 2011 from the City Clerk and Solicitor (ACS2011-CMR-CCB-0009-IPD)
DOCUMENT 1
M E M O / N O T E D E S E R V I C E
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To / Destinataire |
Mayor and Members of the Finance and Economic Development Committee / Présidente et membres du Comité des finances et du développement économique |
File / N° de fichier: ACS2011-CMR-CCB-0009-IPD |
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From / Expéditeur |
M. Rick O'Connor, CMO City Clerk and Solicitor / Greffier et Chef du contentieux |
Contact / Personne-ressource : Leslie Donnelly, Deputy City Clerk, Greffière adjointe 580-2424 Ext. 28857 Leslie.Donnelly@ottawa.ca |
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Subject / Objet |
Audiocasting and Action Minutes for Standing Committees – Cost-Benefit Analysis / Diffusion en format audio et des procès-verbaux de suivi pour les comités permanents - analyse coûts-avantages
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Date: 22 February 2011 / le 22 février 2011 |
BACKGROUND
At its meeting of 8 December 2010, during consideration of the 2010-2014 Council Governance Review report, City Council approved Motion No. 1/12 directing that the City Clerk and Solicitor report back to the Finance and Economic Development Committee in January 2011 with a cost/benefit analysis of moving from synopsis minutes to action minutes for all Standing Committees and extending audiocasting to all Standing Committees as well as archiving the audiocasts.
This memorandum provides a high-level analysis of the costs and benefits of moving from synopsis minutes to action minutes for Standing Committees, and extending live and archived audiocasts for all Standing Committees.
The Costs of Expanding the Audiocasting Pilot to All Standing Committees
In January 2009, a pilot project was put in place to audiocast all Planning and Environment Committee meetings live on ottawa.ca. In addition, the audiocasts are generally made available following the meeting for a period of two weeks, after which point they are replaced by the subsequent meeting.
Allowing an audiocast of the Planning and Environment Committee (now the Planning Committee) to the general public through the city’s public web site has increased the transparency of the Committee’s work, especially as it relates to the Planning Act. The ability to monitor the work of the Committee at a location other than the committee room is a significant service improvement to the accountability of the Committee.
The response from public, staff and elected officials has generally been positive, with any complaints focused on incidents when there have technical difficulties getting the audiocast running or archived in a timely manner.
Interest has been expressed in expanding audiocasting to all Standing Committees and the Transit Commission and making it a permanent program. It is anticipated that the additional cost of providing live audiocasting of Committee meetings, above and beyond the existing Planning Committee pilot program, would be minimal (approximately $6000 per year in IT staff time.)
However, there would be additional costs to have the audiocasts fully archived online, as is currently done with Council web casts. Additional costs for archiving would be approximately an additional $19,900 per year in IT staff costs and data storage space.
It is estimated that the cost of providing live broadcast and full archiving of Standing Committee and Transit Commission audiocasts would be approximately $25,900 above what is currently being spent on the pilot.
In addition to realizing the benefits listed above, providing for fully archived audiocasts of Standing Committees and the Transit Commission has the benefit of allowing members of the public (along with elected officials and staff) to go back and listen to all or part of a past meeting discussion, without waiting for the final minutes to be approved at the next meeting, which can be up to a month following the Committee meeting.
Upgrades to Champlain Room Audio Equipment
The audio system in the Champlain Room is approaching the end of its lifecycle. As a result, there have been technical problems that have impacted the quality and reliability of the Planning Committee Audiocasts. At this time, four Standing Should Council decide to expand the audiocasting pilot to all Standing Committees, Council may wish to proceed with replacing the audiocasting equipment in the Champlain Room to resolve the current issues with quality and reliability.
The estimated cost for replacing the necessary components of the Champlain Room audio system is $65,500. If Council wished to upgrade the system to have the same name–handling capabilities as the Council Chambers, this would cost an additional $4000, for a total cost of approximately $69,500.
Potential Cost Savings and Other Benefits of Moving Away from Standing Committee Synopsis Minutes to a Combination of Audiocasting and Action Minutes
If Council moves to provide fully archived audiocasts for all Standing Committees, Council may wish to consider reducing the amount of detail provided in Standing Committee minutes.
Under the current practice, the City Clerk’s Office provides summarized, “synopsis” minutes for all Standing Committee meetings, and “action” minutes for Council meetings. Synopsis minutes provide a high level of detail regarding the presentations and debate that occur at Committee, over and above the motions and decisions recorded in action minutes.
Synopsis minutes have been recognized as a valuable resource to elected officials, staff and the public to help provide context and justification for the recommendations that emanate from Standing Committee. These more detailed minutes do, however, require much more time to prepare and there is no legal requirement to produce such detailed minutes of Standing Committee or Council meetings.
While changing the format for Standing Committee minutes has been considered by Council before during previous budget periods, it has never been implemented. However, in the context of achieving savings that would enable the City to provide archived audiocasts without an increased budget pressure, staff has conducted a review of the savings that might be achieved by moving from synopsis to action minutes.
Staff Time Savings
The length of time it takes to complete Standing Committee minutes can vary considerably from Committee to Committee and depends largely on the importance of the issue, the number of delegations and the length of the debate. It is projected, however, that a move to action minutes would save a significant amount of staff time.
Based on 2010 time reporting by Legislative Services staff, the move to action minutes from synopsis minutes could save over 900 hours of staff time per year, spread over a variety of staff. Much of this savings would likely be Committee Assistants’ transcription of tape recordings, which is time consuming but frequently necessary due to the level of detail required in the synopsis minutes. Based on 2010 rates of pay, it is anticipated that this change would represent approximately $41,500 worth of staff time and approximately 2/3 of an FTE.
Printing Cost Savings
In addition to the savings in staff time, it is anticipated that moving to Action Minutes would also reduce printing costs as a result of a reduction in the size of Council Reports, which include excerpts of the synopsis minutes.
Based on 2010 figures, a change to action minutes could realize an approximate print cost savings of $9,700, which represents the cost of the pages of “synopsis” that would not have to be printed.
A switch from synopsis minutes to action minutes for all Standing Committees would result in an estimated savings of $ 9,700 in printing costs and free up $ 41,500 in staff time.
In addition to the potential cost savings, the other benefit from moving to action minutes is timeliness. As action minutes can be more quickly produced than synopsis minutes, the Committee Coordinator will (in most instances) be able to send the draft minutes out to Members of Council more quickly after the meeting. This will allow Members to review them well in advance of the Council meeting, and go back and reference the archived audiocasts or other meeting documentation if required.
Planning Matters
There has been some concern expressed with providing action-only minutes for Planning Act matters considered by the Planning Committee and the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, as the minutes for these items are used as evidence before the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) in the event of an appeal.
Other Ontario municipalities have taken various approaches to minutes for planning items. Detail ranges from merely listing all delegations who spoke at the meeting, to a detailed summary of all questions and comments, as Ottawa does currently.
If Council wishes to move from synopsis minutes to action minutes, it is recommended that a slightly different approach be taken for Planning Items (Zoning Bylaw Amendments, Official Plan Amendments, Site Plan applications etc.) that could be subject to an OMB appeal. For those items, delegations making oral submissions at the meeting would be encouraged to submit written copies of their comments, which would form part of the public record and be available as evidence before the OMB. For those unable to do so, a brief listing of their position and points raised would be listed in the minutes. There would no longer be detailed synopsis of all Committee questions, answers and debate.
The Clerk’s department could also retain a copy of the audio recording pending the resolution of all appeals and would transcribe those matters required by Legal Services for OMB appeals.
Accessibility
Following the approval of Motion 1/12, one resident has expressed concern regarding the elimination of synopsis minutes. The resident, who has a hearing impairment, relies upon synopsis minutes to understand the proceedings of Standing Committee meetings. It was noted that the resident’s hearing impairment prevents the resident from accessing audiocast recordings.
Staff would note that the proposal to move to action minutes would continue to provide residents a written record of all decisions taken by Standing Committees. Further, staff would provide synopsis minutes, upon request, in keeping with the City’s Multiple Formats Policy.
Enhancement to Bilingual Service
Currently, Committee meetings are audiocast in the language being used in the meeting room. No simultaneous interpretation is provided. Committee synopsis minutes are not translated, as it was determined to be prohibitively costly, and difficult to translate in a timely manner. The Committee Disposition, which provides a record of all decisions, is already translated. The Council action minutes are also translated.
If Council were to move to action minutes for Standing Committees, there is an opportunity to enhance bilingual services by translating Standing Committee minutes. These could be translated relatively easily and inexpensively because most of what would be contained in the action minutes is already translated as part of the Disposition. Additional translation costs would vary based on how many motions are considered and lost at the Committee (this is the incremental cost above the service already provided in translating the disposition.).
Based on 2010 figures, it is estimated that it will cost between $300 and $800 per year for any additional translation required for Standing Committee action minutes.
If Council were to pursue all the options above, implement fully archived audiocasting, move from synopsis minutes to action minutes for all Standing Committees, and translate Standing Committee Action Minutes, there is a potential increase to operating costs of $17,000 per year and an offsetting decrease of $ 41,500 in staff time.
M. Rick. O’Connor, CMO
City Clerk and Solicitor