Moving Forward: City Management responds to Auditor General’s reports

Summary: The management of the City of Ottawa agrees with a significant majority of the recommendations contained in the Auditor General’s 2008 Audit Reports.

The management of the City of Ottawa agrees with a significant majority of the recommendations contained in the Auditor General’s 2008 Audit Reports.

“Management agrees with more than 90 per cent of the recommendations and, in many cases, has already acted or begun to take action to make improvements to operations, policies and services,” City Manager Kent Kirkpatrick said, following the release of the reports by the Auditor General today.

“I would like to thank the Auditor General and his staff for their contribution to enhancing the City’s on-going accountability and for identifying specific examples of where the City is performing well in addition to where the City can perform better. The City benefits greatly from the work that goes into these audits and their findings,” said City Manager Kent Kirkpatrick.

The Auditor General’s Report highlighted many positive findings, including the following:

Audit of the Assessment of and Monitoring of Eligibility for Social Housing Subsidies: Analysis showed the City’s process for financial oversight of housing providers to ensure funds are used appropriately is comprehensive and the initial and ongoing assessment of eligibility for rent supplement processes at the Rent Supplement Office are being performed well, are adequate and are completed in a timely manner.

Audit of Year-End Spending: The Auditor General found year-over-year expenditure levels in the fourth quarter were consistent and reasonable and as such reported there was no indication that budgets are being systematically emptied in the final quarter of the year.

Audit of Long Term Care Branch: The Auditor General found that Long Term Care Branch staff providing quality care and services to the residents living in City run homes and that residents are well cared for, as are the facilities in which they reside.

The City has already made changes based on the Auditor General’s recommendations in the following areas:

Paramedic Service: In July 2009, the service launched a permanent Paramedic Response Unit program involving single paramedic responders being placed in selected wards to help improve response times, patient care and service to the community. Ward-based deployment is designed to provide for smaller coverage zones and reduced drive times, which management believes provides for the most efficient use of available resources. Further, close to 2,400 paramedic unit hours was saved at the two campuses of the Ottawa Hospital with the introduction of an off-load nurse pilot project. Once the Niagara pilot project of the North American Standard Advanced Medical Priority Dispatch System (AMPDS) is approved, and the Ontario Government authorizes its use, the Ottawa Central Ambulance Communications Centre has negotiated the ability to implement this tool to improve outcomes and effectiveness with its existing call taking triage system.

Traffic Operations: Many of the Auditor General’s recommendations have already been addressed since a new departmental management structure was put in place following a recent corporate restructuring. New policies and procedures already implemented have reaped immediate rewards with a new procurement process finding $60,000 in savings. As recommended by the Auditor General, the Roads and Traffic Management branch is preparing a five-year plan that aligns with Council’s strategic directions. The five-year plan will be guided by the current principles of the Transportation Master Plan.

Children’s Services Division: The City is exploring allocation of subsidized portable childcare spaces to parents rather than to agencies. Phase 2 of the Child Care Fee Subsidy Stabilization Plan, targeted for completion by the end of the first quarter of 2010, will compare and assess different methods of delivering municipal subsidies (i.e. parent-based versus provider-based) and take into consideration the impact of the recent provincial initiative to move to full-day kindergarten across Ontario by 2015.

Sick Leave Management: Decreasing sick leave use has been established as a fundamental objective of the City’s Attendance Management program and Employee Services has communicated this to all staff. Employee Services is developing a Corporate Wellness Strategy for approval and implementation in the second quarter of 2010 with a scope much broader than just reducing sick leave. Automation improvements are underway to the tracking process that will guarantee that once qualified employees have exhausted their uncertified sick leave benefits, they are not paid for sick leave if a medical certificate has not been submitted and approved.

Grants and Contributions: A complete review of all grant expenditures is currently underway and scheduled to be completed by the end of March 2010. Criteria are being developed to classify expenditures as grants, contributions, and grants-in-kind.

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