That title is a reference to my previous post about Benjamin Franklin’s observations on the tendency of “those who govern” to be reactive.
With that in mind I wanted to highlight an initiative of the Human Resources Committee, which I chair, that was not “forc’d by the occasion”, as Ben put it, but rather quite forward looking. Last year the HR committee decided to develop a strategic plan for the management of the City’s permanent employees. After a lot of hard work, the result is the City’s new Corporate HR Plan. The document is a road map for the City to be a leader in HR management. Attracting and retaining qualified employees is becoming very difficult in all employment sectors and we wanted to get a jump on the competition and start developing a more professional, competency-based work environment and a corporate culture that values employees. The plan deals with retirement and succession planning, recruitment, training, performance evaluations, communications and a raft of other issues. Ultimately, the goal is better service for the residents of Charlottetown.
This will be an ongoing process. Management is currently developing a work plan aligned with the HR plan’s recommendations, and some immediate actions are already underway. This whole process has the support of Council, senior staff and management and employees were engaged in the process all along. This is not a report that will sit on a shelf gathering dust. Although HR is a pretty mundane topic for most people, and not generally newsworthy, I think this was an important step for the City.
A resident in my ward has been dealing with some hard partying young tenants next door. They contacted me requesting that police levy nuisance abatement fees as laid out in section 5 (Repeat Nuisance Service Calls) of the Nuisance Bylaw. The Chief informs me that Bylaw Enforcement Officer has set the wheels in motion.
I read Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography a few months back, mostly because it was available for free as an ebook on my iPod. As one of “those who govern”, I found this little bit of wisdom interesting:
Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted from previous wisdom, but forc’d by the occasion.
It sounds like a more sophisticated way of stating what is now an old corporate-speak cliché: be proactive, not reactive.
Received an email from a resident requesting that the traffic meridian at a particular intersection (just outside my ward, by the way) be beautified with flowers and/or shrubs, trees, etc.
Complaints about traffic violations and a perceived lack of police enforcement have always been high on the list of things residents bring to my attention. Tonight at our monthly public meeting of council, someone suggested we should be publishing on the city’s website the monthly report of statistics of police activity that all councillors receive. I expressed my support for this idea, and I will get the ball rolling here by posting one particular stat that stood out this month.
Highway Traffic Act tickets issued (year to date):
2007: a few short of 1400
2008: less than 700
Why the huge drop? Are there fewer speeders, red light runners, and stop sign-optional drivers? Or is enforcement simply down by half?
UPDATE: Answers here.
This Guardian editorial is at least the second news report I’ve seen that states incorrectly that the Idle Wheels property “has been rezoned”. It has not been rezoned. IRAC has ordered the City to rezone the property, but in its order, IRAC states, “there is insufficient evidence and argument at the present time to persuade the Commission that an automatic rezoning should follow in these circumstances.” In other words, it’s not rezoned until council rezones it.
I agree that residents should have been made aware of the appeal, but unfortunately most of council — including the councillor who represents the area — was not even aware of the appeal until the decision was reported in the media. Consequently, we could not notify residents of something we ourselves did not know. This also caused us to miss the window to appeal the decision, but we are pursuing other avenues because council feels it is not entirely appropriate for an appointed commission to be ordering elected officials to make planning decisions, particularly when the order clearly states “that the City did follow all the procedures required in its Bylaw.“
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