There were more than 130 pages of background and recommendations in the Russell Farmer and Associates review of Lac La Biche County operations. The report, which cost taxpayers approximately $80,000 presented several recommendations and highlighted some challenges faced by council, staff and management of the municipality.
The report gave accolades and poor grades to many areas of municipal governance. In some instances, the report criticized and endorsed the same issues, personnel or departments.
Council will be discussing the review's findings at a special meeting tonight.
Low public input
Here is a brief spotlight on the report.
The report's authors identify that just 0.7 per cent of the population of Lac La BIche County responded to online questionnaires that were used to record public perception of the municipal operations — Page 7
"Lac La Biche County has successfully implemented a significant number of projects and initiatives whcih reflect well on the performance of council, the CAO, his management team and staff." — Page 8
"A fundamental governance principal for all municipalities is that council should never engage in public criticism of administration." — Page 11 ( In reference to Dec. 20/10 coverage in LLB Post of council meeting where councillors Boradbent, Siebold and Nowak openly criticized administration during discussions over financial accounting concerns. This is where the "heads will roll," comment was uttered by councillor John Nowak
"Our review identified that council appears to have entered this organizational review from a position of bias." — Page 13
"It appears in many cases that family relationships, friendships and past work experiences played a role in initiating the organizational review." — Page 13
"Many of the issues … that councillors identified during interviews … were based … on second hand information." — Page 13
"It is very evident that the finance department is the key area of concern." — Page 15
"At one point it appears that county bill payments were in excess of six months delinquent." — Page 19
The county's financial department is behind schedule on completion of the 2011 audited financial statements. They were to be ready in April, but will probably not be ready until July. — Page 19
Staffing in departments
There are vacancies in key positions, including the Director of Corporate Services, the Finance Manager and a senior accountant — Page 19
Sixty five percent of people interviewed at least "somewhat disagreed' that the protective services department was doing a satisfactory job — Page 28
Forms for registering an appeal or clear policy guidelines regarding tickets issued by Protective Services personnel are all absent — Page 28
"Solid waste management is one of the critical operational areas within Lac La Biche County that requires significant level of attention." — Page 30
Some commercial users have keys to the landfills — P{age 30
"It appears that some commercial operators are being allowed to dump without paying the required tipping fees." — Page 30.
A recommendation is made to change the locks at the local landfills.
"Staff indicated that communications between … senior management and staff is almost non-existent." — Page 33
Some staff say the CAO doesn't talk to them or know who they are and they feel intimidated if they try to talk to the CAO — Page 37
"The overall [corporate] culture within the county is weak."
Some interviewees described the work environment within the county as "poisonous."
"Several interviewees indicated that they were at the end of their rope and were waiting of the results of the organizational review to determine if they were going to continue to work for the county."
There has been a lack of regular performance reviews of senior management and staff
"The perception is that the county provides very poor customer service." — Page 53
"The CAO has been in place for approximately 10 years and there is nobody in the organization capable of assuming his position." — Page 55
A recommendation that an assistant CAO should be hired is made. — Page 61
Results of a question to staff about their pay and benefits shows that 72 percent like their pay. — Page 65
The current CAO's "corporate culture and management practices" are concerning — Page 66.
The current CAO is the recipient of the 2009 RW Hay Award of excellence for rural administrators. — Page 66
The CAO has "lost the confidence of many of his councillors." — Page 66
CAO is doing his job
"No issues were raised during this review, that in our opinion would constitute legal cause for dismissal (of the CAO). .... Ultimately, the question rests with council: Do they have confidence in the CAO?"
The recommendation is that if the answer is that the council has confidence, then they all need to work on the recommendations and issues within the report..
If the answer is that the confidence is lost, then council should "proceed with the dismissal of the CAO and immediately recruit an acting CAO from outside the region."
In all, 92 of approximately 130 county employees were interviewed for the review, or 71 per cent of staff and management took part.
Although interviews were conducted with all councillors, the consultants didn't go to a single council meeting to observe the group at work.
