The Short and Long of the reports delivered to Council this week ... with SOFI reviews and a look at the Annual Report for 2018

A look back at 2018 and some of the hopeful notes for the current year made for the theme of this years string of reports delivered to Prince Rupert City Council this week.

As Council members received both the required Statements of Financial Information and the City's Annual Report as part of Monday's Council session.

The reports are all required elements of municipal governance; though the delivery of the information seemed to follow two streams as Council settled in to hear the details.

When it came to the Statement of Financial Information for 2018, the review of the salaries of Council members, city staff and workers and payments to suppliers, had very much a feeling of council members heading off to the dentist for a check up.

They know they have to do it, but they just want to get out of that dentist's chair as soon as possible, the process of review for the SOFI information, summed up by CFO Corinne Bomben's advisory as to how: 

"The BC financial information act requires municipalities to prepare a document called the Statement of Financial Information, this document provides additional information beyond that provided in the Annual Audited Financial Statements and must be approved by Council before June 30th, 2019. Council is asked to approve the 2018 Statement of Financial Information thereby fulfilling the requirements of the BC financial information act"

And with that, Council accepted the document as per those requirements, with nary a question, or observation to follow as to the content of the various reports and the increases in money flowing out of the civic treasury that they have delivered from previous years.

When it came to the Annual Report however, it was a much more expansive presentation from City Manager Robert Long that was provided for Council, with the focus of the Report to be that of achievement in 2018 and a short glimpse of the focus for this year.

As it has in the past few years, Mr. Long opened up the presentation with the annual review of the civic population numbers. 

Making note of the Statistics Canada population count as stating that the city is home to 12,222 residents, a number that the City of Prince Rupert continues to challenge,

For his part on the head count, Mr. Long observed that the City's preferred number reflects a population of over 13,000 currently calling Prince Rupert home  a collective that includes a shadow population of workers and others that ebb and flow in and out of the city.

The opening to the report also called attention to some of the other snapshot items that the city wished to highlight, making note of an increase in Facebook likes for the City's Facebook page, as well as the number of new business licenses and building permits issued in 2018,

The City Manager also observed how the Report includes a letter to the community from Mayor Lee Brain, and Mr. Long's own correspondence for residents. 

As well, the annual document features short biographies of the Council members and the organization chart that provides for how the City of Prince Rupert operates its day to day operations.

Monday's Annual Report Presentation also included a video review of the year just passed, which highlighted work on infrastructure, replacement of equipment, Watson Island developments and new housing initiatives from the Province.  

It also calls attention to the new public spaces that have been developed from ball fields, to the dog park, playgrounds and trail projects. Public celebrations and events over the last year brought the the video review to a conclusion.

Mr. Long then shared some of the Highlights of the Annual Review, with a check list of some of the key features of the year, as well as a list of how the City has spent some of the Grant money it has received over the last few years.

Watson Island once again held some of the focus for the report this, with the City Manager outlining how the City has removed the pulp mill structures that were located on the island, attracted Pembina as  a tenant and rebranded the industrial area at the Watson Island Intermodal Trade and Logistics Park to seek out future trade export opportunities. 

Though it should be noted, that  to this point it appears that the Pembina project is the  only tenant that has been announced by the city as having set up on the newly christened logistics park.

Mr. Long also made note of some of the work ongoing at City Hall when it comes to the city's staff and the culture of work at the Third Avenue workplace,  he also paid tribute to the work of City Council and staff for the achievements of the year.

"Congratulations are in order, certainly to Council who lead this organization and allow us to get on with our job as well as the staff who continue to deliver fantastic output and build  which I think is becoming a more and more friendly and meaningful place to work. We have a super staff who really care about this community and work their hearts out to make sure that we're going to succeed and I think that's really all that you can  hope for"

Mr Long's focus on the city staff and the culture at City Hall continues a theme that has been highlighted from previous Annual Reports and dominated the observations from the Mayor as part of his follow up to the presentation.

"Between when I first was elected here at the end of 2014 and now, it's 100 percent noticeable difference on the staff culture here. People are smiling, people feel purpose, they're engaged, they're moving a mile a minute. They feel responsible to take this community to the next place. And You know,  Council's come and go but staff they end up working thirty years in a certain organization like this and these are people that are going to be the next people that build this community.

We are happy as a Council to support the leadership that our City Manager has particularly embedded into the city culture, particularly how they run the staff performance management and it's made a huge difference in their lives and it's great to see. 

So all the work that has been produced is because ... a happy community starts with happy people working for it. So I think we're getting there, it showed in this years budget as well and it's great to see those accomplishments from last year and I know we're going to continue as a team on Council and on staff to make sure we can take this town to the next place and make it a truly shiny gem of the north"

Councillor Sketon-Morven added to the Mayor's overview of the staff culture with a few thoughts of his own which echoed much of the mayor's commentary. 

None of the other council members added to the discussion on the delivery of the Annual Report.

When it comes to the observations from the Mayor on life at City Hall, some of the smiles on the faces and the spring in the step  of those working on Third Ave West might be attributed to the findings from the SOFI report for this year. 

A document which provided some guidance as to the increasing numbers of city hall staffers who have realized improved salary levels over the last few years.

The focus on how the staff culture has changed since the Mayor arrived at City Hall in 2014 does stand out from the presentation once again this year, a theme he often makes mention of in some of his public presentations. 

It's a talking point which might give the city's residents cause to wonder what kind of dark, dystopian life the city's staff and employees had to endure, prior to the change of administration of 2014 and the arrival of a new age of enlightenment.

A theme and topic that perhaps could send a former Mayor back to the editorial pages, offering up a few more thoughts on civic governance in Prince Rupert these days.

The Annual Report will be reviewed one more time on June 24th, with the public invited to offer comments as part of the City Council session of that evening.

The report is set to be posted to the City's Website available in the Notifications section of the online portal, however to this point it has not been delivered to its assigned place.

Until it is posted to a more prominent location, you can review the document from the Agenda to the June 10th session.

Ms. Bomben's SOFI deliveries start at Page 33, while the Annual Report can be found on Page 76.

Mr. Long's presentation to Council can be viewed from the City's Video Archive starting at the 27 minute minute mark.

Other reports delivered this week included:

SOFI Report on Council Compensation
SOFI Report on employee remuneration
SOFI Report on Civic purchases and expenses

Once delivered all of the official reports will be available for review from the City's Financial section of the city website.

For more items of note related to Monday's City Council session see our Council Timeline feature here, further background on the City's Financial information can be found from our archive feature here.

A wider overview of Prince Rupert Council discussion themes is available here.