NSN Editorial

Dead in the water

 

 

NORTH SHORE NEWS DECEMBER 16, 2012

 

 

IF there was ever hard evidence that the North Shore suffers from an excess of North Vancouvers, it came to light this week when the district decided not to go in with the city on a new Olympic-sized swimming pool.

The City of North Vancouver, in its ongoing struggle to redesign Harry Jerome Recreation Centre, has concluded that installing the North Shore's first 50-metre pool would be an important improvement. 

Indeed, a full-sized facility could be transformative, creating a training facility for budding athletes and a draw for major events. But the plan isn't one the city can afford on its own.

With the district planning to rebuild its 25-metre pool at William Griffin, roughly two kilometers away, the solution seemed obvious: Why not go in on the project together, and create one great facility in place of two mediocre ones?

The move would have been a no-brainer had it been under the purview of a single council. But it wasn't. Because Harry Jerome lies on the other side of the municipal boundary - roughly five blocks past it - the district balked. No way was it going to help with a project on the far side of that arbitrary line.

Instead, it will go ahead with its half-sized pool a four-minute drive from Harry Jerome, leaving both municipalities with inferior facilities. The decision denies the community a valuable asset and likely saves taxpayers nothing.

In the face of this outcome, one wonders if our pools are the only thing that should be amalgamated.

© Copyright (c) North Shore News

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Amalgamate North Shore fire services to save millions: report

District of North Vancouver in-camera report suggests savings of $3.6M a year

BY JAMES WELDON, NORTH SHORE NEWS FEBRUARY 13, 2012

 STORY

Overlapping administration among North Shore fire services could be streamlined to save approximately $3.6 million a year according to an unreleased report commissioned by the District of North Vancouver.

Photograph by: North Shore News , file

NORTH Shore taxpayers could save $3.6 million a year if the community's three fire departments merged, according to a report commissioned recently by the District of North Vancouver.

The study, completed within the past two years, according to the district, concluded that the savings would come "primarily from reductions in management positions, overtime, capital costs for trucks and consolidation of specialty or support services." 

Right now, West Vancouver, the District of North Vancouver and the City of North Vancouver each has its own independent service, complete with fire chief, administrative staff and so on. The apparent redundancies have long been a contentious issue in all three municipalities but, until now, none of the three has studied the potential savings in detail.

Last year, the district spent $16 million running its fire department, or about 14 per cent of its overall operating budget. The city spent $7.8 million, or about 14 per cent, and West Vancouver spent $12.5 million, or about 16 per cent.

Given the significant differences in population and land area, it's extremely unlikely the financial benefits of a merger - if any - would be split evenly three ways. Rather, "any savings would have to be shared based on an agreed-upon formula," said district spokeswoman Jeanine Bratina, in a statement.

How the report's authors reached the $3.6-million figure is unclear; the document has not been made public, and the district has refused to release a copy to media. It would only confirm the findings, and claimed that the document had been reviewed by the chief administrative officers of all three communities. Even the report's title, authorship and cost - and even page count -remain under wraps. Pressed, Bratina refused to say why the municipality was not divulging that information.

It doesn't appear that much is going to change as a result of the report's contents, however, according to the district.

"A preliminary review suggests that many of the recommendations need to be tested and considered from a governance, labour relations and implementation cost perspective," said Bratina. "At this point, there is not unanimous consent amongst the three North Shore municipalities to consider fire services consolidation."

The district commissioned the report in the wake of a 2010 fire services review by Dugal Smith and Associates that evaluated collaboration among the departments. That earlier report, sponsored by all three municipalities, concluded that the services were already co-operating in some ways, but that there were major barriers to significant change.

West Vancouver's chief administrative officer Grant McRadu, in a report to council last year, concluded that the predicted annual cost savings from that co-operation - about $513,000 - were "likely a long-term rather than a short-term possibility."

In her comments this week, Bratina suggested the financial benefit has been limited so far. "It has been recognized that the cost savings are marginal in the context of the over $35 million dollars, or approximately $205 per resident, that is spent annually on the North Shore for fire services," she said.

Nonetheless, without agreement on amalgamation among the municipalities, "the focus remains on achieving improvements in service and cost reductions through increased co-operation and coordination between the three fire departments," said Bratina.

Reached for comment Friday, City of North Vancouver Fire Chief Barrie Penman, questioned the value of a report commissioned by just one municipality. He had not seen the document, he said, but nor had his department been consulted in any way in its creation.

"A single municipality doing an amalgamation report to me is bit different," he said. "You need a partner to dance."

The North Shore's three fire services were already working well together on an number of fronts, he said. "We train together, we recruit together ,we respond together. . . . It's working."

No one at the District of West Vancouver could be reached for comment Friday, according to a spokeswoman. The idea of amalgamation has not been without its supporters there in the past.

Coun. Michael Smith, now mayor of West Vancouver, said at the time of McRadu's 2011 report that: "If we had one central command, one chief and one bureaucracy for the North Shore, all the firefighters would be trained under the same training department. It makes so much sense that nobody can speak against it."

jweldon@nsnews.com

© Copyright (c) North Shore News

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Letter NSN Joan Peters

Do the report on amalgamation

BY JOAN PETERS, NORTH SHORE NEWS FEBRUARY 10, 2012

Dear Editor:

There is growing interest in the possible amalgamation of the City and District of North Vancouver. 

City Mayor Darrell Mussatto has said he will not discuss it. An elected official has a responsibility far beyond self interest. In my opinion, the moment Mussatto refused to discuss amalgamation he put himself in serious conflict of interest.

As mayor it is his duty to address this legitimate public concern with an honest, unbiased, all-encompassing public report on all the pros and cons of such a move from the standpoint of both municipalities. 

Only then can we the citizens/taxpayers decide what we believe to be best for our way of life and expectations for our area. 

With open discussions, clear information, publicity, hundreds of questions and answers and much thinking we could be ready by the next civic election, 2014, to put this issue to rest by referendum.

Joan Peters

North Vancouver

© Copyright (c) North Shore News

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http://www.nsnews.com/North+Shore+candidates+from+word/5653874/story.html

North Shore candidates shy from A-word

BY TESSA HOLLOWAY, NORTH SHORE NEWS NOVEMBER 7, 2011

While civic candidates on the North Shore aren't too keen to discuss amalgamation, many are talking about integrating fire services between the three municipalities.

Photograph by: North Shore News , file photo

Amalgamation is once again a hot-button issue in this year's municipal election campaign, but the A-word is still a touchy subject for many politicians.

Instead, better integration between the North Shore's three fire departments seems to be the topic candidates actually want to talk about. With the city and district of North Vancouver already sharing recreation services, policing and other big-ticket items, many council candidates say a single fire department is the next logical step.

Several councillors and hopefuls in the two North Vancouvers say they plan to move this forward in the next term, and the newly mayor-acclaimed of West Vancouver is also taking the issue seriously.

"As mayor, I intend to move it forward aggressively. I hope that the two North Vans pick up on it," said Michael Smith, who got the job as mayor of West Vancouver when nobody challenged him.

The appetite is there at the District of North Vancouver as well, according Coun. Michael Little. He said councils have done all they can to cut costs without cutting services in-house, and joining forces is the best option left.

"The next place we need to look is more serious efforts to share services with other groups, particularly, hopefully, with the City of North Vancouver," he said.

At the city, several council hopefuls, including Guy Heywood, said much the same thing, noting the two fire chiefs are even related.

"We now have a brother act in charge of the two fire departments, so what better time?" he said.

The city and district already move their crews around the North Shore to cover for each other when one fire station is emptied due to a call, as well as coordinating on other aspects, but supporters say major savings could be achieved through combining training, procurement and management structures, which would include fewer top-level staff.

Still, Kevin Macauley, a former district of North Vancouver fire captain who's now running for council in the district, said the savings would likely be minimal.

He said there could be long-term benefit, though, in terms of efficiency and less frequent cost increases.

"You don't save a lot of money in the initial part, but over time you would be more efficient in what you have, and you would have a cost saving in how you spend the money," he said, drawing from studies he was a part of as captain. Still, he said it will be a tough process, and one that needs to be undertaken carefully and with the support of the firefighters themselves.

Candidates pointed to numerous other services that might be combined as well, from horticulture departments to snow plows.

On the topic of amalgamating municipalities, however, City of North Vancouver politicians were quick to douse that fire. Former district mayor Don Bell, who is running for council in the city this time, was among them.

There is "a fear of loss of identity, community identity, and also the fear of the potential for increased taxes," he said. 

"Where there has been amalgamations with other major Canadian cities - I'm thinking Winnipeg, Toronto, Halifax - the material I've read (says) the planned savings . . . didn't actually occur."

In the case of Montreal, several former municipalities have gone through de-amalgamation, reviving their old towns from the dead.

George Pringle, however, a candidate for North Vancouver city mayor, is pushing the issue. "We're not getting savings until we address amalgamation," he said, adding would hold a referendum on the subject.

In the district, however, amalgamation has long been the desire of council and that hasn't changed this year.

Incumbent councillor Lisa Muri is one in favour of full amalgamation, arguing the issue needed to be jointly studied.

"You would reduce two municipal managers. You're probably saving there $250,000. Then you do directors of planning, directors of engineering; all your senior management team is basically cut in half," she said, but even she acknowledged that it's a difficult sell.

Macauley was even less optimistic.

"If it hasn't happened in the last 30 years it's not going to happen now, unless there's a mandate from the province or all a sudden two municipalities wake up."

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tholloway@nsnews.com

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Trimming fat won't come without pain

BY ELIZABETH JAMES, SPECIAL TO NORTH SHORE NEWS AUGUST 10, 2011

"(Toronto) City councillors woke up to find themselves doing the same thing as the day before and the day before that: examining a list of proposed cutbacks and then listening to a procession of interest groups explain why those cuts would be a disaster."

Marcus Gee, Globe and Mail, July 20

ARE election-poised councillors and staff in our three North Shore communities watching what is happening in the City of Toronto?

If not, perhaps they should, because the administration of stop-the-gravy-train Mayor Rob Ford is in one serious pickle; if Lower Mainland municipalities are not careful, they'll end up in the same predicament.

Faced with the need to live up to his bombastic election promises that he would cut waste without cutting services, Ford did what all good politicians do, he ordered a study. Predictably, this expensive strategy backfired.

Because, as Globe and Mail columnist Marcus Gee wrote, "City council committees have balked at making the cuts set out in a series of reports from KPMG consultants."

No kidding. And Toronto councillors are not even facing an election come November.

In brief, no-one wants to take responsibility for making the cuts Ford said would not hurt.

To understand what is really wrong with this picture, we must return to the opening quote: Councillors were "listening to a procession of interest groups explain why those cuts (suggested by KPMG) would be a disaster."

Moving westward, those interest groups are thee and me.

If we object to neverending tax increases, and want to avoid the Torontosyndrome, the effort to establish affordable priorities must be a joint exercise between taxpayers and governments.

So how about fleshing out some of the suggestions I made last week?

Let's say the North Shore had a single, nine member council: a mayor, two councillors from each of the three communities plus one elected to represent our interests to TransLink, and another to sit on the Metro board.

Each North Shore community would have specific representation, and citizen-election of the two regional positions would eliminate a mayor's need to "take off (his/her) council hat when sitting at the GVRD table," as former mayor Don Bell once said.

That's the easiest part, solved by reducing the number of North Shore seats up for grabs in the 2014 local elections. From here on, things become more difficult.

First, the new council would need only one city manager, one chief financial officer, one legal advisor - in fact, only one head of each department throughout the organization.

The next move must be to streamline non-exempt staffing - unfortunate, because this means cutting jobs.

Region-wide, there seems to be general agreement that people want taxation and spending stabilized without service cuts.

So given that salaries and benefits typically account for more than 75 per cent of municipal spending, whether or not unions plan to balk at zero per cent increases during 2012 contract negotiations, that page of the budget is the first place to look for efficiencies.

In the last census, the combined North Shore population was approaching 185,000. It seems to make sense, therefore, to examine per-capita staffing levels in well-run, similarly sized communities - in or outside B.C. - and to model the new staff contingent along similar lines.

Amalgamation or no, attrition by voluntary job-sharing, by normal retirement or via persuasive early-retirement packages is by far the preferred way to reduce unaffordable staffing levels, so that demographic trends and a transition period of three years can soften the blow.

That said, this phase will not be without upsetting decent people who are guilty of nothing more than voting to support their unions' demands for generous salary-benefit packages.

The next topic on the dartboard is that of council policies and bylaws.

General rule: If a bylaw cannot be enforced, or if the dubious wisdom of evolving staffs and councils cannot decide on appropriate wording, erase it from the books and agendas.

Specifically, District of North Vancouver residents cannot afford to waste any more money on decades-long discussions and staff reports about tree bylaws - especially when council's July decision was to boot its vote on the subject down the road to beyond the November election.

Next: How about our councils commission an auditor to examine the hidden costs - legal or otherwise - that arise when arbitrators overturn official council policies covering employer-employee agreements?

rimco@shaw.ca

© Copyright (c) North Shore News

Georgia Straight article

North Vancouver amalgamation would solve a regional problem

by CHARLIE SMITH on MAY 24, 2009 at 3:44 PM

The District of North Vancouver has gotten a raw deal because of the way municipal boundaries were drawn many years ago.

The nearby City of North Vancouver includes the Lonsdale  business strip as well as Lonsdale Quay.  The city  can rely on businesses to cover part of its tax base, which means homeowners aren't the only geese being plucked at tax time.

The district, on the other hand, doesn't have a central business district. There are shopping areas in Deep Cove, Edgemont Village, and Lynn Valley. But for municipal tax collectors, none of these compare with Metrotown in Burnaby or the Number 3 Road strip in Richmond or even Kerrisdale in Vancouver.

The District of North Vancouver  has a strategy to address this. The Lower Lynn Concept Plan could turn this part of the district into a North Shore equivalent of Kerrisdale--a neighbourhood with lots of residents, lots of jobs, and yes, some office development.

But Metro Vancouver's draft regional growth strategy could undermine these objectives, according to a staff report going to the district council tomorrow (May 25)  night. Metro Vancouver wants to encourage office development in urban centres, and not in quaint Lynn Valley.

Lynn Valley is close to a regional bus hub, Phibbs Exchange, but it's nowhere near any rapid-transit lines.

It's going to be interesting to see how this situation develops. In the past, the City of Surrey and the City of Richmond sometimes played the role of regional rogues, going against the wishes of regional district planners.

Will the District of North Van under its suave and ecologically inclined mayor, Richard Walton, take over this role in the future by pushing ahead with incentives for office development in Lynn Valley?

When he was first elected mayor, Walton spoke favourably about amalgamating the District of North Vancouver and the City of North Vancouver. Perhaps if Metro Vancouver put pressure on the provincial government to force amalgamation, district politicians wouldn't have such a big financial incentive to turn Lynn Valley into a major commercial centre.

Of course, Premier Gordon Campbell could easily force an amalgamation through provincial legislation. The two municipal governments already share the cost of arts and cultural grants, recreation, the fire department, and the RCMP.

It's far too early to suggest that  amalgamation will ever occur. But  it could address the  regional district's  potential concerns about two municipal governments in North Vancouver each trying to boost their tax bases by stimulating office and retail development in separate areas.

3. The 1960 initiative

What usually happen when someone wants to start the City and District walking down the path of amalgamation is that opponents will deflect momentum by talking about studies, reports and other process issues.

You see this in 1960 when the process of commissioning a study was enough to torpedo the issue.

June 1960             Seven Management Consultants solicited for study proposals on amalgamation of City and District.

July 27/60              Meeting of City and District Councils to consider the seven bids, ranging from $4,300 to $29,600.  However, Mayor Angus and Reeve Frazer were authorized to ascertain whether Mr. C.A.P. Murison (former Reeve of North Cowichan and former President of U.B.C.M.) would undertake the study and report back.

Sept. 20/60           Mr. Murison’s proposal for two-part study at a cost of $5,000 (Part I) and $2,000 (Part II). 

                                The question of joint services was raised intermittently during the next few years but no action appears to have been taken with respect to the commissioning of a study or the holding of a referendum.