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CITY OF VANCOUVER

REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
STANDING COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON
CITY SERVICES AND BUDGETS

APRIL 6, 2000

A Regular Meeting of the Council of the City of Vancouver was held on Thursday, April 6, 2000, at 12: 45 p.m., in Committee Room No. 1, Third Floor, City Hall, following the Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets meeting, to consider the recommendations of the Committee.

PRESENT:	Mayor Philip Owen Councillor Fred Bass Councillor Jennifer Clarke Councillor Daniel Lee Councillor Don Lee Councillor Tim Louis Councillor Sandy McCormick Councillor Gordon Price Councillor George Puil Councillor Sam Sullivan
ABSENT:	Councillor Lynne Kennedy (Civic Business)
CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE:	Judy Rogers, City Manager Brent MacGregor, Deputy City Manager
CITY CLERK'S OFFICE:	Tarja Tuominen, Meeting Coordinator

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

MOVED by Cllr. Puil,
SECONDED by Cllr. Clarke,

THAT this Council resolve itself into Committee of the Whole, Mayor Owen in the chair.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Report of Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets
April 6, 2000

Council considered the recommendations of the Committee, as contained in the following clauses of the attached report:

Cl.1: 2000 Operating Budget - Interim Report
Cl.2: Information Technology Long Term Plan and

Long Term Financing Plan

Cl.3: SAP Sustainment Plan
Cl.4: Information Technology Infrastructure - 1999/2000 Expansion

and Replacement Program

Clause 1

The Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets heard speakers, but due to time constraints, referred discussion and decision to the Council meeting immediately following the Standing Committee on Planning and Environment meeting on the afternoon of April 6, 2000.

Clause 2
MOVED by Cllr. Puil,

THAT the recommendation of the Committee, as contained in Clause 2 of this report, be approved.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

Clauses 3 and 4
MOVED by Cllr. Puil,

THAT the recommendations of the Committee, as contained in Clauses 3 and 4 of this report, be approved.

- CARRIED

(Councillors Bass and Louis opposed)

RISE FROM COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

MOVED by Cllr. Puil,

THAT the Committee of the Whole rise and report.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

ADOPT REPORT OF COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

MOVED by Cllr. Puil,
SECONDED by Cllr. Clarke,

THAT the report of the Committee of the Whole be adopted.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

The Council adjourned at 12:50 p.m.

- - - - -

REPORT TO COUNCIL

STANDING COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL
ON CITY SERVICES AND BUDGETS

APRIL 6, 2000

A Regular Meeting of the Standing Committee of Council on City Services and Budgets was held on Thursday, April 6, 2000, at 9:30 a.m., in Committee Room No. 1, Third Floor, City Hall.

PRESENT:	Councillor George Puil, Chair *Mayor Philip Owen Councillor Fred Bass Councillor Jennifer Clarke, Vice-Chair Councillor Daniel Lee Councillor Don Lee Councillor Tim Louis Councillor Sandy McCormick Councillor Gordon Price *Councillor Sam Sullivan
ABSENT:	Councillor Kennedy (Civic Business)
CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE:	Judy Rogers, City Manager Brent MacGregor, Deputy City Manager
CITY CLERK'S OFFICE:	Tarja Tuominen, Meeting Coordinator

*Denotes presence for a portion of the meeting.

ADOPTION OF MINUTES

The Minutes of the Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets meeting of March 16, 2000, were adopted.

Vary Order of the Agenda

The Committee agreed to vary the order of the agenda and consider Items 2, 3 and 4 prior to consideration of Item 1.

RECOMMENDATION

2. Information Technology Long Term Plan and

Long Term Financing Plan File: 1151

At its meeting on March 30, 2000, the Committee considered an Administrative Report, dated March 1, 2000, in which the General Manager of Corporate Services provided an update on the Information Technology Long Term Plan and the Long Term Financing Plan which supports it.

Due to time constraints, the Committee referred decision on the report to the April 6 Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets meeting.

The following motion by Cllr. Clarke was put and carried. The Committee, therefore,

RECOMMENDED

THAT the Administrative Report, dated March 1, 2000, be received for information.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

(Councillor Sullivan and the Mayor not present for the vote)

3. SAP Sustainment Plan File: 1151

At its meeting on March 30, 2000, the Committee considered an Administrative Report, dated February 14, 2000, in which the City Manager, in consultation with the Corporate Management Team, sought approval to allocate funding from the Information Technology Long Term Financing Plan to establish a SAP Sustainment initiative to support the technical and business requirements of the SAP application at the City and continue the realization of benefits from the system.

Due to time constraints, the Committee referred decision on the report to the April 6 Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets meeting.

The Chair advised a request to speak on the report had been received from CUPE 15.

Rick Gates, President, CUPE 15, identified several concerns from the users’ and service recipients’ perspective with the proposed SAP sustainment plan:

· the proposed sustainment team of 19 is not large enough to handle the upgrading; they will not be able to problem-solve effectively nor will they have time to explain;

Clause No. 3 (cont’d)

· the upgrade will involve a major time commitment from the sustainment team, which cannot do sustainment and upgrade at the same time; the upgrade looks radically different from the current version;
· currently, there are no groups of people with shared information, only certain individuals with particular skills;
· staff with particular skills are leaving rapidly and taking knowledge with them;
· the departmental coach system is not working well; staff do not know who their department coaches are;
· staff suffered from a huge amount of stress the first time around which resulted in lost productivity and a high amount of stress leave;
· more time for training is needed;
· additional staff costs, not noted in the report, will result from reclassifications; the downward shift of responsibilities will result in pay increases for many people;
· the cost for consultants is very high; a far more cost-effective way to train is to create an in-house team; however will have a problem with retention of staff.;
· the report identifies no clear dollar savings or service improvements;
· the Committee should ask for another report back with cost estimates on making do with the current version;
· the City of Edmonton joint staff management process to implement upgrading is excellent.

Brent MacGregor, Deputy City Manager, and Roger Fast, Director of Business Support, responded to questions on the impact of workload and stress on staff, reclassification issues, sustainment team size, achievements of savings and benefits from SAP, and specific costs of the upgrade.

Estelle Lo, General Manager of Corporate Services, responded to questions on the cost implications of not upgrading the current SAP version.

The following motion by Councillor Bass was put and lost.

THAT the SAP Sustainment Plan be referred back to staff for consultation and collaboration with the Union and brought back for consideration in two to three weeks.

- LOST

(Councillors Clarke, Daniel Lee, Don Lee, McCormick, Price,
Puil, Sullivan and the Mayor opposed)

Clause No. 3 (cont’d)

The following motion by the Mayor was put and carried. The Committee, therefore,

RECOMMENDED

A. THAT Council approve the establishment of an SAP Sustainment Team, including the creation of 10 full time positions, the reassignment of nine existing positions, a benefits realization initiative, SAP functional consulting support and ongoing SAP Sustainment Team training, at a cost of $1.9 million for 2000 and an ongoing annual cost of approximately $1.4 million; source of funding to be $403,000 from existing departmental budgets ($537,000 ongoing), and $1.5 million ($873,000 ongoing) from the Information Technology Long Term Financing Plan. Classification of the 19 positions to be determined by the General Manager of Human Resources.

B. THAT Council approve the allocation of $800,000 for the upgrade of City’s SAP system, including funding for upgrade planning, hardware upgrading and consulting services; source of funding to be the Information Technology Long Term Financing Plan ($500,000) and the Computer Replacement Reserve ($300,000).

C. THAT the City Manager be authorized to enter into a contract with Deloitte Consulting for support in realizing the benefits from the SAP implementation, at an estimated cost of $175,000 plus GST and expenses; source of funding to be the Information Technology Long Term Financing Plan.

- CARRIED

(Councillors Bass and Louis opposed)

4. Information Technology Infrastructure - 1999/2000

Expansion and Replacement Program File: 1151

At its meeting on March 30, 2000, the Committee considered an Administrative Report, dated March 6, 2000, in which the Acting Director of Information Technology sought approval to continue the build-out and replacement of the City’s information technology, communications and systems infrastructure.

Due to time constraints, the Committee referred decision on the report to the April 6 Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets meeting.

Clause No. 4 (cont’d)

The following motion by the Mayor was put and carried. The Committee, therefore,

RECOMMENDED

THAT Council approve the 1999/2000 information technology infrastructure expansion and replacement program consisting of expansion and upgrade of networking and telecommunications infrastructure, replacement of obsolete desktop computers, and upgrade of telephone system hardware and software, as detailed in this report, at an estimated capital cost of $2.78 million. Additional annual operating costs of $100,000 will be incurred to cover the upgrades of the network and telecommunications infrastructure and the telephone system. Both capital costs and operating cost increases will be funded from the Information Technology Long Term Financing Plan.

- CARRIED

(Councillors Bass and Louis opposed)

1. 2000 Operating Budget - Interim Report File: 1605

The Committee had before it an Administrative Report, dated March 27, 2000, in which the General Manager of Corporate Services reviewed the 2000 Operating Budget as revised since Council considered the Preliminary Report on February 15, 2000, sought direction on bringing the budget into balance, and recommended a funding level for the Park Board Global Budget.

Council, at its meeting on April 4, received a Report Reference on the 2000 Operating Budget - Interim Report, and referred decision on the report to the Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets meeting of April 6 to allow speakers to be heard.

Inspector Doug LePard, Vancouver Police Department, with the aid of a power-point presentation, reviewed the proposed budget for the Vancouver Police Department. The Department feels it can meet the proposed budget target of $114,619 if it continues with identified overtime reduction strategies. However, any further budget reductions will result in a decrease in service to the public. The Department’s operating expenses are the same as those in 1989. The Department cannot further reduce the overtime or have funding withheld from the Organized Crime Agency positions; it has no other pool of money to draw on.

Clause No. 1 (cont’d)

David Fairey, Alternative City Budget Working Group (brief filed), proposed an alternative operating budget to that submitted by staff, with adjustments to the expenditures and revenues proposed in the Administrative Report. The adjustments result in a 2% increase to the general purposes tax. The Working Group suggest the City could afford to increase the amount transferred from the Property Endowment Fund by $4 million. In addition, Council should not have a 1% shift from business to residential class this year. As Casino revenue is not a stable source of income, it should not be applied to support social programs, but applied to unanticipated cost factors.

Estelle Lo, General Manager of Corporate Services; Dave Rudberg, General Manager of Engineering Services; and Ken Bayne, Director of Financial Planning & Treasury; responded to questions on the Property Endowment Fund and the proposed reduction of Engineering Services budget.

Anita Romanik, Chair of the Parks and Environment Committee for COPE, made an appeal that the Park Board Global budget not be reduced from the $40,744,900 recommended in the report. Any reductions will result in the Park Board increasing fees, with the result that people are less able to access services. Further, the Park Board funding has not quite met with growth inflation over the years.

The following speakers opposed increases to the Vancouver Police Department budget, in particular, using casino revenues to fund portions of the Police budget:

· Tia Walter
· Jessica Pert
· Anton Pilipa
· Shawn Galvin
· Suzanne Baustad
· Shelly Fahey
· Sid Tan

The speakers’ points are summarized as follows:

· the casino revenues should not go to offset the costs of the revitalization of the Downtown Eastside and the Downtown Eastside Beat Team; funds should be going into revitalizing people;
· social problems cannot be addressed by adding more police;
· the police costs are the largest single item in the budget;
· budget increases are given to the police budget but not to social programs;
· the casino revenue should be spent on non-profits or social services;
Clause No. 1 (cont’d)

· would like to know why the Police and Fire Departments do not effectively respond to similar types of events;
· the City should consider funding a citizens group to look into and monitor the activities of the Vancouver Police Department.

The Committee agreed that, due to time constraints, discussion and decision on the Interim Operating Budget be referred to the Council meeting following the Standing Committee on Planning and Environment meeting in the afternoon of April 6.

The Committee adjourned at 12: 45 p.m.

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver