A4 ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT Date: March 11, 1997 C.C. File: 5106 TO: Vancouver City Council FROM: General Manager of Community Services SUBJECT: Proposed Renovations to the Second Storey, East Wing RECOMMENDATION A. THAT Council approve the renovation of the second floor, East Wing (as per attached floor plan B) in order to optimise the available floor space to accommodate the changes resulting from the implementation of the new License Plus System, and to provide better customer service and provide a more productive work space for the Property Use Inspectors, Correspondence Branch, Data Resource Centre, Development Information Application Centre and Tree Review Branches, in keeping with the Better City Government Initiatives. B. THAT Council approve the redirection of $100,000 of the funding already approved for the Backfile Conversion Project in the Data Resource Centre, to offset the shortfall in renovation costs estimated for optimising the use of the second floor. COUNCIL POLICY There is no applicable Council Policy. PURPOSE The purpose of this report is to obtain Council approval for the proposed improvements to the second floor, East Wing as shown on Plan B attached, in order to achieve improved customer service, business efficiency and communication. It is also to confirm that there are no new funds needed for this initiative, merely a redirection (subject to Council approval) of a portion of the funding previously approved for the Backfile Conversion Project, that has fortuitously received bids that are much lower than anticipated. The funding for this project is entirely recoverable through the fees already in place. BACKGROUND Since the Spring of 1996, Council has reviewed and approved several Better City Government initiatives for the Community Services Group. Those initiatives include, March 28, 1996 - PHASE 1 Implementation of a Document Management Information System (DOMINO) STATUS - COMPLETE June 13, 1996 - Implementation of a Licensing Review and Redesign (LICENSE PLUS) STATUS - IN PROGRESS July 11, 1996 - Expansion of the application of the existing Private Property Tree By-law (including the addition of four full time employees). STATUS - ON GOING November 5, 1996 - PHASE 2 Document Imaging/Management System (Backfile Conversion) (including the addition of one full time employee) - The Backfile Project was financed with a loan of $500,000 from the Capital Financing Fund (Solid Waste Capital Reserve) to be repaid over a six year period. - Repayment of the loan will be by means of a new fee instituted on requests for information on the legal occupancy of properties anticipated to generate $145,000 in annual revenue. This fee was introduced in January of 1997. STATUS - IN PROGRESS DISCUSSION Floor Plan A (attached) shows the current layout of the second floor that reflects an inefficient business environment and inadequate staff accommodations. It also will not accommodate the new vision of the License Office for a customer dialogue and waiting area and does not enable good customer service. It is also worthwhile mentioning that although this floor had already been considered to be "full", 15 regular full time plus 4 temporary full time staff have been added in the past year. (See Appendix C attached). The Backfile Conversion Project (previously approved by Council on November 5, 1996 and in progress) will release space currently used for storage of paper files in the Data Resource Centre. The process of preparing the files for scanning has begun in the Data Resource Centre and the vendor is expected to start the scanning process off site in a couple of weeks. It is expected that the paper files will be gone by July 1st of this year. With this in mind, the Facilities Development Division designed a more functional floor plan (Plan B attached) to address the needs of the various branches identified in this report. This proposed floor plan accommodates the movement of the Property Use Division, License Branch, Inspection Reception, Correspondence Branch and downsized Data Resource Centre. It provides an open floor plan that will encourage better communication and coordination of business processes between branches. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS Council has already approved funding of $188,000 for renovations to the License Branch, Development Information Application Centre and Tree Review Branch. However, renovations of these selected areas only would not achieve the overall advantages that Plan B offers. Facilities Development Division advises that the estimated cost of the work and furnishings outlined in Plan B will be roughly $280,000, resulting in a shortfall in our current renovation budget of approximately $100,000. Backfile Tender Process: The tendered costs for the Backfile Conversion Project are substantially lower than anticipated providing $100,000 for use in the renovations to the second floor. It is therefore requested that Council approve the redirection of the $100,000 for the Backfile Conversion Project to the Renovation Project. CONCLUSION The redirection of the $100,000 identified above will enable the completion of the Better City Government Initiatives identified in this report and will help us to achieve our common goals of improved customer service, business efficiency and communication. * * * * *