LTC looking forward to contributing to improved processes
By Letter to the Editor on May 7, 2021.
Editor: Over the last few months, our City Manager Craig Dalton has engaged in open dialogue with the Lethbridge Transparency Council (LTC) on issues brought forward by the LTC.
Our joint goal is to create a conduit to City Hall, where citizens can not just raise concerns, but also confirm information and understand the reasoning behind decisions and proposals being put forward by the City.
A recent example illustrates this dialogue. Through media, it came to our attention that the City of Red Deer disclosed having a workforce of about 1,100 employees whereas Lethbridge was closer to 1800. The LTC could not find enough information to assess this difference, which if true would be concerning, so we put the question to Mr Dalton.
Mr Dalton had the City research the differences. Their analysis not only permitted a valuable opportunity to benchmark Lethbridge against a comparably sized city, but also alleviated our concerns. The closer look revealed that the two employee numbers were an apples and oranges comparison.
Specifically, Red Deer numbers did not include police (where Red Deer contracts out to the RCMP), as well as about 100 other staff from the library, museum, the recently acquired airport, and even the Mayor and Council, which Lethbridge numbers did include.
When the exercise was done, it works out that Lethbridge operates with fewer employees on a comparable basis.
Mr. Dalton was also keen to highlight the work that has been done on the City’s Operational Review. The work is the result of KPMG’s Phase 3 Report released in October 2020. The analysis focused on organizational structure and staffing levels and resulted in recommendations to reduce the overall number of City departments to recommended levels (from 36 to 20) as well as Council direction to implement a work force reduction of 60 full time equivalents. This work was initiated in February and is nearing completion. It is anticipated that the organization restructure and work force reduction plan will be released in late June or early July.
Open dialogue between the LTC and the City ensured our discussions were grounded in fact and we were encouraged by the City’s willingness to engage with us. With a common understanding of the facts, we are now free to consider issues on their merits. The LTC looks forward to contributing positively to improve the processes that allow interested citizens to meaningfully engage.
Mark Lencucha
Lethbridge Transparency Council
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It came to our atttention that Red Deer announced their new residential organic curbside program cost of a dollar a month, good deal.
did you have a common understanding with Mr.Dallon on the Waste Management proposed Organic program seems the Industrial, .commercial,institutional (ICI) have privilege over the past five years to what is called landfill Organic compost Cell/.ICI solution they have been dumping for over five years $1.5 million a year. Waste management is seeking approval for a $5.8 million facility to house a $600,000 repackaging machine no approval from Council mysterious procedings. Residentials will be on the hook for $22.5 million organic collection $9.8 m facility monthly cost $7.00 debt payments $1.4 m property tax. Residental approx 5000 tonnes could be shipped tothe ICI solution landfill cell at $ 105.00 tonne cheaper than $22.5 million. Citizens should take a good look.