Proactive measures taken by City to improve management oversight

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Ottawa – City Manager, Kent Kirkpatrick outlined details of how the City has addressed the recommendations made by the Auditor General in his 2012 Annual Report. City management has agreed with all of the 72 recommendations contained in the Auditor General’s five new audits. Significant progress has also been made on the follow-up audits, with 88% of the recommendations completed to date.

“Staff has been proactive in addressing this year’s audit recommendations as well as making significant progress towards completing outstanding recommendations from previous audits,” said City Manager, Kent Kirkpatrick.

Highlights of key recommendations already implemented or in progress:

Audit of Construction Supervision:

• As identified in the 2014 budget adopted by Council, management is proceeding with the introduction of a comprehensive set of internal controls to monitor, review and oversee construction contracts to help recover costs and reduce cost overruns related to construction changes caused by consultant design errors and omissions
• Infrastructure Services working with Supply Branch are developing an electronic system to record contractor performance, which will also be considered in the awarding of contracts in the future
• Developing a program for inspecting critical transmission mains

Audit of Client Service Centres:

• Conducting an operational risk assessment for the Client Service Centres, which will be completed by the end of 2013
• Reviewing and examining capacity at the Client Service Centres to assess staff utilization
• Target-setting against an established baseline quality score at the beginning of each year to ensure quality standards are being achieved
• Reviewing all transactions processed at Client Service Centres to identify further opportunities for automation and integration of transactional data
• Implementing an inventory control tracking system to monitor the inventory of marriage licences and parking tokens

Audit of the Treasury Function:

• Developing and implementing succession plans as part of the City’s overall People Plan
• Incorporating additional legislative elements in the upcoming revision of the Investment Policy to further strengthen the clarity of defined policies and their consistency with provincial regulations
• Continuing the implementation of electronic payment methods making it easier for residents to make payments to the City and for suppliers to receive payments

Audit of Ontario Works Eligibility Assessment Process:

• Reduction of 12 Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) in 2014 resulting in a savings of $960,000
• Reviewing the service delivery model to identify efficiencies, including workload for case workers and supervisors
• Reviewing best practices to identify organizational changes needed and to provide supervisors with additional tools and supports to improve absenteeism
• Strengthening management oversight of operational compliance with policies and procedures through training, staff meetings, and file reviews by supervisors

Audit of Corporate Credit Cards:

• Continuing to implement well-administered programs, processes and financial controls, including improved supervision and low error rates
• Completing a detailed risk assessment for the credit card program
• Exploring opportunities to increase the use of credit cards in lieu of cheques or petty cash while continuing to communicate the benefits of using the credit card payment where feasible
• Developing a policy related to the collection of all loyalty program points (including store purchases, fuel, etc.)

The audit process contributes to the strengthening of management oversight and practices in finding efficiencies and streamlining operations while delivering quality services to residents.

The Fraud and Waste Hotline serves as an additional mechanism to advance Council’s priority of transparency and accountability. Management takes swift action to resolve issues, including applying disciplinary measures if appropriate.

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