Correspondence & Enclosure: Minister Fassbender – Draft Framework for the Capital Integrated Services and Governance Initiative (and Framework)

Letter from Peter Fassbender to His Worship Mayor Stewart Young

Ref: 166096
March 8, 2016

His Worship Mayor Stewart Young
City of Langford
877 Goldstream Avenue, 2nd Floor
Victoria, BC V9B 2X8

Dear Mayor Young:

I am writing further to the draft Framework for the Capital Integrated Services and Governance Initiative sent to you in January. I appreciate the efforts that mayors have taken to share their thoughts and work with others to begin discussions on these matters, and I also recognize that there are details to be worked through as the Initiative unfolds. Based on the feedback received, I believe that the Framework materially reflects the views of the region's mayors for advancing the Initiative. Given the changing timelines, the Framework has been adjusted to reflect an updated schedule. Please find a revised Framework enclosed for your reference.

As you are certainly aware, there continues to be much community interest respecting effective delivery of services and governance arrangements. I am, therefore, very pleased that we are now positioned to assist the region in moving ahead with this Initiative, which will provide an important opportunity for Capital area local governments to respond to this interest, with further collaborative work in relation to local service delivery and governance. In our initial meeting, I heard general agreement respecting the need to collect and share facts with communities about current governance arrangements and service delivery. This information gathering and dissemination exercise will be an important first step; it will assist the region's taxpayers to better understand the perspectives of the region's local governments respecting current service delivery arrangements and any opportunities for further integration, and will assist local governments to further their conversations and engagement with citizens.

As I have suggested previously, the Framework will now serve as the basis for developing a request for proposals for the Province of British Columbia to retain a consultant on behalf of the region. That consultant will play a central role in moving the Initiative forward, gathering facts and perspectives respecting local practices from municipalities, and from the Capital Regional District, given its important role as a service provider.

I have requested that Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development staff begin the search for consultant(s) for the Initiative. The search will be carried out according to the Province's procurement process. I anticipate that the request for proposals will be posted to BC Bid sometime in March. If you are interested in staying informed about the procurement process, I have asked Ministry staff to provide updates to your local government staff. Ministry staff are also available to respond to any questions about the Initiative or the process; please email Ms. Michelle Dann, Director, Governance and Structure Branch at: Michelle.Dann@gov.bc.ca.

Thank you for your important contribution to this Initiative, and I look forward to again being in touch with you once we have a consultant in place.

Sincerely,
Peter Fassbender
Minister

Enclosure

pc:
Ms. Michelle Dann
Director
Governance and Structure Branch

Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development and
Minister Responsible for TransLink
Office of the Minister
Mailing Address:
PO Box 9056 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria BC V8W 9E2
Phone: 250 387-2283
Fax: 250 387-4312
Location:
Room 310
Parliament Buildings
Victoria BC
www.gov.bc.ca/cscd

FRAMEWORK FOR CAPITAL INTEGRATED SERVICES AND GOVERNANCE INITIATIVE

PURPOSE

Capital region citizens (through the 2014 referendum results) and local governments (through meetings with CSCD Ministers) have expressed a common interest in gathering facts about current service delivery, improving the understanding about service delivery best practices and exploring further the opportunities to better integrate service and governance.

The proposed Initiative will help facilitate a discussion among local governments in the Capital region toward identifying any potential opportunities to enhance the efficient delivery of service that citizens need. The Initiative will provide the opportunity for individual perspectives to be heard and may lay the groundwork for local governments to pursue options for greater integration of services and governance.

PRINCIPLES

Principles to guide the Initiative,:

• Aim for efficiency - there is only one taxpayer and it is the responsibility of all governments to ensure the most efficient and effective delivery of public services.
• Start with the facts- a full understanding of current arrangements will be an important first step in positioning the region's local governments with respect to service and governance opportunities and challenges.
• Respect different views - a structured conversation on governance and service integration provides a way for local governments to inform and hear from their public and key stakeholders, and enables any local government in the region to participate if they so choose.
• Supporting future choices - the Initiative is not about reaching a specific, unilateral outcome; it is about understanding the opportunities for service and governance integration in order to help local governments make future choices.
• Collaboration is key -success depends on local governments in the Capital area participating, being engaged and fully committed to this conversation with one another and with their citizens.

COMPONENTS OF AN APPROACH

The Initiative presents an opportunity for the province to support local governments to collect information and facts on the integration of services and governance. This information and research will assist local government to further their conversations and engagement with citizens and stakeholders. The goals of an approach would include:

• Support Fact Finding -collecting and sharing information and facts about the current state of services and governance in the Capital region; local governments can use that to inform and engage with their public.
• Increased Understanding - researching and sharing best practices among local governments in the Capital area and learning from other jurisdictions; helping local governments research underlying issues or barriers to effective integrated service delivery.
• Share Findings - local governments consider the way forward to explore potential opportunities for further integration and reporting out on the consultant's work and progress made to date.

ROLES

Local governments' role focuses on collaboration and consideration of opportunities for greater integration, including:

• Continued conversations among local governments and stakeholders to identify opportunities for greater integration, and sharing that information.
• Participation in meetings related to the Initiative.
• Working with the consultant to facilitate the collection of information, sharing ideas of what the underlying issues are (e.g. through local government staff).
• Communication with their citizens and engagement in education and discussion.
• Communication of the shared understanding of the outcomes of the discussions.

Province's role focuses on facilitating the discussion among local governments:

• Retain/fund a consultant to work collaboratively with local governments to collect information and to assist local governments in creating opportunities to increase understanding of the facts.
• Facilitate discussion(s) among local governments to help them identify any underlying issues as well as common interests/opportunities towards service and governance integration.
• Communicate to the participants the shared understanding of the outcomes of the discussions.

TIMELINE

• Agreement on the Framework for Discussion - Feb 2016
• Announce/Launch Initiative - March/April 2016
• Initial Impressions - May 2016
• Final Findings -Fall 2016