Gravenhurst council endorses Municipal Service Delivery Review

How the Town of Gravenhurst will deliver services to the community is poised to change in the coming years.

Tuesday, council received the Municipal Service Delivery Review for information and endorsed, in principle, using the findings as a guide for future decision making about staffing resources and the organizational structure of the town.

“Ultimately, this document will help ensure we can continue to deliver high-quality services to our growing community,” Mayor Heidi Lorenz said. 

CAO Scott Lucas agreed.

“The purpose of this review is to make certain the town is effectively and efficiently resourced and operationally structured so we can be successful in all that we do, including bringing council’s strategic objectives to fruition.” he said. 

In June 2024, the town retained StrategyCorp to conduct the review, an exercise identified as one of the initiatives in council’s strategic plan.

What the work involved

To better understand the organization and its challenges, consultants looked at a variety of documents, including the Strategic Plan, the town’s Communications Strategy, the Asset Management Plan, the Parks, Recreation and Trails Master Plan, the Wharf Revitalization Plan, and the Fire Master Plan. 

They also conducted interviews with council members, senior leadership team members, and other key staff to gain their insights. They were further able to draw on the extensive community feedback received during the recent strategic planning exercise to inform their recommendations.

What they determined

The consultants found the town is on the right track in terms of providing high-quality services. 

However, there are increased pressures on services and infrastructure resulting from growth as well as emerging community priorities.

As a result, there are areas where the town would benefit from additional resources or programs/processes that add to effectiveness and efficiency.

Overall, approximately 19 potential opportunities were identified to improve the delivery of municipal services. 

The consultants earmarked what they call the Top 10 opportunities: 

1.    Establish service level indicators and key performance indicators.

2.    Establish a dedicated Engineering division within Infrastructure Services.

3.    Increase capacity within Fire and Emergency Services.

4.    Transition Recreation, Arts and Culture into a broader Community Services Division.

5.    Develop a comprehensive customer service strategy.

6.    Implement a project management framework to support planning and executing corporate initiatives.

7.    Establish a dedicated communications division within the Office of the CAO.

8.    Consider expanded enforcement capacity for short-term rentals licensing.

9.    Evaluate options to expand capacity to operationalize the town’s climate priorities.

10. Continue to monitor service delivery demands and capacity of the Operations division.

The top 10 recommendations would result in five additional full-time positions and the re-profiling or re-structuring of 12 existing positions. 

The review recommends phasing in the changes over roughly the next decade. 

Additional resources

Read the Municipal Service Delivery Review.

Read the Municipal Service Delivery Review staff report.

Review the Town of Gravenhurst 2023-2027 Strategic Plan.

-30-