August 25, 1999
To:Administration Committee
From:City Clerk
Subject:Municipal Code
Purpose:
To recommend that a Municipal Code be adopted for the City of Toronto, and that a request for proposals (R.F.P.) be
issued for the purposes of initial Code preparation.
Funding Sources:
During the course of amalgamation it was recognized that consideration should be given to the development of a new City
of Toronto Municipal Code and funds totalling up to $100,000 were provided in 1998 (and subsequently carried forward)
in the capital transition budget (C-TS009-V00905). It is anticipated that the costs for professional services for designing,
formatting, editing and publishing the Code in camera ready, electronic and internet/intranet ready formats will be in the
range of up to $40,000. Additionally, one time costs in the range of up to$17,000 for software licences and training are
required to position the City to maintain and update the Code in-house. Future funding commitments on an annual basis for
updating the Code with new and amended by-laws, distribution costs (including hardcopy and internet/intranet access to
the Code), and materials and supplies are anticipated to be in the range of up to $10,000. Some portion of the annual costs
may be recoverable through the sale of copies of, or subscriptions to, the Municipal Code in hardcopy or CD form.
Recommendations:
It is recommended that:
- a Municipal Code be developed for the City; and
- the City Clerk be authorized to issue a Request for Proposals (R.F.P.) for the initial preparation of a Municipal Code,
with on-going maintenance of the Code to be performed by the City of Toronto.
Background:
The City Clerk is required under the Municipal Act to maintain the records of Council (including by-laws) and make them
available for inspection. Since its inception, the new City of Toronto has adopted over 1,400 by-laws. In addition,
approximately 184,000 by-laws from the former municipalities (dating from 1834) are considered to be by-laws of the new
city, resulting in over 185,000 by-laws that must be managed. Difficulties arise in determining the status of these by-laws
since there currently exists no single, reliable source providing a legally accepted consolidation of base by-laws as they
exist at a particular date in time. In order to provide accurate information in a timely and efficient manner, the City of
Toronto must address ways to handle the volume and complexity of the current by-law situation that the harmonization of
key by-laws alone will not solve. The development of a Municipal Code, together with the compilation of a by-law status
register, is an effective and efficient solution that will provide necessary "one stop" information service, on a broad scale
(via hard copy or internet/intranet access) to all users.
Comments:
Current By-law Issues:
There is large scale demand for by-law information from staff, the public and the courts. The City Clerk's Division alone
fields approximately 1,800 requests for by-law information per month. Many of these requests are repetitive, and are for
the most often requested administrative and general purpose by-laws of the City. Additionally, the office handles regular
large scale distribution of by-laws (including certified copies) after each council meeting. Despite this demand, staff and
the public are currently unable to easily access by-law information in a "user friendly" form. There is dependence on a
small number of staff who are familiar with the by-laws and the multitude of indexes and record keeping systems that are
used to manage this information.
Over time many amendments to a base by-law may be passed. One example is the former Metro Licensing By-law
No.20-85 which has over 100 amendments to date, all of which must be examined to determine if a particular section of
the by-law has changed or is in force. As a result, it is difficult to determine the status of current provisions. Departments
have attempted to maintain office consolidations, which while helpful, have no legal standing.The alternative has been to
produce certified copies of the base by-law and each amending by-law. While the by-law harmonization process will
address this issue to some extent, over time the same issues and problems will reoccur with the passing of amendments and
new by-laws.
Efforts to research by-laws are further hampered by the fact that by-laws are traditionally published in a chronological
rather than subject fashion, which makes it difficult to know precisely all by-laws dealing with a particular topic on an
annual basis, let alone on an on-going basis. By-laws from the former municipalities that are still in force must be accessed
by subject in a multitude of ways, from printed lists to computerized searches, forcing staff and the public to expend
considerable effort to find by-laws related to a particular topic.
A Municipal Code:
The issues outlined above are not unique to this municipality. In an effort to find a solution to the ever growing issues
surrounding the management of by-laws, some municipalities maintain administrative and general application by-laws in
the form of up-datable Municipal Codes. Three of the former municipalities (Toronto, Etobicoke and York), and
approximately 20 other Ontario cities and towns, including Kanata, Kitchener, London, Sarnia and Thunder Bay, have
codified their by-laws. These Codes result in single source access to by-laws currently in force.
A Municipal Code is a compendium of general application and administrative by-laws of the municipality, expressed in
"clear language", and arranged topically into chapters that are easily searchable. By-laws of a similar nature are organized
by topic or type, and are continually updated so that all enactments regarding a specific subject are together in one chapter
or volume. As a result, the current status of a by-law and the latest amendments are easily determined. In effect, a
Municipal Code replaces the need for the abundance of office consolidations (and ensuing maintenance and legal issues) by
providing a legally accepted and certified document containing the most requested administrative and general application
by-laws in force. The authority for the enactment of a Municipal Code is contained in section 104 of the Municipal Act.
Codes are generally arranged into two parts - Administrative By-laws (such as those which define administrative functions
or procedures, such as the Council rules of procedure) and General Application By-laws (such as those which regulate or
affect in some way the behaviour of the general public, such as a property standard by-law). Other by-laws, such as those
which might change frequently or be of limited scope (ie by-laws authorizing specific agreements, or confirmations of
Council proceedings) are not included in a Municipal Code, and are best tracked and managed through the use of a
comprehensive by-law register system. The City Clerk's Division is currently undertaking a By-law Status Register project,
independent of the Municipal Code, to provide an inventory of all 185,000 by-laws including by-law status information.
The greatest benefit of a Municipal Code is that staff and the public can see at a glance the current legislation of the City,
expressed in clear language. It eliminates the necessity to refer to a base by-law plus numerous amendments to determine
whether a particular by-law or section of a by-law is in force. There is a corresponding improvement in service provision in
terms of timeliness and accuracy. The topical arrangement of the Code results in the added advantage of having all
enactments regarding a specific subject together in one volume.
The ongoing harmonization of City of Toronto by-laws provide an opportunity to prepare a Municipal Code, since the
harmonized by-laws will become new base by-laws. In conjunction with the by-law harmonization process, a Municipal
Code would provide an opportunity to change the current chronological layout of the by-laws to a more user friendly
consolidated subject arrangement. As such, the Code would be a positive reflection of the amalgamation process -
providing tangible evidence of the progress towards the harmonization of the various municipal by-laws - while anchoring
the work of the by-law harmonization group.
Scope of the New City of Toronto Municipal Code:
The proposed scope of the initial Code would include harmonized or new general application and administrative by-laws
passed since January 1, 1998. Additional chapters would be added to the code by staff of the City Clerk's Division, as new
and harmonized by-laws are passed by Council. Subsequently, the Code would be updated/amended by supplements as
Council approved changes to Code chapters. It is anticipated that zoning by-laws and parking and traffic by-laws would
need to be considered separately in the future due to their size and complexity, and therefore would not be included in the
initial Municipal Code. Consideration would be given to electronic access and distribution of the Municipal Code via the
internet/intranet as the primary means of delivery, as well as through limited hardcopy distribution.
Implementation and Maintenance - Options:
A Municipal Code project would consist of two main components - 1) initial development and implementation, and 2)
maintenance (updating). During the initial development, project management responsibilities for the initial Code would be
shared between Legal Services and the City Clerk's Divisions, with input from the Corporate Information and Technology
Division, and the Purchasing and Material Management Division as required. Staff of the City Clerk's Division would be
responsible for coordinating the initial production and distribution processes associated with the Code, as well as
subsequent up-dating. Staff of the Legal Division would provide legal advice and assistance as required, including the
review of the draft Code chapters. The Legal Division would also be requested to advise on the development and
implementation of standards for the production of by-laws.
Options considered for the development and maintenance of a Municipal Code, included:
1)initial Code developed externally, with long term maintenance provided in-house;
2)in-house development/maintenance; and
3)external development/maintenance.
These options were evaluated against cost, staff resource commitment, timing and training requirements. Option 1 (develop
externally and maintain internally) proved to be the most cost effective method on an annual basis and provided quick
delivery of a Code. It also provided control over the issuance of supplements - assuring an efficient turn around time. Staff
resource commitment and training were minimized with this option, allowing the City to take advantage of the professional
experience available externally for the initial development of the Code (avoiding the potential costs of trial and error
during the course of development), and facilitating the development of a product that could be maintained in-house.
Additional benefits of professional services provided by Municipal Code companies include: editorial assistance and
documentation; drafting of Municipal Code chapters (in plain language); suggestions for format and layout to facilitate
updating of Code; clarification and analysis of by-laws, and flagging inconsistencies where required.
Conclusions:
The City of Toronto must address ways to handle the growing volume and complexity of current by-laws, that
harmonization of key by-laws alone will not solve. A Municipal Code is an effective and efficient solution that will
provide user friendly "one stop" information, on a broad scale (via hard copy or internet/intranet access) to all users.
The Legal Division, Purchasing and Materials Management Division and Corporate Information and Technology Division
have been consulted in the preparation of this report.
Contact Name:
Lorna Hinds
Indexing Co-ordinator
Telephone 392-7022
Fax 392-2980
E-mail: lhinds@toronto.ca
Novina Wong
City Clerk
