City Clerk's Office 2017 Annual Report

In 2017, staff development and engagement were among our areas of focus, along with sharpening our strategic focus and making sure our election planning accommodates sweeping changes to legislation and ward boundaries.

Reviewing what we do and how we do it – and taking action

Message from the City Clerk

Transformation has been a core part of our culture for the past decade. We continually review what we do and how we do it – and then take action.

We have long recognized the need to prepare our staff to be ready to take on development and leadership roles. We are now reaping the benefits of our investment in staff development. Read Staff development & engagement as drivers of change to learn more.

City Clerk Ulli Watkiss (unmasked) and members of the senior management team took part in a firefighting training exercise during an extended management team session on emergency preparedness.
City Clerk Ulli Watkiss (unmasked) and members of the senior management team took part in a firefighting training exercise during an extended management team session on emergency preparedness.

The year also included several key changes or refinements to our organization and services. The following stories provide more details:

  • Sharpening our strategic focus: We completed reorganization and a shift in focus for our protocol and information production-related services, refined our role in communicating with Council Members in an emergency, and aligned our strategies with the new Excellence Toronto framework.
  • Formalizing our role in an emergency: We completed planning, training and testing for our role working with Members of Council in a City emergency.
  • Looking for the end of the paper chase: From our first digital-only annual report to managing 28,000 email subscriptions, we are demonstrating our commitment to "digital first".

As our term planning framework describes, our focus in 2016 and 2017 was on improving our services and building capacity. This work prepares us to confidently move forward into the final year of the term when we will deliver our most important democratic responsibilities: the municipal election and a smooth transition to a new Council.

We face many challenges in delivering on these responsibilities, from sweeping legislative changes to a redrawing of our electoral boundaries, as described in Supporting the foundation of local democracy.

The initiatives of the past two years and our day-to-day work are made possible by a dedicated and highly skilled group of staff committed to our mission of building trust and confidence in local government. A small portion of the praise they receive is included in Recognition of our work.

I look forward to a year that will be, as election years always are, hard work, exciting, and a solid demonstration of democracy at work.

Ulli S. Watkiss
City Clerk

This illustration shows the four-year term cycle used to plan our work. Year 1, which was in 2015, is referred to as Government Foundation: Legislative. This is when we focus on the transition to a new term of Council. Years 2 and 3 are service improvement and capacity building years, when we implement plans for improvements, reviews and building capacity. Year 4, which will be in 2018, is another government foundation year, focused on the election, when we deliver the election and prepare for new term of Council.