City Clerk's Office 2017 Annual Report

Sharpening our strategic focus

Aligning with the Excellence Toronto initiative

As the foundation for local government, we provide critical strategic services to build trust and confidence in government.

In 2016 we aligned our strategies with Excellence Toronto, an initiative for continuous improvement and innovation modelled on Excellence Canada. In 2017 we went a step further by selecting 30 staff members to be certified in process management.

Each individual worked with an actual processes from their unit and over a six-session course, examined their effectiveness and developed recommendations for improvements. Many other staff were involved in discussions about the processes, which deepened the impact of the training. Many of the recommended changes were subsequently implemented, and further process improvement initiatives are underway.

Excellence Toronto is a corporate-wide continuous improvement and innovation initiative to make what we do more efficient and effective while ensuring our stakeholders remain our focus. We will focus our efforts through implementation of a common management framework to enhance alignment across the organization.

Service changes support strategic goals

In 2017 we completed the redevelopment of two service areas.

The Strategic Protocol and External Services unit now focuses on supporting the City's international activities. The team has strengthened its relationship with other divisions involved in international relations and with the consulates in Toronto.

Our Information Production unit, which provides design, high-speed copying, print production and distribution services, had many changes put in place that recognize the changing nature of the workplace. Through consultation with staff at civic centres and other locations, mail frequency and photocopy services were streamlined and realigned.

We also initiated a development process for a new strategic planning initiative across the division, which will continue into 2018. Our strategic planning will focus on developing ways to better measure our progress and successes. This focus, along with the Excellence Canada training initiative, aligns with the City's strategic action of continuous improvement.

Our continuous improvement initiatives included redevelopment of our external web presence. Our staff with web content responsibility were part of a City-wide project to make the whole website leaner and more service-focused.

Adaptability critical in streamlining and improving services

We have fostered a culture of adaptability and flexibility throughout the past decade. With an expectation of continual change, we are always examining how we can shift focus, resources and effort to streamline and improve services.

While we completed reorganization of our Strategic Protocol and External Services unit, we made sure we could continue to provide local protocol support to the City and Members of Council, such as issuing proclamations and flag raisings. We streamlined these services through new online forms and integrated processes.

Our Secretariat unit handled a significant increase in appeals to community councils, which was the development sector's reaction to coming changes to the Ontario Municipal Board.

We were part of an extensive examination of the impact of coming changes to the provincial Construction Lien Act. The changes will have an impact on the City Clerk's Office role as the official entry point for notices of liens.

Formalizing our role in an emergency

In 2016 we formalized our role in the City's emergency management program by developing a protocol for keeping Members of Council informed in the event of a major emergency. As key links with their communities, Members have an important role in sharing information both with their constituents and with emergency managers. Our staff will be the conduit for such communication.

In 2017 we completed development of our emergency support function in consultation with the City's Office of Emergency Management. A small team of staff ensured that we now have two fully-equipped operation centres, and coordinated training of a large enough group of staff from across the division to provide round-the-clock support when needed.

We conducted exercises to test our preparations, and then were able to further test them during an actual extreme weather event. The experience provided insight that was used to further improve our plans.