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Policy and Procedure
Policy:
Strategic Asset Management Policy
Effective Date:
June 3, 2019
Approved By:
By-law 51-2019
Supersedes:
N/A
Last Reviewed:
June 3, 2019
Pages:
6
Purpose:
A strategic asset management policy formalizes the Municipality's commitment to asset
management, aligns its asset management actions with strategic goals and objectives, and
provides direction to guide Council, management and staff in carrying out its business
strategies, plans and activities. This policy will support the Municipality in focusing its
infrastructure efforts on managing risks, addressing priorities, and meeting short and
long-term needs within the bounds of possible funding.
Vision:
The Municipality's vision is devoted to proactively managing its assets to best serve the
Municipality's objectives, including:
− Prioritizing the need for existing and future assets to effectively and efficiently
provide services,
− Supporting sustainability and economic development,
− Maintaining prudent financial planning and decision making, and
− Environmental Stewardship.
Objectives:
The objectives of this policy are to:
− Deliver a consistent outline for applying asset management throughout the
organization.
− Provide transparency and accountability and to demonstrate to stakeholders the
legitimacy of decision-making processes which combine strategic plans, budgets,
service levels and risks.
Strategic Alignment:
Council and Senior Management will review this policy and incorporate it along with
legislative requirements into the asset management planning approach that promotes the
combination of municipal documents such as, but not limited to:
− Strategic Plan
− Community Improvement Plan
− Asset Management Plan
− Master Plans
− Emergency Response Plan
− Official Plan
− Conservation Demand Management Plan
− Other informing documents as developed by the Municipality
All of the Municipality's plans rely to some extent on the physical assets owned by the
Municipality of Bluewater and the commitment of staff to ensure their strategic use. This
includes the long-term maintenance, repair, and replacement of existing assets along with
the acquisition of new assets to meet the evolving needs of the Municipality.
Asset management planning therefore will not occur in isolation from other municipal
goals, plans and policies. Rather, as an integrated approach will be followed to successfully
develop practical asset management plans that align with the overarching accountabilities
and aspirations of our Municipality, in compliance with legislation and reflecting the best
practices that ensure optimal fact-based decisions are made.
Stakeholder Engagement:
The Municipality recognizes the importance of stakeholder engagement as an integral
component of a comprehensive asset management approach. The municipality recognizes
the local residents, businesses and institutions as the key stakeholders in its asset
management activities and neighbouring municipal bodies, provincial agencies, and
regulated utilities as partners in service delivery. Accordingly, the Municipality will foster
informed dialogue with these parties using the best available information by:
− Providing opportunities for residents and other stakeholders served by the
municipality to provide input in asset management planning; and
− Coordinating asset management planning with other infrastructure asset owning
agencies such as municipal bodies and regulated utilities.
Guiding Principles:
The Infrastructure for Jobs and Prosperity Act, 2015 sets out principles to guide asset
management planning in municipalities in Ontario. The Municipality of Bluewater will
strive to incorporate the following principles whenever possible into its daily operations:
− Forward looking: The Municipality shall take a long-term view while considering
Staff/Council turnover, demographic and economic trends in the community.
− Budgeting and planning: The Municipality shall take into account any applicable
budgets or fiscal plans, including those adopted through Ontario legislation. Staff is
committed to providing options and recommendations to Council to assist with
informed decisions.
− Prioritizing: The Municipality shall clearly identify infrastructure priorities that will
drive investment decisions, while keeping in mind capacity to pay, risk, levels of
service, and citizen/community stakeholder input.
− Economic development: The Municipality shall promote heritage awareness,
economic competitiveness, productivity, job creation, and training opportunities.
− Transparency: The Municipality shall be evidence-based and transparent, basing
decision(s) on publicly shared information and making sure the information is
accessibly available to the pubic in a wide range of communication
methods/sources.
− Consistency: The Municipality shall ensure that continued provision of core public
services within its jurisdiction.
− Environmentally conscious: The Municipality shall minimize the effect of
infrastructure on the environment by:
1. Respecting and helping maintain ecological and biological diversity,
2. Expanding flexibility towards the effects of climate change, and
3. Striving to make use of acceptable recycled aggregates.
− Health and safety: The Municipality shall ensure that the health and safety of
workers involved in the construction and maintenance of infrastructure assets is
protected.
− Community focused: The Municipality shall promote community benefits, being
the supplementary benefits that arise from infrastructure projects. These social
and economic benefits are intended to improve the well-being of a community
affected by the project, such as:
1. Local job creation and training opportunities,
2. Enhancement and development of public spaces within the community, and
3. Promoting accessibility for persons with disabilities.
− Innovation: The Municipality shall generate opportunities to make use of
innovative technologies, services, and practices, particularly where doing so would
utilize technology, methods, and practices developed in Ontario.
− Integration: The Municipality shall where relevant and appropriate, be mindful and
considerate to the principles and content of non-binding provincial or municipal
plans and strategies established under an Act or otherwise, in planning and making
decisions surrounding the infrastructure that supports them.
− Best Practices: The Municipality will develop levels of service and apply asset
management best practices to maintain the confidence of stakeholders in how the
Municipality's assets are managed. The Municipality will choose practices,
interventions and operations that aim at reducing the lifecycle cost of asset
ownership, while satisfying levels of service. Decisions are based on balancing
service levels, risks and costs.
Community Planning:
Asset management planning will be aligned with the Municipality's Official Plan and the
current Provincial Policy Statement of the Planning Act. The asset management plans will
reflect how the community is projected to change with respect to development. The
Municipality will achieve this by consulting with those responsible for managing the
services to analyze the future costs and viability of projected changes. The combination of
lifecycle analysis and financial sustainability principles will be the driver in the selection of
community development or redevelopment that requires new assets, or existing asset
enhancements. Methods, assumptions, and data used in the selection of projected
changes should be documented to support the recommendations in the Asset
Management Plan.
Climate Change:
Climate change will be considered as part of the Municipality's risk management approach
embedded in local asset management planning methods. This approach will balance the
potential cost of vulnerabilities to climate change impact and other risks with the cost of
reducing these vulnerabilities. Bolstering resilience to climate change includes adapting to
opportunities to manage vulnerabilities, anticipating possible costs to support
contingency funds, and disaster planning to allow for business continuity. The
Municipality will tailor these actions by striking a balance between its organizational
capacity, financial and community stakeholder support, and the local risks and
vulnerabilities related to climate change. The Municipality will continue to collaborate
with local municipalities/upper tier and community stakeholders such as, but not limited
to the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Natural Resources, and Conservation
Authorities to support a common goal of climate change mitigation and adaption.
Scope and Capitalization Thresholds:
This policy applies to all assets owned by the Municipality whose role in service delivery
requires deliberate management by the Municipality. The Municipality will use a service-
based (qualitative) perspective when applying this policy to municipal assets, rather than a
monetary value (quantitative). The service-focus intent of this policy differentiates its
requirements for identifying assets from the capitalization thresholds that are developed
for the purpose of financial reporting. For this reason, the capitalization threshold
developed for financial reporting will not be the guide in selecting the assets covered by
the asset management planning process.
Financial Planning and Budgeting:
The Municipality will integrate asset management planning into the annual capital budget,
operating budget, and its long-term financial plan. A multi-disciplinary team that will
include representative(s) from finance and the concerned service area will complete the
financial strategy included in each asset management plan. The asset management plan
will be used as a resource in order to:
Identify all potential revenues and costs (including operating maintenance, replacement
and decommissioning) associated with forthcoming infrastructure asset decisions;
Evaluate the validity and need of each significant new capital asset, including considering
the impact on future operating costs; and incorporate new revenue tools and alternative
funding strategies where possible.
The department level budget submission prepared by each Senior Manager will be
reviewed and evaluated by the CAO and Manager of Finance in the preparation of the
Municipality's annual budget. Service area personnel will reference the asset
management plan for their area in order to look up forecasted spending needs identified
in the plan, verify progress made on the plan to identify potential gaps, and prioritize
spending needs, across the gap identified in the plan and recent developments, for the
year to be budgeted for. Finance staff will be involved in the asset management planning
process to coordinate the information from the service personnel in the preparation of
the budget submission.
For the purpose of managing water and wastewater assets, the water and wastewater
financial plans will be used as a basis for establishing user fees, and master plans will be
referenced in order to ensure alignment with the budgeting process.
Governance and Continuous Improvement
The policy requires the commitment of key stakeholders within the Municipality's
organization to ensure the policy guides the development of a clear plan that can be
implemented, reviewed and updated.
The Council is entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing, on behalf of citizens, a large
range of services provided through a diverse portfolio of assets. Council, having
stewardship responsibility, is the final decision maker on all matters related to asset
management in the Municipality. The Council and senior management are committed to
the success of asset management planning. The following details the responsibilities of the
key stakeholders within the Municipality:
Council:
Approve by resolution the asset management plan and its updates every five years;
Conduct annual reviews of the management plan implementation progress on or before
July 1st of every year, that includes:
− Progress on ongoing efforts to implement the asset management plans;
− Consideration of the Strategic Asset Management Policy;
− Approve Levels of Service;
− Any factors affecting the ability/capacity of the Municipality to implement its asset
management plans;
− Consultation with senior management;
− A strategy to address these factors including the adoption of appropriate practices;
and
− Support ongoing efforts to continuously improve and implement the asset
management plans.
Executive Lead:
The Manager of Finance is designated the Executive Lead on the Strategic Asset
Management Policy to ensure an ongoing capital lens on micro and macro financial
decisions.
− Manage policy and policy updates;
o Make policy changes that are minor or administrative in nature as needed;
− Provide organization-wide leadership in asset management practices and
concepts;
− Coordinate between provincial requirements and departmental staff;
− Monitor levels of service; and
− Coordinate and track asset management program implementation and progress.
Senior Management:
− Work with executive lead to maintain compliance with the asset management
policy and provincial asset management regulations;
− Development of policy and policy updates;
− Provide corporate oversight to ensure the asset management program aligns with
the Municipality's Strategic Plan;
− Ensure that adequate resources are available to implement and maintain key
practices;
− Coordinate departmental staff activities;
− Develop, monitor and make levels of service recommendations to Council; and
− Track, analyze and report on asset management program progress and results.
Departmental Staff:
− Utilize the new business processes and technology tools developed as part of the
asset management program;
− Participate in task implementation teams to carry out asset management activities;
− Implement and maintain levels of service;
− Provide support and direction for asset management practices within home
department; and
− Track and analyze asset management program progress and results.