Policy on Policies Framework — full text

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THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF WINDSOR POLICY Service Area: Office of the City Clerk Policy No.: Department: Policy, Licensing, Gaming & By-Law Enforcement Approval Date: July 20, 2015 Division: Policy Approved By: M285/2015 Effective Date: July 20, 2015 Subject: Policy on Policies Framework Procedure Ref.: Review Date: June 29, 2020 Pages:5 Replaces: Prepared By: Anna Ciacelli/Weiyu Liao Date: 1. POLICY 1.1 The Corporation of the City of Windsor is committed to developing efficient and effective policy management tools that improve the administration and delivery of its services to the community. All City of Windsor Policies should be clearly stated and managed in accordance with the guidelines of this Policy Framework. 2. PURPOSE 2.1 To ensure the consistency and uniformity of policy development and maintenance. 2.2 To ensure that staff involved in the process are knowledgeable about the process to ensure continuity across the Corporation. 2.3 In compliance with the recommendation by the outsourced internal audit provider, this policy establishes a framework for the development, revision, approval, distribution and review of all policies. 3. SCOPE 3.1 This policy applies to all City of Windsor departments including Transit Windsor, The Windsor Public Library, agencies, boards, commissions, and committees (ABC's) funded by the City of Windsor, in whole or in part except for those entities who may have their own policy processes in place. 4. RESPONSIBILITY 4.1 City Council is responsible for: 4.1.1 The final approval of all Corporate Policies and amendments to Corporate Policies. 4.2 Standing Committees are responsible for: 4.2.1 Reviewing and approving Corporate Policies and forwarding committee reports with recommendations to City Council for final approval. Policy on Policies Framework Page 2 4.3 The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) is responsible for: 4.3.1 Providing approval of the development of policies across the Corporation prior to their authorization at the Standing or Advisory Committee Level. 4.3.2 Supporting the policy review process including providing guidance and/or direction on issues that may arise. 4.4 The Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) is responsible for: 4.4.1 Providing approval of the development of policies in their areas prior to the CAO providing their authorization. 4.4.2 Supporting the policy review process including providing guidance and/or direction on issues that may arise. 4.5 The Department Head, Manager or Supervisor is responsible for: 4.5.1 Reviewing the department's policies to determine whether policies have been updated according to this Policy Framework or require updating. 4.5.2 Determine the needs of developing new policy. 4.5.3 Develop and/or revise policy for council consideration using the established guidelines. 4.5.4 Consult other relevant stakeholders and conduct surveys when necessary. 4.5.5 Determine areas of overlap in existing/new policies and recommend to rescind/revise where necessary. 4.5.6 Forward the proposed policy and accompanying report to the CLT for approval. 4.5.7 Developing appropriate training programs to ensure the policy is well communicated and understood by all who need to know. 4.6 The Communications Division and/or department designate/author is responsible for: 4.6.1 Assisting the Authoring department in communicating the new policy corporate wide to ensure compliance/understanding of necessary requirements and steps to develop and update policies according to this Policy Framework. 4.7 The Corporate Policy Coordinator is responsible for: 4.7.1 Providing support to various departments in the development of policy where necessary. 4.7.2 Posting the approved policies to the City's Internal Dashboard and when necessary to the City's External Website. 4.7.3 Ensuring that the most current version of the approved policies are available on the internal City Dashboard Site and recorded in the Policy Database. 4.7.4 Ensuring proper record keeping in the Office of the City Clerk. 4.7.5 Reviewing and maintaining the Policy Database according to review timelines and notify policy owners/authors of the review schedule. 4.7.6 Ensuring proper employee group consultation in conjunction with human resources for all policies affecting personnel. 4.8 Employees are responsible for: 4.8.1 Regularly reviewing corporate policies and for complying with all Policies and Procedures as approved by City Council. Policy on Policies Framework Page 3 5. GOVERNING RULES AND REGULATIONS 5.1 Review and Development of Policy 5.1.1 The need for a new or revised policy may be required by legislation or may be identified by the department most responsible, the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), the auditor, the Corporate Leadership Team (CLT), or the Corporate Policy Coordinator. 5.1.2 Prior to developing or revising a proposed policy or amendment, the department most responsible for the policy should determine the requirements, constraints and expected outcomes of the policies. 5.2 Survey and Consultation 5.2.1 If appropriate, the department most responsible for the policy should form a policy development team with representation from each affected department to develop the policy. 5.2.2 The Policy development team is responsible for conducting a survey of the policy issue and options for policy direction. This may include benchmarking, legal research and financial impact analysis. 5.2.3 Consultation shall be completed in accordance with the following: 5.2.3.1 Must ask the question of who is affected by the proposed policy. 5.2.3.2 If there is a Collective Agreement involved, the Human Resources Department and the Union representatives should be consulted if the terms of the agreement may be affected by this policy creation. 5.2.3.3 Ensuring that proper research is conducted decreases the likelihood of duplication of an existing City of Windsor Approved Policy. 5.2.3.4 Obtain the necessary technical and legal advice if required. 5.2.3.5 Any conflicting policy proposals should be reconciled during the consultation stage. 5.3 Development and Approval of Policy 5.3.1 Each department is responsible for developing or revising policy according to the guidelines of this Policy Framework. 5.3.2 The Policy Template available by accessing the policies/procedures page on Dashboard shall be used in the development and revision of all Corporate Policies. The use of this template will ensure consistency of Policy creation/revision throughout the Corporation. 5.3.3 Policies shall be and remain consistent with relevant Federal/Provincial and Municipal legislation as well as the City's Strategic Plan as amended from time to time. 5.3.4 It is the responsibility of the policy author to determine any areas of overlap, contradiction, or integration with other existing Corporate Policies. 5.3.5 References to related policies must be stated within the new or revised policy. 5.3.6 Procedures may be developed as the need arises to clarify the steps required to implement and enforce policies. The procedure template is available by accessing the policies/procedures page on Dashboard. 5.3.7 All policy documents will contain plain, clear, concise wording, enabling a wide range of users to understand the content. Where prescribed terminology is used (i.e. extracted from legislation) a clear description of the Policy on Policies Framework Page 4 terminology should be contained in the definitions section of the policy to allow cross-referencing and comprehension. 5.3.8 A preliminary review of each new or revised policy by the appropriate department is required, once approval of the CAO is attained, a final version of the policy along with a Council Report detailing/outlining the policy and reasons for development shall be submitted for the appropriate Standing Committee Agenda Review. 5.3.9 When the Policy and corresponding Council Report have been approved by the Agenda Review Committee for an upcoming Standing Committee meeting, it proceeds for signature approval. When the policy and corresponding Council Report have been recommended to proceed by the Standing Committee to City Council for consideration, it will be placed on an upcoming council agenda for approval. Council will provide formal approval for all Corporate Policies. 5.4 Review Process 5.4.1 All policies shall be reviewed every five years (or more frequently) as per the Policy Review Procedure which can be found on the Policies/Procedures page on Dashboard, and in accordance with the following: 5.4.1.1 External drivers, such as legislation changes, court decisions, government policies or strategies. 5.4.1.2 Internal drivers, such as Council decisions, new strategies, identification of issues by stakeholders or staff, new practices, or new technologies. 5.4.2 If there is no alternate review date which has been established and highlighted within the policy then 5.4.1 above shall apply. 5.4.3 The review process ensures that the periodic review of all policies takes place so that the policy continues to be relevant, current and supports the achievement of desired objectives. 5.4.4 Departments shall provide up to date referenced documents as necessary. 5.4.5 According to review schedules a listing of policies will be made available to Managers of Administration to ensure their departments review/revision of policies according to specified timelines. 5.4.6 The Corporate Policy Coordinator will track review dates/schedules and appropriately document the Policy Database with updates as required. 5.4.7 Should minor revisions to policies be required i.e. formatting, numbering, typos, spelling etc., The Corporate Policy Coordinator will make these minor revisions without reporting them to Council as long as these minor changes do not change the content or intent of the policy itself. Departments are required to report any minor changes to the Corporate Policy Coordinator prior to changes to the policy being made. 5.5 Distribution and Communication 5.5.1 The Communication Division/Designate will distribute the policy corporate wide. If training is required the Department authoring the policy will coordinate with the Human Resources Department to carry out the necessary training. 5.5.2 The Corporate Policy Coordinator will post the policy to the City's Dashboard Internal Website and to the City's External Website if required. The new Council Policy will be recorded in the Policy Database and a record will be kept in the Office of the City Clerk. Policy on Policies Framework Page 5 5.6 Definitions "Enforce"--to make people obey something "Framework"--Framework is defined as a set of ideas, principles, agreements, or rules that provides the basis or outline for something "Legislation"--Legislation is defined as a law or laws passed by an official body, especially a governmental assembly "Policy"--Policy is defined as corporate direction that is formally adopted by Council resolution "Survey"--To do a statistical study of a sample group by asking pertinent questions about the topic in question "Template"--something that serves as a master or pattern from which other similar things can be made 6. RECORDS, FORMS AND ATTACHMENTS 6.1 A copy of all policies and corresponding material in addition to a Policy Database will be kept in the Office of the City Clerk as indicated in the Records Retention By-law as updated from time to time. 6.2 The Policy Template, Procedure Template, and Policy Review Procedure are all related documents that are available by accessing the City's Dashboard website.