Although the concept of…

Although the concept of managing assets and planning for future purchases makes perfect sense and I believe that each municipality should implement Asset Management Plans, I find the expectations put on small municipalities excessive as we are all understaffed, underfunded and ill equipped to handle a task of this scope, particularly within the timelines provided.

It would have been useful if the province had provided a loose template for AMP's and also if there was one common software program that all municipalities could use to manage their assets. This would not only benefit each municipality but the Province as well when reviewing plans as there would be greater consistency between plans and comparatives would be more accurate and paint a truer picture, i.e. everybody would be assessed based on the same criteria. It would also eliminate a flurry of private firms vying for your business by throwing together complicated program that are not user friendly in order that they can make a buck while municipalities are left to flounder while not getting any further ahead.

I also disagree with the need for a professional engineer to sign off on AMP's for 3 reasons: 1) There are no professional engineers within less than a 4.5 hour drive from us which adds drastically to our costs and adds to expenses we already don't have the capacity to cover; 2) I find it unlikely that any engineer would be willing to sign off on somebody else's work without a lengthy review which again, costs money 3) I find it unlikely that one engineer would sign off on the entire plan

- you may have a structural engineer sign off on the facilities part of the plan but, for example, refuse to sign off on the road inventory or the underground infrastructure associated with water and wastewater, or some such other asset. this is not a reasonable requirement for small, rural, isolated communities such as ourselves for logistical reasons as well as financial reasons. We just do not have easy access to these types of professionals.

As an aside, funding for AMP's needs to be made more accessible. Staff does not have time to fill out long and complicated applications

- we just want to fulfill our requirements and end up with a useful, quality document that will assist us in managing our futures.

Thank you for the opportunity to express my concerns.

[Original Comment ID: 210144]