EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: As a…

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: As a result of our review of the regulation, we recommend that you consider extending the timelines for phases II and III of the development of comprehensive asset management plans by at least two years, for reasons detailed below. Brampton and its regional neighbours concur that this will help ensure a successful implementation of the proposed regulation.

IN DETAIL …

CITY OF BRAMPTON AND ASSET MANAGEMENT: As the 4th largest and 2nd fastest growing community in Ontario, the City of Brampton owns and operates a substantial and diverse portfolio of assets spanning several service areas. These assets are essential to the well-being of the community, have significant budget implications, and forms an integral part of the City’s long term financial and service delivery planning. Since 2012, municipalities seeking provincial funding for infrastructure projects have been required to demonstrate how each proposal aligns with their asset management plan. In December 2016, Brampton became part of the 95 per cent of Ontario municipalities that had developed an asset management plan that focused only on core infrastructure such as roads, bridges, water, wastewater and storm water.

Our Council endorsed feedback on EBR #013-0551, Proposed Municipal Asset Management Planning Regulation, focuses on the following areas:

FULL LIFECYCLE OF ASSETS: The City welcomes the increased emphasis within the proposed regulation on total lifecycle costs, sustainable service levels and alignment with capital budgeting. Currently, the majority of the City’s physical assets are long lived assets and all infrastructure investment decisions should consider the full lifecycle of these assets in conjunction with risk and level of service.

SERVICE LEVEL INDICATORS: The mandatory core infrastructure service level indicators prescribed by the regulation are easy to report on, however are not necessarily the best indicators to measure existing service levels. Large municipalities like Brampton, that over the long-term will have the required staff capacity and resources, should have the flexibility to report other service level indicators that are more appropriate for establishing target levels of service for their residents, particularly for phase II assets.

COMPREHENSIVE ASSET MANAGEMENT PLANS: The City supports the provincial initiative of capturing all other infrastructure assets in addition to core infrastructure within municipal asset management plans. For the City, these other assets represent our transit, parks, recreation facilities, libraries, fire halls, IT infrastructure and many other supporting assets from different service areas. We believe, however, that majority of Ontario municipalities will be assessing the condition and estimating the complete lifecycle costs of these non-core assets for the first time along with identifying their service levels and performance measures. The City recommends extending the timelines for the phased development of comprehensive asset management plans by at least two years.

ISO 55000: Last year, the City of Brampton established a corporate asset management office and developed an asset management plan to ensure our infrastructure assets are managed according to an evidence-based decision model to maintain current levels of service in the most cost-effective manner while demonstrating leadership in municipal asset management planning by adopting the ISO 55000 global standards for asset management.

The City’s corporate asset management team is developing a comprehensive registry of current levels of service across the City. This registry will allow our Council, staff and residents to have a clear understanding of the service levels currently being delivered. This information will help quantify the impact of capital and operating budget envelopes on service levels delivery, manage risks as well as establish a clear line of sight between our strategic goals and asset management objectives. We are committed to survey our residents on their willingness to pay in accordance with their desired levels of service to ensure they receive the maximum return for the City’s investment in infrastructure.

In accordance with the global ISO 55000 international standards for asset management, the City will be undertaking key initiatives according to the asset management roadmap endorsed by our Council that aligns with the requirements of the proposed asset management planning regulation.

We have also adopted an asset management policy to ensure our asset management plan will be customer focused, regulatory driven, sustainable and based on all lifecycle activities required to keep our infrastructure in a state of good repair.

BRAMPTON’S ASSET MANAGEMENT TRAINING AND INNOVATION CENTRE: The City of Brampton has just formally launched the first ever Asset Management Training and Innovation Centre in Canada, endorsed by the internationally recognized Institute of Asset Management (IAM). As we believe that less than five per cent of Ontario municipalities have the staff capacity to internally develop or implement asset management plans, the City of Brampton has taken on this initiative to help the municipal sector to advance their asset management planning processes. A comprehensive asset management framework is valuable for Ontario municipalities as it will help them make the most of capital grant programs on the basis of robust asset management plans.

Having an asset management training facility in Brampton will not only enhance the asset management planning capabilities of our staff, but it will also establish the City of Brampton’s reputation as a national leader in asset management.

CONCLUSION: Thank you once again for the opportunity to provide comments on the proposed asset management planning regulation.

If you wish, you can ACCESS THE FULL REPORT APPROVED BY THE CITY OF BRAMPTON’S COUNCIL by visiting http://www.brampton.ca/EN/City-Hall/meetings-agendas/City%20Council%202010/20170705cc_Agenda.pdf , and go to Item 8.6. Again, thank you.

[Original Comment ID: 210240]