Wawa Municipal Council's considering recommendations on transforming its organizational structure - and how it does some things.
In a recent meeting, the firm Municipal Government Wayfinders outlined a review of the municipality's financial and operational situation, comparing it to various other communities in the North, as well as "best practices", to highlight "opportunities for improvement".
While the report noted Wawa's revenues "exceed most comparators", it warned of a "widening infrastructure gap" - particularly with a widening gap in other government funding, on which the Municipality relies for most projects, though also as inflation and asset depreciation outpace investment - and it finds reserves and reserve funds "appear adequate" but there are concerns about long-term debt and unfunded liability.
It makes a variety of recommendations, particularly for garbage - including bringing collection "in-house", cutting down the weekly limit, switching to a quarterly user fee, and implementing a blue box program, possibly with nearby municipalities and First Nations - but also brings up a possible dispute with the Algoma District Services Administration Board on its apportionment calculation, mainly how the model considers the power dam grant - the report recommends a peer review before approaching ADSAB to revisit the model, with its suggested alternative expected to save the Municipality $470,000 a year.
In total, the report expects the recommendations - if fully implemented - would cost an additional $152,000 a year, but expects greater revenues and savings - it also recommends the Municipality's management team develop a list of recommendations for Council to consider implementing each year, including it in the budget process to ensure money's set aside, with semi-annual reports on progress, which would also be addressed in annual management performance reviews.
While Council has accepted the report, it still needs to determine which - if any - recommendations it will implement, how it will do so, and when.