Lousy City Planning Report Inadequate: BENN
If you want a better job, you have to be better at your job. Some frank advice I had to give to a person who was whining about a colleague getting promoted instead of her.
The thought resurfaced when I read Dan Stankovic’s column earlier this week in The Bulldog. The one regarding yet another woefully inadequate submission recommending council approve a $1.2-million property tax grant under the Community Improvement Plan.
In this instance, the recommendation appears to rest on an analysis that can be summarized as: the property is in a community; the property is undeveloped, and thus adding a building will be an improvement; and … well nothing else. No analysis of how adding another commercial retail low-rise plaza will actually improve Orleans. No analysis of how this meets the objective of adding higher density anything to sites that are within walking distance of an LRT station. No analysis of pretty much anything pertinent. Oh, and the reason that it was submitted on the Friday before the long weekend, for a meeting on the following Tuesday? Well, it seems that the developer wants its work plan not to be delayed whilst council goes on a summer break. Did I miss anything of consequence Dan?
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Back to the lede. The author of this report needs be better at their job. Period. Prepare a report that provides an analysis of how this is a good use of the land at issue. Such a good use that it deserves a $1.2-million property-tax break. That the structure will draw people to the area. People who aren’t already driving by. Along the lines of it being a gateway to the community, like the Porsche dealership at the corner of Montreal Road and St. Laurent Boulevard (sarcasm alert). In short, prepare a report of a quality that allows the people who are tasked with oversight to do their jobs.
On to the second half of this equation: the members of city council, including our esteemed mayor. Members of city council need to be better at their jobs. In particular, the part that involves making decisions that impact the entire city. They need to communicate to staff the concept that a report needs (an imperative, not a nice to have) to provide sufficient information to allow council to make a reasoned, informed decision. Council needs to advise senior city management that any report that arrives on a councillor’s desktop that is incomplete, that is replete with boiler plate but missing actual analysis is a reflection of the quality of that manager’s performance – i.e. the manager needs to be better at their job.
Very simply put, a woefully inadequate report from a relatively junior staff member does not mean that it is just the junior staff member who needs to get better at their job. It also means that every manager up the chain of command has not done their job properly. Did they read the report thoroughly? Did they highlight what it was missing? Did they edit it? Or … did they just move it along the path towards the councillors desktop? The least effort required to get it off their own desk.
A quick quip from too many decades ago still resonates it my head. It used to drive my summer job boss crazy. “Good enough for government work”. He correctly interpreted it as indicative of a lazy, sloppy effort.
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Staff aren’t producing. Their managers are accepting without meaningful pushback. Councillors are not rejecting the work as inadequate. It is part of the culture that has infected city hall for far too long. Good enough for government work is an acceptable standard.
Sigh.
Ron Benn, a finance executive, has been a member of the Centrepointe Community Association for the better part of three decades.
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Very good commentary from Ron Benn…but people who vote do not seem to care because those who push this line of thinking are often seen as unpleasant nitpickers and unpleasant nonjoiners.
I agree with Ron but what can be done?
Peter, I have pointed out to my previous and my current councillor that they need to insist that staff provide complete reports, in a format designed to support the decisions that need to be made, on a timely basis. My message was delivered clearly and politely. To the credit of both councillors, neither attempted to defend the undefendable.
The worst that can happen is that they continue to ignore the advice.
Mr. Benn:
Maybe they don’t understand the advise.