p r es i d e nt ’ s m es s ag e in this issue President’s Message 2 Executive Director’s Message 4 Excellence in Local Government Finance Awards 7 Member Profile 8 Membership Survey 10 2021 Small Communities’ Forum 11 Collectors’ Corner 12 MFA’s Corner 13
Assessment Appeals: An Overview and Planning for Risk to the Roll 16 In Control: Why Monitor When We Know It Is Broken? 18 Construction Projects and the Benefits of an Owner-Controlled Insurance Program 19 Time to Renew: Understanding Group Benefit Renewals 21 Understanding Why Municipalities Are Paying More for WorkSafeBC Coverage 22 How Your Local Government Can Engage Citizens and Improve Budget Transparency 23 Quarterly Question 24 Thank You Exhibitors 25 Thank You Sponsors 26 2 | GFOABC.CA
T
his year’s conference theme of “Response, Recovery, Resilience” was incredibly apropos, wouldn’t you say? Last year, when we all had to respond to the pandemic by pivoting on a dime (and then keep pivoting…), I expect many of us thought we’d be back to “normal” by now. Well, if we’ve learned anything over the past year it’s that normal is taking longer than expected to get back to and it’s likely to look different than we anticipated. We’re over a year into the pandemic and while recovery is still ongoing (definitely more of a marathon than a sprint), it is clearly showing us that local governments across BC are a resilient bunch. As an association, we quickly learned that although there are a lot of challenges, there are also surprising benefits to our new way of doing things. Our second virtual
Board of Directors Lorraine Coughlin President Nyla Attiana Vice President Rianna Lachance Secretary-Treasurer Trevor Thompson Past President
conference provided us, once again, the opportunity to reach out to our members and provide learning opportunities from the comfort of your desks, or maybe even dining room tables or couches for those working from home. This year, knowing everyone is pretty “zoomed-out”, we knew we had to keep the bar high and deliver sessions which would not only engage members from afar, but also provide networking and social opportunities we enjoy when we normally meet in person. And, as an extra bonus, once it’s over, it’s not completely over. One of the ongoing benefits of the virtual conference is that the sessions are recorded so if you missed one or need a refresher, you can go back and view it at any time. Given the terrific turnout and positive response we’ve had from
Directors at Large Julia Aspinall Jim Bauer Jeannie Bradburne Shelley Halm Kathy Humphrey Lenora Lee Talitha Soldera
Staff Kala Harris, Executive Director Erica Christie, Manager, Operations and Member Services Gerilee McBride, Graphic Design
