Overview of the Department

The Municipality of North Perth’s Corporate Services Department is the support center for the organization’s legislative, technology and financial needs. The Legislative Services, Information Technology (IT), Procurement, and Finance divisions fall within the Department’s scope and provide a focused provision of services to the public and other municipal departments.

The Legislative Services Division is responsible for fulfilling the statutory and administrative functions of the Municipal Clerk. These functions include agenda and meeting management for Council and its committees; administration and management of the municipal election; processing Freedom of Information requests; ensuring accessibility requirements are met under the AODA; vital statistics; and licensing. Legislative Services also provides leadership to other staff members to ensure that proper procedure and protocol are followed in accordance with the Municipal Act, Planning Act, Drainage Act, and other pieces of legislation. Customer service to all municipal departments, elected officials, other levels of government and the public is provided on a continuous basis. The Legislative Services Division also monitors, research and reports on any developments in the municipal sector to ensure that the organization is aligned with any legislative changes.

Procurement management encompasses the evaluation, selection, and creation of formal contractual agreements as well as managing the company's ongoing supplier relationships. Procurement is a complex discipline spanning many interrelated activities with its main areas being the support of operational requirements, managing the procurement process efficiently and effectively, the development of strong relationships with internal management areas and vendors and supporting organization goals and objectives. For this year’s Business Plan, the Procurement Management Division will be integrated with the Finance Department and will be segregated out with the development of a new organizational strategic plan.

The IT Division ensures that the municipal network of computers and telecommunication systems function properly and connect well. IT staff have three major areas of responsibilities, which include governance of the Municipality's technological systems, maintenance of the infrastructure, and functionality of the systems overall. Staff work with computer software and hardware to configure, monitor, evaluate and maintain reliable and secure systems for the Municipality’s network, computer, and telecommunication systems. In addition, IT staff provide technical support for software and hardware issues that users encounter by responding to and resolving help desk requests and ensuring appropriate backups of data. Network (intranet and internet) and email play a key role in the Municipality’s communication and data transfer of information to Council, staff and the public, both internally and externally. Productivity and efficiency improvements using technology are the key focus to support all municipal services to achieve their objectives

The Finance Division includes the services of Budgeting, Asset Management, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Payroll, and Development Coordination supports. The Division is responsible for managing the Municipality’s financial resources in a fiscally responsible manner. The Division’s responsibilities include establishing and implementing policies for the invoicing, receipt and expenditure of municipal funds, maintaining the municipality’s accounting and other financial records, budget development, municipal levy calculations for general, stormwater and BIA, property taxation, water and sewer billing, payroll and related administration, grant funding, debt financing, investments, risk management, quarterly and

Version 0.1

Last updated: 2023-03-02 15:35