Department Plan

Corporate Services Department

As part of the KPMG Administrative Efficiency Review recommendations, the accounts payable process is being automated. The automation will move North Perth towards a paperless procedure for receiving, approving, and paying invoices. As well, this will ensure receiving appropriate approvals prior to payment which was becoming more difficult as our organization has grown so rapidly. Once fully implemented, the A/P process will be much more controlled and accessible for staff. Although processing will be more time-consuming for Accounts Payable staff, it is anticipated that less time will be required by Managers and Supervisors to review and approve invoices, as well as time savings in invoice look ups and audits.

The Finance Division experienced structural, operational, and staffing changes throughout 2022 that have impacted the current capacity of the division. External auditor staffing challenges have also impacted division processes and time commitments. At the same time, additional and anticipated workload resulting from increased development, strategic/departmental projects, and legislative requirements of Bill 23 are further limiting current staff capacity.

To prepare and support the implementation of 2022 capital projects, a contract position was approved for the Finance division mid-way through the year. These additional staff resources have been critical to the implementation of the budgeting software and will benefit the future implementation of the Water/Wastewater Meter Replacement project.

To address the staff capacity deficit, two full-time positions are being proposed in the 2023 operating budget (one additional FTE and transition of existing contract position to fulltime/permanent). These positions are required to support the basic service needs of the municipality to address asset management, A/P volumes/backup, external audit preparation and FIR reporting, and granting funding analysis for application preparation and reporting. This is somewhat being managed by contract staff and extra hours by current staff but does not support a healthy, balanced workplace.

Information Technology

IT initiated and completed several significant projects in 2022, including:

• Dell server upgrade

• DUO Multi-Factor Authentication

• Carbon Black migration

• O365 Email and Teams transition

As well, other departmental project work completed by IT included Listowel Station Bell phone system upgrade, numerous construction items, TV installations, equipment moves, AP digitalization (complete), PSD and FMW troubleshooting/integration with the organizations current systems, Fille Transfer Service (FTS) to download bank records via Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) but we will continue to receive FAX's (complete), printer deployment, Rogers cellphone migration, new Council device deployment, updates to AV system/documentation, and network upgrades at St. Marys daycare and SKMC (RED Wi-Fi).

2023 projects have been itemized in the Service Delivery Plan outlined below.

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Last updated: 2023-03-02 15:35 10