A new committee of City of Greater Sudbury council has been struck to spur economic growth by having the city employ “best-in-class policies and processes.”
The committee — a.k.a. the Future-Ready Development Services Committee — follows through on a pledge Mayor Paul Lefebvre made during a Northeastern Ontario Construction Association event in March to find the “best way of streamlining and of encouraging investment in Sudbury.”
During last week's council meeting, Lefebvre announced its membership, including councillors Mike Parent, Pauline Fortin, Fern Cormier, Joscelyne Landry-Altmann, and himself.
Two members from the former City of Sudbury and two from outlying communities, he said, citing Parent’s motion from February targeting so-called “red tape” as being in the same vein, “of trying to reduce the challenges of trying to do business in Sudbury.”
“Any councillor can participate at any of these meetings,” Lefebvre said, adding that these are all public meetings supported by the clerk’s office.
“The purpose is to have witnesses come forward to us to testify and share their practices and their insights,” he said, noting that these witnesses will come from various fields related to developments, such as architects, engineers and planners.
“People that have a lot of experience dealing with our municipality, as well as other municipalities as to the best case, the best processes that they have seen and experienced ... and learn from best practices,” he explained.
Lefebvre anticipates hosting one meeting in June, followed by a few before drawing things to a close by the end of the year, at which time a report will be drafted by city staff for city council consideration.
In Lefebvre’s successful motion from last week's meeting, it’s noted that city CAO Ed Archer will “be directed to assign staff with experience in data analysis and process reviews to support the objectives of the committee.”
The committee’s objectives, as outlined in Lefebvre’s motion, include
- Receive presentations from organizations in the private and public sector to highlight areas of strength or areas for improvement or change.
- Review and receive reports on practices in place in other municipalities.
- Review historical city data describing activity levels and processing cycle times.
- Identify changes, where required, to development policies, practices and procedures.
- Prepare a final report describing the Committee’s findings for consideration by city council.
In April, Lefebvre announced a task force to tackle labour attraction, the details of which have yet to be released.
Both the committee formed Monday and the proposed task force are a means of aiding in Lefebvre’s goal to increase Greater Sudbury’s population to 200,000 within 20 years.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
