City Matters, February 2013

Resourceful spirit, Growing Opportunity

City MattersYour City ~ Your News

www.cityofgp.com

February 2013

2013 Photo Contest Winners

Message from the MayorIs it Spring yet?

It’s hard to believe we’re already into the second month of 2013! While we all wait for the warm weather and melting snow, this also means Council is in the last few months of its term before the October election.

Recently we reviewed our 2012-2014 Strategic Business Plan to see what progress has been made towards the goals we set at the start of the term. The plan has three Focus Areas and I’d like to note some of the highlights and the progress we’ve made.

The Capture Grande Prairie photo contest was held from Nov. 29 to Jan. 13 to gather seasonal photos for general media use, publications, advertising and web content.

Over 300 photos were received from residents!

Angie Patterson - 1st Place Winter Category Laurie Fisher - 1st Place Spring Category

Lloyd Dykstra - 1st Place Summer Category Britani Dunlop - 1st Place Fall Category

Continued on page 2

City Matters Your City~ Your News

Community Engagement and ConsultationCouncil wanted to increase residents’ involvement in municipal initiatives and decision-making. To address this, we asked Administration to develop a framework for Community Engagement and Consultation. On Nov. 5, we launched activateGP, a comprehensive Citizen Engagement Program. It includes a Policy to ensure consistency in how we reach out to the public, partnerships with community agencies, and a toolkit and training for City staff to enhance how we involve residents.

We’ve introduced a new communications plan, which bolsters efforts to provide

information to residents, including introduction of an online newsletter this month and increased frequency of our City Matters publication by incorporating it into Community Connections.

Council believes neighbourhood associations are a key to allowing residents to be more actively involved in shaping the personality of their neighbourhoods. The first association was established in Pinnacle Ridge and efforts are underway to create more in the coming months.

Balancing Excellence with ValueCouncil knows that more than anything our customer service impacts how residents feel about the City. As a result, this focus area is intended to identify ways to refine and improve the services we offer by looking for efficiencies, encouraging new ideas and stepping up our level of service.

Council requested development of a customer-centred, exceptional service model – basically we want to develop a new way of interacting with our customers. In response, staff has developed an ‘Exceptional Service’ program that

provides increased training for city employees and encourages sharing internal and external service ideas between the city’s different departments.

We are also developing an Innovation Recognition program to shine the spotlight on the great ideas and business improvements that City staff as well as individuals and organizations in the community bring forward.

Finally, at the end of winter we will review our snow removal practices and service levels to see what lessons were learned and where we can improve. Each snow removal campaign is different. For example, by late December we already had more snow than what we get during an entire winter on average!

Fiscal SustainabilityCouncil recognized that unless significant changes take place, taxes will continue to increase and our ability to deliver the services and infrastructure residents expect will diminish. To address this reality, the City must diversify its tax base by attracting commercial & industrial development to offset our heavy reliance on residential properties.

First, we require the right amount and type of land

Mayor’s Message Continued

City Matters Your City ~ Your News

March

to enable us to offer development opportunities like the County can today. The City and the County of Grande Prairie have been negotiating terms of an annexation to provide the City with that much-needed land base. Right now, the two sides are in mediation and I hope we’ll be able to submit our annexation application to the Municipal Government Board later this year.

The second step is having a plan in place to actually get new developments and

buildings being built within city limits. An Industrial Attraction Strategy is due to come before Council this month. Its recommendations are based on input from business leaders and will position the City to capture more of this important type of development.

Finally, several steps have been undertaken on development of a Fiscal Sustainability Model. This initiative is intended to ensure we can manage expected fiscal requirements and withstand future financial

Events Calendar

challenges so the City of Grande Prairie can continue delivering the programs and services residents count on.

Council’s focus is, of course, much broader than the Strategic Plan but it’s good to know that we’ve made great progress on the goals we set.

All the best,

Mayor Bill Given

Armchair Travel 2013 Every Wednesday Grande Prairie Public Library7:00 p.m.

Curling Funspiel and Supper March 1 Grande Prairie Curling Club10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

Home and Garden Show March 15-17 TEC Centre10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Easter Eggstravaganza March 30 Muskoseepi ParkNoon-4:00 p.m.

Xcessive Force Fighting March 30 TEC CentreChampionship 1 7:00 p.m.

Sports Expo April 5-7 TEC Centre11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

33rd Annual Art Auction April 13 Art Gallery of Grande Prairie7:00 p.m.

April


ActivateGP Implementation UnderwayGrande Prairie residents have made it clear they want to take an active role in shaping the future of the city. Our response is activateGP, a comprehensive Citizen Engagement Program.

The input collected brings this initiative to life and greatly assists us in ensuring activateGP is informed by the specific opportunities, issues and challenges our community faces.

Other components of the program include a simple step-by-step resource residents can use to participate – to whatever level they wish – in building the community they desire. It can be found at www.cityofgp.com/activategp

A full report on our local research was released in January. A Citizen Engagement Policy approved by Council ensures consistency in our

efforts to connect with residents.

We are forming partnerships with community organizations to ensure better connections with the municipality – the closest level of government to the people.

Through activateGP, the City of Grande Prairie is making a commitment to what residents should expect from their municipal


The report and the policy can be found here: www.cityofgp.com/activategp

government and we are equipping employees with a best practices toolkit and training to help them live up to that promise.

Extensive feedback was gathered through research using a Citizen Involvement Survey. Conducted between August and November, various focus groups, and the Nov. 5 activateGP launch. Close to 530 participants responded with input about their current level of involvement in the community.

Within the survey, residents responded to questions about their level of involvement. Hundreds of comments were captured, and several common themes emerged.

The information is detailed in the Report to the Community, along with summaries of the information gathered from the focus groups. The charts on these pages summarize key engagement issues.


A NEIGHBOURHOOD ASSOCIATION

Educates City and neighbourhood on the community’s vision for the future

Has a Board of Directors Holds Liability Insurance Manages finances & grant applications Drives awareness and increases membership Provides Volunteer & Resource

Management Liaises with City Departments and

Community Initiatives

Working group in the Neighbourhood Receives feedback from Community Conducts Neighbourhood Diagnosis to identify

issues Develops Safety Plan Works with City Departments & community

agencies Implements projects & events Evaluates projects & events

NEIGHBOURHOOD SAFETY TEAM

A Neighbourhood Association is a registered society that is the voice of the local community and manages the community resources such as:

Volunteers Finance, Insurance & Grants Communications Supports Neighbourhood-wide campaigns & initiatives

A Neighbourhood Safety Team is an active group of residents within their neighbourhood who:

Identifies issues & takes action Creates a safety plan Implements initiatives Hosts community events

If you are interested in the Neighbourhood Safety Teams in your area, contact the Crime Prevention Department @

780.882.7813. [email protected]

If you are interested in the Neighbourhood Association in your

area, contact the Neighbourhood Association Office @ 780.357.4999.

[email protected]


City Council approved $1.5 million in the 2013 Budget to fund an Intelligent Traffic System.

What is an Intelligent Traffic System?Imagine if intersection lights could detect that the majority of the traffic is coming from the east, for example, and automatically adjust the signal timings to better allow for this movement of traffic. That is an Intelligent Traffic System.

It improves traffic flow by programming traffic controllers to communicate with each other. This is accomplished by monitoring the traffic volumes at each intersection with video detection cameras. Data is transmitted to a central traffic controller or master controller which sends the information from the individual intersections and uses it to adjust the traffic

signal timings to optimize the flow of traffic.

The system is based on the volume of traffic from each lane of an intersection, the direction of the major traffic flows, and the ability to accommodate traffic from all directions, while minimizing the delays to the majority of the traffic.

Why an intelligent traffic system?•Reducing waiting times can save our community significant dollars annually in lost productivity and fuel costs, while lowering greenhouse gas emissions. When waiting for signals to change, the driver loses time and the vehicle uses fuel.

•It allows the City to increase the capacity of roadways to handle traffic volumes without physically upgrading streets.

•City traffic engineers can monitor traffic flow and multiple intersections from one central control room.

Will this system solve traffic congestion at intersections?Some roadways will still require physical upgrades as they are at full capacity. Only so much can be accommodated through signal timings. Heavy truck volumes on some of the City’s roads will continue to cause congestion, due to the increased stopping and starting times, compared to a car or light truck. Also, certain signal timings are set to discourage additional traffic or short cutting, as the alternate roads may not have been designed to handle the extra traffic flow.

Engineering Services plans to have a request for quotation to tender before the end of March. Initial testing of the system is anticipated to start in July.

The Intelligent Traffic System will be one of the first applications operating on the City’s new wireless network to be completed later this year.

For more information please contact the City’s Engineering Department at 780.538.0417 or [email protected]

Intelligent Traffic System Launching!

Norman Kyle, left, Senior Transportation Analyst and Jim Bella, Traffic Signal Technician II, inspect a traffic signal box to make sure it is ready for installation of the Intelligent Traffic System hardware.

City Matters, February 2013

Documents

Transcript of City Matters, February 2013