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“The term deep knowledge is generally referring to the effective sharing of knowledge that has been informed by a lot of experience. Thus, a work environment that encourages exploring and adapting to new knowledge as well as sharing senior knowledge and learned experience will generate better problem solvers and decisions. A balanced method to form institutional knowledge will draw benefit from the knowledge and experience of senior staff without discounting the contribution of new ideas, approaches, and information,” wrote Bernadette O’Connor.

“Organizational and intergenerational amnesia is real and has a downside. It results in unintended consequences. Superficial understandings do not yield solutions to complex problems. One needs deep knowledge. The ramifications of amnesia are cause for concern in an era when systems of all kinds are being subjected to repeated shocks that test their resiliency. At the same time, councils and boards are grappling with top-down decisions or directives by senior governments. But how effective can they be when knowledge transfer in local government is broken?” asked Kim Stephens.

“There are two young fish swimming along who happen to meet an older fish. The older fish nods at them and says: ‘Morning boys, how’s the water?’ The two young fish swim on for a bit and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and asks: ‘What the hell is water?’ The story also begs the question, what makes the older fish so much wiser? We must infer that it is his experience. That is, the older fish only knows about water because he’s been either outside the fishbowl or in many different fishbowls,” wrote Christina Benty.

“The District of Saanich 2019-2023 Strategic Plan included the development of an asset management strategy. The team now has a Council approved road map for the next five years on our journey towards sustainable service delivery. Implementation of the plan will advance Saanich’s Asset Management practices in each of the four core elements of the Asset Management BC framework (assets, information, finances and people), and will result in completion of Saanich’s first-generation Asset Management Plans by 2027.

“A message of hope is paramount in these times of droughts, forest fires, floods AND housing affordability as system resiliency is being stressed. Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery is essential to the solution. If done right, I see it as being at the core of Risk Management. It is a mechanism that can still be leveraged to achieve informed and superior planning for land and water. But local government politicians and staff are being overwhelmed by the issues of the day. That is their current reality. They are losing sight of the big picture,” stated Kim Stephens.

Asked to describe asset management – or service delivery management as the city is calling it, Jenn Wilson said it’s about balancing risk, cost and service levels. “So, it’s saying, we only have so much money, these are all the services we deliver… and if we cannot fund those service levels as is, how do we mitigate the risk for not funding them properly. So it is a lot of boring systems and spread sheets. I love them. But it’s gathering all the information on our assets, where they are, what condition they’re in, what’s the risk to the community if they fail us,” stated Jenn Wilson.

“It has been widely acknowledged that climate change is having an impact on local governments. Lately, much has been written advocating for the use of natural asset management to reduce the impacts of climate change. But every novel approach carries with it uncertainty about the potential for increased risks,” stated Stephen Gares. “As research confirms that natural asset management is at least equally as effective as engineered approaches, we should find that the courts too will accept natural asset management as a reasonable approach.”

“I am personally fascinated by the space where the world of Asset Management meets the world of Operations. Both have their own unique history, development, and raison d’être. I’ve heard plenty of complaints from operations about asset management and vice versa. But then, we’re all trying to achieve the same thing in the end. As local government staff, we want to deliver services to the public for a long, long time. In asset management, we call that Sustainable Service Delivery. Choose to be the bridge from asset management to operations,” stated Gracelyn Shannon.

“In my mind, the phrase Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery is a euphemism for make the right decisions, think about the future, and then take action. It has got to evolve because the future is NOT the past. We also need to adapt moving forward. So, that means Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery has got to reflect where the community is going as well. If you are only going to make decisions that maintain your assets as they are, that is insufficient. The process needs to evolve to meet the community’s changing needs,” stated Geoff Garbutt.

“Alignment of efforts with Wally Wells has been key to elevating Water Sustainability and Asset Management as top-of-mind priorities for local governments. The two priorities are inextricably linked, and our efforts are complementary in facilitating peer-to-peer learning across boundaries. Beginning in January 2011, Asset Management BC published the first of 26 articles contributed by the Partnership to the quarterly newsletter edited by Wally. These have connected the dots between sustainable service delivery and water sustainability,” stated Kim Stephens.