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“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.

“Our discussions lead to an expanded common vocabulary. Sustainable Service Delivery, Eco-Assets and Eco-Asset Management, the Ecological Accounting Process, Municipal Natural Asset Inventory, Riparian Deficit, and watershed stewardship are some of the words in our new common tongue. The rabid environmentalist, the cold-hearted accountant and the aloof engineer could come together and focus on a common goal – Water Balance. At a very key level, it is about our relationship with water and with each other. We design and build our communities based on our relationship to water,” stated Paul Chapman.

“I am a project person. I come from a project background and am used to the stages of a project – from conception through budgeting, procurement, construction, and commissioning. It is a very structured spectrum of activities. There is a defined beginning and end. But that is not the way it is in the world of water stewardship. It is a bit like a creek. It just meanders all over the place such that you just cannot seem to get things to completion even when the process is a good one. You learn that this is what it means to be on a journey,” stated Marc Rutten.

“A key consideration is intergenerational equity. This is finding the right balance between spreading the cost of services over citizens who benefit now and in the future without burdening future generations with the inability to sustain services. It is a core responsibility of a Council – enshrined in BC’s Community Charter – to provide for the stewardship of the public assets of the community.. It’s critical to ensure we are facing the right direction. Our role is to leave our communities a better place than we found them and pass the torch to the next generation,” stated Bill Sims.

“The Public Service Accounting Board. PSAB 3150 requires local governments to amortize their tangible capital assets over their expected useful life. Prior to 2009, there were no standards in place for the valuation and deterioration of the local government assets. Consequently, the funding for renewal and replacement has not always been top of mind or top priority. As many of our aging communities are seeing their assets reach the end of their useful lives, the funding portion can no longer be ignored. If it is, we could all see ourselves declaring a local state of emergency,” wrote Khalie Genereaux.