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“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.

“How do you do a budget if you don’t know what assets you have, their condition and when they need to be replaced? Climate change is increasing risk by damaging assets. And while the focus of your asset management plan should be integration with your long-term capital budget, don’t overlook the ‘master asset management plan’, otherwise known as your Official Community Plan (OCP). They set the locations and standards of future growth in your community, and as a result, set the core infrastructure needs and their associated costs,” stated Kim Fowler.

In Fall 2018, after province-wide local government elections in British Columbia, the Asset Management BC Newsletter presented a range of perspectives to inform the newly elected about Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery in British Columbia. Asset Management BC did the same again with the Winter 2023 issue. The set of 9 articles again provide guidance and advice for new Councils from a continuum of perspectives. “It was very interesting to see what each of them chose to focus on and the language they chose to speak to Council with,” noted Sarah MacFord.

“BC’s Local Government Leadership Academy was one of the first local government organizations to recognize the importance of leadership in “stewardship” and the important role of asset management as the path to sustainable service delivery. Held every four years, following the BC local government elections, the Elected Officials Seminar series organized by the Academy includes stops in each of UBCM’s five Area Associations, providing a 3-day orientation and networking program on roles and responsibilities, stewardship, and good governance,” stated David Allen.

“Local government was created to provide a broad range of localized services and functions on behalf of the Provincial Government that have a direct impact on the health, safety, and quality of life for the residents of the community. Local government exists as a service provider. These services are collectively agreed upon and paid for. Local government has been granted the tools to collect revenue to pay for those services in the form of local property taxes and user fees,” stated Christina Benty.

“One of the key responsibilities of a Council is to provide for stewardship of the public asset of its community. Asking staff to provide you with a full life cycle cost analysis is the key to ensuring decisions about new assets are made with all the facts in mind. Existing and future generation taxpayers are depending on you, as today’s Council, to make the right decisions for the community and to spend our limited financial resources wisely. This includes knowing what existing assets need to be replaced and when or when not to move forward on a big shiny project,” stated Kristy Bobbi.