Green Infrastructure

banner

Tag:

wally wells

    THE PERFECT STORM – WHY ‘ASSET MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE SERVICE DELIVERY’ PROVIDES SOLUTIONS: “With limited resources, how do we balance priorities across the organization to provide the range of services yet maintain affordability in very tough times,” wrote Wally Wells (Summer 2024 issue of Asset Management BC Newsletter)


    “Our biggest challenge today is affordability for our residents and businesses. Our local governments and First Nations Councils and Boards are challenged more than ever with balancing priorities of service against tax and fee increases and availability of capital for projects,” stated Wally Wells. “With an Asset Management policy to drive the process, the asset management framework and plan, along with the long-term financial plan, Councils and Boards have the background and analysis necessary to make informed decisions and stay within financial limits.”

    Read Article

    ASSET MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE SERVICE DELIVERY: “Our investments in relationships, clarity, understanding, and direction-setting will help us in the work to come. We’ve laid the foundation, and now it’s time to build upon it,” wrote the City of Abbotsford’s Gracelyn Shannon (Summer 2024 issue of Asset Management BC Newsletter)


    “Asset management is a complex, arduous, exciting, long-term, involved process. As practitioners, we wholeheartedly embrace this journey because it empowers us to collaboratively make informed decisions about our infrastructure, ultimately benefiting the public we serve. But where do we begin? In the article, I explain what tools, documents, or processes I’m using to set the foundation for the asset management work to come in Abbotsford,” wrote Gracelyn Shannon. “With a better understanding of our stakeholders and current practices, we wrote our Asset Management Policy.”

    Read Article

    ASSET MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE SERVICE DELIVERY: “A truly wise person remains teachable their entire lives, always curious and open to hearing new ideas and learning new things,” wrote Bernadette O’Connor, Editor, in the Winter 2024 issue of the Asset Management BC Newsletter IN BRITISH COLUMBIA:


    “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.

    Read Article

    ASSET MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE SERVICE DELIVERY: “We get a wide variety of education and skill sets on Councils and Boards often with very different interests. This makes communications complex and challenging,” stated Christina Benty, a former mayor of Golden in southeast British Columbia (Winter 2024 issue of Asset Management BC Newsletter)


    “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.

    Read Article

    ASSET MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE SERVICE DELIVERY: “We are looking forward to the challenge, to developing our internal capacity and cross-departmental integration, and to having some fun together along the way,” stated Jacqueline Weston, Asset Management Program Manager with the District of Saanich (Winter 2024 issue of Asset Management BC Newsletter)


    “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.

    Read Article

    ASSET MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE SERVICE DELIVERY: “We call it Service Delivery Management, to keep the focus on the services and so all staff can see their role in it,” stated Jenn Wilson, Service Delivery Management Coordinator with the City of Salmon Arm (Fall 2023 issue of Asset Management BC Newsletter)


    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.

    Read Article

    ASSET MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE SERVICE DELIVERY: “The question that is trending is: what are the liability risks of addressing climate change through natural asset management?” wrote Stephen Gares of the Municipal Insurance Association of BC (Fall 2023 issue of Asset Management BC Newsletter)


    “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.”

    Read Article

    ASSET MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE SERVICE DELIVERY: “My advice is to find a frustrated operator, listen to them, and engage them in what you’re doing. I promise, your work will change for the better,” stated Gracelyn Shannon, Asset Management Manager with the City of Abbotsford (Fall 2023 issue of Asset Management BC Newsletter)


    “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.

    Read Article

    REFLECTIONS ON SHARING A MISSION WITH WALLY WELLS: “The success of our collaboration is that it is relationship-based and founded on respect and trust,” stated Kim Stephens, Executive Director, Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC


    “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.

    Read Article

    REFLECTIONS ON SHARING A MISSION: “Wally Wells brought us on this journey. He helped us expand our discourse and our understanding of alignment across sectors and stewardship roles,” stated Paul Chapman, Chair of the Watershed Moments Series


    “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.

    Read Article

    Next Page >