By Pepper Parr
April 20th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
Earlier this week Staff did a work shop that included Council.
It was an interesting and refreshing approach that had staff setting out their issues and explaining to council just what they were up against.
The Workshop included 30 graphics, one of which is set out below, that took Council through a very detailed presentation with more depth than usual.
Changing the setting proved to be a smart idea – there was much better communication once the administrative restrictions were removed.
Two two blue boxes: Mindset of open to change and Pause in New Staff Directions are not the kind of thing that was seen in the past.
There is a refreshing change taking place. The leadership at the Executive Director level is much better.
During the half day event Brynn Nheiley, Executive Director of Community Planning, Regulation and Mobility, had Council doing some role playing followed by a very casual, almost family living room setting, where questions were asked and comments made without a Chair in place directing the conversation.
Nheiley went from being Manager of Development & Design in the Community Planning Department to becoming an Executive Director. As the Manager of Development & Design, she led a number of initiatives that has led to improvements in development planning that support better outcomes for Council, residents and staff; these include:
- Establishing a two-stage reporting strategy in order to provide Council with the opportunity to make a decision on an application within the legislated timeline, while also enabling the flexibility for staff to work with applicants to create the best planning outcome for development applications.
- Bringing together staff from key departments to collaboratively build a development review process that gives applicants a single point of contact, and single application to satisfy multiple pre-approvals, from multiple departments, which are required before a building permit can be applied for.
- Bringing together a management team that included staff from building, planning, forestry, site engineering and Information Technology Services departments in order to launch an entirely digital review process for all forms of development applications. The result was that the City’s development review process was delayed by less than two months from the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Prior to working at the City of Burlington, Brynn worked for the City of Hamilton as a Senior Planner and as the Acting Director of Planning and Building Services for the Town of Antigonish in Nova Scotia. Brynn has a Masters of Planning from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Architectural Science from Ryerson University.
The Workshop ended with this slide.
