‘Long time coming:’ Asset management plan praised by Tiny council

It might take 20 years, but Tiny is ready to quantify its township for the greater good.

Last year, Tiny council learned from asset management group PSD Citywide that the township was underfunding its $320 million assets by two-thirds. These consisted of core assets like road, water and sanitary networks, and non-core assets such as buildings, vehicles and land improvements.

In response, council passed a 2023 budget with a 10.82 per cent municipal tax rate increase to raise their asset upkeep contributions from nearly $4 million per year to the recommended $12 million annually.

A corporate asset management strategy (AMS) was developed as a multi-year road map for the municipality, covering 23 major recommendations within four strategic priority initiatives.

At the recent committee of the whole meeting, Tiny council heard from asset management coordinator Marley Mendel on the first two strategic priorities to be focused on in 2023, covering 16 of the recommendations.

“For year one, we are looking at increasing our resource capacity and building a data-rich foundation,” explained Mendel, “and in year two we’re looking at optimizing systems and producing advanced reports.”

Mendel presented a slideshow showcasing the PSD Citywide database entries for township assets, using the Golden Mile bridge on Marshall Rd. as one such example. 

Through factors including an overview and photo of the asset and its specifications, GIS location and age, council members were able to see the current condition and risk assessment as calculated by the software. Additionally, financial conditions with the risk assessment provided a projected condition for when that asset would need to be considered for upkeep or replacement within the next 20 years.

Deputy Mayor Miskimins expressed delight in the data exhibited, and asked if the software could allow council to see when would be the best time to invest in an asset.

Mendel assured him: “In theory, over years of updating and recording this data, we will be able to find that sweet spot of ‘where do we invest, when do we put the money in’ to get the most value out of the life of the asset. Absolutely.”

Public works director Tim Leitch also chimed in on how the data would allow staff to part ways with traditional methods of assessing assets.

“We used to use five-year road studies and take resident feedback,” said Leitch. “This will be a quantifiable tool that also helps identify, ‘(an asset) is going to go, in another 20 years it will cost us $2 million; we’ve got to start putting $100,000 per year ahead in our bank account’.”

Mayor Dave Evans asked a series of questions to verify that the AMS tool wouldn’t diminish service levels year-over-year, and would allow for the municipality to spend its limited annual resources in a wise manner while also setting up to raise future funds down the road.

Replied CAO Robert Lamb: “This will allow you to accomplish exactly what you’re talking about. Now you can see if you decide to increase your investment to not stay status quo, what that does for your long-term investment as a municipality.

“Where right now we’re guessing at it? This here is empirical data of: here is what it is doing for that overall group.”

A question from Coun. Kelly Helowka was aimed at the adaptability of provincial legislation to the asset software calculations, with Mendel answering that such interjections could be added to the risk assessment category.

Mendel also noted that while Tiny Township was rated in the middle ‘intermediate’ category of a three-tier asset rating maturity level by PSD Citywide, which she said was “slightly better than most” other municipalities, the township was aiming for the higher ‘advanced’ ranking.

Coun. Steffen Walma praised the presentation and strategy.

“This has been a long-time-coming project and it’s nice to have,” said Walma. “Knowing where you are so you can budget accordingly for the future is a huge piece of the puzzle. I think this is a great first step; we have phases to go.”

The municipal AMS team will aim to complete the first two strategic priorities by the end of this year while having a completed core asset database, with non-core assets completed in the database for summer of 2024 and the completion of the third and fourth strategic priorities to follow.

The 50-page 2022 asset management strategy report, and additional slideshow presentation, can be found in the agenda page located on the Tiny Township website.

Archives of council meetings are available to view on Tiny Township’s YouTube channel.