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Hi Kelvin,
I'm just back from holidays and I wanted to follow up on your briefing note of May 13, 2011, which I read while I was away.
Would you please clarify a few of your statements for me - my specific questions are in italics below:
1. "If [Dufferin] programs continue to operate under current operating models, the city will be non-compliant on many approved policies, procedures and legislative requirements."
I know that Dufferin doesn't fit into the city's cash handling policies because it simply isn't possible with the types of flexible, accessible food programs the park offers. Could you please detail the other policies and laws where Dufferin is non-compliant, with the particulars of the non-compliance?
2. The City is currently open and vulnerable to major risk factors as there is no formal agreement with CELOS.
What are these major risk factors?
It's important to have these specifics so that the neighbours and friends of the park and people from the city can clearly define the legal and policy impediments to continuing to do what Dufferin, Wallace and Campbell do so successfully. Knowing the actual problems - what they are, for whom they are a problem, and the actual extent of the problem - will give us the information we need to work together to keep doing what has worked so well in the parks.
Thanks for your help with this, Kelvin.
Belinda Cole
The Centre for Local Research into Public Space
PFR has received advice on a number of unique operating approaches at Dufferin Grove. The following are some of the issues raised that we would like to resolve:
1. Formal agreement between City and CELOS ( Accountability Framework) - The City requires all partnership agreements have clear terms conditions, defined roles and responsibilities.
Issues arising from lack of clarity -
- Conflict of Interest with staff who work in dual roles, as CELOS staff and as City of Toronto staff. .
- Contract staff from CELOS providing services in the park. (This work is also assigned to local 79 staff and the Union can make a case that the work of their members is being contracted out)
September 12 2011.
Pilot project in local governance: Stage One . Winter 2011/2012
Kelvin Seow to Belinda Cole, August 16 2011:
“We will also be setting up meetings with staff and Jutta to work on a pilot to move Wallace and Campbell food activities over to City control. We hope to use this pilot as a learning experience. We will also like to build an action/ work plan to transition the food and skate activities at Dufferin Grove over to the City. It is also our intent to consult the community, staff and CELOS as we build this plan and move forward in resolving these matters to the City's satisfaction and not affecting the unique programming at Dufferin Grove.”
Pilot project location: Wallace, Campbell and Dufferin rinks
Background: these rinks have been linked as a cluster through sharing staffing and expertise since 2008. They have the following similar features:
(a) strongly neighbourhood-based\\
(b) mostly public drop-in-skating \\
(c) an unusually large youth and newcomer constituency
(d) program similarities e.g. healthy food, skate lending, family corner and campfire programs
(e) vocal community involvement
(f) staff that are knowledgeable about coordinating all these elements
(g) supportive city councillor
Hi Jutta,
Thank you so much for your email. I'm sorry for the delay in getting back to you..
I can see you have put a great deal of thought into the Wallace/ Campbell food activity transfer pilot project proposal. I appreciate you taking the time to identify timelines and approaches that will assist us collectively working through this process. As I stated in the past I would prefer to meet with you and other identified stakeholders to develop the Terms and planning process together so we can work through the various issues and opportunities.
I will have James Yu at 416-395-0274 contact you to set up a meeting to further discuss moving this Pilot Project forward.
Regards Kelvin
Hello Kelvin,
thanks for acknowledging the Sept.12 CELOS proposal. I'm glad that James will now try to set up a meeting. Can you first send me the SAP information I asked for below? To repeat:
What I need to know is the weekly count of city spending in the categories referred to above, for 2011 so far. I'm guessing you can readily get that through SAP. It should be broken down into direct vs admin costs, so that we can also compare the last few years' weekly tally (some of which we have, from when PT staff were still allowed to monitor the park spending) with this year's weeks, for continuity.
Our meeting will be so much more productive if we can look at the detailed picture. I hope that the watchword can be openness. If there are other spreadsheets you need from CELOS, let me know, and I can export them from Quickbooks.
Hi Jutta, the budget that we use for Wallace and Campbell leisure skating contains all the costs for the on site staff. It includes the costs for staff that provide the food and skate lending program. In other words, we have not separated these activities from the general leisure skate budgets for both of these locations.
These budgets will not increase when transferring the food and skate lending activities over to the city in these locations. I have been instructed this exercise must be a net zero.
Thanks and looking forward to our meeting
Thanks for getting back to me on this Kelvin. As you see, I feel it will be helpful for all of us to have a detailed context for our money discussions, so I asked for Dufferin Grove costs, week by week and broken down, as they are stated in SAP for 2011 so far. I believe you mentioned that we can all learn from what happened this past summer, and I agree. Also, it may be -- once the discussion gets started -- that we'll all agree that the three Ward 18 rinks should continue to work as a whole. (Parks has done this off and on for some years, in various smaller ways.) This is even more important to consider since the change is supposed to come out to net zero, and separating the operations may raise the cost considerably.
Therefore, I'd like to ask for the third time whether you can direct your staff to do the hour or less of exporting the SAP numbers I've asked for below. I've heard that you told the Councillor's office that the information I'm requesting is "outside the scope" of this project. Since CELOS is a party to the project, I think it would be good to respect my request. The more information we can all share, the better this project will go, don't you think? However, you may choose to have me go through FOI again. Please let me know.
Thank you
Jutta
Repeat request:
In preparation, could we get the full city cost of staffing Dufferin Grove? By "full cost," I mean the costing referred to in the city's user fee policy:
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2011/ex/bgrd/backgroundfile-40701.pdf The Full Costing Model developed by Accounting Services is recommended for the costing of City services. Major elements comprising the Full Costing Model include the following: Direct costs / expenditures attributed to the delivery of the service; for example salaries (wages and benefits), materials, supplies and purchase of services. Indirect costs / expenditures that cannot be identified and charged directly to a specific program but are related to the resources dedicated to support it; for example support staff within a Cluster, costs that are administered centrally on behalf of the different divisions and insurance costs.
What I need to know is the weekly count of city spending in the categories referred to above, for 2011 so far. I'm guessing you can readily get that through SAP. It should be broken down into direct vs admin costs, so that we can also compare the last few years' weekly tally (some of which we have, from when PT staff were still allowed to monitor the park spending) with this year's weeks, for continuity.
This initial meeting was to discuss the transference of the food and skate at Wallace and Campbell food/ skate operation. The SAP accounts for both of these locations are for Leisure Skate and are separate accounts from Dufferin Grove. All the staffing is costed separately.
This is a very simple task of moving these 2 activities over based on CEOLS' desire to get out of this type of activity.
We can review the process, issues and any other operational matters that the transition creates at the meeting.
I don't see the summer operations at Dufferin Grove having any relevance to this exercise.
When we do get to Dufferin Grove, I would be happy to review and provide the information required to help that transition.
Hi Kelvin, I will go ahead and ask through FOI, forwarding this correspondence to them to show that I tried to go directly. One nice thing about FOI is that they don't second-guess inquiries -- they assume that I actually want to know, whether staff feel that it is relevant or not. In this case, since CELOS is a party to the discussions, my wanting to know such straightforward information should be respected without further delay. The information will then be publicly available to anyone who wants to understand the city's spending concerns. That's a good idea in these times of budget alarms -- yes?
Meantime, would you be able to send me the SAP figures you refer to (bolded in red), so that I can look at them before Thursday?
This initial meeting was to discuss the transference of the food and skate at Wallace and Campbell food/ skate operation. The SAP accounts for both of these locations are for Leisure Skate and are separate accounts from Dufferin Grove. All the staffing is costed separately......