A rookie councillor failed in his bid to introduce efficiency audits to St. Albert but there’s still an appetite on council for change that will improve how the city operates, said Mayor Nolan Crouse.
Coun. Cam MacKay tried to convince fellow councillors to buy into his idea to create an audit and efficiency review committee bylaw. The idea was to establish a mechanism whereby efficiency audits become common practice in St. Albert.
However, MacKay was left standing on his own, with his motion failing by a 6-1 vote. Fellow councillors had numerous questions about cost and whether implementing MacKay’s idea would use external expertise or create a new position at city hall. Crouse had concerns with some of the wording in MacKay’s motion but said it hit on an issue that council should address.
“I like the spirit of what he’s talking about but I think we have to work on the detail,” Crouse said in a later interview.
Council hasn’t yet set its priorities for this term but Crouse said there’s definitely an appetite for some effort to improve efficiency.
“Council members encouraged me after the meeting to bring something back,” he said. “Doing something in this area is a high priority. I don’t know if a bylaw is the right approach.”
He and MacKay agreed to work together to devise a motion to bring to council.
MacKay said he’s confident this arrangement will work.
“This is something that a lot of us campaigned on and it’s something we want to start right away,” he said.
When explaining the rationale behind his motion, MacKay said council needs more and better information to make informed budget decisions.
“In going through this process of the budget, it becomes clear to me that we don’t have all the tools we need to make the city run at peak efficiency,” MacKay said. “At the end of the day, how things run and how they operate remain a mystery to everyone here on council.”
He said efficiency audits are different from the financial audits that the city and all municipalities are required to do.
“We have all the provisions we need for an accountant to come in and say, yes, you’re in compliance,” he said. “We don’t have any vehicle for someone to come in and say, this is how you can do your road grading better.”
MacKay said he left his motion general in the hope that other councillors would buy in. He ultimately wanted council and administration to work together to devise a plan that would work.
“I think having an internal audit function for the City of St. Albert is about the only way we can ensure any kind of efficiency.”
