TRCA Governance Review

May 10, 2018

Over the last several months, I have held discussions with various committees and divisions about how best to implement changes to the current TRCA Committee structure while maintaining a collaborative environment and ensuring efficient use of staff resources. During this time, I undertook a review of the existing Committees, Working Groups and Teams with input from our Senior Leadership Team and staff involved.

As part of my discussions, a number of staff indicated the value in maintaining some of the existing Committees and Working Groups. However, a number of staff indicated that others have achieved their mandate and have come to a logical conclusion. Staff raised concerns with the amount of time required for attendance and involvement in these internal bodies, taking into account other TRCA and stakeholder priorities and also indicated opportunities to transfer some of the work into our day-to-day business operations.

Based on these discussions, I have decided to refresh the mandate and transform the current structure of our internal committees recognizing the valuable role they have in helping to ensure collaboration and informed decision making at TRCA.

Effective immediately, the following four new internal bodies will be formed:

» Policy Committee
The Policy Committee will provide a venue for divisions to present new or updated policies for consideration and will bring a renewed focus to ensuring that TRCA staff and our Authority have in place policies that reflect conservation authority, government agency, not-for-profit, and municipal best practices. The Policy Committee will also establish communication and change management protocols for policy changes to ensure policies are clearly understood by staff and our Authority and integrated into our day-to-day operations.

» Policy Working Group
A Policy Working Group will be established to support the work of the Policy Committee. The Working Group will focus on reviewing and updating existing TRCA policies to ensure legislative compliance, but will examine policies in other jurisdictions and organizations to determine which ones can be adopted and modified to support TRCA staff and improve TRCA’s working environment.

» Agenda Review Team
The Agenda Review Team will be comprised of division and business unit heads, and in some cases their delegates, responsible for the production of reports to the Authority. The Team will meet to review the board reports list and upcoming report submissions to ensure all known inter-divisional considerations are factored into reports as early as possible. This early identification of future reports will promote collaboration and better identify stakeholder interests. This will allow for a more comprehensive and coordinated inter-divisional review of reports prior to them being brought forward to Executive Committee and Authority for consideration.

» Office and Workspace Accommodation Working Group
The Office and Workspace Accommodation Working Group will work towards establishing a network of healthy and inspiring offices and work environments that encourage effective employee performance and enable flexible work arrangements where necessary. The Working Group will consider the organization’s office requirements and inform the planning and operation of TRCA administrative offices and workspaces. This work will include assessing current and future needs, making recommendations that support efficiencies and optimization of space, and developing policies and procedures that support standardization and modernization.

Further, the following three existing internal bodies and their Terms of Reference will be revised:

» Government Relations Committee revised to Stakeholder Relations Working Group
The Stakeholder Relations Working Group will focus on establishing and updating legal agreements with government, agency, and corporate funding partners. It will prepare and monitor standing agendas for meetings with partners including municipalities and government bodies. The Working Group will determine how to best maintain and strengthen our existing stakeholder relationships as well as determine which opportunities we should or should not pursue in the future taking into account existing obligations, financial sustainability considerations, capacity and TRCA’s mandate. The membership of the Working Group will be renewed based on the revised mandate.

» Directors Committee revised to Senior Leadership Team
Directors Committee has been renamed to Senior Leadership Team (SLT). SLT is responsible for providing direction and oversight on organization-wide strategy and transformation as well as key operational, human resources, and financial issues or risks.

» Management Team
The Management Team provides an effective forum for information sharing and will be continued, with an adjustment to the frequency and membership. The Management Team will now meet quarterly and the membership will include all TRCA management level staff. Managers will share the information from these meetings with their business units in an effort to keep staff informed.

The following two existing internal bodies will remain in their current composition:

» Data and Digital Technology Working Group

» Tangible Asset Management Working Group

I have decided to wind down some of the other existing Committees, Working Groups and Teams recognizing their achievements to date and the fact that some of their work has become or is becoming part of our day-to-day business operations.

The following four existing internal bodies will be disbanded effective immediately:

» Strategy Committee  

» Innovation Standing Committee  

» Municipal Budget Team  

» Operational Effectiveness Working Group  

I would like to congratulate all of the staff who have helped achieve important tangible outcomes as part of your work on these internal bodies. I look forward to sharing more details on the Terms of Reference and the composition for the new and revised internal bodies in the weeks to come via the Staff Governance page on the Staff Hub.

Sincerely,

John MacKenzie, M.Sc.(Pl)MCIP,RPP
Chief Executive Officer
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA)

VIEW THE NEW GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE