Asset Management Community of Practice – March 29, 2019
The most recent Asset Management Community of Practice meeting was held on March 29, 2019 in Whitehorse. Over 40 members from various municipalities and First Nations gathered at the Westmark for a packed day of discussion and presentations.
After brief introductions, we jumped into our first presentation by Gas Tax Manager Patrick Sageaktook. He spoke of the recent changes to the Gas Tax fund for the 2019-20 fiscal year, and opportunities to use Gas Tax funds for asset management projects.
From there, we moved into roundtable updates. People spoke of where their communities are at in implementing asset management, and where they hope to go in the future. Main themes included recruitment of asset management positions and capacity issues, software challenges, successes and recommendations, contractor issues, condition assessments, and training needs and opportunities.
Damien Burns, Director of Wildland Fire Management, and former Director of Community Affairs, stopped in to give everyone a brief history of Asset Management in Yukon, and talk about how far we have come.
We then continued group discussions with a second roundtable on barriers and successes in asset management throughout Yukon.
This was a fulsome discussion with several challenges highlighted, including:
- Consideration given to infrastructure parts and components that can be sourced locally as opposed to abroad;
- Staff turnover and short council terms leads to difficulty implementing long term asset management initiatives;
- dedicated staff and training for asset management; and
- O&M manuals tailored to municipalities with straightforward day-today maintenance requirements as well as monthly and annual requirements.
Participants also shared areas of success, including tapping into FCM funding and making use of local resources such as the Energy branch within Yukon government.
Coming out of this section, there was an interest in developing a list of software used by each community in order to coordinate training opportunities and share information. Community Affairs has committed to following up on developing this list.
To wrap up the morning there was a three-part presentation on Integrated Asset Management throughout Yukon.
Ryan Hennessey, a Senior Energy Advisor with the Yukon government’s Department of Energy, Mines and Resources talked about YG’s pilot project on integrated asset management with the inclusion of climate change considerations and determining how capacity limitations may be affecting the implementation of ISO 5500x. The ability of municipalities to leverage natural assets such as wetlands was also discussed.
Following Ryan, Cam Lockwood, CAO of Watson Lake led us through a presentation on the Watson Lake Integrated Asset Management Plan. He highlighted the fact that having the asset management plan in place made it possible for the Town of Watson Lake Mayor and Council to endorse difficult, but necessary, changes such as tax increases and reduced hours at some facilities.
Finally, Dennis Shewfelt presented an example of his work on asset condition assessments for the City of Dawson. He highlighted the importance of conducting condition assessments in order to identify both short and long term maintenance and replacement items and their related financial implications. He also provided a template for Facility Valuation and Condition Assessment that he used for the project.
Michael Zuccarini kicked off our afternoon with a presentation on Asset Management in Government of Yukon’s Department of Highway and Public Works (HPW). HPW is focusing on implementing asset management with the identification of level of service and life cycle management. Michael focused on the vegetation control and line painting programs as examples of where these principles are being implemented.
Anthony Delorenzo followed with a presentation on Capital Asset Management within Yukon government’s Property Management Division, also within HPW. Anthony highlighted the challenges of maintaining a broad range of assets while also planning and building new infrastructure priorities with limited resources. Anthony also brought forward challenges many municipalities and First Nations are facing, such as reducing greenhouse gases and how to deal with the effects of climate change.
Following that, Community Affairs’ own Jordan Stackhouse ran through the development of an Asset Management Policy. He committed to sharing his policy template with everyone, and this, along with his presentation, can be found below.
We wrapped up the event with a presentation on Asset Management Resources Training & Funding from Kristi de Vries. She has recently returned from Asset Management Training in Ottawa and brought with her a wealth of information on templates, tools, national training opportunities and communities of practice throughout the country.
Overall, it was a very engaging and informative day. We look forward to the next meeting and continuing to work together. Remember…“Asset Management is a Team Sport!”
Links and presentations:
Since 2016 Community Affairs has hosted five Asset Management Community of Practice events with Yukon municipalities and First Nations. All communities have made progress on their asset management journey – from completing their initial AssetSMART assessment to get them on the path to asset management, all the way to asset management policies and GIS databases. Community Affairs intends to continue hosting Community of Practice events, with the next one scheduled for March 29, 2019 at the Westmark Whitehorse. We look forward to seeing you there!
Community of Practice Meeting - November 29, 2016
The latest Asset Management Community of Practice meeting, on November 29, 2016 was attended by more than 65 people, with representation from nearly every Yukon municipality and First Nation government. The buzz around the room in the round-table session was one of progress and action, despite the fact that many communities are still at the very beginning of their asset management journey. The difficulty that almost all local governments were struggling with, and the main reason they had not progressed as far as they would have liked, was the issue of personnel capacity. Committed staff discussed the challenges of finding spare time in the midst of their workloads to try to get the first key tasks completed (i.e. develop an asset inventory, analyse the state of infrastructure, and forecast renewals). It was a valuable day of sharing knowledge, learning new things, and supporting each other.
The meeting included a roundtable update, presentations from other jurisdictions, and a small trade show. During the roundtable updates from every local government it was clear that, since the first community of practice meeting held in 2015, the level of knowledge and expertise in the room has grown exponentially. The Government of Yukon approach to Asset Management which provides funding, along with support and access to a community of practice, is working very well to support local governments in moving towards a culture of asset management.
Darla Campbell of the Ontario Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure provided an interactive workshop that gave everyone the opportunity to experience asset management planning in action. Robin Hawker and Mike Homenuke of Kerr Wood Leidal joined Lou-Ann Watson, the Public Works Operations Administration Manager for Northern Rockies Regional Municipality, in presenting to the group on their award winning asset management program in Fort Nelson area.
The trade show held in conjunction with the meeting provided an opportunity for communities to connect with experienced Asset Management service providers. Bernadette OConnor and her colleagues at OPUS International (OPUS) , as well as Kerr Wood & Leidel (KWL), Associated Engineering (AE), TesserAct Associates and Fireseeds North Inc. seemed pleased to interact with the various members of local governments and territorial staff in Yukon.
Community Affairs are planning another meeting of the Community of Practice in early March.
Agenda for the November 29th meeting is located here.
Fall 2016 - Asset Management Update
Highlights from this Update include
- Asset Management and Sustainability Resources from the FCM
- Asset Management BC Newsletter – Fall 2016
- Asset Management BC 2016 Conference
- Community Update from Mayo
- Funding Program Update
- Next Community of Practice Meeting – November 29
- NEW* Discussion Board
Summer Asset Management Update
Here you will find excellent updates from our colleagues at the City of Whitehorse, the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and the Sport and Recreation Branch of Yukon Government.
Please consider sending us a short update on your project, to include in the next update.
New Website for the Yukon Asset Management Community of Practice!
Welcome to the new webpage for the Yukon Asset Management Community of Practice. A big thank you to the Association of Yukon Communities for hosting this page. This website will become an information hub for all members of our community and will be full of resources to help you on your journey towards effective asset management.
If you have ideas for resources or content to add, please contact Damien Burns.
Yukon Asset Management Transfer Payment Agreement
Funding program is for Asset management-related activities that occur between April 1, 2015 and December 31, 2016.
Funding Guide – Everything First Nations and municipalties need to know to apply for up to $40,000 in asset management funding.
Application Form – Due with all attachments.
AssetSMART Self-Assessment Tool – a tool for governments to assess their capacity as it pertains to managing assets (developed by Asset Management BC). A completed self-assessment is required with an application and final report for this funding.