By Gavin Prout, Special Benefits Insurance Services
This article gives a short cost analysis of the cost of dental insurance for an average family of 4 and then provides information on how to save some money on the cost of dental insurance and what to look for in your own plan.
by Gavin Prout, Special Benefits Insurance Services
This article outlines the importance of researching the areas you or your employees may plan to travel to. Whether it be political unrest or diseases in that area, this article provides statistics of beliefs vs truths and what is affected in your travel insurance policy with these uncertainties.
https://www.sbis.ca/travel-insurance-in-times-of-global-uncertainty.html
A Quick Tip for Finding Municipal Statistical Data
As municipal consultants we constantly have the need to research municipal operations and data. But have you ever had difficulty finding it all in one location?
My method of choice to research and collect such information for Ontario municipalities is to use the Ministry of Municipal Affairs Financial Information Return (FIR) site. There is a wealth of information available on this site: https://efis.fma.csc.gov.on.ca/fir/Welcome.htm
Here is what the site looks like.
Municipalities in Ontario are mandated to report their annual operations to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs by annually submitting a Financial Information Return (FIR).
You can search for information in a variety of ways – By Schedule, by Municipality, Provincial Summaries or Multi-Year Reports. I most frequently search Schedule 40 – Consolidated Statement of Operations – Expenses, of the municipalities I am needing to compare, because it contains their expenditures which are categorized into the nine (9) main municipal operations.
Others I typically frequently use are – the Municipal Data, Schedule 10 – Revenues, Schedule 20 – Taxation Information and Schedule 80 – Statistical Data, which includes staffing numbers. There are however, a number of other Schedules you can search to find the specific information you may need.
The one caveat I must mention though, is that although municipal operations can be similarly categorized, there is no way to ensure that a municipality is consistently reporting their information in the same category as another municipality. So, if you are comparing municipalities and a number seems too high or too low in comparison, you should always seek clarification from the municipality to be certain you’re comparing apples to apples.
I can only speak to what I’m familiar with here in Ontario, but I suspect a similar reporting requirement exists between all Canadian municipalities and their respective provinces.
If you’re a consultant or other professional in another province, does your province have a similar municipal database? I would be interested in learning about it so I can share it with our professional members.
Or if you use other methods to find municipal data, I’d love to hear about them too. We all need data – so why not help each other find it!
Susan Shannon – [email protected] Susan’s experiences as both a municipal Chief Administrative Officer, and now as a consultant, led to the development of muniSERV.ca . Her experiences have provided her with the insight she needs to help municipalities and professionals connect.
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by Gavin Prout, Special Benefits Insurance Services
This topic is a very popular one based on all the issues people have been having after they claim during travelling. These 5 points will help you or your employees understand what most don’t and the things to do or look for when purchasing a travel insurance plan. Even if you have group benefits with travel insurance it is important to understand the limitations of these plans.
https://www.sbis.ca/5-ways-avoid-problem-travel-insurance-claim.html
By Jim Clemmer
A long list of studies shows that 50 – 70% of leadership, culture, and organization change and development efforts fail. For example, a Harvard Business Review article by Michael Beer and Nitin Nohria on “Cracking the Code of Change” concludes, “the brutal fact is that about 70% of all change initiatives fail.”
These efforts typically include:
I have reviewed research and our experiences in helping dozens of organizations with their change initiatives. Success or failure ultimately rests with the organization’s senior leadership team. Here are the common problems that trap many leadership teams and become the root causes of their failed change and development efforts:
How many of these traps are snaring your senior leadership team? What are you doing to avoid falling into these sinkholes?
Taking the team offsite for a few days can have a major impact on avoiding these problems. An offsite retreat can also lay the foundation to become one of the 30 – 50% of organizations with a very high and lasting impact from their change and development work.
About Jim Clemmer
For over three decades Jim Clemmer’s keynote presentations, workshops, and management team retreats, and seven best-selling books translated into many languages, articles, blog, and newsletters have helped hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. The CLEMMER Group is Zenger Folkman’s Canadian Strategic Partner. Zenger Folkman is an award-winning firm best known for its unique evidence-driven, strengths-based system for developing extraordinary leaders and demonstrating the performance impact they have on organizations.
Test your understanding of fairness in this recent case from Nova Scotia.
In 2012, the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) issued an RFP for the purchase and redevelopment of a surplus elementary school property. Jono Developments Ltd. and several community groups submitted proposals. There is evidence that the HRM closely followed the terms of the evaluation process laid out in the RFP, which allocated 20 percent of the weighting to the financial offer. Following evaluations, the HRM approved sale of the property to Jono.
Around the time the sale to Jono was approved, the community groups discovered that the HRM had passed a “Policy and Procedure for Disposal of Surplus Schools” in 2000. Among other steps, the HRM was required under the policy to first assess and evaluate any proposals from community groups or grant applications and, if none were received or none were supported by the Community Grants and Partnering Program under the HRM, then the HRM was to take steps to seek Council approval to put the property on the market.
Compelling evidence was presented that the HRM had not tested the policy since its inception, and in fact was not aware that it even existed until challenged by the community groups following the approval of the sale to Jono. When the HRM became aware of the policy, which clearly had not been followed in this instance (or in any of the previous disposals of 18 other surplus school properties), the HRM rescinded its decision to sell to Jono, made a motion to rescind the policy and, then, passed a third motion to sell the property to Jono.
The HRM was also enabled under its Municipal Charter to “sell property at market value when the property is no longer required.” The appraised value of the property was listed in the RFP as $4.3 million, based on a valuation report that provided three scenarios:
Jono had submitted an unconditional financial offer of $3 million for the property “as is,” to be increased by increments of $75,000 over the highest bid to a maximum of $4 million. In other words, Jono offered to pay $3 million if there were no competing bids, and up to $4 million if there were. Jono also provided a slightly higher option that was conditional on certain development approvals. 2 Several community groups also submitted proposals, each offering a purchase price of less than $3 million. The HRM approved the $3 million offer from Jono. As shown by the HRM’s evaluation process, Jono had received the highest score in the RFP process, in part because of its financial proposal.
What would you decide in this case?
Reprinted from The Legal Edge Issue 112, October – December 2015
Readers are cautioned not to rely upon this article as legal advice nor as an exhaustive discussion of the topic or case. For any particular legal problem, seek advice directly from your lawyer or in-house counsel. All dates, contact information and website addresses were current at the time of original publication.
National Education Consulting Inc.
975 B Alston Street, Victoria, BC V9”A 3S5
Phone: (250) 370-0041 Toll Free: (888) 990-7267
Effective leaders have the potential to significantly in- crease their personal leadership impact by utilizing coaching skills to raise the productivity and effectiveness of those they work with. Whether you want to increase employee engagement or boost profitability, great leadership in an organization matters.
Ensure that your leaders are extraordinary — and drive extraordinary results. Register to attend one or more of these powerful coaching and leadership development workshops today!
Toronto – June 2
SPECIAL DISCOUNT for muniSERV Members
SAVE: $150 (1 DAY) OR $250 (2 DAY)
The Extraordinary Coach Workshop is a is a one-day interactive, skills-building experience, led by Jim Clemmer. Leaders who coach and develop others have a huge impact on bottom-line results. In The Extraordinary Coach Workshop, you will develop the essential coaching skills that are required to be a great leader. In addition, you will learn what extraordinary coaches do well and how you can maximize your leadership impact and inspire others to perform at their peak.
Key Learnings
Workshop Audience
The Extraordinary Coach is designed for anyone who seeks increased employee engagement, improved productivity, and the insightful application of a best- in-class coaching framework. The Extraordinary Coach is being used extensively for individual leaders at all levels of an organization from senior executives to first-line supervisors, who coach others as part of their job responsibilities.
To Learn More & Register – Extraordinary Coach Workshop– Please note Registration closes May 23, 2017
See muniSERV Events for more information on Day 2 of this Leadership Development & Coaching Skills series – Extraordinary Leader Workshop
Here’s a free whitepaper related to this workshop for you too: FUEL Framework: What Makes The Extraordinary Coach Unique
For over three decades, Jim Clemmer’s keynote presentations, workshops, management team retreats, seven bestselling books, articles, and blog have helped hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. The Clemmer Group is the Canadian strategic partner of Zenger Folkman, an award-winning firm best known for its unique evidence-driven, strengths-based system for developing extraordinary leaders and demonstrating the performance impact they have on organizations
In today’s rapidly changing, highly competitive environment, the organizations that excel in their respective markets will be those whose people are most competent, passionate, and focused on delivering results.
Toronto — June 1
SPECIAL DISCOUNT for muniSERV Members
SAVE: $150 (1 DAY) OR $250 (2 DAY)
Extraordinary Leader Workshop is a one-day interactive, skills-building experience, led by Jim Clemmer. It utilizes behavior modeling with interactive videos and real-time demonstrations. This workshop presents a proven framework for helping individuals make a profound difference in their organization’s results, and in their own performance and development.
The Extraordinary Leader Process and Participant Outcomes
This is a uniquely powerful leadership development system using strengths-based leadership development, on a foundation of evidence-based approaches, producing a highly personalized development plan, that’s built around a best of class 360 multi-rater tool.
Workshop Audience
The Extraordinary Leader process is being used extensively for individual leaders at all levels of an organization from senior executives to first-line supervisors. Customized in-house sessions are delivered to executive or management teams, other intact or cross-functional work teams, or to individuals gathered from different parts of an organization.
To Learn More & Register – Extraordinary Leader Workshop – Please note Registration closes May 18, 2017
Here too is a free whitepaper related to this workshop you might find interesting: 11 Components of a Best in Class 360 Assessment
See muniSERV Events for more information on Day 2 of this Leadership Development & Coaching Skills series – Extraordinary Coach Workshop
For over three decades, Jim Clemmer’s keynote presentations, workshops, management team retreats, seven bestselling books, articles, and blog have helped hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. The Clemmer Group is the Canadian strategic partner of Zenger Folkman, an award-winning firm best known for its unique evidence-driven, strengths-based system for developing extraordinary leaders and demonstrating the performance impact they have on organizations.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Public-Sector Entities Sharing Bid Information, and When Does Contract A End?
Through our Signature Seminars, eSeminars, Public Sector Procurement Program (PSPP) and other courses, our NECI instructors regularly answer questions about procurement-related issues. Here are two recent questions.
What is the current thinking about public-sector entities sharing bid information? We are in the MASH sector (municipalities, academic institutions, school boards, and health and social service providers) and taking advantage of more and more provincial government tender contracts that are now available to us. We are conscious about bid-shopping, and always advise our users that once we go to RFx, we can’t go back to the government agreements. As the MASH and government collaborations increase, and we handle our own RFx’s, some government parties are curious about our experience in going to market, for when they go back out. We are cautious about the free flow of information, particularly from MASH to government, given that the current direction is the other way around. RFx strategies and the like don’t raise much concern, but sharing results makes us hesitate.
Generally speaking, bid-shopping has to do with using already submitted bid pricing as a negotiating tool with other suppliers. Typically, this relates to cancelling a tender process after closing, and then either going back out to market with the same scope, or using the pricing submitted in negotiations for a direct award of the work. Having said that, we know that the public sector is a lightning rod for challenges, and that the legal definitions of such terms are shaped, over time, by the various allegations that come before the courts.
Obtaining information on the lump-sum price of similar contracts with other public organizations is common practice, and indeed, it is public record, so probably couldn’t be considered improper. Going beyond that, however, and obtaining other pricing that perhaps did not result in an award, might be riskier territory. Using the lump-sum award pricing when shaping internal budgets is common, but if, for example, you were to use that information as justification for cancelling a tender process already underway, we could see some potential issues.
It would be prudent for you to raise this issue and get some legal advice on the implications. As always, this is not legal advice, just our take on the question, as educators. We have not heard this issue from any other organization, but as you say, the practice of sharing information among public-sector entities is becoming more common. While that is a good thing, you are entirely correct to be a little uncomfortable with the practice until you receive a legal opinion on how far you should go. The last thing you want, of course, is for the courts to make that determination for you.
At what point in the competitive bidding process does Contract A end?
Great question! From a legal perspective, Contract A expires when Contract B (the Performance Contract) is signed with the successful respondent. If there is unfairness, of course there can be a challenge after Contract B is signed, but the alleged unfairness must have taken place during the competition before Contract B was signed.
Do you have procurement-related questions that might be of broad interest (or additions to/rebuttals of our answers)? We invite you to send them to our Legal Editor and Publisher, Maureen Sullivan ([email protected]). We will publish questions of a general nature that we think are relevant and timely. We cannot address specific legal questions, provide legal advice, or guarantee that your question will be published.
Reprinted from The Legal Edge Issue 111, July – September 2015
It is a known fact that all municipalities, particularly small municipalities, share success and horror stories about experiences they have had with a particular consultant or professional they used. They quite literally pick up the phone and ask other municipalities “who they used”. They do this because municipalities differ from the private sector in that they are not in competition with each other so they freely share their success stories/best practices, etc.
While this works very well for municipalities, this reliance on the word- of- mouth exchange of information can often make it difficult for consultants and professionals to find that first opportunity to work with a municipality to become part of one of those “who did you use” conversations.
Here are a few hints that may help.
Don’t limit yourself to trying to just get contracts with larger municipalities – Smaller municipalities need and use consultants and professionals too because they do not always have the in-house staff with the specialized expertise required to complete all projects. And, it’s often easier to secure some work with smaller municipalities and it’s a great stepping stone for finding larger projects with larger municipalities.
Procurement By-laws – Search the websites of municipalities you would like to work with and familiarize yourself with their procurement by-law or policies to learn their rules for engaging outside experts. While municipalities all must by law, have a procurement policy, their actual purchasing processes may differ slightly (i.e. they may have established different notice periods for those not otherwise mandated, or different advertising methods, etc.) Once you know their methods you can check those sources for work postings.
Search the Minutes of the Committee of the Whole (COW) or Council Meetings – Look for any council resolutions that indicate they will be engaging an outside consultant or professional for assistance. This will give you clues as to what work they will be posting soon and possibly how it will be posted. (i.e RFP, Tender, RFQ, etc) In smaller municipalities look for wording like, “be it resolved that staff is hereby authorized to call for quotes (or advertise by public tender, etc.) for the services of a consultant to undertake ……..”
Review Staff Reports Attached to Meeting Agendas or Minutes – It will most often be the department heads or staff members who have identified a need to bring in a third party professional to assist with a particular project and they will usually write the reasons why they need an outside expert in a report to council. Of course you’ll narrow your search to only the reports from the departments you want to offer your expertise to.
Search the Municipality’s Website to find the Member of Staff responsible for Purchasing – Small municipalities typically do not have Purchasing Officers or Procurement departments and quite often this responsibility lies with the CAO, Treasurer or with Accounts Payable .
Set up an Appointment – Once you’ve determined who is responsible for purchasing, set up an appointment to meet the individual face to face to introduce your services and tell them how you can help. Do keep your meeting brief though – these folks are busy and taking too much of their time may actually work against you and leave a negative impression.
If you can’t get an appointment to introduce yourself, consider personally dropping off information at the municipality. This may help separate you and your information from the other material they receive in the mail and if they’re looking for someone with your expertise, they are more apt to remember to include you in any calls for quotes, etc. In my years as a municipal CAO, I don’t ever recall having a consultant or professional come to my office to meet me or drop off information for me. If they had of they would have stood out in my mind for sure.
Some municipalities make it a practice to include anything addressed to Mayor and Councillors, in their Council agenda packages. So, if you have a brochure or newsletter about your services this may also be a way to broaden your reach to more of the decision-makers in the municipality.
Set up your profile on muniSERV.ca – The hints above will work but as you can see, they are very time-consuming and you will only be able to concentrate on just a few municipalities at a time due the amount of research and follow up that will be necessary. However, setting up a profile on muniSERV.ca and making it as robust and professional as possible, is the quickest and most cost-effective way for you to have the opportunity for direct visibility and exposure to municipal decision-makers.
By selecting the service categories of the services you provide, you’ll be part of the searchable database – and the more municipalities search, the more opportunity there is for you to get found and build your consultancy. You can also check the RFP section of the site to see if there are any RFPs looking for the services you provide.
Finally, once you’ve been successful getting work in a municipality you need to be acutely aware of the fact that if you do a poor job, you may have just ruined your opportunity of finding work elsewhere with a municipality, because the “word- of- mouth” about your performance will have already been spread through municipal networks by then!
Susan is the Principal of muniSERV.ca – Helping Municipalities & Professionals Connect!
She can be reached at [email protected] or 855.477.5095
** Note – This information is drawn from my own experience as a former municipal CAO in Ontario and processes may be somewhat different in other provinces in Canada
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