Work needed to shape up lazy Toronto forestry crews: Auditor general
City audit committee hears crews still spending less than half their days actually working
Author of the article:
Bryan Passifiume
Publishing date:
Feb 17, 2021 • 5 hours ago • 2 minute read
Toronto forestry crews observed by Toronto auditor surveillance teams Photo by Handout /City of Toronto
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City taxpayers continue to receive poor returns on what they spend to maintain Toronto’s tree canopy.
That was the conclusion of Toronto’s auditor general on Tuesday, presenting her damning follow-up report on city forestry crews.
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“It’s about dollars and cents, but it’s about the tree canopy,” said Beverly Romeo-Beehler told Toronto’s audit committee.
The follow-up to her 2019 report shows little has changed, costing the city millions in lost productivity.
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“Knowing we had done a paper review for the first audit, I decided that I really needed to understand myself how things were progressing,” she said, describing hopping in her car and staking out city yards at 6 a.m.
Audit teams spent 500 hours observing 25 crews between July 31 and Sept. 25, concluding that both city and contract crews still have much to improve upon.
“Nobody’s expecting perfection, but we do expect the non-productivity time to be lower than what it is now,” she said.
Crews spent less than half their day actually performing work, she said — taking unreported breaks, questionable work logging, reporting worksites blocked by nonexistent parked cars or spending hours relaxing in vehicles.
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She also took issue with supervisors, indicating one foreman’s performance report describing an idle crew as time-efficient, using tools and equipment safely and following best-practices.
“This crew sat for four hours,” Romeo-Beehler said.
“Work hadn’t even started.”
Councillor Michael Ford said the issue is one of accountability, asking Forestry Manager Janie Romoff why management isn’t doing a better job at supervising crews.
“We did make some advancements, we did try to do some changes,” she said, describing much of her department as manual and paper-based.
“I think there were significant efforts that were made to improve things, but as the AG noticed those improvements weren’t enough.”
Part of the AG’s report recommended the department make moves towards digitizing workflows to increase efficiency and accountability.
Romoff presented plans for improvement based on the AG’s recommendations.
Other recommendations included discrete crew observation, better work planning, assignment and monitoring, and conducting efficient and accurate inspections.
bpassifiume@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @bryanpassifiume
torontosun.com
City audit committee hears crews still spending less than half their days actually working
Author of the article:
Bryan Passifiume
Publishing date:
Feb 17, 2021 • 5 hours ago • 2 minute read
Toronto forestry crews observed by Toronto auditor surveillance teams Photo by Handout /City of Toronto
Article content
City taxpayers continue to receive poor returns on what they spend to maintain Toronto’s tree canopy.
That was the conclusion of Toronto’s auditor general on Tuesday, presenting her damning follow-up report on city forestry crews.
Doing this can prevent death from a heart attack
Tracker dslogo
“It’s about dollars and cents, but it’s about the tree canopy,” said Beverly Romeo-Beehler told Toronto’s audit committee.
The follow-up to her 2019 report shows little has changed, costing the city millions in lost productivity.
Advertisement
Story continues below
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
“Knowing we had done a paper review for the first audit, I decided that I really needed to understand myself how things were progressing,” she said, describing hopping in her car and staking out city yards at 6 a.m.
Audit teams spent 500 hours observing 25 crews between July 31 and Sept. 25, concluding that both city and contract crews still have much to improve upon.
“Nobody’s expecting perfection, but we do expect the non-productivity time to be lower than what it is now,” she said.
Crews spent less than half their day actually performing work, she said — taking unreported breaks, questionable work logging, reporting worksites blocked by nonexistent parked cars or spending hours relaxing in vehicles.
Advertisement
Story continues below
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
She also took issue with supervisors, indicating one foreman’s performance report describing an idle crew as time-efficient, using tools and equipment safely and following best-practices.
“This crew sat for four hours,” Romeo-Beehler said.
“Work hadn’t even started.”
Councillor Michael Ford said the issue is one of accountability, asking Forestry Manager Janie Romoff why management isn’t doing a better job at supervising crews.
“We did make some advancements, we did try to do some changes,” she said, describing much of her department as manual and paper-based.
“I think there were significant efforts that were made to improve things, but as the AG noticed those improvements weren’t enough.”
Part of the AG’s report recommended the department make moves towards digitizing workflows to increase efficiency and accountability.
Romoff presented plans for improvement based on the AG’s recommendations.
Other recommendations included discrete crew observation, better work planning, assignment and monitoring, and conducting efficient and accurate inspections.
bpassifiume@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @bryanpassifiume
Work needed to shape up lazy Toronto forestry crews: Auditor general
City taxpayers continue to receive poor returns on what they spend to maintain Toronto's tree canopy.