Getting to the Root of the Issues: A Follow-Up to the 2019 Tree Maintenance Services Audit

2. City Council request the City Manager to report to the Audit Committee in the first quarter of 2022 with a consolidated summary and analysis of all forestry services-related complaints in 2021, whether internal or external, and to provide overall summary information on the actions and outcomes arising from these complaints. 3. City Council direct the City Manager to review the organizational and management structure of Urban Forestry operations to ensure the proper alignment with other City operations and make necessary changes to improve operational efficiencies and effectiveness, including improvements to contract management practices. 4. City Council request the City Manager to put contract management controls in place to ensure that vendors are complying with the terms of the tree maintenance services contract. 5. City Council direct the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation and the Chief Procurement Officer to take all possible measures to increase competition in the awarding of all upcoming forestry contracts, including any open competitions and contracts not yet awarded, and that this include opportunities to take a portion of arboricultural service activities and develop a stream of short term procurement opportunities that would be available to smaller arboricultural service providers. 6. City Council direct the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation and the Chief Procurement Officer, in the awarding of contracts, to give the highest possible weight to past performance and the willingness of contractors to respond to concerns and, where appropriate, to make restitution in cases where payment has been made for work-not-performed according to contract standards. 7. City Council direct the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation and the Chief Procurement Officer to ensure that the future contracts for forestry services contain enforceable provisions for the shifting of workloads at the discretion of City staff and to terminate contracts for failure to perform according to specified standards in consultation with the City Solicitor. 8. City Council direct the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation and the Chief Procurement Officer, in consultation with the City Manager, to commence work as early as possible on the Request For Proposal process for the awarding of contracts to commence July 1, 2023, with a view to increasing competition and performance measurement, and report on the results of that work to City Council through the Infrastructure and Environment Committee in the fourth quarter of 2021. 9. City Council direct the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation and the Chief Procurement Officer, in consultation with the City Manager, to report to City Council for approval, through the Infrastructure and Environment Committee, on final details of the Request for Proposal, including the contract terms being proposed, for contracted Forestry services by June 2022. 10. City Council direct that the award of contracts for forestry services be submitted to City Council for approval. 11. City Council request the City Manager and the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to ensure that Forestry Performance Inspection Reports are only conducted after a Forestry crew commences work to enable the City to evaluate whether time is being used efficiently and whether the City is receiving value for money. 12. City Council direct the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to: a. report directly to the May 5 and 6, 2021 meeting of City Council with an update on the progress made with respect to the 60-day actions in Getting to the Root of the Issues: 30/60/90 Day Plan of Action - Parks, Forestry and Recreation that was presented at the February 16, 2021 meeting of the Audit Committee; and b. report to the May 31, 2021 meeting of the Audit Committee with an update on the progress made with respect to the 90-day actions in Getting to the Root of the Issues: 30/60/90 Day Plan of Action - Parks, Forestry and Recreation that was presented at the February 16, 2021 meeting of the Audit Committee. 13. City Council request the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to periodically perform discreet physical observation of tree maintenance vendors for multiple whole days to ascertain the accuracy and reliability of reported work completed and paid for based on an hourly rate. 14. City Council request the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to improve City and contracted tree maintenance crew productivity, outputs, and outcomes by planning, assigning, and monitoring work to: a. maximize the amount of time spent actively working on tree maintenance activities (i.e., pruning, removal, stumping, fill and seed, etc.); b. reduce the time spent on supporting activities (i.e., time spent at the yard, dumping, driving, etc.); and c. minimize non-productive time (i.e., time waiting for parked vehicles to be moved, idle time, unreported breaks, etc.). 15. City Council direct that, to support the effective analysis and monitoring of productivity, Urban Forestry Forepersons or Supervisors must verify that crews accurately record information (including locations, activities, and times) on their daily logs and review the logs for productivity and completeness on a sample basis; the sample should include at least one daily log per crew within every two-week period; and, where issues are noted on a selected daily log, additional logs should be reviewed and, where necessary, daily logs and invoices should be adjusted in accordance with the contract. 16. City Council request the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to: a. track all tree maintenance complaints to provide indicators of where contractor performance needs closer monitoring; b. include complaints in contract management and contractor performance evaluations, with a special emphasis on recurring issues; and c. remind staff of their obligation to report any allegations of potential wrongdoing involving City resources, including potential wrongdoing against the City by third-party vendors, to the Auditor General for further investigation. 17. City Council request the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to ensure that Forestry Performance Inspection Records accurately reflect the actual scope of the inspection or review performed and note any inspection criteria that staff are unable to assess based on work activities observed at the time of the inspection. 18. City Council request the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to: a. obtain precise route information (in accordance with contracts), which includes specific geo-location (latitude and longitude) at frequent (minute-by-minute) intervals and not just fixed addresses associated with tree locations; b. investigate any discrepancy between the reported geo-location and GPS geo-location exceeding an acceptable threshold no greater than 25 metres; any challenge to the GPS accuracy should be supported by GPS service providers' direct confirmation to the City that the data recorded by their GPS device is faulty; and explanations and supporting evidence for discrepancies should be properly documented; c. request crews to submit geo-tagged photos of each tree, showing the tree before and after work has been completed; and Urban Forestry staff should review these photos when signing off on crews' daily logs; and d. update Urban Forestry tree maintenance records with current geo-tagged photos of trees submitted by tree maintenance crews. 19. City Council request the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to improve crew management at the operations yards to reduce daily yard time and increase efficiency on tree maintenance work and City Council request Urban Forestry management to monitor whether there is any improvement to operational efficiency when taking this action. 20. City Council request the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to: a. analyze why certain crews report parked vehicles at a higher frequency or longer duration than other crews and implement measures to reduce related downtime; b. request crews to submit geo-tagged photos of the location of parked vehicles obstructing work at the time these obstructions occur; and Urban Forestry Forepersons should reconcile reported parked car time to the submitted evidence of the obstruction when they review and sign off on daily logs; and c. expedite how the Division will minimize downtime related to parked vehicles obstructing work from proceeding, temporarily directing, until this issue can be properly addressed, tree maintenance crews to carry on to the next tree location if they cannot gain access and then return when parking enforcement and towing can be arranged; and Urban Forestry management should monitor whether there is any improvement to operational efficiency when taking this action. 21. City Council request the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to: a. ensure that Urban Forestry or vendor staff are pre-arranging all required hydro hold-offs, wherever possible, to minimize downtime spent waiting for a hold-off; and the time of pre-scheduled hold-off, the time when hold-off was actually received, and any time waiting should be clearly noted on daily logs; and b. ensure that any need for an emergency hold-off is reported to the Urban Forestry Foreperson and is noted on their daily log; and the time when the request for hold-off was called in, the time when hold-off was actually received, and any time waiting should be clearly noted on daily logs. 22. City Council request the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to ensure that payment for services is consistent with the express terms of the contract. 23. City Council request the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to: a. verify that vendors fulfill their contractual responsibilities for ensuring complete compliance with all regulations and provisions contained in, or issued under, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the Arborist Industry Safe Work Practices, the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (formerly the Electrical Utilities Safety Rules) Rule Book, the Highway Traffic Act, and any other applicable regulations, and any amendments to the foregoing acts and regulations and any new applicable acts or regulations that are enacted from time to time; b. ensure that non-compliance is properly documented as part of vendor contract performance management processes; and c. pursue measures up to, and including, contract termination for repeated non-compliance with safety provisions of tree maintenance contracts. 24. City Council direct the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to remind all vendors of their responsibilities under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and to ensure that safety records are verified on an ongoing basis. 25. City Council request the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to: a. obtain GPS routes travelled information that includes actual location coordinates (longitude and latitude) that are routinely captured by vendors' GPS systems every minute (or more frequent) and whenever there is a vehicle change (start, stop, change in direction, power take off on/off, etc.); and b. retain all GPS records needed to support invoiced amounts in accordance with the City's records retention policy. 26. City Council request the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to: a. define expected outcomes for tree maintenance service delivery and include related performance measures directly within the contracts; b. specify actions and remedies for not meeting performance outcomes in the contracts; and c. consider contract terms that allow the City to base the assignment of tree maintenance work packages or hourly rate work based on how crews perform relative to other crews. 27. City Council request the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to compare performance measures and outcomes achieved by City and contracted tree maintenance crews and use this information to determine the appropriate type and volume of work to allocate to City crews and outsourced service providers. 28. City Council direct the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to report to each regular meeting of the Audit Committee, on experiences and data collected on the performance of urban forestry contractors and City crews, and that such report be submitted in sufficient time for the Auditor General to review it and provide any additional observations or comments to the Audit Committee. 29. City Council request the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to report to the Infrastructure and Environment Committee, in the fourth quarter of 2021, on the feasibility of City of Toronto staff providing tree maintenance services. 30. City Council request the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to ensure that contracts make clear the roles and responsibilities of City staff and the vendor for resolving problems that impact performance outcomes, including crew productivity. 31. City Council request the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to require tree maintenance vendors' vehicles to clearly indicate in large font text, easily readable at a distance, identifying: a. the vehicle is on contract to the City of Toronto; b. a unique vehicle identification number; and c. an appropriate contact telephone number for the City of Toronto in case of complaints. 32. City Council direct the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation, in consultation with the City Solicitor, the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, and the Toronto Police Service, to report to the May 31, 2021 meeting of the Audit Committee on an improved system to deal with parked vehicles that impede tree maintenance crews which could include options to expedite the removal of legally-parked vehicles, including the feasibility of issuing legal notices to residents to authorize the expedited removal of parked vehicles. 33. City Council request the Controller to implement additional supports and greater accountability City-wide for the effective monitoring and management of significant outsourced contracts which may include: a. well-defined control objectives for which divisions are expected to have designed and implemented key controls to reinforce effective oversight, monitoring, and management of outsourced services in accordance with the express terms of the contract; b. a structured approach to documenting contracting risks and controls with divisional management certifying or signing off that key contract management controls have been appropriately designed and implemented in practice; and c. an independent compliance review process to verify the key contract monitoring and contract management controls that divisions have put into place are operating effectively, including extensive physical observation of contracted service providers from time to time. 34. City Council request the General Manager, Fleet Services, in consultation with the Chief Technology Officer and the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation and other client divisions, to: a. explore an enterprise-wide procurement of a telematics solution that can be leveraged into vehicles of outsourced service providers to support contract management and monitoring; and b. establish guidelines for how to leverage or integrate GPS data to support contract management and monitoring, including data analytics. 35. City Council request the Auditor General to report to the Audit Committee on the status of the implementation of the recommendations in Item 2019.AU2.4 headed "Review of Urban Forestry - Ensuring Value for Money for Tree Maintenance Services" and Item 2021.AU8.6 headed "Getting to the Root of the Issues: A Follow-Up to the 2019 Tree Maintenance Services Audit". 36. City Council direct that future contracts for forestry services not include payment for breaks or for the duplication of tree inspections and that an evaluation of past performance by contractors on City contracts be built into the process for the award of contracts. 37. City Council direct that Confidential Attachment 1 to the report (February 2, 2021) from the Auditor General remain confidential in its entirety, as it contains information about litigation or potential litigation that affects the City of Toronto. 38. City Council direct that Confidential Attachment 1 to the report (February 8, 2021) from the Director, Internal Audit remain confidential in its entirety, as it contains information pertaining to litigation or potential litigation that affects the City of Toronto. 39. City Council adopt the confidential instructions to staff in Confidential Attachment 1 to the supplementary report (March 30, 2021) from the City Solicitor. 40. City Council authorize the public release of the confidential instructions to staff in Confidential Attachment 1 to the supplementary report (March 30, 2021) from the City Solicitor at the discretion of the City Solicitor. 41. City Council direct that the balance of Confidential Attachment 1 to the supplementary report (March 30, 2021) from the City Solicitor remain confidential, as it contains advice or communications that are subject to solicitor-client privilege. 42. City Council authorize the public release of Confidential Attachment 1 to the supplementary report (March 30, 2021) from the City Manager and the Chief Procurement Officer following the award of negotiable Request For Proposal Number 2305234907 for the provision of arboricultural services at the discretion of the Chief Procurement Officer and the City Solicitor. Confidential Attachment 1 to the report (February 2, 2021) from the Auditor General remains confidential in its entirety in accordance with the provisions of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, as it contains information pertaining to litigation or potential litigation that affects the City of Toronto. Confidential Attachment 1 to the report (February 8, 2021) from the Director, Internal Audit remains confidential in its entirety in accordance with the provisions of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, as it contains information pertaining to litigation or potential litigation that affects the City of Toronto. The confidential instructions to staff in Confidential Attachment 1 to the supplementary report (March 30, 2021) from the City Solicitor remains confidential at this time in accordance with the provisions of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, as they contain advice or communications that are subject to solicitor-client privilege. The confidential instructions to staff in Confidential Attachment 1 to the supplementary report (March 30, 2021) from the City Solicitor will be made public at the discretion of the City Solicitor. The balance of Confidential Attachment 1 to the supplementary report (March 30, 2021) from the City Solicitor remains confidential in accordance with the provisions of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, as they contain advice or communications that are subject to solicitor-client privilege. Confidential Attachment 1 to the supplementary report (March 30, 2021) from the City Manager and the Chief Procurement Officer remains confidential at this time in accordance with the provisions of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, as it involves the security of property belonging to the City of Toronto and contains information related to ongoing negotiations of negotiable Request for Proposal Number 2305234907 for the provision of arboricultural services to be carried on by, or on behalf of, the City of Toronto. Confidential Attachment 1 to the supplementary report (March 30, 2021) from the City Manager and the Chief Procurement Officer will be made public following the award of negotiable Request For Proposal Number 2305234907 for the provision of arboricultural services at the discretion of the Chief Procurement Officer and the City Solicitor.