Overhaul of city property and planning includes tracking inspectors, digitizing permit process

Inspectors are wearing uniforms with name badges and are being tracked on their phones as part of an overhaul of the City of Winnipeg's inspections and permits section.

A series of reports outlining changes to the inspections and permits division of the city's property and planning department will be introduced at the next executive policy committee meeting in response to a scandal that saw eight people fired.

The overhaul is being done after an anonymous group hired private investigators to follow city staff and videotape them doing things like personal errands, taking long breaks and going to bars or restaurants during work hours.

A city investigation that followed ended with the firings, seven staff suspensions and four written reprimands. The majority are being challenged by the Canadian Union of Public Employees; CUPE president Gord Delbridge said the cases are in arbitration.

"We had an issue last year we dealt with it directly and head on. Those people don't work for us anymore," said John Kiernan, director of planning, property and development for the city.

"It … was actually one of those moments, where you have to think about how you will do business differently."

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The changes include spending $4.2 million to digitize parts of the permits system, which will allow residents to file the forms online instead of filing the paperwork in person.

A tracking system called Safety Line requires inspectors click in when they visit a residence where they are doing a permit inspection and click out when they leave.

It keeps staff safer and allows management to check if there is a problem with a permit or an inspector, Kiernan said.

"If there's a complaint, if there's a concern, we can go back in and say, yes, the staff person was there, they weren't there … when they click off to go for lunch, when they take coffee, when they're finished coffee." 

The digital permit system will cost the city $823,000 to operate in 2021, and that will increase to $1.4 million in 2022.

The costs will be funded by surplus permit fee revenues in each year.

Digitization is to be finished by 2022, leading to a reduction of approximately 10 positions and yearly savings of approximately $1 million.

The chair of the property and planning committee said it looks like the department is reacting to the problems appropriately.

Coun. Brian Mayes called it a "serious attempt" to reorganize the department.

"I think it goes quite a ways and we are responding. There were issues and we haven't just sat around. As Mr. Kiernan said, people were let go. There was some accountability," Mayes said.