Sudbury auditor general recommends overhaul to Pioneer Manor oversight committee

Ron Foster, the city's auditor general, is recommending changes to oversight at Pioneer Manor.

Foster presented his report to the city's audit committee Monday night, saying the current 3-member committee of management (COM) is overworked, and does not have the capacity to help direct the long-term care home through looming provincial regulations which could see rooms renovated, and possibly even an expansion to the facility.

Currently, Foster said the COM consists of Couns. René Lapierre, Robert Kirwan, and retiring councillor Evelyn Dutrisac, who oversee the direction of the home's approximately 400 residents.

Foster instead recommends transferring oversight responsibilities to the five-person Community Services Committee, effectively giving council as a whole more control over the direction of Pioneer Manor.

"Perhaps having three members wasn't as effective as having half a dozen members...overseeing the various initiatives," Foster said. "Perhaps more hands make the work lighter," he said.

Audit calls out senior management's effectiveness

Foster also said the recommendations don't come as a criticism of the facility's staff. 

"In this case, the [audit's recommendation] wasn't on the core staff in the operations, but it was on the senior management team's effectiveness working with a committee of management members and the rest of the city, in terms of dealing with major issues and dealing with regulatory requirements effectively."

He added that an increase in the number of bodies on the management side will enable councillors to delve deeper into issues facing the home, through the forming of sub-committees.

But Foster says residents of the home will see little, if any, change to services currently provided.

"I don't believe they'll see any difference," Foster said. "If anything, they may have greater opportunity for consultation with members of council who are on the subcommittees. So we don't feel there's a loss."

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Coun. Mike Jakubo —  who currently is vice-chair of the community services committee— said he agreed with the auditor general's recommendations, stressing the need to provide council with the authority to make proactive decisions on significant issues.

"From a city perspective,ultimately, things are in our laps as far as responsibility goes," Jakubo said. "So we need to make some proactive decisions to get ourselves in as good a position to make some big decisions."

Some of the decisions ahead for councillors could be whether or not to renovate Pioneer Manor's older, smaller rooms. Jakubo said provincial funding is contingent on providing ample space for residents, something the facility may not conform to.

"We need to make decision here, so it's a decision which really can't be made by a small level by a committee of management," Jakubo said. "It needs to be a decision of council  to say, is it worth going through with that renovation and investing those dollars and will our citizens get enough of a return in the long run?"

"And I'm not talking about just the residents of Pioneer Manor. I'm talking about the whole city. "