Corporate Administration Statement of Operations - Quarter 2 Financial Update (2017) (in thousands of dollars)

Variance Analysis (in thousands of dollars)

Corporate Administration is operating a year-to-date surplus before indirect allocations of $568 and forecasting a total surplus before indirect allocations of $92. The following factors have contributed to these variances:

Compensation

The favourable year-to-date and forecasted variance of $78 and $38 is primarily the result of staffing vacancies in the Internal Control & Organization Performance and Strategic Communications & Public Affairs divisions.

Administrative

The favourable year-to-date and forecasted variance of $489 and $53 is primarily due to: timing of consulting expenditures related to value for money audits and the communications strategy review; offset by increased job advertisement and corporate wide functions being funded out of the Chief Administrative Office's Office.

Community Impacts & Achievements

Corporate Administration includes the Chief Administrative Officer's Office, Internal Control & Organizational Performance and Strategic Communications & Public Affairs whose main focus is the general management/support of the other Regional departments.

Strategic Communications & Public Affairs

• Led government relations activities to advance Council's strategic priorities including project management of GO rail expansion advocacy and Inter-municipal Transit consolidation.
• Continuous enhancement of the regional website (niagararegion.ca) for compliance with the communication standards of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.
• Conducted review of internal communications practices and procedures.

Internal Control & Organizational Performance

• Presented update reports to Audit Committee with respect to the outcomes of the Burgoyne Bridge Value for Money (VFM) audit, in addition to a progress report on the implementation of all of the audit findings resulting from the VFM audits to date.
• Presented Q1 dashboard report on key performance indicators for the organization.
• Completed resource tiering exercise for 2017 capital projects, commenced the investigation of resourcing requirement for project management within the organization, and received approval for certification plans for project managers (PMP) to begin in late 2017.
• Welcomed Maciej Jurczyk as the new Director of the Division and began assembling a team of audit subject matter experts in order to build a highly professional in-house internal audit department.