2011-01-AU Limited Scope Performance Audit of the Department of Parks and Recreation’s Facilities Asset Management

Home

Chapter 3: OPERATIONS performance measures relating to its maintenance of other facility components, since larger repair requests are forwarded to the Park Planner, after which work orders are closed within the Parks Maintenance Division database and no formal tracking is conducted by the Park Planning Division. The Department of Parks and Recreation has not sufficiently assessed the condition of its facilities in order to achieve its stated safety goal to: "Ensure safe environment for our employees and patrons". The Department does not have a measurable objective or targeted standard for maintaining the condition of its buildings. While our observations indicate that conditions of key building components at many facilities we visited are deteriorating, the Department has not adopted a formal method of measuring changes in facility condition over time in order to assess and quantify whether conditions are being improved or whether facilities are continuing to deteriorate. To determine whether facilities and safety goals are being achieved requires the monitoring of facility conditions over time. Are facility conditions improving or deteriorating? Is facility safety being improved? How quickly is the backlog of deferred maintenance and repair being reduced? These are all questions that can be answered by establishing measurable performance objectives, tracking relevant performance data, and reporting on actual performance against measurable objectives. While the Department should be commended for its efforts in seeking public input, the Department of Parks and Recreation Service Survey could elicit better feedback on the condition of its facilities. A current survey question reads: "In your opinion, is the facility adequately maintained? Yes No". While this question allows for calculating the number and percentage of customers who answered "yes" or "no", asking customers to rate specific facility conditions may provide more useful feedback. Sample questions that seek responses about reaching strategic goals include: • "How well are we doing at cleaning recreational facilities?Excellent Good Fair Poor" • "How well are we doing at repairing recreational facilities?Excellent Good Fair Poor" • "How well are we doing at providing safe recreational facilities?Excellent Good Fair Poor" If the customer survey also includes the name of the recreational facility, information regarding conditions at specific facilities can be tracked to measure customer perceptions over time. THE DEPARTMENT NEEDS TO IMPROVE REPORTING ON FACILITY CONDITIONS AND REPAIR PROJECTS The Government Finance Officers Association in its GFOA Best Practice, Capital Asset Assessment, Maintenance and Replacement Policy(2007 and 2010), recommends: "At least every one to three years, providing a "plain language" Report on Capital Facilities to elected officials and made available to the general public that describes: a. Condition ratings jurisdiction-wide compared to established policy standards. 20