RC114 SeptOct 2024 - Magazine - Page 24
ASSET MANAGEMENT
A NEW ERA
How local governments are evolving asset
management and prioritizing resilience
by Aymone Agossou
OCAL GOVERNMENTS face numerous competing priorities when it comes to their
infrastructure assets. Residents rely on services from infrastructure like
community buildings, parks, roads and sidewalks; at the same time, they
expect those services to be high-quality and delivered in a cost-efective
way. Meanwhile, municipalities must also contend with the rising threat of
climate change by taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to
make their assets4and communities4more able to withstand its efects.
To meet these demands and efectively deliver services to their communities, municipalities are evolving their asset management practices to prioritize
the better use of data, improved asset inventories and an increased focus on
equity, long-term value and climate resilience. According to data from the
Federation of Canadian Municipalities9 Municipal Asset Management Program
(MAMP), well over a thousand municipalities have reported advancements to
their asset management competencies over the past eight years. And it9s clear
that there9s demand among them to make even more strides toward managing
their assets in the best way possible.
24
RENEW CANADA – SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024
Over the past eight years Canadian
municipalities of all sizes have worked
hard to overcome infrastructure
challenges and evolve their asset
management practices.
METROLINX
Aymone Agossou is
a project director
for the Federation
of Canadian
Municipalities9
Municipal Asset
Management Program
and Climate-Ready
Plans and Processes.
Advancing asset management skills
In recent years, Canadian municipalities have grown to recognize the importance of sound, data-driven asset management, and they9re working hard
to overcome the challenges that have kept them from investing in it, such as
insuïcient funding and staf and a lack of general know-how. Making asset
management a priority can help municipalities maintain momentum and boost
organizational knowledge while evolving their business practices and meeting
ever-increasing concerns about climate change.
Local governments are increasingly valuing data-driven decision-making
due to its signiocant role in optimizing spending. For instance, the City of New
Westminster, B.C., developed a comprehensive Sanitary and Drainage Asset
Management Plan complete with asset overview, inventory, level of service,
lifecycle strategies, continuous improvements and risks4including climate
change impacts. This plan gives the City9s government the necessary data to
make informed decisions regarding infrastructure maintenance, investment
prioritization and resilience planning.
To achieve this kind of plan, it9s key that staf have expertise in asset
management4and that decision-makers are keenly aware of its importance.
One factor helping municipalities with these goals was MAMP, which ran
from 2017 to 2024 and provided funding, resources and training, and fostered
collaboration. With workshops, webinars and technical assistance, MAMP
engaged municipal staf and raised awareness of the importance of asset management. Through MAMP, 1,647 municipalities engaged in asset management
training, 1,346 received funding, and more than 2,000 reported improved levels
of understanding, skills, knowledge and competencies.
Collaboration within and across communities is a valuable part of this work,
too, and has increased in recent years. MAMP played a key role in creating
networks and developing a culture of knowledge sharing by gathering asset
management professionals from across the country to share and exchange
ideas, as well as by developing partnerships with provincial organizations to
leverage local expertise.
