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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCLK 03-24Report to Council Report Number: CLK 03-24 Date: May 27, 2024 From: Paul Bigioni Director, Corporate Services & City Solicitor Subject: Lobbyist Registry One-Year Update -File: A-2200 Recommendation: 1.That Report CLK 03-24, regarding the Lobbyist Registry One-Year Update, be receivedfor information. Executive Summary: The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the first year of the City’s Lobbyist Registry, and to provide Council with an update on the effectiveness of the program. Relationship to the Pickering Strategic Plan: The recommendations in this report respond to the Pickering Strategic Plan Priorities of Strengthening Existing & Build New Partnerships; and, Foster an Engaged & Informed Community. Financial Implications: The cost of the Lobbyist Registry software is $5,000.00 (plus HST) annually. In addition to the software costs, the City has appointed Principles Integrity as the City’s Lobbyist Registrar which has resulted in a total cost of $2,518.75 for the period of May 1, 2023 to May 1, 2024. These costs included an education and training session provided by Principles Integrity on June 26, 2023, and general inquiries they have fielded pertaining to the Registry. Discussion: The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the first year of the City’s Lobbyist Registry, and to provide Council with an update on the effectiveness of the program. As part of the City’s commitment to enhance accountability and transparency, on March 27, 2023, By-law 8003/23 was enacted to establish a Lobbyist Registry program for the City of Pickering. The launch of the Registry made the City of Pickering the first municipality in Durham Region to have a Lobbyist Registry, and the tenth municipality in Ontario. Lobbying is a normal activity done throughout all levels of government. Lobbying can advocate for positive changes in a community, and the implementation of a Lobbyist Registry provides a transparent means for the public to know with who, and in what manner, lobbying activity is being carried out. -01:Jof- Pl(KERJNG CLK 03-24 May 27, 2024 Subject: Lobbyist Registry One-Year Update Page 2 Pursuant to By-law 8003/23, the City Clerk is responsible for overseeing the establishment and maintenance of the Lobbyist Registry and making the Lobbyist Registry available for public inspection through electronic, web-based access at all reasonable times. The Lobbyist Registry Webpage was launched on May 1, 2023. The online registry tool was available for lobbyists to register their profiles and lobbying activities, and for the public to browse and familiarize themselves with the Registry. During the first six months after the Lobbyist Registry was initiated, a penalty free period was provided to allow time to educate and inform lobbyists, and the public, on how the program was intended to function. A.Implementation The Lobbyist Registry webpage provides resource materials and instructions for anyone who is undertaking lobbying activities and provides clear guidelines that outline the responsibilities under the Lobbyist Registry By-law. The webpage is also an information resource for members of the public who wish to access the Registry to view lobbying registrations and activities. Since the launch of the Lobbyist Registry, staff have collaborated with J-SAS Inc. to customize the online Registry to improve the user experience for both the public and Lobbyists. Some of the improvements made during the last year included increasing button sizes for greater visibility to the user, more intuitive data entry fields, and adding a personalized logo, placed in the top right corner of the Registry webpage, to indicate to the Lobbyist that they are signed in to their account profile. The most notable update to the Lobbyist Registry included the implementation of a review process for all online submissions. Through research of nine municipalities currently maintaining Lobbyist Registries, staff found that each municipality reviewed entries prior to publication. Staff deemed a review process to be a valuable step to address any administrative issues such as duplicate entries or insufficient details, prior to the entry being published on the Registry. Staff worked with J-SAS Inc., within a training module environment, to ensure that the new review process was managable and that there was no impact for the end user in registering or accessing the Registry information. During this exercise, existing Lobbyist Profiles and activities were not affected, and only new submissions were required to be reviewed before publication. This new workflow requires the Lobbyist Registry Administrator to verify that a Profile or Activity entry meets administrative requirements prior to becoming available in the public search. The review process is to check for administrative issues only and the onus rests on the Lobbyist to ensure that accurate Lobbyist Registration details are provided. Additionally, J-SAS Inc. released a website update in December 2023 for the purpose of enhanced security measures. As part of its commitment to strengthening security, J-SAS Inc. introduced an enhanced login experience providing users with a more robust and secure authentication process. J-SAS Inc. has been very responsive and quick to act on requests for improvements from City staff, maintaining an open line of communication. There have been two instances of publicrequests for assistance with minor administrative issues, both of which were resolved within 48 CLK 03-24 May 27, 2024 Subject: Lobbyist Registry One-Year Update Page 3 hours of notification. Working with J-SAS Inc. as the provider for the Lobbyist Registry software has been a positive experience. B.Education and Outreach As noted earlier in the Report, the Lobbyist Registry By-law came into effect on March 27, 2023, and offered a penalty-free period until November 1, 2023 to provide an opportunity to educate the public, Lobbyists, and Public Office Holders on the new process. Public Office Holder, as defined in By-law 8003/23, covers a broad range of staff, Council, Committee members, and individuals that provide professional services to the City. It was essential to provide the Public Office Holders with guidance on the Lobbyist Registry to ensure its seamless implementation. A media release, as well as email updates to Public Office Holders, were sent in April 2023 as well as in November 2023 when the penalty-free period ended. Additional educational efforts included: 1)Providing an information Lobbying Flowchart graphic document to staff, Public Office Holders, and Lobbyists to outline what Lobbying means and who is a Lobbyist. TheFlowchart is included under the Resource tab of the Lobbyist Registry webpage. 2) Developing a Guide for Lobbyists to assist them with the registration process. The Guideincludes step by step instructions and screen shots to walk Lobbyists through the process in the Lobbyist Registry portal. The Guide for Lobbyists is included under the Resource tab of the Lobbyist Registry webpage. 3) Developing a Guide for Public Officer Holders that summarizes key components of theprogram and the Lobbyist Registry By-law which was emailed out to all Public OfficeHolders. The Guide for Public Officer Holders is included under the Resource tab of the Lobbyist Registry webpage. 4)Delivering a Lobbyist Registry Training Session, provided by Janice Atwood-Petkovski,Principles Integrity, Lobbyist Registrar, at a Special Council Meeting held Monday, June26, 2023. The presentation was captured by the City’s livestream, and a link to the videois included on the Lobbyist Registry Webpage under Resources. 5) Presenting an education seminar by the Deputy Clerk and the Council & Committee Coordinator to all City of Pickering Committee’s and Taskforce’s, scheduled as part of theonboarding training for current and new Committee/Taskforce members. The LobbyistRegistry graphic noted in item 1 above was also provided to all Committee and TaskforceMembers. 6)Creating Lobbyist Registry Info Cards, distributed to all Public Office Holders, to provide a convenient way to communicate the obligations of the Lobbyist Registry to potentialLobbyists. The primary focus of the Lobbyist Registry in the first six months of its implementation was educating stakeholders and promoting the Registry as part of the City’s Accountability and Transparency Framework. Upon the conclusion of the six-month penalty-free period, the Lobbyist Registry By-law, including Part 4: Enforcement and Penalties, came into full force and effect. While there was an increased focus on ensuring compliance with the By-law and CLK 03-24 May 27, 2024 Subject: Lobbyist Registry One-Year Update Page 4 corresponding Code of Conduct during the penalty-free period, providing education to stakeholders remains a priority and education and outreach will be an ongoing practice. C.Summary of Lobbyist Registry Activity – May 1, 2023 to May 1, 2024 There have been no issues reported to the City directly, nor through the Lobbyist Registrar, or the user Feedback button that is available on the Lobbyist Registry website, on any facets of the Registry program. D.Profiles by Lobbyist Type The Lobbyist Registry software provides reporting capabilties that can be pulled into Excel and graphic formats. The following graphs and statistics provide an overview of the Registry’s activity over the past year. From May 1, 2023 to May 1, 2024, a total of 39 Lobbyist profiles were created resulting in six Voluntary Lobbyists, 16 Consultant Lobbyists, and 17 In-House Lobbyists. A total of 24 Lobbying activities were filed. Consultant Lobbyist -16 In-House Lobbyist - 17 Voluntary Lobbyist - 6 NUMBER OF PROFILES BY LOBBYIST TYPE CLK 03-24 May 27, 2024 Subject: Lobbyist Registry One-Year Update Page 5 E.Lobbyist Profiles Created Versus Lobbying Activity Entries A comparison of the Number of Lobbyist Profiles Created versus the Number of Lobbying Activity entries demonstrates that Lobbyists are being proactive in registering and entering their Profile details prior to Lobbying Activities occurring. F.Lobbied Departments The City of Pickering Mayor & Council has been the most lobbied group, followed by the City Development Department, Economic Development & Strategic Projects, and the Office of the CAO. -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 3/15/2023 5/4/2023 6/23/2023 8/12/2023 10/1/2023 11/20/2023 1/9/2024 2/28/2024 4/18/2024 Lobbyist Profiles and Activities Number of Lobbying Activities Submitted Number of Lobbyist Profiles Created 21 5 5 4 1 1 1 1 LOBBIED DEPARTMENTS Mayor & Council Economic Development & StrategicProjectsCity Development Office of the CAO Community Services Corporate Services Engineering Services Finance CLK 03-24 May 27, 2024 Subject: Lobbyist Registry One-Year Update Page 6 G.Lobbying Subject Matter Eighteen percent of Lobbying Activities focused on Planning & Development as the subject matter. Other areas of lobbying activity include arts and culture, budget, economic development, environment, technology, and electric vehicle charging. Conclusion The first year of the Lobbyist Registry program has been successful for both Lobbyists and the general public in accessing the information. As noted earlier in this Report, there have been only two administrative instances that were resolved within 48 hours, and overall, the program is working as intended. Staff do not recommend any changes to the Lobbyist Registry at this time given its continued success and the absence of any concerns or issues. Lobbyist Registry is an easily accessible website, with an intuitive and easy to use interface for the registration process, and provides easy access to the information entered on the Registry. The software also provides detailed reporting so that trends and statistics can be accessed as required. In addition to the Registry’s ease of use, the Lobbyist Registry program has enhanced the accountability and transparency of the City as a whole. Attachment: None Prepared By: Prepared By: Janean Currie Susan Cassel Legislative Coordinator City Clerk 18 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 LOBBYING SUBJECT MATTER Planning & Development Arts & Culture Economic Development Affordable Housing Other Permitting Recreation Technology Transportation & Transit Procurement Original Signed By:Original Signed By: CLK 03-24 May 27, 2024 Subject: Lobbyist Registry One-Year Update Page 7 Approved/Endorsed By: Paul Bigioni Director, Corporate Services & City Solicitor SC:jc Recommended for the consideration of Pickering City Council Marisa Carpino, M.A. Chief Administrative Officer Original Signed By: Original Signed By: