The District of Sparwood has won an honourable mention award for excellence in governance at this year’s Union of BC Municipalities convention.
The district was recognized for the completion of the Organizational Excellence Initiative.
The goal of the initiative was to bring together all employees to collaboratively identify areas for improvement and to work on solutions in the community.
“The OEI process in itself focused on listening to employees and empowering their voices to have a meaningful impact on Council’s decision-making process,” says Sparwood Mayor David Wilks in a release.
“It is easy for Council to sit in Council Chambers and make decisions. However, it is far more important and valuable for us to learn and understand how those decisions could impact employees and the services they provide before they are made. While Council engages with the public, it is staff who are on the ground and interacting with people daily, facing the challenges, seeing the successes and hearing the feedback from the people of Sparwood.”
Wilks said the initiative is something they will be continuing into the future.
“Council is dedicated to supporting this initiative, bringing forward ideas from the workforce up. There are efficiency and process improvements that a Public Works Operator may identify with ease that require a simple policy change from Council, or an idea brought forward by the Recreation Team, which would allow for improved programming for the public. It is these ideas that we want and need to hear about,” said Wilks.
“We hope that this process, with the action that has already been made and Council’s support of ideas planned and for the future, that every employee of the District knows their input matters, and every person who lives, works or visits our community will be confident that they will be provided with the best services possible.”
The full list of award winners at this year’s UBCM can be found here.