For 2011, the City used an Accountability Agreement as a tool to assist Council and staff in planning key work activities, monitoring progress, and confirming priorities. The contents of this document were developed at the start of 2011, in order to provide explicit and proactive guidance on the year’s workplan. The version shown here reflects updates to show progress on items that were identified as having key targets for completion by the end of the calendar year. City administration plans to provide quarterly progress updates throughout the year. Where appropriate, more detail will be added on milestones and deliverables as the work moves forward.

It is important to note that the activities described in this document exist alongside the significant day-to-day service delivery that is the main focus of city staff time and resources. In other words, there is extensive and important work that is completed on a daily basis, but is not captured in this document. Instead, this accountability agreement is intended to highlight items that Council and staff have identified as being particular priorities in 2011. These might include activities with a high degree of public interest, areas where new work or roles are being undertaken, special projects, implementation of new policies, planning activities or other tasks for which increased communication, coordination and visibility is desired.

The use of this planning tool is not intended to preclude Council or staff response to important emerging or unanticipated issues. Rather, the accountability agreement is intended to assist decision making on the allocation of city resources and the timing of key work.