Town discusses ongoing asset management program

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Strathmore town council discussed an update to the town’s asset management program during the May 1 regular meeting. 

The update was presented to council by Andre Ulloa, asset management officer for the Town of Strathmore, to be accepted as information. 

“The asset management program deals with creating a system … that deals with procedures and how we do things,” he said. “It deals with people – it is about the processes that we take and how we do our work. It is built for people, to support people.”

The town’s asset management policy was adopted in January 2023 as a business model or standard management approach to maximize the town’s investment in service provision.

It was reported to council that the creation of an asset management registry will continue to be an ongoing process. The focus of the registry within the next year was described to be shifting to that of incorporating asset management practices into the town’s budgeting process.

“Very simply, since we are a town, a municipality, we are providing service to the community, and we provide a wide range of services,” said Ulloa. “Members within the organization are studying the services that we provide, and when I counted it … we have around 99 different categories of service. That is a significant amount, and it is everything from Family and Community Support Services, to municipal enforcement, to water services.”

Ulloa explained what is considered to be an asset to the town is not limited strictly to equipment or facilities. 

This extends to people, labour, infrastructure, and branding, as such examples of what is included in definitions of town assets. 

“The asset management update … covers the activities from January 2023 to present day, (and) it talks about the current activities that we are undertaking in the next three to six months,” said Ulloa. “We are making a commitment as an organization – we are committing to asset management methodologies, we are committing to manage our assets in a way that is standardized and has, in a sense, been solved by different organizations such as the International Standards Organization.”

He added the ongoing goal is to have a finalized and working asset management program by the end of 2025.

Ultimately this would better allow for the creation of plans and contingencies to prepare for unexpected expenditures. 

More information regarding the asset management program update is available publicly via the town’s meeting agenda for May 1, as well as through their meeting minutes published to the town YouTube channel.