Mayor Bevilacqua: Vaughan recognized for excellence in pandemic response, recovery and growth

The following statement was issued by Vaughan Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua after a virtual ceremonial presentation during today’s Council meeting:

“I am pleased to announce the City of Vaughan has received the 2021 Richard Goodman Pandemic Special Edition Award in the Local Government Organization category from the Association of Strategic Planning.

“The Association of Strategic Planning is the leading global not-for-profit professional association dedicated to advancing strategy development and deployment for business, non-profit and government organizations. The Richard Goodman Pandemic Special Edition Award recognizes organizations that have achieved overall excellence in pandemic response, recovery and growth. It is named after the late Richard Alan Goodman, an expert in organizational strategy and innovation and professor of management at UCLA Anderson School of Management. Of note, the Award Committee acknowledged the City of Vaughan’s pre-crisis preparation, crisis response, adaptation and recovery, strategic planning and navigation of complex challenges as COVID-19 persists.

“At the onset of this global health crisis, Vaughan was alert and ready. The City implemented a business continuity planning project in 2006 to identify critical activities, each of which has a completed continuity of operations plan. In addition, we have a comprehensive emergency management program in place that includes annual training and exercises for staff and members of the Emergency Management Team. However, challenges presented by COVID-19 prompted a renewed urgency to examine the way we do business. In the spirit of resilience and resourcefulness, the City quickly pivoted, adapted and was agile in its response to COVID-19 and its impact on our services and operations.

“Throughout the global pandemic, the City of Vaughan has remained steadfast in our shared commitment to deliver Service Excellence by ensuring City business continued and improved. Vaughan was the first city in Ontario and the first municipality in York Region to declare a state of emergency on March 17, 2020. We swiftly implemented alternate workplace arrangements for City staff. A Ready, Resilient, Resourceful Roadmap was created and provides the key objectives and framework for the City’s response to the COVID-19 emergency. We immediately launched the Vaughan Business Action Plan to support local businesses, and counter services were transitioned online to serve residents while the physical doors to City Hall remain closed. Those are just a few examples of what being ready, resilient and resourceful is all about, and these are the values that have guided our efforts through these challenging and unprecedented times.

“I want to express my gratitude and appreciation to all members of our administration for leveraging facts, figures and real-time data to enable the City to respond to the pandemic efficiently and effectively. Thank you for your unwavering dedication and commitment to public service, and congratulations on this much-deserved award.”

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