Using innovation to effectively manage forestry service requests
Vaughan receives prestigious award from the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators
Vaughan is a green city, home to more than 135,000 street trees and 195 hectares of woodlots. Trees are integral to our city’s character and enhance the quality of life in our community by providing oxygen, shelter for animals, and food. That’s why we make it a priority to maintain and protect them!
Recently, the City of Vaughan received the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA) 2024 Willis Award for Innovation for their new approach to reduce wait times for forestry-related service requests. At today’s Committee of the Whole (2) meeting, the City’s Public Works portfolio was recognized by Mayor Steven Del Duca and Members of Council during a special ceremonial presentation.
The Willis Award for Innovation recognizes programs, projects or services that demonstrate new approaches to leading, facilitating or administering that result in positive changes to local government processes and practices, ultimately bringing outstanding benefits to the organization and the community.
The City’s forestry service requests are addressed through a triage and queue system. Priority requests are placed in an urgent queue and all others in a non-urgent queue. There can be up to 3,000 requests in the non-urgent queue at any given time.
Staff used to manage these service requests manually, with work order details printed and provided to the arborists and inspectors. To help respond to the influx of requests, the Urban Forestry team developed an innovative location-based system to discharge outstanding work orders in tandem with high-priority cases, which has drastically reduced wait times.
As part of the new system, staff began dispatching work from a live Google Map of outstanding work orders, using an existing Customer Relationship Management system to track information. As a result, the City is now able to respond to double the requests using the same resources as before. Now, that is service excellence!
To learn more, visit vaughan.ca/trees.
Quotes
"Congratulations to the Parks, Forestry, and Horticulture Operations team for winning the prestigious CAMA Willis Award for Innovation. Their project, 'Innovation Reduces Wait Time for Forestry Service Requests,' showcases remarkable ingenuity and advanced technology, significantly improving service efficiency. This outstanding work not only exemplifies Vaughan’s commitment to continuous improvement but also enhances the reputation of the city. The City of Vaughan is immensely proud of this achievement and the positive impact it has on the community. The team's dedication and innovative approach reflect the values of Service Excellence that Vaughan strives for every day. It is an honour to recognize the Parks, Forestry, and Horticulture Operations team for this well-deserved award, and we look forward to their continued success in making Vaughan an even better place to live and work."
- Mayor Steven Del Duca
“I am pleased to congratulate our Parks, Forestry and Horticulture Operations team on winning the 2024 CAMA Willis Award for their new, innovative approach to reduce wait times for forestry-related service requests. Addressing resident requests in a timely fashion is a key priority for this team, and being recognized in this way is a testament to their hard work and dedication to serving the Vaughan community. Congratulations on this important recognition and thank you for your commitment to putting our residents first.”
- Zoran Postic, Deputy City Manager, Public Works
Quick Facts
- The City manages more than 135,000 street trees and approximately 600 hectares of municipal greenspaces, including 27 woodlots and 312 parks and open spaces.
- This is the second time the City has won the CAMA Willis Award for Innovation. In 2022, the City won for its Winter Maintenance Artificial Intelligence System.
- In 2019, The City won CAMA’s Professional Development Award for its Vaughan Innovators video.
- The Innovation Reduces Wait Times for Forestry Service Requests project allows the City to respond to double the requests using the same resources as before.
