We are on page 7-9, Public Works and Services, information item, revenue summary.
Agreed.
Agreed. Moving along to 7-10, Public Works and Services, information item, active positions.
Agreed.
Agreed. The next page for consideration is page 7-12, 7-13, Public Works and Services, activity summary, directorate, operations expenditure summary. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have a question here with regards to document management, records management. If I read it rightly from the business plan information, there was a Government of the Northwest Territories-wide initiative which was put into place in 2010-2011 and I believe is carrying over into the 2011-2012 business year. I just wondered if I could get a bit of a statement from the Minister as to whether or not this initiative is working the way they had hoped it would work. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Guy.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, the Member is correct. There was an initiative, it was funded through a strategic initiative for a government-wide document management system. That initiative was scaled back to a pilot program for a document management system. When that was done, Public Works and Services was identified as the department to begin the implementation and proceed with that pilot project and we are working on that right now. We expect to have the system in place and running this June. We have selected the system we are using and are in the process of procuring the equipment and undertaking the training for staff. Once that system is in place, it will become the base system that will be deployed government-wide through all departments. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Guy. I guess I would like to know if there is going to be any sort of an evaluation of the pilot project prior to sort of expanding throughout the rest of the Government of the Northwest Territories systems. Thank you.
Yes, that is part of the process. Part of the intent of piloting Public Works and Services is because we have some expertise in the area of records management already and we had begun to deploy records management system on our own, so the intent will be to take lessons learned through this pilot project and integrate them into the training and the overall plan when we deploy government-wide. Thank you.
We are on page 7-13, Public Works and Services, activity summary, directorate, operations expenditure summary, $7.612 million. Agreed?
Agreed.
Moving along to page 7-14, Public Works and Services, information item, directorate, active positions. Agreed? Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think, Mr. Chairman, in the area of active positions, maybe the department could give me a breakdown on the area of affirmative action candidates and also the number of female and disabled individuals who are in the department and what level they are at. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We do have a document that lists all our employees. We could provide it verbally or we could provide it to the Member in written format.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Krutko would you prefer paper or verbal?
Paper sounds good. Chop down a few more trees.
There you go. Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Minister McLeod, he accepts paper.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We will gladly do that. Thank you.
Moving along to page 7-14, Public Works and Services, information item, directorate, active positions. Agreed?
Agreed.
Moving along to page 7-17, which is asset management. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a couple of questions here about demolitions. In this current budget year, the school in Tulita and the Deh Cho Hall in Fort Simpson were supposed to be demolished. I just wondered if there were any difficulties with those demolitions. Are they done and complete? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Both projects went well. We were very happy with the work that was done with communities and they are basically all complete.
Right on. That is good to hear. With regards to the projects scheduled for this year, Fort Good Hope and Inuvik schools, are they still in the plans to be demolished in 2011-2012? Thank you.
We are considering Fort Good Hope school at the time and the Inuvik school will be down the road, once the new school facility is completed. Thank you.
We are on page 7-17, Public Works and Services, activity summary, asset management. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have one quick question. Is deferred maintenance for 2011-12 a total of $8 million?
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister McLeod.
Mr. Chairman, we are just looking to confirm that number at this point. Mr. Chairman, with the current budget and what was approved in our capital budget, we believe $8 million is the total amount.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Beaulieu.
Sorry, Mr. Chairman, I didn’t hear the response. That’s my only question.
The Minister confirmed that the amount is $8 million. Minister McLeod, did you want to confirm that again?
Mr. Chairman, yes, we’ll confirm that $8 million is the amount that’s in the budget for deferred maintenance. We have $3 million in O and M and $5 million in capital.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In regard to the general office space for the government, I know that we require more space, but do we have a forecast going forward on what the operational costs of those facilities are in regard to operating these office buildings in light of not having to pay lease costs versus operational costs?
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Minister McLeod.
Mr. Chairman, we have forecasted what it would cost to operate a building. Yes, we do cost-benefit analysis also. Thank you.
If it’s anything like the Laing Building that we own, as a government, I think the more experience of the amount of money that’s been put into the renovations and mid-term retrofits and everything else, you’re talking in the millions of dollars in regard to the cost of a facility that we operate. So as part of this general office space that we are requiring to own outright, do we have an idea of what the lifecycle costs of those facilities are in operational costs and mid-term retrofits?
The short answer is yes. We’ve taken those costs into consideration when we did the evaluation between the lease and our own ownership, government-owned buildings. Thank you.
Is it possible to get copies of those reports? Thank you.
I think we had provided this information prior to today, but we can dig them up and provide them to the Member again. Thank you.
I’d just like to ask the Minister how do you get an operational cost of a facility that hasn’t been operating? So we’ve got office buildings in Inuvik, you’re talking about building one in Yellowknife. So technically you can’t have the operational costs unless you functionally operate the facility to know what your actual costs are. So do you know what the actual costs to operate those facilities are, based on occupancy and usage of heat and power?
The Member knows full well that we can’t provide actual costs until we’re operating a facility. Our costs are all forecasted, as we do with any kind of planning and for budgeting purposes. Thank you.
So does that mean we have about a 20 percent either way in operational costs since it’s projected costs, not the operational costs? Unless you actually operate, you won’t know what the costs really are, but do you estimate one way or the other, 20 percent higher or 20 percent lower or is it higher than that?
Mr. Chairman, we utilize existing facilities to give our best estimates for operational costs, usually buildings comparable in size or design. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Next on my list, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The demolition of the Chief Wilbert Wright School, now that everything is supposed to be where it’s supposed to be, the materials sent out, the area that they use for disposing of the extra is okay. Has that land now been transferred back to the hamlet through the municipal department? I know the hamlet of Tulita was hoping that this land now would be reverted back to them for the use of a recreational ball field.
