Councillor who pitched innovation fund dismayed by latest projects
Committee approves five proposals that fail to meet goal of program, Marty Morantz says
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/09/2018 (2020 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
City council’s version of the popular CBC television show Dragons’ Den was back at city hall Monday, as several departments vied for a share of $500,000 from the capital innovation fund.
Councillors on the innovation committee parsed nine proposals and ended up funding five, for a total of $462,710.
The capital innovation fund was established in 2015 at the suggestion of Coun. Marty Morantz as a way to encourage departments to develop innovative initiatives that could improve service delivery and show a cost savings.
But the projects approved by the committee Monday didn’t meet the criteria Morantz said was at the heart of the fund.
“In my mind, the point of the innovation capital fund was there was supposed to be a tangible return on investment, that was the idea when we established it in 2015,” Morantz said, adding that too many department view the funding and the process through the innovation committee as a way around the regular budget review process.
“All of these applications are good ideas, (but) the point of the program was to make investments that would save taxpayers dollars and make the city more efficient.”
Michael Legary, the city’s chief innovation officer, said a new criterion was added to meet the goal of capital innovation fund: the concept of return on value.
“I don’t know what it means,” Morantz said after listening to Legary’s presentation.
The projects approved for funding included:
— Purchase of a proprietary paperless invoice approval process, $350,000
— Digitization of the Board of Commissioners records (1972-1999), $71,760
— A pilot project to test the merits of fire suppression devices that claim to dramatically lower the temperature of a room, $15,540
— Purchase of a firefighter virtual reality training system, $13,000
— Pilot project to provide training to two selected Winnipeg business representatives so that they can measure and reduce the carbon footprints of their firms in a cost-effective manner, $12,500
aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca
History
Updated on Tuesday, September 18, 2018 8:44 AM CDT: Corrects singular of "criteria"