brian-bourns-headshot Maclaren Municipal Consulting, founded by Brian  Bourns, provides a deep familiarity with municipal operations from a variety of perspectives.

As a veteran consultant, Brian brings 25 years of experience as a Senior Manager with KPMG, serving cities and towns across Canada.  Previously, he served for 11 years on the Ottawa City Council.

Maclaren Municipal Consulting offers:

  • EXPERT, EXPERIENCED STAFF
  • NIMBLE RESPONSE TO YOUR REQUIREMENTS
  • LOW OVERHEAD TO PRODUCE LOWER FEES AND LOWER PROJECT COSTS
  • PRACTICAL, CREATIVE SOLUTIONS TO CHALLENGING PROBLEMS

Projects our Staff have Completed

Comprehensive or Core Service Reviews of Toronto, Hamilton, Prince George, Waterloo (Region) and Vernon, as well as a number of department focused reviews in other cities.

Governance – Reviewed municipal governance structures/options in Ottawa, Kingston, Oxford County, Fernie BC, and high level organizational design in Kingston, Chatham-Kent, and TransLink, and Council committee structures in Kingston.  More detailed organizational structure reviews were carried out in Lennox and Addington, and Wasaga Beach. Also conducted review of school board structures in Ottawa-Carleton for the Minister of Education.

Public Works and Winter Control – Comprehensive reviews of public works operations in Winnipeg, London and additional reviews focused on snow and ice control and road maintenance in Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton and St. John’s.  Also conducted review of Ottawa’s drinking water supply program.

Fleet Services – Comprehensive reviews of Fleet Services operations in Calgary and St. John’s and  targeted reviews of acquisition/financing/life cycle approaches and parts outsourcing in Hamilton, and a series of projects in Ottawa including fuelling services, facility efficiency, strategy and option evaluation and customer service model development in Ottawa.

Transit Services– Comprehensive review of transit operations in Ottawa, review of organizational structure with TransLink, series of transit maintenance reviews including options for maintenance of double decker buses, inventory control and management, warranty claim processing, vulnerability and risk assessment, fueling inventory management, fare collection and pricing strategies, and in-house provision of para-transit services.  Conducted a risk assessment for the Ottawa light rail program, identified the preferred route of the first rail transit route in Ottawa and examined potential funding and tax sources to support transit requirements.  Also reviewed taxi regulatory approach and licence numbers for Ottawa and Gatineau, leading to the creation of the accessible taxi program in Ottawa, and recently, a by-law to license ride sharing firms.

Public Health – Conducted a series of program reviews for Ottawa Public Health including operational reviews of the Vaccine Tracking program, the Sexual Health Clinic, the Healthy Babies Healthy Children program, the TB Caser Management program, and helped prepare a plan to improve the access of disadvantaged groups to public health programs.

Procurement – Developed procurement strategy, statement of work for acquisition of parking payment machines, assisted in bid evaluation for solid waste, housing and congress centre proposals, reviewed sole source acquisition policy for City of Ottawa.  Also developed or evaluated processes and procedures for contract management of outsourced activities.  Prepared the In-House Bid policy for the City of Ottawa and the in-house bids for Para-Transit Services.

Emergency Services – Evaluated HQ requirements for Guelph Police Services and opportunities for joint communications/dispatch centres for emergency services in Cobourg and Port Hope, evaluated in-house vs contracted policing approaches for Port Hope and options for Collision Reporting Centres in Ottawa.  Examined fire service delivery including dispatch options in detail for Vernon as part of Core Service Review

Long Term Care – Reviewed LTC delivery in Kingston and Frontenac County, prepared strategic plan for Ottawa

Asset Management – Developed processes for consolidated reporting of tangible capital assets and prepared Transit Asset Management Plan in Ottawa, and served as Subject Matter Expert on a series of Asset Management Plans for smaller municipalities.  Conducted a series of projects related to property assets in Ottawa, including review of location for the Traffic Control Centre, and optimizing the public works and fleet facilities after amalgamation.  Reviewed financial sustainability of toll bridges given lifecycle maintenance requirements for the Federal Bridge Corporation.

Solid Waste – Evaluated contract management for collection contracts, evaluated contract bids including in-house bids,

Customer/Citizen Access – Helped build the Customer Service Centre/311 structure in Ottawa, examined the interface between internal service suppliers and their customers in Ottawa, conducted extensive citizen/public/stakeholder input processes as part of projects in Prince George, St. John’s and Ottawa.

Benchmarking Municipal Services – Conducted comprehensive benchmarking and leading practice review of mid-sized cities throughout Ontario for the City of Kingston, and targeted benchmark and leading practice reviews as part of the core service reviews, public works, public health, long term care, asset management, emergency services, transit services and fleet services reviews.

Strategic Planning – Developed a comprehensive Business Directions Document for the City of Ottawa, along with specific strategic plans for the use of smart cards for city services, smart cards for transit payments, the city museum network, and the Properties branch.

Planning/Buildings – Conducted a Comprehensive Audit of the Buildings Branch, conducted a route selection review for a rail transit facility

Social Housing – Conducted an evaluation of local policies and priorities for social housing, including the key issues of priority access to social housing and the approach to housing the homeless.  This led to creation of the Supports for Social Housing Program, which we subsequently evaluated.  Also reviewed submissions for social housing projects to use available City land and support.

Methodology Development – Developed the methodology and program for the Branch Process Review Program (BPR), and the Competitive Service Delivery Review (ASD) program for the City of Ottawa, adapting KPMG methodologies for municipal application, and developed the Core Service Review methodology used by KPMG with municipalities.