If the devil is in the details, Satan was truly at work during Tuesday morning's meeting of the city's select committee on a core services review.
The committee, consisting of Mayor Shari Green and councillors Frank Everitt, Albert Koehler and Cameron Stolz, along with the rest of council and city staff, met with representatives from consulting firm KPMG to discuss the forthcoming list of identified opportunities for change.
KPMG has compiled 193 opportunities following consultation with staff, council and the public and prioritized them from having high cost savings to things that should not be pursued.
That list has been whittled down from more than 400 suggestions by removing duplicate ideas and recommendations that weren't specific enough, said KPMG engagement leader Alastair Nimmons.
The focus of the hour-long discussion was on the way the list will be presented to the public when released online Friday - not on what suggestions are actually on the list.
When the list goes live on the city's website Sept. 21, some members of council are concerned it won't be clear what people are looking at.
The draft document, as presented to council on Tuesday, groups the opportunities by program and the service (ie. development, emergency and enforcement, public works, etc.) and features a variety of symbols to indicate how well a given suggestion meets assessment criteria.
"If this is the document that's going out to the community, is it going to be readable enough for them to be able to participate?" asked Coun. Murry Krause.
Coun. Dave Wilbur said he was disappointed the process hadn't resulted in a more manageable document and also questioned why the 49 suggestions KPMG has prioritized as "Don't Do" are even included.
KPMG's core services review leader Brian Bourns said the firm was following through on a statement that any suggestion would be on the list and evaluated. "We wanted to make sure people could see their input," he said.
Green said the group would be opening itself up to criticism for dismissing ideas without justification.
"I understand the concept of transparency, but I'm frustrated by the size of this list," Wilbur said.
Nimmons said KPMG's approach is to present the public with the information and let them choose how they wish to interact with it.
The consultants agreed to revise and reorganize the document and send it to councillors so they could have a look at the finalized draft before it gets published online Friday.
An online survey will be set up in the coming days in addition to the public workshop at the Civic Centre on Oct. 2 at 6 p.m.
