Earlier this week we posted an article concerning BRAG’s request for the City of Burlington to post an online version of its staff and program directory.
The previous post is available here: Fighting the Dragons of the Opaque City | Burlington Residents’ Action Group
Alternatively, and perhaps concurrently, we asked for a copy that we could put on our website as a general access aid to Burlington citizens. At the time, we noted that “BRAG anticipates that this will not be either a simple or a swift process.”
We committed to revealing just how difficult the process would be; to describing “the journey in all its twists and turns”. And so we shall. We do this not out of some misdirected pique but as a practical demonstration of how a relatively straightforward and unproblematic request fares amongst our current levels and chambers of government administration.
We will post in an ongoing event chronology, each measured step in the process. We begin with our initial request sent Tuesday February 25 th to Ms. Jacqueline Johnson, Commissioner of Burlington’s Community Services Division. The following is a verbatim copy.
From: K.Blair Smith <kblair.smith@gmail.com>
Date: Tuesday, February 25, 2025 at 12:44 PM
To: Johnson, Jacqueline <Jacqueline.Johnson@burlington.ca>
Cc: Meed Ward, Marianne <Marianne.MeedWard@burlington.ca>, Galbraith, Kelvin
<Kelvin.Galbraith@burlington.ca>, Kearns, Lisa <Lisa.Kearns@burlington.ca>, Nisan, Rory
<Rory.Nisan@burlington.ca>, Stolte, Shawna <Shawna.Stolte@burlington.ca>, Sharman, Paul
<Paul.Sharman@burlington.ca>, Bentivegna, Angelo <Angelo.Bentivegna@burlington.ca>, Basit,
Hassaan <Hassaan.Basit@burlington.ca>
Subject: Municipal Staff Directories and Organization/Program Guides
Ms. Jacqueline Johnson
Commissioner,
Community Services Division
Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Ms. Johnson:
I represent a Burlington citizens’ organization, the Burlington Residents’ Action Group (BRAG), and one of our particular areas of interest is the implementation of ‘open government’ measures and products to increase both the transparency and ease of citizen contact with municipal administrations. We witnessed, through at least two Burlington Strong Mayor budget exercises and multiple citizen delegations, including several by BRAG, that there is a need for a better view to municipal government operations and a popular desire for greater accountability. As such, we would appreciate your proactive posting on the City’s website of a COB staff directory, identifying program personnel and their contact information (email and
telephone extensions at minimum). This ‘open government’ information utility has been in use at the provincial level for more than twenty-five years (InfoGo) and a very serviceable municipal version is present on the City of Toronto’s website.
We believe the City of Burlington must have a version of a Staff Directory to guide the connection efforts of the clerks in the ServiceBurlington organization. An online version of this tool would be very valuable as an initial offering on the COB website. Posting of this information does not violate any privacy or personal information provision under the MFIPPA and since the product already exists and must have regular updates, there should be minimal effort required in creating an online presence.
BRAG would also appreciate receiving a copy of the staff listing to post as an information product on its own website. Ideally, as the City updates its directory, a copy could be provided to BRAG as well. Alternatively, a monthly update could be arranged. We would like to post the directory on our website by April 11th and look forward to advising our membership in our March newsletter.
Thank you for your time and effort in consideration and hopefully fulfillment of our request.
Yours respectfully,
… K. Blair Smith
Of note is the fact that the current mayor and all of council were copied on the request as well as Ms. Johnson’s superior, Mr. Hasaan Basit. Indeed, an automatic reply was received from the mayor’s mailbox to register receipt. Although the “ask” was directed to Ms. Johnson any or all, had they the inclination, could have participated in the response which was received on Thursday the 27 th. Again, a verbatim copy follows:
“Johnson, Jacqueline” <Jacqueline.Johnson@burlington.ca>
Re: Municipal Staff Directories and Organization/Program Guides
To: Blair Smith <kblair.smith@gmail.com> Cc: “Mailbox, Communications” <Communications@burlington.ca>, “Basit, Hassaan” Hassaan.Basit@burlington.ca
Good afternoon Mr. Smith,
Thank you for taking the time to reach out to me directly. A City of Burlington department directory is available online through the link below:
https://www.burlington.ca/Modules/contact/search.aspx?s=qu31Zi5lA5HPyBC2mbBnNbjz0AeQuAleQuAl.
Service Burlington is the city’s centralized customer contact centre. Customer Experience Representatives are available Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., to assist with all City of Burlington programs and services.
Having a single point of contact (Service Burlington) assists the City in tracking requests, routing requests appropriately, and providing timely responses. This approach helps to prevent delays and ensure every inquiry gets the attention it deserves. This approach also allows us to gather valuable insights through analytics and reporting, helping us identify service trends and areas for improvement across the city.
Service Burlington still has the ability to transfer callers to individual staff, if the need exists. In many cases, Service Burlington staff have the ability to provide answers and assistance. This type of system eliminates much of the need for transferring calls and makes for faster and more efficient call resolution; part of our customer service promise.
I hope you find this information helpful, should you have further questions please direct them to: communications@burlington.ca.
Best Regards,
Jacqueline Johnson
Commissioner, Community Services
Office: 905-335-7777 ext. 7340
jacqueline.johnson@burlington.ca
Our working hours may be different. You are not obligated to reply outside of your typical working hours.
Polite, very timely and somewhat dismissive. More to the point, the specifics of the BRAG request were only tangentially addressed with any further conversation horizontally arabesqued to the maw of the Communications Department mailbox – communications@burlington.ca.
Unbowed and undeterred, a follow-up request was sent to Ms. Johnson and the original circulation list on Friday, February 28th. A copy follows:
Ms. Jacqueline Johnson
Commissioner,
Community Services Division
Friday, February 28, 2025
Ms. Johnson:
Thank you for your swift response to my email request of February 25th. I appreciate your willingness to quickly engage. I thank you also for the link that you provided to the City Departmental Guide. It is not the easiest of listings to locate on the city’s website but it does offer a degree of ‘self-help’ capability to the citizen. It puts someone in the correct set of bleachers in the ballpark. However, we were looking for the existing program seat assignments.
I do not want to misinterpret your response. It seems that you do not intend to post the ServiceBurlington reference sheets on the city website as a common online reference tool. Is this the case? Are you also denying BRAG a copy of the ServiceBurlington reference sheets for posting on its own website?
We believe that a readily accessible and complete staff/organizational directory is critical to an informed and empowered citizen. It is a cornerstone of open and accountable government. Do we need to initiate a Freedom of Information Request for something that exists in a disclosable format and is, in fact, public information? Please advise at your earliest convenience.
Respectfully,
K. Blair Smith