The city is hoping a $50,000 investment will net taxpayers $500,000 in savings.
Thunder Bay has adopted City Lean, a program designed to find efficiencies in its corporation to save money.
“Lean is really a defined process that looks at specifically eliminating waste and redundancy in terms of how you deliver services,” city manager Tim Commisso said. “With any business process there’s no question there is redundancy and waste that is just the reality of how business operates.”
The city has four pilot projects on the go in order to find savings through the program that will eventually find $500,000. In an effort to do that, the city hired a consultant at $50,000 to help train teams on how the process works.
The projects are inventory rationalization, fleet and equipment rationalization, a corporate review process and police records management.
Commisso said it’s a bottom up approach using teams within those departments to help cut costs. But reductions in staff and service could also be a possibility.
“We do have to be prepared to look at that but we’re not looking to go and cut staff because of this. We’re looking to find better ways improve our services but do it at less cost,” Commisso said.
Commisso is meeting with union heads Jan.12 to explain the process.
Another four projects are planned for the fall.
