Maple Ridge touts $340K in savings, faster permits as staff-driven innovation gains traction
Maple Ridge is touting more than $340,000 in estimated savings and significant service improvements through a city-led push to streamline internal processes and modernize service delivery.
A staff report presented to council on April 7 highlighted the impacts from the city’s Continuous Improvement Centre of Excellence, a program launched in June 2024 to help staff identify inefficiencies and implement operational changes.
The report says the initiative has generated approximately $342,761 in quantified savings to date, while also reducing wait times for key services such as building permits.
Coun. Judy Dueck said the staff-lead approach to the program “warms her heart.”
“The very people that do the jobs – no matter what the job is – know the job, and if you encourage them and let them come up with their ideas, it makes them feel empowered,” Dueck said.
City staff say the work is beginning to show tangible results for residents, including faster service delivery, lower administrative costs and improved responsiveness.
Among the most notable gains is a reported reduction of up to 80 percent in processing times for single-detached home building permits through the city’s online system.
The savings are being tracked using what the city calls the “MEATY” framework – short for Money, Error, Amount, Time and Yearly Cost – which measures the financial and operational impact of process changes.
Since a previous update to council in September 2025 identified about $177,000 in savings, an additional $165,761 has been realized across several service areas, including fleet management, facility bookings, staff training and reduced printing costs.
Coun. Sunny Schiller said she was glad to see the city was tracking dollars and time saved, as it gave the council concrete examples of the program’s return on investment.
“We are saving money overall,” she said. “I think in government work, there’s often a lot of good ideas, but what there isn’t necessarily, is the capacity to kind of step back and look at, how could we do something differently?”
Fleet-related improvements account for the largest portion of those gains. By implementing vehicle telematics and improving how data is tracked and analyzed, the city estimates it can save about $100,000 in manual work while also reducing costs tied to fuel use, maintenance and vehicle lifespans.
Other changes are smaller in scale but still add up. A review of the city’s facility booking process eliminated the need for an auxiliary staff position, saving about $24,000 annually, while shifting staff training in-house saved another $26,000.
Staff say the initiative is also freeing up time across departments, allowing employees to focus more on problem-solving and frontline service delivery.
Improvements to workflows, including clearer processes for animal control calls and bylaw enforcement, have helped reduce delays and improve response times, particularly in urgent situations.
Beyond direct cost savings, the report points to broader impacts, including reduced greenhouse gas emissions through more efficient fleet operations and less paper use in administrative processes.
The program has also focused heavily on training, with more than 550 staff receiving process improvement instruction and dozens completing project and change management courses.
Looking ahead, the city plans to expand the initiative with new projects in 2026, including streamlining childcare licensing processes and launching a “One City Experience” program aimed at improving customer service and tracking public feedback.
Staff say the goal is to embed continuous improvement into everyday operations across the organization, with semi-annual reports planned to keep council updated on progress.
