Home › The Public Scorecard › Chapter 59

The Public Scorecard

Chapter 59Completed: The Public Commitments Completion Scorecard

9,645 words · Mike Seiler · Owen Sound, Ontario

In this chapter

• 59.1 Purpose
• 59.2 Commitment Register
• 59.3 Register From the Beginning
• 59.4 Original Wording
• 59.5 Source
• 59.6 Campaign Promise and Municipal Commitment Are Different
• 59.7 Mayor Cannot Unilaterally Complete Council Work
• 59.8 Completion Language Must Match Authority
• 59.9 If Promise Was Outcome
• 59.10 Authority Tag
• 59.11 No Authority Inflation
• 59.12 Correct the Record Early
• 59.13 Revised Commitment
• 59.14 Revision Requires Explanation
• 59.15 Do Not Erase Original
• 59.16 Commitment ID
• 59.17 No Renumbering to Hide Failure
• 59.18 Parent Commitment
• 59.19 Sub-Commitment
• 59.20 Parent Completion
• 59.21 Scope
• 59.22 Completion Definition
• 59.23 Example
• 59.24 Outcome Beyond Completion
• 59.25 Completion and Success Are Different
• 59.26 Incomplete and Useful Are Also Different
• 59.27 Completion Categories
• 59.28 Completed Is Reserved
• 59.29 Operational
• 59.30 Example
• 59.31 Completed Project
• 59.32 Ongoing Program
• 59.33 Policy Commitment
• 59.34 Study Commitment
• 59.35 Study as Means
• 59.36 Consultation Commitment
• 59.37 Consultation Outcome
• 59.38 Pilot Commitment
• 59.39 Launch Is Not Completion
• 59.40 Approval Is Not Completion
• 59.41 Funding Is Not Completion
• 59.42 Tender Is Not Completion
• 59.43 Groundbreaking Is Not Completion
• 59.44 Ribbon Cutting
• 59.45 Substantial Completion
• 59.46 Commissioning
• 59.47 Public Use
• 59.48 Deficiency List
• 59.49 Warranty
• 59.50 Completion Date
• 59.51 Original Target Date
• 59.52 Revised Target Date
• 59.53 Do Not Replace Original Date
• 59.54 Schedule Variance
• 59.55 Schedule Context
• 59.56 Delay Categories
• 59.57 Delay Is Not Automatically Failure
• 59.58 Hidden Delay Is Failure
• 59.59 Commitment Baseline
• 59.60 Cost Baseline
• 59.61 Do Not Invent Old Budget
• 59.62 Approved Budget
• 59.63 Final Cost
• 59.64 Forecast Final Cost
• 59.65 Cost Variance
• 59.66 Scope Change
• 59.67 Original Scope
• 59.68 Final Scope
• 59.69 Scope Added
• 59.70 Scope Removed
• 59.71 Scope Deferred
• 59.72 Scope Reduced to Stay on Budget
• 59.73 Scope Expanded by Council
• 59.74 Success Despite Cost Increase
• 59.75 Failure Despite Budget Compliance
• 59.76 Financial Completion
• 59.77 Provisional Completion
• 59.78 Final Financial Close
• 59.79 Public Result
• 59.80 Deliverable Versus Outcome
• 59.81 Deliverable Completion
• 59.82 Outcome May Take Longer
• 59.83 Do Not Hold Project Open Forever
• 59.84 Outcome Review Date
• 59.85 Example
• 59.86 No Instant Outcome Claim
• 59.87 No Permanent Outcome Claim From Temporary Spike
• 59.88 Outcome Indicators
• 59.89 Cross-Reference
• 59.90 Do Not Create Duplicate Outcome Metrics
• 59.91 Evidence
• 59.92 Evidence Types
• 59.93 Press Release Is Not Primary Evidence
• 59.94 Photo Is Not Proof
• 59.95 Mayor Statement Is Not Proof
• 59.96 Staff Confirmation
• 59.97 Professional Certification
• 59.98 Treasurer Verification
• 59.99 Clerk Verification
• 59.100 Department Owner
• 59.101 Independent Audit
• 59.102 Resident Verification
• 59.103 Verification Level
• 59.104 Evidence Link
• 59.105 Sensitive Evidence
• 59.106 Completion Review
• 59.107 Completion Authority
• 59.108 Central Verification
• 59.109 Mayor Does Not Mark Own Homework
• 59.110 Council Does Not Need to Vote on Every Status
• 59.111 Disputed Status
• 59.112 Resident Challenge
• 59.113 Challenge Is Not Automatic Correction
• 59.114 Correction Log
• 59.115 Historical Status
• 59.116 No Silent Downgrade
• 59.117 Completion Reversal
• 59.118 If Commitment Required One-Year Operation
• 59.119 Minimum Operating Period
• 59.120 Service Launch Commitment
• 59.121 Ongoing Service Success
• 59.122 Program Sunset
• 59.123 Pilot Failure
• 59.124 Stop Decision Can Be Success
• 59.125 Do Not Fear "Stopped"
• 59.126 Stopped and Failed Are Different
• 59.127 Failure
• 59.128 Not Proceeding
• 59.129 Superseded
• 59.130 Superseded Requires Traceability
• 59.131 Deferred
• 59.132 Deferred Is Not Complete
• 59.133 Blocked
• 59.134 Blocked Is Not Completed
• 59.135 Advocacy Completion
• 59.136 Advocacy Result
• 59.137 Ask Submitted
• 59.138 Ask Approved
• 59.139 External Delivery
• 59.140 Intergovernmental Dependency
• 59.141 No Surprise Dependency
• 59.142 Legal Review Early
• 59.143 Legal Review Is Not Excuse for Inaction
• 59.144 Legal Barrier
• 59.145 Council Dependency
• 59.146 Do Not Call That Completed
• 59.147 Democracy Means Losing Votes Sometimes
• 59.148 No Blaming Council for Everything
• 59.149 Mayor-Specific Commitment
• 59.150 Council Commitment
• 59.151 Administrative Commitment
• 59.152 Shared Ownership
• 59.153 Public Owner Field
• 59.154 Owner Is Not Person to Blame
• 59.155 Owner Change
• 59.156 Institution Owns Commitment
• 59.157 Commitment Classes
• 59.158 Cross-Category Commitment
• 59.159 Do Not Duplicate Promise
• 59.160 Initiative Versus Commitment
• 59.161 Granularity Rule
• 59.162 Example of Inflation
• 59.163 Subtasks Still Useful
• 59.164 Reverse Inflation
• 59.165 Commitment Definition Review
• 59.166 Original Campaign Platform
• 59.167 Municipal Business Plan
• 59.168 Council Additions
• 59.169 Commitments Not in Campaign
• 59.170 Do Not Pretend Every Council Success Was Campaign Promise
• 59.171 Credit
• 59.172 No Mayor-Only Credit
• 59.173 Campaign Reporting
• 59.174 Staff Recognition
• 59.175 Partner Recognition
• 59.176 Resident Contribution
• 59.177 No Forced Credit
• 59.178 Completion Count
• 59.179 Avoid One Percentage Alone
• 59.180 Completion Rate
• 59.181 Eligible for Completion
• 59.182 Separate Ongoing Commitments
• 59.183 Weighted Completion
• 59.184 Equal Weight Problem
• 59.185 But Monetary Weight Also Misleads
• 59.186 Better Approach
• 59.187 Major Commitment
• 59.188 Major Commitments Table
• 59.189 Minor Commitment
• 59.190 No Hiding Major Failure Among Minor Wins
• 59.191 Materiality
• 59.192 Public Importance
• 59.193 Completion Confidence
• 59.194 No Completion Without Evidence
• 59.195 Verification Date
• 59.196 Verifier
• 59.197 Independent Verification
• 59.198 Auditor
• 59.199 Engineer
• 59.200 Lawyer
• 59.201 Resident
• 59.202 No Single Verifier for Everything
• 59.203 Completion Statement
• 59.204 Example Structure
• 59.205 Public Summary
• 59.206 Technical Appendix
• 59.207 Cost Must Match Finance
• 59.208 Reconciliation
• 59.209 Gross Cost
• 59.210 Net City Cost
• 59.211 Outside Funding
• 59.212 Donation
• 59.213 Debt
• 59.214 Reserve
• 59.215 Operating Cost
• 59.216 Completion Cost Is Not Lifecycle Cost
• 59.217 Operating Tail
• 59.218 Replacement Tail
• 59.219 Grant-Funded Completion
• 59.220 No Free Completion
• 59.221 Benefit Claim
• 59.222 Use Actual Metrics
• 59.223 Forecast
• 59.224 Modelled Benefit
• 59.225 Observed Benefit
• 59.226 No Forecast-to-Actual Conversion
• 59.227 Public Satisfaction
• 59.228 Usage
• 59.229 Financial Result
• 59.230 Service Result
• 59.231 Environmental Result
• 59.232 Completion Without Outcome
• 59.233 Completion With Outcome Exceeded
• 59.234 Completion With Insufficient Data
• 59.235 Honest Labels
• 59.236 Partial Completion
• 59.237 Partial Is Not a Percentage Guess
• 59.238 Physical Construction
• 59.239 Milestone-Based Partial
• 59.240 Scope-Based Partial
• 59.241 No "Mostly Done" Without Detail
• 59.242 Partially Completed at Term End
• 59.243 Handoff Package
• 59.244 New Council Choice
• 59.245 Do Not Bind Successor Politically
• 59.246 Pre-Election Contract Rush
• 59.247 Election-Year Restraint
• 59.248 Procurement Timing
• 59.249 Capital Timing
• 59.250 Grant Deadline
• 59.251 Emergency
• 59.252 Routine Political Urgency
• 59.253 Completion Near Election
• 59.254 No Early Ribbon
• 59.255 No Temporary Opening Trick
• 59.256 Soft Opening
• 59.257 Trial Operation
• 59.258 Full Operation
• 59.259 Data Cut-Off
• 59.260 Commitments Completed After Cut-Off
• 59.261 No Backdating
• 59.262 Future Work
• 59.263 "Substantially Delivered"
• 59.264 Political Language
• 59.265 Secured Funding
• 59.266 Secured Partnership
• 59.267 Created
• 59.268 Launched
• 59.269 Implemented
• 59.270 Completed
• 59.271 Commitment Source Integrity
• 59.272 Example
• 59.273 Qualifier Preservation
• 59.274 Geographic Qualifier
• 59.275 Funding Qualifier
• 59.276 Timing Qualifier
• 59.277 Authority Qualifier
• 59.278 "Study"
• 59.279 "Explore"
• 59.280 "Consider"
• 59.281 "Build"
• 59.282 Verb Matters
• 59.283 Promise Language Dictionary
• 59.284 Explore
• 59.285 Study
• 59.286 Pilot
• 59.287 Approve
• 59.288 Fund
• 59.289 Build
• 59.290 Launch
• 59.291 Operate
• 59.292 Complete
• 59.293 Outcome Language
• 59.294 Reduce
• 59.295 Improve
• 59.296 Increase
• 59.297 Eliminate
• 59.298 Guarantee
• 59.299 "Make Owen Sound Number One"
• 59.300 Qualitative Commitment
• 59.301 Conduct Commitment
• 59.302 Ongoing Governance Commitments
• 59.303 Continuous Status
• 59.304 Do Not Mark Ethics Complete
• 59.305 Transparency Is Ongoing
• 59.306 Privacy Is Ongoing
• 59.307 Accessibility Is Ongoing
• 59.308 Maintenance Is Ongoing
• 59.309 Completed Scorecard Should Separate
• 59.310 Finite Commitment Table
• 59.311 Ongoing Standards Table
• 59.312 Major Projects Table
• 59.313 Outcome Table
• 59.314 Changed Commitment Table
• 59.315 Blocked Commitment Table
• 59.316 Stopped Commitment Table
• 59.317 Completion Summary
• 59.318 Traffic Lights
• 59.319 Status Before Colour
• 59.320 No Green for Approval
• 59.321 No Red for Responsible Stop
• 59.322 Stopped Responsibly
• 59.323 Failed
• 59.324 Completion Verification Checklist
• 59.325 No Political Edit of Technical Verification
• 59.326 Staff Protection
• 59.327 No Retaliation
• 59.328 Auditor Independence
• 59.329 Professional Independence
• 59.330 Contractor Claim
• 59.331 Consultant Claim
• 59.332 Vendor Go-Live
• 59.333 Software Completion
• 59.334 "Digital Transformation Complete"
• 59.335 Data Migration
• 59.336 Legacy System Retirement
• 59.337 Dual Operation
• 59.338 Vendor Exit
• 59.339 Infrastructure Completion
• 59.340 Road Work
• 59.341 Pothole Program
• 59.342 Bridge Study
• 59.343 Bridge Construction
• 59.344 Downtown Pilot
• 59.345 Civic Square
• 59.346 Housing Help Desk
• 59.347 Housing Construction
• 59.348 Enabled Housing
• 59.349 Approved Housing
• 59.350 Built Housing
• 59.351 Business Support
• 59.352 Shop Local
• 59.353 Penny Reward
• 59.354 RealMap
• 59.355 Sign Transition
• 59.356 Responsible Reversal
• 59.357 Seniors
• 59.358 Youth
• 59.359 Accessibility
• 59.360 Privacy
• 59.361 Environment
• 59.362 Partnership
• 59.363 Satisfaction
• 59.364 Finance
• 59.365 Efficiency Dividend
• 59.366 Tax
• 59.367 Safety
• 59.368 Completion Depends on the Original Verb
• 59.369 Commitment Source Version
• 59.370 Final Election Platform
• 59.371 Post-Election Business Plan
• 59.372 Council-Approved Business Plan
• 59.373 Public Revision Log
• 59.374 New Information
• 59.375 Changing Mind Is Not Automatically Failure
• 59.376 But Changing the Score Is Different
• 59.377 Promise Kept Through Different Method
• 59.378 Material Method Change
• 59.379 Promise Kept at Lower Cost
• 59.380 Promise Kept at Higher Cost
• 59.381 Promise Partly Kept
• 59.382 Promise Abandoned
• 59.383 Promise Proven Unnecessary
• 59.384 Promise Proven Illegal
• 59.385 Promise Proven Outside Authority
• 59.386 Campaign Error
• 59.387 Honest Correction
• 59.388 "Could Not Complete"
• 59.389 Reason Categories
• 59.390 Not All Reasons Equal
• 59.391 Unavoidable External Barrier
• 59.392 Poor Planning
• 59.393 Cost Escalation
• 59.394 Blame Avoidance
• 59.395 City-Caused Miss
• 59.396 Shared Cause
• 59.397 Lessons Learned
• 59.398 Lesson Is Not Excuse
• 59.399 Example
• 59.400 Organizational Learning
• 59.401 Promise Quality Review
• 59.402 Poor Commitment
• 59.403 Better Future Commitments
• 59.404 Public Education
• 59.405 Council Motion Quality
• 59.406 Action Motion
• 59.407 No Permanent Open Motion
• 59.408 Council Direction Register
• 59.409 Staff Reports
• 59.410 Administrative Backlog
• 59.411 Long-Open Direction
• 59.412 Cancellation
• 59.413 Public Resolution
• 59.414 Budget Commitments
• 59.415 Capital Carry-Forward
• 59.416 Carry-Forward Is Not Completion
• 59.417 Unspent Budget
• 59.418 Under Budget
• 59.419 Over Budget
• 59.420 Grant Spend Deadline
• 59.421 Spend Is Not Outcome
• 59.422 Completion and Cash Flow
• 59.423 Contract Completion
• 59.424 Public Benefit
• 59.425 Promise Audit
• 59.426 Annual, Not Just Election Year
• 59.427 Annual Audit Questions
• 59.428 Publish Misses Every Year
• 59.429 Year One
• 59.430 Year Two
• 59.431 Year Three
• 59.432 Year Four
• 59.433 No Year Four Discovery
• 59.434 Frozen Public List
• 59.435 New Commitments Later
• 59.436 No Retroactive Promise Creation
• 59.437 No Promise Deletion
• 59.438 No Minor-Task Flood
• 59.439 Commitment Governance
• 59.440 Public Change Log
• 59.441 Completion Disputes
• 59.442 Public Debate
• 59.443 Independent Reader Test
• 59.444 If No
• 59.445 Plain Language
• 59.446 Better
• 59.447 Completion Notes
• 59.448 Technical Source
• 59.449 Public Dashboard
• 59.450 Search
• 59.451 No Account Required
• 59.452 Accessible
• 59.453 Mobile
• 59.454 Print
• 59.455 Open Data
• 59.456 Version History
• 59.457 API
• 59.458 Technology Independence
• 59.459 Campaign Site
• 59.460 No Campaign Editing of Official Data
• 59.461 Official Communications
• 59.462 Political Interpretation
• 59.463 Completion Scorecard and Election
• 59.464 Same Rules
• 59.465 No Year Four Redefinition of Completed
• 59.466 No Year Four Re-Baselining
• 59.467 No Year Four Scope Shrink
• 59.468 No Year Four Bundling
• 59.469 No Year Four Splitting
• 59.470 No Future Commitments in Completed List
• 59.471 Election Cut-Off Report
• 59.472 After Cut-Off
• 59.473 No Data Freeze to Hide Problems
• 59.474 Auditor Access
• 59.475 Public Records
• 59.476 Privacy
• 59.477 Procurement Confidentiality
• 59.478 Transparency
• 59.479 Legal Claim
• 59.480 Security
• 59.481 Personnel
• 59.482 Institutional Accountability
• 59.483 Community Partner
• 59.484 Dispute
• 59.485 No Public Ambush
• 59.486 Independent Completion Review
• 59.487 Review Team
• 59.488 Political Office
• 59.489 Public Draft
• 59.490 Correction Window
• 59.491 Not Negotiation Window
• 59.492 Final Publication
• 59.493 Completed Commitments Summary
• 59.494 Partially Completed Summary
• 59.495 Stopped Summary
• 59.496 Blocked Summary
• 59.497 Not Proceeding Summary
• 59.498 Ongoing Standards Summary
• 59.499 Major Commitment Summary
• 59.500 No Cherry-Picked "Top 20"
• 59.501 Four-Year Completion Audit
• 59.502 Name the Most Important Completed Commitment
• 59.503 Name the Most Expensive Completed Commitment
• 59.504 Name the Largest Completion Under Budget
• 59.505 Name the Largest Completion Over Budget
• 59.506 Name the Most Delayed Completed Commitment
• 59.507 Name a Delayed Commitment Where Waiting Was the Right Decision
• 59.508 Name a Commitment Completed Through a Better Method Than Originally Planned
• 59.509 Name a Commitment Where Scope Was Reduced
• 59.510 Name a Commitment Where Scope Expanded
• 59.511 Name a Completed Project Whose Outcome Underperformed
• 59.512 Name a Completed Project Whose Outcome Exceeded Expectations
• 59.513 Name a Pilot That Was Completed and Then Stopped
• 59.514 Name a Pilot That Earned Expansion
• 59.515 Name a Campaign Commitment Council Rejected
• 59.516 Name a Commitment Blocked by Another Government
• 59.517 Name a Commitment That Was Outside City Authority
• 59.518 Name a Commitment Revised After Better Evidence
• 59.519 Name a Commitment Abandoned Because the Cost Was Not Worth It
• 59.520 Name a Commitment That Should Have Been Written Better at the Beginning
• 59.521 Name the Biggest Remaining Incomplete Commitment
• 59.522 Name the Largest Financial Liability Attached to an Incomplete Commitment
• 59.523 Name the Most Important Handoff to the Next Council
• 59.524 Promise Test
• 59.525 Authority Test
• 59.526 Scope Test
• 59.527 Date Test
• 59.528 Cost Test
• 59.529 Scope-Change Test
• 59.530 Evidence Test
• 59.531 Operational Test
• 59.532 Outcome Test
• 59.533 Attribution Test
• 59.534 Funding Test
• 59.535 Integrity Test
• 59.536 Reverse Integrity Test
• 59.537 Resident Test
• 59.538 Staff Test
• 59.539 Financial Test
• 59.540 Technical Test
• 59.541 Legal Test
• 59.542 Privacy Test
• 59.543 Accessibility Test
• 59.544 Partnership Test
• 59.545 Election Test
• 59.546 Institution Test
• 59.547 What Success Looks Like
• 59.548 What Failure Looks Like
• 59.549 The Completed Scorecard Commitment

Government regularly uses the word:

completed

too easily.

A study can be completed.

A grant application can be completed.

A consultation can be completed.

A procurement can be completed.

A policy can be approved.

A pilot can launch.

A ribbon can be cut.

A website can go live.

None of those facts necessarily mean:

the original public commitment was completed.

If the commitment was:

repair the bridge

then:

complete engineering study

is not the same thing.

If the commitment was:

create a faster permit process

then:

hire a consultant

is not completion.

If the commitment was:

reduce a recurring service problem

then:

launch a new reporting app

is not completion unless the problem actually improves.

The central principle is:

A commitment is completed only when the thing promised has actually been delivered to the scope reasonably understood when the promise was made.

A second principle is equally important:

Preserve the original promise.

Do not rewrite the commitment four years later so that whatever happened can be called:

• success.

And a third principle:

Completion should be independently understandable.

A resident should be able to see:

What was promised?

When?

By whom?

Under what authority?

What did Council actually approve?

What did staff deliver?

What did it cost?

What changed from the original scope?

What evidence shows it is complete?

Is the promised public result actually operating?

That is the Completed Scorecard.

59.1Purpose

The Completed Scorecard should answer:

What commitments did the Mayor, Council or City formally make?

Which were campaign commitments?

Which became Council-approved commitments?

Which were administrative commitments?

Which were outside municipal authority?

Which were completed?

Which were partly completed?

Which were launched but not finished?

Which were approved but not implemented?

Which were stopped?

Which were superseded?

Which depended on another government?

Which cost more than expected?

Which cost less?

Which changed scope?

Which produced the promised outcome?

Which produced something useful but different?

Which were no longer worth completing?

Which remain open at the end of the term?

Those questions matter more than:

How many accomplishments can we fit into an election brochure?

59.2Commitment Register

The foundation should be a public:

Commitment Register.

59.3Register From the Beginning

Build it in:

• Year One.

Do not reconstruct it in:

• Year Four.

59.4Original Wording

Every material commitment should preserve:

• original wording.

59.5Source

Record where it came from.

Possible:

Campaign Platform

Council Motion

Budget

Strategic Plan

Staff Report

Public Agreement

Intergovernmental Agreement

Legislative Requirement

Operational Service Standard

59.6Campaign Promise and Municipal Commitment Are Different

A candidate may promise to:

• advocate;
• propose;
• ask Council;
• study;
• pilot;
• change;

something.

After election, Council may:

• approve;
• modify;
• reject.

Track both.

59.7Mayor Cannot Unilaterally Complete Council Work

Where Council approval is required:

The Mayor's responsibility may be:

• bring forward;
• advocate;
• organize;
• vote;
• lead within lawful authority.

59.8Completion Language Must Match Authority

If campaign promise was:

I will ask Council to consider X

then introducing X for genuine consideration may complete the campaign promise.

It does not mean:

• X itself was completed.

59.9If Promise Was Outcome

If promise was:

We will build X

then:

• asking Council;

is not enough.

59.10Authority Tag

Each commitment should identify:

Mayor Authority

Council Authority

Administrative Authority

County Authority

Ontario Authority

Federal Authority

Shared Authority

Private / Community Dependency

59.11No Authority Inflation

Do not claim a commitment completed because:

• City asked another government;

when the original promise was presented as if City controlled the final result.

59.12Correct the Record Early

If a campaign commitment misunderstood jurisdiction:

Say so.

59.13Revised Commitment

A commitment may be revised openly after legal or financial review.

59.14Revision Requires Explanation

Publish:

Original commitment

What changed

Why

Who approved the change

New commitment

59.15Do Not Erase Original

Always preserve it.

59.16Commitment ID

Give each material commitment:

• stable ID.

Example:

OS-2027-014

The number is administrative only.

59.17No Renumbering to Hide Failure

Do not delete an old commitment ID and create a new one merely to reset:

• status;
• deadline.

59.18Parent Commitment

Large commitments may contain:

• sub-commitments.

59.19Sub-Commitment

Useful for complex programs.

59.20Parent Completion

A parent commitment is not complete merely because:

• one easy subtask;

is finished.

59.21Scope

Each commitment should define:

• what completion means.

59.22Completion Definition

Where practical, define before implementation.

59.23Example

Commitment:

Launch a Start-Up Desk.

Completion could require:

• public intake route;
• trained staff;
• service standard;
• operational launch;
• published contact information.

59.24Outcome Beyond Completion

Separately measure:

• whether it works.

59.25Completion and Success Are Different

A project can be:

• completed;
• unsuccessful.

59.26Incomplete and Useful Are Also Different

A project may be:

• incomplete;
• still valuable.

Report honestly.

59.27Completion Categories

Every commitment should use a stable status.

Recommended:

Not Started

Planning

Approved

Funded

In Delivery

Pilot

Operational

Completed

Partially Completed

Blocked

Deferred

Superseded

Stopped

Not Proceeding

59.28Completed Is Reserved

Do not use:

Completed

as the default positive label.

59.29Operational

Some commitments create ongoing services.

For these:

Operational

may be more accurate than:

Completed.

59.30Example

A permanent public Wi-Fi service might be:

• operational.

The work of:

• maintaining;
• funding;
• securing;

it continues.

59.31Completed Project

A sidewalk reconstruction can genuinely be:

• completed.

59.32Ongoing Program

A youth program cannot simply be:

• completed;

if it must continue every year.

59.33Policy Commitment

A policy may be:

• adopted.

But if the promise included:

• implementation;

adoption alone is not enough.

59.34Study Commitment

If the commitment really was:

complete a study

then a completed study can legitimately be:

• complete.

59.35Study as Means

If the study was only a step toward:

• building;
• changing;

something:

Do not call the larger promise complete.

59.36Consultation Commitment

A consultation can be completed if the promise was:

consult residents before decision.

59.37Consultation Outcome

Still show:

• how input affected the decision.

59.38Pilot Commitment

If the promise was:

run a one-year pilot and report results

then completion requires:

• pilot operated;
• data collected;
• final report;
• decision.

59.39Launch Is Not Completion

A pilot launch is:

• launch.

59.40Approval Is Not Completion

Council approval is:

• approval.

59.41Funding Is Not Completion

Money allocated is:

• funding.

59.42Tender Is Not Completion

Contract award is:

• procurement milestone.

59.43Groundbreaking Is Not Completion

Construction started is:

• construction started.

59.44Ribbon Cutting

Not necessarily completion.

59.45Substantial Completion

A construction-contract term may have formal meaning.

Do not casually translate it into:

entire public commitment complete

if outstanding work remains.

59.46Commissioning

For some systems:

Completion requires:

• testing;
• commissioning;
• acceptance.

59.47Public Use

For public facilities:

If residents cannot use it yet:

Do not call it fully complete merely because construction crews left.

59.48Deficiency List

Outstanding defects should remain visible.

59.49Warranty

Warranty work does not necessarily prevent project completion.

But major unresolved defects might.

Use judgment.

59.50Completion Date

Record actual date.

59.51Original Target Date

Preserve.

59.52Revised Target Date

Also preserve.

59.53Do Not Replace Original Date

Show both.

59.54Schedule Variance

Possible:

Completion Variance = Actual Completion Date - Original Target Date

Use days or months appropriate to the project.

59.55Schedule Context

Explain delay causes.

59.56Delay Categories

Possible:

City Decision

Procurement

Design

Contractor

Weather

Regulatory

Utility

Partner

Funding

Legal

Unknown Condition

Scope Change

59.57Delay Is Not Automatically Failure

Some delays avoid:

• waste;
• unsafe work;
• bad procurement.

59.58Hidden Delay Is Failure

Do not quietly move the date.

59.59Commitment Baseline

Every material commitment should have:

• original scope;
• original cost expectation where available;
• original target date.

59.60Cost Baseline

Where no credible early estimate existed:

Say:

No reliable cost estimate at commitment stage.

59.61Do Not Invent Old Budget

Do not reconstruct a false:

• original budget;

after completion.

59.62Approved Budget

Record.

59.63Final Cost

Record when known.

59.64Forecast Final Cost

While open:

Show.

59.65Cost Variance

Possible:

Cost Variance % = (Final Cost - Approved Baseline Budget) ÷ Approved Baseline Budget × 100

59.66Scope Change

Cost comparison means little if:

• scope changed.

59.67Original Scope

Preserve.

59.68Final Scope

Preserve.

59.69Scope Added

Identify.

59.70Scope Removed

Identify.

59.71Scope Deferred

Identify.

59.72Scope Reduced to Stay on Budget

Do not then claim:

completed on budget

without noting that the original scope was reduced.

59.73Scope Expanded by Council

Higher cost may be justified.

Explain.

59.74Success Despite Cost Increase

Possible.

A project can exceed budget and still be:

• correct decision.

59.75Failure Despite Budget Compliance

Possible.

A project can finish under budget but:

• fail its purpose.

59.76Financial Completion

A project is not fully closed financially until:

• material invoices;
• claims;
• holdbacks;
• recoveries;

are resolved where applicable.

59.77Provisional Completion

Use if financial closeout remains.

59.78Final Financial Close

Record later.

59.79Public Result

Every commitment should identify its intended:

• public result.

59.80Deliverable Versus Outcome

Example:

Deliverable:

• build 2 km trail.

Outcome:

• continuous safe connection.

Both matter.

59.81Deliverable Completion

Can be objectively verified.

59.82Outcome May Take Longer

Some outcomes need:

• months;
• years;

of operating data.

59.83Do Not Hold Project Open Forever

Use separate statuses:

Project Complete

and

Outcome Evaluation Pending

59.84Outcome Review Date

Set.

59.85Example

Road work completed:

• September.

Condition and repeat-repair outcome reviewed:

• following seasons.

59.86No Instant Outcome Claim

Do not claim:

downtown revitalized

on the day furniture is installed.

59.87No Permanent Outcome Claim From Temporary Spike

An opening weekend is not:

• long-term success.

59.88Outcome Indicators

Should come from appropriate section Scorecards.

59.89Cross-Reference

Examples:

• Finance from Section 44.
• Services from Section 46.
• Infrastructure from Section 47.
• Downtown from Section 48.
• Housing from Section 49.
• Business from Section 50.
• Safety from Section 51.
• Recreation from Section 52.
• Youth from Section 53.
• Accessibility from Section 54.
• Privacy from Section 55.
• Environment from Section 56.
• Partnership from Section 57.
• Satisfaction from Section 58.

59.90Do Not Create Duplicate Outcome Metrics

Use the existing scorecard result.

59.91Evidence

Every material completed commitment should have:

• evidence.

59.92Evidence Types

Possible:

• Council resolution;
• completed asset;
• project closeout;
• service record;
• contract completion;
• published policy;
• operational dashboard;
• financial record;
• independent verification;
• partner confirmation.

59.93Press Release Is Not Primary Evidence

A City announcement can communicate completion.

It should not be the only proof.

59.94Photo Is Not Proof

Useful for:

• illustration.

Not enough.

59.95Mayor Statement Is Not Proof

No.

59.96Staff Confirmation

Can be valid operational evidence.

59.97Professional Certification

For technical work:

Use qualified sign-off where required.

59.98Treasurer Verification

For financial claims:

Use Finance.

59.99Clerk Verification

For:

• motions;
• bylaws;
• official records.

59.100Department Owner

For service implementation:

Responsible department verifies.

59.101Independent Audit

Not required for every commitment.

Use for:

• material;
• disputed;
• high-risk;

claims.

59.102Resident Verification

Residents can often see:

• facility open;
• sidewalk built.

But public perception does not replace professional certification where required.

59.103Verification Level

Possible:

Administrative

Financial

Technical

Legal

Independent

Publicly Observable

Use relevant categories.

59.104Evidence Link

Public Scorecard should point to:

• source documentation;

where appropriate.

59.105Sensitive Evidence

Some completion evidence may include:

• confidential;
• security;
• personal;

information.

Publish a sufficient non-sensitive summary.

59.106Completion Review

Before marking a major commitment complete:

Ask:

Was the original deliverable finished?

Is it operational if required?

Was scope materially changed?

Is required legal approval complete?

Has final cost been recorded or clearly labelled pending?

Is there evidence?

Is the public result measurable?

59.107Completion Authority

The department responsible should propose status.

59.108Central Verification

A central Scorecard function should check consistency.

59.109Mayor Does Not Mark Own Homework

The Mayor should not unilaterally decide:

promise complete.

59.110Council Does Not Need to Vote on Every Status

Routine administrative verification can be handled professionally.

59.111Disputed Status

If there is a legitimate dispute:

Publish:

Status disputed

with explanation.

59.112Resident Challenge

Allow residents to identify:

• possible misclassification;
• missing commitment.

59.113Challenge Is Not Automatic Correction

Review evidence.

59.114Correction Log

If status was wrong:

Correct publicly.

59.115Historical Status

Preserve material previous classifications where useful.

59.116No Silent Downgrade

If something once marked:

• complete;

is later found incomplete:

Correct explicitly.

59.117Completion Reversal

Possible.

Example:

A system launched and later fails before the promised period of operation.

59.118If Commitment Required One-Year Operation

Do not mark complete after:

• one week.

59.119Minimum Operating Period

Define where necessary.

59.120Service Launch Commitment

For a new service, completion may require:

• launch;
• stable operation;
• public access;
• basic reporting.

59.121Ongoing Service Success

Then measured separately.

59.122Program Sunset

A completed pilot may legitimately end.

That does not erase:

• completion.

59.123Pilot Failure

A pilot can be:

• completed;
• unsuccessful.

That is honest government.

59.124Stop Decision Can Be Success

If evidence shows an initiative should not continue:

Stopping it may demonstrate:

• stewardship.

59.125Do Not Fear "Stopped"

A public scorecard should include it.

59.126Stopped and Failed Are Different

A program may be stopped because:

• objective achieved;
• demand absent;
• risk too high;
• another provider better;
• cost unreasonable.

59.127Failure

Use where:

• commitment was not delivered;
• avoidable problems caused collapse;
• material expected result did not occur.

59.128Not Proceeding

Use where Council deliberately decides:

• not to continue.

59.129Superseded

Use where a better or legally necessary approach replaces the original.

59.130Superseded Requires Traceability

Show:

• old commitment;
• new commitment;
• reason.

59.131Deferred

Use where timing changed but commitment remains active.

59.132Deferred Is Not Complete

Obvious.

59.133Blocked

Use where:

• external authority;
• litigation;
• funding;
• land;
• regulatory barrier;

prevents progress.

59.134Blocked Is Not Completed

Even if City did everything it could.

59.135Advocacy Completion

If the commitment was explicitly:

advocate for X

then a defined advocacy process can be completed.

59.136Advocacy Result

Separate:

• response from other government.

59.137Ask Submitted

Not:

• ask achieved.

59.138Ask Approved

Closer.

59.139External Delivery

If another government must deliver final result:

Track separately.

59.140Intergovernmental Dependency

Each commitment should identify external dependencies at the beginning.

59.141No Surprise Dependency

Do not discover in Year Four that:

• Ontario approval;

was required all along.

59.142Legal Review Early

Important for ambitious commitments.

59.143Legal Review Is Not Excuse for Inaction

If law permits:

Move.

59.144Legal Barrier

If law prevents:

Publish precise barrier.

59.145Council Dependency

If Council votes no:

Campaign promise may become:

Proposed, not approved.

59.146Do Not Call That Completed

Unless the promise was specifically:

bring it to Council for a vote.

59.147Democracy Means Losing Votes Sometimes

The Scorecard should show:

• outcome.

59.148No Blaming Council for Everything

A Mayor should not promise an outcome requiring Council and later claim:

I completed my part.

Use accurate wording.

59.149Mayor-Specific Commitment

Some commitments can be:

• conduct;
• transparency;
• meeting;
• advocacy.

These may be directly measurable.

59.150Council Commitment

Council collectively owns.

59.151Administrative Commitment

Staff owns under approved direction.

59.152Shared Ownership

Possible.

59.153Public Owner Field

Every commitment needs one accountable institutional owner.

59.154Owner Is Not Person to Blame

Owner means:

• responsible for tracking and reporting.

59.155Owner Change

If staff changes:

Commitment stays.

59.156Institution Owns Commitment

Not individual personality.

59.157Commitment Classes

A useful classification:

Governance

Financial

Service

Infrastructure

Downtown

Housing

Business

Safety

Recreation

Youth

Accessibility

Privacy

Environment

Partnership

59.158Cross-Category Commitment

Choose primary category.

Cross-reference others.

59.159Do Not Duplicate Promise

One commitment counts once.

59.160Initiative Versus Commitment

An initiative can contain many actions.

Do not inflate accomplishment count by:

• breaking one promise into 30 tiny tasks.

59.161Granularity Rule

A commitment should represent something a reasonable resident would recognize as:

• distinct public promise.

59.162Example of Inflation

Promise:

Create a Start-Up Desk.

Do not count separately:

• name selected;
• phone number created;
• webpage posted;
• staff trained;
• first email received;
• first meeting held.

Those are implementation steps.

59.163Subtasks Still Useful

Track operationally.

But final public completion count remains:

• one commitment.

59.164Reverse Inflation

Do not combine 10 distinct failures under:

economic development improvement

to hide them either.

59.165Commitment Definition Review

Establish granularity rules before:

• election-year reporting.

59.166Original Campaign Platform

Archive unchanged.

59.167Municipal Business Plan

Archive version history.

59.168Council Additions

Add separately.

59.169Commitments Not in Campaign

The City may adopt new priorities.

Track them.

59.170Do Not Pretend Every Council Success Was Campaign Promise

Differentiate.

59.171Credit

Government outcomes often involve:

• staff;
• Council;
• partners;
• residents;
• contractors.

59.172No Mayor-Only Credit

Avoid:

Mayor delivered 100 projects.

Use:

City completed.

59.173Campaign Reporting

A candidate can discuss their role.

But official Scorecard remains:

• institutional.

59.174Staff Recognition

Appropriate.

59.175Partner Recognition

Appropriate.

59.176Resident Contribution

Appropriate.

59.177No Forced Credit

Do not turn City work into:

• political branding.

59.178Completion Count

The Scorecard may publish:

Total commitments

Completed

Operational

Partially completed

In delivery

Deferred

Blocked

Stopped

Not proceeding

59.179Avoid One Percentage Alone

A single:

84% completed

can mislead.

59.180Completion Rate

If used:

Completion Rate = Completed Commitments ÷ Commitments Eligible for Completion

But this needs careful rules.

59.181Eligible for Completion

Ongoing services may not fit.

59.182Separate Ongoing Commitments

Use:

• operational;
• meeting standard.

59.183Weighted Completion

Avoid political weighting unless methodology is established in advance.

59.184Equal Weight Problem

A:

• $500 sign update;

should not count equally with:

• $50 million infrastructure project;

for understanding term performance.

59.185But Monetary Weight Also Misleads

A low-cost privacy reform may matter enormously.

59.186Better Approach

Show commitments individually and group by:

• scale;
• category;
• public importance.

59.187Major Commitment

Define in advance using criteria such as:

• capital value;
• city-wide impact;
• legal significance;
• service significance.

59.188Major Commitments Table

Publish separately.

59.189Minor Commitment

Still track.

59.190No Hiding Major Failure Among Minor Wins

Do not report:

48 of 50 promises completed

when the two uncompleted commitments were:

• the largest;
• most expensive;
• most important.

Highlight.

59.191Materiality

Essential.

59.192Public Importance

Residents may reasonably care more about:

• bridge;
• housing;
• tax;

than:

• internal form redesign.

Show context.

59.193Completion Confidence

Every status may carry:

Verified

Provisionally Verified

Pending Verification

Disputed

59.194No Completion Without Evidence

A major commitment without verification remains:

• pending.

59.195Verification Date

Publish.

59.196Verifier

Publish responsible office.

59.197Independent Verification

For highly political claims:

Could strengthen trust.

59.198Auditor

May verify:

• financial;

elements.

59.199Engineer

May verify:

• technical;

elements.

59.200Lawyer

May advise:

• legal status.

59.201Resident

May verify:

• publicly observable use.

59.202No Single Verifier for Everything

Use correct expertise.

59.203Completion Statement

Each completed major commitment should have a short statement:

What was completed, when, at what cost, and what changed from the original commitment.

59.204Example Structure

Original Commitment

Final Status

Completion Date

Final Scope

Final Cost

Evidence

Outcome Measure

Changes

59.205Public Summary

Keep plain language.

59.206Technical Appendix

Can contain detail.

59.207Cost Must Match Finance

Do not use a different project number in:

• political Scorecard;
• financial statements.

59.208Reconciliation

If numbers differ:

Explain timing or accounting basis.

59.209Gross Cost

Show where meaningful.

59.210Net City Cost

Show.

59.211Outside Funding

Show separately.

59.212Donation

Show separately.

59.213Debt

Show if used.

59.214Reserve

Show if used.

59.215Operating Cost

If completed project creates ongoing expense:

Show annualized estimate.

59.216Completion Cost Is Not Lifecycle Cost

A $1 million project may create:

• decades;

of maintenance.

Cross-reference Complete Cost.

59.217Operating Tail

Include.

59.218Replacement Tail

Include where major.

59.219Grant-Funded Completion

A project can be complete and still create:

• future burden.

Report.

59.220No Free Completion

Outside funding does not make the project:

• free.

59.221Benefit Claim

Avoid unsupported:

• jobs created;
• property value;
• health;
• tourism;

claims.

59.222Use Actual Metrics

Where available.

59.223Forecast

Label.

59.224Modelled Benefit

Label.

59.225Observed Benefit

Label.

59.226No Forecast-to-Actual Conversion

Do not repeat a consultant forecast after project completion as though it became:

• actual result.

59.227Public Satisfaction

Can support outcome evaluation.

Does not prove all benefits.

59.228Usage

Can support.

59.229Financial Result

Can support.

59.230Service Result

Can support.

59.231Environmental Result

Can support.

59.232Completion Without Outcome

Possible category:

Completed, outcome below target.

59.233Completion With Outcome Exceeded

Possible.

59.234Completion With Insufficient Data

Possible:

Completed, outcome not yet measurable.

59.235Honest Labels

Use them.

59.236Partial Completion

Define carefully.

59.237Partial Is Not a Percentage Guess

Avoid:

73% complete

unless project controls genuinely support that.

59.238Physical Construction

Project scheduling may provide:

• percent complete.

But that is not necessarily:

• commitment completion percentage.

59.239Milestone-Based Partial

Better.

Example:

• 3 of 5 planned facility upgrades complete.

59.240Scope-Based Partial

Show exactly what:

• finished;
• unfinished.

59.241No "Mostly Done" Without Detail

Explain.

59.242Partially Completed at Term End

Needs handoff.

59.243Handoff Package

Should include:

Work completed

Work remaining

Cost to date

Remaining forecast

Contracts

Risks

Next decision

59.244New Council Choice

The next Council may:

• continue;
• change;
• stop.

59.245Do Not Bind Successor Politically

Long-term legal contracts may bind City.

Political priorities should not be artificially locked solely to preserve:

• legacy.

59.246Pre-Election Contract Rush

Avoid.

59.247Election-Year Restraint

Do not accelerate long-term commitments merely so:

• incumbent can call them complete.

59.248Procurement Timing

Follow genuine operational need.

59.249Capital Timing

Same.

59.250Grant Deadline

May require action.

Explain.

59.251Emergency

May require action.

Explain.

59.252Routine Political Urgency

Not enough.

59.253Completion Near Election

Perfectly legitimate if work genuinely finishes then.

But reporting standard must remain:

• same.

59.254No Early Ribbon

Do not announce completion before:

• operational completion.

59.255No Temporary Opening Trick

A facility opened for:

• one day;

for ceremony and then closed again is not complete.

59.256Soft Opening

Label:

• soft opening.

59.257Trial Operation

Label.

59.258Full Operation

Label.

59.259Data Cut-Off

The final term report needs:

• cut-off date.

59.260Commitments Completed After Cut-Off

Report separately.

59.261No Backdating

Do not mark a project completed before:

• actual completion date.

59.262Future Work

Do not include:

• expected next month;

in completed totals.

59.263"Substantially Delivered"

Avoid unless specifically defined.

59.264Political Language

Words such as:

• delivered;
• achieved;
• transformed;
• secured;

should correspond to actual status.

59.265Secured Funding

Means:

• funding approved or contractually committed;

not merely:

• application submitted.

59.266Secured Partnership

Means more than:

• conversation.

59.267Created

Means thing exists.

59.268Launched

Means started.

59.269Implemented

Means operational.

59.270Completed

Means finished.

Use words accurately.

59.271Commitment Source Integrity

Do not selectively quote a promise.

59.272Example

If original promise said:

free transit pilot for seniors for one year

do not later report:

delivered seniors initiative

if only:

• planning;

occurred.

59.273Qualifier Preservation

Keep:

• free;
• one year;
• pilot;
• seniors;

because those words define scope.

59.274Geographic Qualifier

Preserve.

59.275Funding Qualifier

Preserve.

59.276Timing Qualifier

Preserve.

59.277Authority Qualifier

Preserve.

59.278"Study"

Preserve if promise was only to study.

59.279"Explore"

Preserve.

59.280"Consider"

Preserve.

59.281"Build"

Preserve.

59.282Verb Matters

The verb often determines completion.

59.283Promise Language Dictionary

Public Scorecard should define:

Explore

Study

Pilot

Approve

Fund

Build

Launch

Operate

Complete

59.284Explore

Means:

• investigate options;
• produce conclusion.

59.285Study

Means:

• defined analysis completed.

59.286Pilot

Means:

• limited trial operated and evaluated.

59.287Approve

Means:

• lawful decision made.

59.288Fund

Means:

• budget authority committed.

59.289Build

Means:

• physical project constructed and accepted for intended use.

59.290Launch

Means:

• service or initiative starts.

59.291Operate

Means:

• service is functioning according to basic design.

59.292Complete

Means:

• final promised deliverable is finished.

59.293Outcome Language

Words such as:

• reduce;
• improve;
• increase;
• lower;

require:

• baseline;
• measurement.

59.294Reduce

Cannot be completed without comparison.

59.295Improve

Needs defined measure.

59.296Increase

Needs defined measure.

59.297Eliminate

Very high threshold.

Use cautiously.

59.298Guarantee

Avoid unless the City genuinely can guarantee.

59.299"Make Owen Sound Number One"

Not a useful completion standard without:

• metric.

59.300Qualitative Commitment

Some commitments are cultural.

Example:

treat criticism respectfully.

These need:

• conduct standards;
• complaint records;
• resident experience.

59.301Conduct Commitment

Can be assessed.

But not easily marked:

• completed.

Better:

Met / Not Met During Reporting Period.

59.302Ongoing Governance Commitments

Examples:

• open books;
• conflict firewall;
• no campaign use of City data;
• respectful government.

These remain:

• continuous.

59.303Continuous Status

Use:

Meeting Standard

Partially Meeting

Not Meeting

59.304Do Not Mark Ethics Complete

Ethics are never:

• done.

59.305Transparency Is Ongoing

Same.

59.306Privacy Is Ongoing

Same.

59.307Accessibility Is Ongoing

Same.

59.308Maintenance Is Ongoing

Same.

59.309Completed Scorecard Should Separate

Finite commitments

from

Ongoing standards

59.310Finite Commitment Table

Possible:

59.311Ongoing Standards Table

59.312Major Projects Table

59.313Outcome Table

59.314Changed Commitment Table

59.315Blocked Commitment Table

59.316Stopped Commitment Table

59.317Completion Summary

Use clear categories.

59.318Traffic Lights

Traffic lights can supplement status.

Green

Completed or operating to the defined commitment standard.

Amber

In progress, partial, delayed or outcome concern.

Red

Materially failed, stopped for performance reasons or substantially off commitment.

Grey

Not yet verifiable, outside measurement window or insufficient data.

59.319Status Before Colour

The word:

• Completed;

matters more than:

• Green.

59.320No Green for Approval

If completion required delivery:

Approval is not Green completion.

59.321No Red for Responsible Stop

A project stopped because evidence showed it was:

• unnecessary;
• unaffordable;

may deserve:

• a responsible-stop classification.

59.322Stopped Responsibly

Could be:

• Amber;
• Grey;

depending on promise and outcome.

Explain.

59.323Failed

Where failure is real:

Use:

• Red.

Do not hide.

59.324Completion Verification Checklist

Before final status:

Original wording checked

Authority checked

Scope checked

Cost reconciled

Target date checked

Evidence attached

Outcome status identified

Changes disclosed

Department verified

59.325No Political Edit of Technical Verification

Political offices can:

• correct factual context.

They should not pressure staff to certify:

• incomplete work.

59.326Staff Protection

Employees should be able to say:

This is not complete.

59.327No Retaliation

Essential.

59.328Auditor Independence

Likewise.

59.329Professional Independence

Likewise.

59.330Contractor Claim

Contractor saying:

finished

is not enough.

City acceptance matters.

59.331Consultant Claim

Same.

59.332Vendor Go-Live

Not enough if:

• functionality;
• data migration;
• accessibility;

remain unresolved.

59.333Software Completion

Could require:

• production launch;
• data migration;
• staff training;
• accessibility;
• privacy;
• security;
• export;
• support.

59.334"Digital Transformation Complete"

Usually suspiciously broad.

Break into actual deliverables.

59.335Data Migration

Complete only after:

• validation.

59.336Legacy System Retirement

If part of promise:

Must actually occur.

59.337Dual Operation

If old and new systems both remain indefinitely:

Do not claim:

• migration complete.

59.338Vendor Exit

A system may be implemented but not meet:

• sovereignty;

commitment.

Cross-reference Section 55.

59.339Infrastructure Completion

Use Section 47 project standards.

59.340Road Work

"Complete" should mean:

• final intended work;
• accepted;
• open;

with known minor deficiencies appropriately recorded.

59.341Pothole Program

If commitment was recurring annual event:

Each year's event can be:

• completed.

The four-year commitment is complete only after:

• all promised cycles.

59.342Bridge Study

Complete when study is:

• delivered;
• accepted;
• publicly reported where appropriate.

59.343Bridge Construction

Completely different commitment.

59.344Downtown Pilot

If commitment is pilot:

Completion requires:

• operate;
• measure;
• report;
• decide.

59.345Civic Square

If promise is to create operational public square:

A concept drawing is not:

• completion.

59.346Housing Help Desk

Completion can mean:

• service operational.

Housing units created through it are:

• outcome.

59.347Housing Construction

Do not count private units as:

• City-built;

unless City actually built or commissioned them.

59.348Enabled Housing

Can be a valid category.

59.349Approved Housing

Not same as:

• built housing.

59.350Built Housing

Not necessarily same as:

• occupied housing.

59.351Business Support

Start-Up Desk operational is:

• implementation.

Businesses successfully launching are:

• outcome.

59.352Shop Local

Platform or program launch is:

• launch.

Meaningful business use is:

• outcome.

59.353Penny Reward

If pilot proceeds:

Complete only according to:

• defined pilot terms;
• final evaluation.

59.354RealMap

Municipal awareness or public-standard work cannot be called complete until:

• conflict;
• procurement;
• governance;
• privacy;

gates are satisfied where applicable.

59.355Sign Transition

Each year is a decision stage.

Do not pre-classify the final sign restriction as:

• completed promise;

if evidence causes Council to stop the transition.

59.356Responsible Reversal

A pilot designed with:

• stop gate;

can succeed by stopping.

59.357Seniors

A senior transit pilot is complete only if:

• actually operated;
• evaluated.

59.358Youth

Civic Corps launch is not enough.

Defined cohort or annual commitments must:

• operate;
• report.

59.359Accessibility

Barrier-removal commitments require:

• actual barrier removal.

Study is not enough.

59.360Privacy

Policy adoption is not the same as:

• systems remediated.

59.361Environment

Trees planted are not:

• survival target achieved.

59.362Partnership

MOU signed is not:

• relationship commitment completed.

59.363Satisfaction

Survey launched is not:

• resident experience improved.

59.364Finance

Budget adopted is not:

• financial target achieved.

59.365Efficiency Dividend

Forecast saving is not:

• verified saving.

59.366Tax

Tax-rate announcement is not:

• household tax outcome.

59.367Safety

Program launch is not:

• safety improvement.

59.368Completion Depends on the Original Verb

Always return to:

• promise wording.

59.369Commitment Source Version

If campaign document changed during campaign:

Archive versions.

59.370Final Election Platform

Identify which version voters received as final.

59.371Post-Election Business Plan

May refine implementation.

Do not pretend it retroactively changes:

• campaign promise.

59.372Council-Approved Business Plan

Becomes separate institutional document.

59.373Public Revision Log

Maintain.

59.374New Information

Plans should change when:

• evidence;
• law;
• cost;

changes.

59.375Changing Mind Is Not Automatically Failure

Government should be able to say:

We learned something and changed course.

59.376But Changing the Score Is Different

Do not change the original promise merely to avoid:

• missed status.

59.377Promise Kept Through Different Method

Possible.

If result and essential scope are delivered through a better method:

Mark:

Completed, delivery method changed.

59.378Material Method Change

Explain.

59.379Promise Kept at Lower Cost

Good.

59.380Promise Kept at Higher Cost

Report.

59.381Promise Partly Kept

Say so.

59.382Promise Abandoned

Say so.

59.383Promise Proven Unnecessary

Say so.

59.384Promise Proven Illegal

Say so.

59.385Promise Proven Outside Authority

Say so.

59.386Campaign Error

A candidate may have made:

• a mistake.

The Scorecard should not rewrite history.

59.387Honest Correction

Better than:

• four years of pretending.

59.388"Could Not Complete"

Needs reason.

59.389Reason Categories

Possible:

Council Rejected

Outside City Authority

Other Government Declined

Funding Unavailable

Cost Too High

Legal Barrier

Public Evidence Changed

Pilot Failed

Partner Withdrew

Operational Capacity

Replaced by Better Option

59.390Not All Reasons Equal

Show.

59.391Unavoidable External Barrier

Different from:

• poor management.

59.392Poor Planning

Different from:

• legislation changed.

59.393Cost Escalation

Could be:

• market;
• scope;
• design;
• poor estimate.

Identify.

59.394Blame Avoidance

Do not classify every miss as:

external factors.

59.395City-Caused Miss

Say when City:

• delayed;
• under-scoped;
• failed procurement;
• lacked capacity.

59.396Shared Cause

Possible.

59.397Lessons Learned

Every significant:

• failed;
• stopped;
• delayed;

commitment should have a lesson.

59.398Lesson Is Not Excuse

Keep short and practical.

59.399Example

We tried to procure before completing design, which caused repeated change orders. Future projects will not tender before 90% design without documented exception.

That is useful.

59.400Organizational Learning

Completion reporting should improve:

• future planning.

59.401Promise Quality Review

At the end of the term, ask:

Which original commitments were poorly written?

59.402Poor Commitment

Examples:

• vague;
• outside authority;
• no baseline;
• no cost;
• no completion test.

59.403Better Future Commitments

Should identify:

• authority;
• deliverable;
• measurement;
• cost range where possible;
• time horizon.

59.404Public Education

This teaches candidates too.

59.405Council Motion Quality

Council resolutions can also be vague.

Improve.

59.406Action Motion

Should identify:

• owner;
• deadline;
• report-back;

where appropriate.

59.407No Permanent Open Motion

Old unresolved directives should not disappear.

59.408Council Direction Register

Could feed the Commitment Register.

59.409Staff Reports

When direction is completed:

Close formally.

59.410Administrative Backlog

Open Council directions should be visible internally and publicly where appropriate.

59.411Long-Open Direction

Requires review.

59.412Cancellation

Council can cancel outdated direction.

Better than pretending it remains active forever.

59.413Public Resolution

Record.

59.414Budget Commitments

Budget line does not automatically equal:

• completed initiative.

59.415Capital Carry-Forward

Show if project moves into next year.

59.416Carry-Forward Is Not Completion

59.417Unspent Budget

Could mean:

• saving;
• delay;
• cancelled work.

Explain.

59.418Under Budget

Do not call:

• efficiency;

until scope and result are checked.

59.419Over Budget

Do not call:

• failure;

until causes understood.

59.420Grant Spend Deadline

Could affect delivery.

59.421Spend Is Not Outcome

Money spent does not prove:

• project succeeded.

59.422Completion and Cash Flow

Different.

59.423Contract Completion

Different from:

• public outcome.

59.424Public Benefit

Final term report should show both.

59.425Promise Audit

At the end of each year:

Perform:

Public Promise Audit.

59.426Annual, Not Just Election Year

Year One.

Year Two.

Year Three.

Year Four.

59.427Annual Audit Questions

What was due this year?

What finished?

What did not?

What changed?

What did it cost?

What is next?

59.428Publish Misses Every Year

Do not wait until:

• term end.

59.429Year One

Establish baseline and deliver near-term commitments.

59.430Year Two

Scale proven work.

59.431Year Three

Make major decisions.

59.432Year Four

Finish, stop or hand off.

59.433No Year Four Discovery

A commitment should not suddenly appear on the register because:

• it happens to be complete.

59.434Frozen Public List

By end of Year One:

All major known campaign and Council commitments should be on:

• register.

59.435New Commitments Later

Can be added with:

• date;
• source.

59.436No Retroactive Promise Creation

Do not claim:

we promised this all along

after something successful happens.

59.437No Promise Deletion

Unsuccessful promises stay.

59.438No Minor-Task Flood

Do not add hundreds of small administrative tasks in Year Four to inflate:

• completion rate.

59.439Commitment Governance

Central rules should control:

• addition;
• modification;
• closure.

59.440Public Change Log

Use.

59.441Completion Disputes

A resident, councillor or media outlet may disagree.

Good.

The evidence should be available.

59.442Public Debate

Scorecard does not eliminate:

• political judgment.

It improves factual basis.

59.443Independent Reader Test

Ask:

Could a reasonable person unfamiliar with the administration understand why this is marked complete?

59.444If No

Add:

• evidence;
• explanation.

59.445Plain Language

Avoid:

Phase 2B substantial contractual closeout milestone achieved.

unless explained.

59.446Better

Construction is finished and the facility is open. Final warranty work remains.

59.447Completion Notes

Keep concise.

59.448Technical Source

Link separately.

59.449Public Dashboard

Every commitment can have:

Original Promise

Status

Target

Cost

Evidence

Last Updated

59.450Search

Allow residents to filter by:

• category;
• status;
• year.

59.451No Account Required

Public accountability should not require:

• login.

59.452Accessible

Section 54 applies.

59.453Mobile

Useful.

59.454Print

Provide printable report.

59.455Open Data

Commitment Register may be downloadable where appropriate.

59.456Version History

Preserve.

59.457API

Optional.

Not necessary for accountability.

59.458Technology Independence

The public commitment dataset should not be locked into:

• one vendor.

59.459Campaign Site

May copy public data after release.

But the municipal source remains:

• official.

59.460No Campaign Editing of Official Data

Obvious.

59.461Official Communications

Should use neutral wording.

Example:

Status: Completed.

not:

Another historic promise delivered by Mayor X.

59.462Political Interpretation

Campaigns can make arguments separately.

59.463Completion Scorecard and Election

The best protection against election-year manipulation is:

• four years of consistent reporting.

59.464Same Rules

Use same:

• status;
• definitions;
• evidence;

throughout term.

59.465No Year Four Redefinition of Completed

Never.

59.466No Year Four Re-Baselining

Never without transparent correction.

59.467No Year Four Scope Shrink

Do not remove unfinished parts and declare:

• complete.

59.468No Year Four Bundling

Do not combine several missed commitments into one:

• broad initiative;

to reduce miss count.

59.469No Year Four Splitting

Do not split one completed commitment into ten:

• achievements.

59.470No Future Commitments in Completed List

Promises for:

• next term;

do not belong.

59.471Election Cut-Off Report

Publish:

• final pre-election factual status;

under predetermined timing.

59.472After Cut-Off

Operational changes continue.

Update after election through normal City process.

59.473No Data Freeze to Hide Problems

Cut-off is for final report clarity.

Live dashboard can still note:

• material changes.

59.474Auditor Access

Where appropriate:

financial and process reviewers should have access to underlying records.

59.475Public Records

Residents should be able to inspect source materials according to normal access rules.

59.476Privacy

Do not expose:

• personal;
• confidential;

information in proving completion.

59.477Procurement Confidentiality

Protect legitimate commercial confidentiality where required.

59.478Transparency

Still publish:

• public cost;
• outcome;
• status.

59.479Legal Claim

If litigation prevents detail:

Say:

Detail limited due to active legal matter.

Do not pretend:

• nothing happened.

59.480Security

Likewise.

59.481Personnel

Do not identify individual employee performance in public commitment reporting.

59.482Institutional Accountability

Focus on:

• City.

59.483Community Partner

If partner missed commitment:

Report institutionally and fairly.

59.484Dispute

Partner may disagree.

Allow note where appropriate.

59.485No Public Ambush

For material partnership reporting:

Verify facts before publication.

59.486Independent Completion Review

Before final Four-Year Audit:

Conduct a structured review of all major commitments.

59.487Review Team

Could include appropriate:

• Clerk;
• Finance;
• administration;
• technical leads.

Independent external verification only where justified.

59.488Political Office

Can provide:

• commitment source;
• clarification.

Should not control:

• verification.

59.489Public Draft

A draft completion register could be released for factual corrections before final publication.

59.490Correction Window

Allow:

• departments;
• partners;
• residents;

to point out factual omissions.

59.491Not Negotiation Window

Final status still follows:

• evidence.

59.492Final Publication

Include:

Full commitment list

Original wording

Final status

Costs

Dates

Changes

Evidence

Outcome status

Handoff where incomplete

59.493Completed Commitments Summary

Highlight.

59.494Partially Completed Summary

Highlight.

59.495Stopped Summary

Highlight.

59.496Blocked Summary

Highlight.

59.497Not Proceeding Summary

Highlight.

59.498Ongoing Standards Summary

Highlight.

59.499Major Commitment Summary

Highlight separately.

59.500No Cherry-Picked "Top 20"

A communications summary may feature top items.

But full register must accompany it.

59.501Four-Year Completion Audit

At term end publish:

Total finite commitments

Completed

Partially completed

In progress

Deferred

Blocked

Stopped

Not proceeding

Superseded

Ongoing standards meeting target

Ongoing standards below target

Major projects completed

Major projects incomplete

Final costs

Major cost overruns

Major cost underruns

Scope changes

Schedule changes

Outcomes achieved

Outcomes below target

Outcomes not yet measurable

Outside-government dependencies

Lessons learned

Handoff commitments

59.502Name the Most Important Completed Commitment

Use evidence.

59.503Name the Most Expensive Completed Commitment

59.504Name the Largest Completion Under Budget

Only if scope remained comparable.

59.505Name the Largest Completion Over Budget

Explain.

59.506Name the Most Delayed Completed Commitment

59.507Name a Delayed Commitment Where Waiting Was the Right Decision

Important.

59.508Name a Commitment Completed Through a Better Method Than Originally Planned

59.509Name a Commitment Where Scope Was Reduced

59.510Name a Commitment Where Scope Expanded

59.511Name a Completed Project Whose Outcome Underperformed

59.512Name a Completed Project Whose Outcome Exceeded Expectations

59.513Name a Pilot That Was Completed and Then Stopped

59.514Name a Pilot That Earned Expansion

59.515Name a Campaign Commitment Council Rejected

59.516Name a Commitment Blocked by Another Government

59.517Name a Commitment That Was Outside City Authority

59.518Name a Commitment Revised After Better Evidence

59.519Name a Commitment Abandoned Because the Cost Was Not Worth It

59.520Name a Commitment That Should Have Been Written Better at the Beginning

59.521Name the Biggest Remaining Incomplete Commitment

59.522Name the Largest Financial Liability Attached to an Incomplete Commitment

59.523Name the Most Important Handoff to the Next Council

59.524Promise Test

Ask:

What exactly did we say we would do?

59.525Authority Test

Ask:

Did the City actually control the promised result?

59.526Scope Test

Ask:

Was the original scope actually delivered?

59.527Date Test

Ask:

Was it completed when promised?

59.528Cost Test

Ask:

What did it actually cost?

59.529Scope-Change Test

Ask:

Did the City change the work before claiming it was on budget?

59.530Evidence Test

Ask:

What proves completion?

59.531Operational Test

Ask:

If this was a service, is it actually working?

59.532Outcome Test

Ask:

Did completion produce the public result the commitment was intended to create?

59.533Attribution Test

Ask:

What did the City do, what did partners do, and what happened independently?

59.534Funding Test

Ask:

Did outside funding reduce City cost, or create new long-term obligations?

59.535Integrity Test

Ask:

Would we still call this complete if a political opponent had delivered it?

59.536Reverse Integrity Test

Ask:

Would we call this incomplete if a political opponent were claiming credit for exactly the same status?

The answer should be:

Yes, under the same rules.

59.537Resident Test

Ask:

Would an ordinary resident reasonably believe the thing promised has actually been delivered?

59.538Staff Test

Ask:

Can responsible staff certify the status without political pressure?

59.539Financial Test

Ask:

Do the cost numbers reconcile with Finance?

59.540Technical Test

Ask:

Has required technical acceptance occurred?

59.541Legal Test

Ask:

Have required approvals and authorities been satisfied?

59.542Privacy Test

Ask:

Can completion be proven without exposing unnecessary personal information?

59.543Accessibility Test

Ask:

Is a public-facing completed project actually accessible according to its applicable standard?

59.544Partnership Test

Ask:

Are partner obligations completed too, or only the City's portion?

59.545Election Test

Ask:

Would the status remain exactly the same if the election were tomorrow and the result were politically inconvenient?

59.546Institution Test

Ask:

Could the next Council understand the commitment history without asking the outgoing Mayor what they meant?

It should.

59.547What Success Looks Like

A strong completion system does not mean:

• every promise was completed;
• no projects were stopped;
• no costs changed;
• no commitments were revised;
• no Council votes were lost.

Success means:

• the original promises remain visible;
• authority is accurately recorded;
• completion definitions are clear;
• progress is reported every year;
• scope changes remain visible;
• project costs reconcile with Finance;
• launches are not mislabelled as completions;
• studies are not substituted for outcomes;
• responsible stops are acknowledged;
• failed pilots remain in the record;
• external dependencies are visible;
• election-year definitions do not change;
• the next Council receives a complete handoff.

59.548What Failure Looks Like

Failure includes:

• calling a study a completed infrastructure promise;
• calling a grant application a delivered project;
• calling Council approval implementation;
• calling launch completion;
• calling forecast savings realized savings;
• counting every implementation subtask as a separate accomplishment;
• removing qualifiers from the original promise;
• changing completion dates silently;
• reducing scope and claiming on-budget completion;
• deleting promises that became inconvenient;
• adding successful unplanned work retroactively as if it had always been promised;
• marking ongoing ethical standards complete;
• calling partner or private-sector outcomes City achievements;
• using campaign language as technical verification;
• pressuring staff to certify unfinished work;
• moving unresolved promises out of the final report;
• entering the election with a glossy accomplishment list but no complete commitment register.

59.549The Completed Scorecard Commitment

Owen Sound should commit to:

Create a public Commitment Register early in the term rather than reconstructing promises at the end.

Preserve the exact original wording of material commitments.

Record the source, date and responsible authority for every commitment.

Distinguish campaign promises from Council-approved municipal commitments.

Distinguish Mayor authority, Council authority, administrative authority and outside-government authority.

Never claim unilateral mayoral completion of work requiring Council or another government.

Match completion status to the actual wording of the promise.

If the promise was to advocate, measure advocacy.

If the promise was to build, require construction.

If the promise was to pilot, require the pilot and evaluation.

If the promise was to reduce or improve something, require a baseline and measured result.

Correct jurisdiction errors openly rather than pretending they never occurred.

Allow commitments to be revised when law, cost or evidence changes.

Never erase the original commitment when revising it.

Publish what changed, why it changed and who authorized the change.

Use stable commitment identifiers.

Do not reset missed commitments by renumbering them.

Use sub-commitments for complex projects without inflating the final accomplishment count.

Define completion before implementation wherever practical.

Separate completion from success.

Allow a completed project to be reported as unsuccessful if the intended result did not occur.

Allow an incomplete project to be acknowledged as useful without pretending it is finished.

Use stable status categories such as Not Started, Planning, Approved, Funded, In Delivery, Pilot, Operational, Completed, Partially Completed, Blocked, Deferred, Superseded, Stopped and Not Proceeding.

Reserve Completed for work that is actually finished.

Use Operational for ongoing services that have launched and are functioning.

Do not classify approval, funding, tendering, groundbreaking, ribbon cutting or launch as completion unless that was the exact promise.

Use formal technical definitions such as substantial completion only in their proper contractual context.

Require commissioning and acceptance where the asset or system requires them.

Do not call a public facility complete if it cannot yet perform its intended public function.

Record material deficiency work.

Publish original target dates, revised target dates and actual completion dates.

Never overwrite the original deadline.

Explain material delays using consistent reason categories.

Do not treat every delay as failure, but never hide it.

Maintain original scope and cost baselines where credible estimates exist.

Say when no credible commitment-stage cost estimate existed instead of inventing one later.

Publish approved budget, forecast final cost and final cost.

Show scope changes beside cost variance.

Never call a project on budget without disclosing material scope reductions.

Do not treat a cost increase as automatic failure where Council intentionally expanded scope.

Do not treat an under-budget project as automatic success where intended purpose was not achieved.

Complete appropriate financial closeout before presenting final project costs as settled.

Identify the intended public result of every major commitment.

Separate deliverable completion from longer-term outcome evaluation.

Allow a project to be Complete while its Outcome Evaluation remains Pending where the outcome requires more time.

Set outcome review dates.

Do not make instant long-term claims immediately after opening a project.

Use the existing subject Scorecards to measure outcomes rather than creating duplicate statistics.

Require evidence for every material Completed status.

Use Council records, financial records, technical acceptance, service data, contracts, public observation and other appropriate evidence.

Never rely on a press release, photograph or mayoral statement as the sole proof of completion.

Use the correct verifier for financial, legal, technical and administrative claims.

Use independent verification only where the importance or controversy justifies it.

Publish sufficient evidence while protecting personal, legal, security and commercially sensitive information.

Use a standard completion review before closing major commitments.

Have responsible departments propose completion status and apply a central consistency check.

Never allow the Mayor to mark the Mayor's own commitments complete without institutional evidence.

Allow disputed statuses to remain visibly disputed until resolved.

Allow residents to challenge missing or misclassified commitments.

Correct status errors publicly.

Do not silently downgrade or rewrite past classifications.

Reverse a Completed classification where evidence later proves the commitment had not actually met its defined requirement.

Use minimum operating periods where the commitment requires sustained service.

Treat pilots honestly.

A pilot may be completed and still fail.

A pilot may be completed and earn expansion.

A responsible Stop decision can be good stewardship.

Do not hide projects that were stopped.

Distinguish Stopped, Failed, Superseded and Not Proceeding.

Require a clear reason for every major stopped or abandoned commitment.

Treat Blocked as an open status, not completion.

Separate City advocacy completed from another government's final decision.

Identify intergovernmental dependencies early.

Use legal review early enough to discover jurisdictional barriers before years of work are wasted.

Do not use legal review as an excuse not to act where authority is clear.

Record Council rejection honestly when Council votes against an initiative.

Do not claim a rejected Council initiative completed unless the original promise was specifically to bring it forward for a decision.

Recognize that democratic government includes losing votes.

Distinguish Mayor-specific, Council, administrative and shared commitments.

Give every commitment an institutional owner.

Keep commitments alive when staff change.

Classify commitments by subject area without duplicating the same promise in several categories.

Do not inflate accomplishments by counting dozens of implementation subtasks as separate promises.

Do not hide distinct failures inside one vague umbrella commitment either.

Set commitment-granularity rules before election-year reporting.

Archive the original campaign platform unchanged.

Maintain version history for the municipal business plan.

Track Council additions separately from original campaign promises.

Do not claim successful new initiatives were campaign promises after the fact.

Credit the institution, staff, Council, partners and residents appropriately.

Do not present every City accomplishment as the personal achievement of the Mayor.

Publish total commitments by status rather than relying on one completion percentage.

Separate finite commitments from ongoing operating standards.

Do not allow dozens of minor completions to hide failure of major commitments.

Publish major commitments separately.

Use materiality and public importance alongside simple counts.

Apply verification labels such as Verified, Provisionally Verified, Pending Verification and Disputed where useful.

Publish verification date and responsible office.

Give every completed major commitment a short plain-language completion statement.

Show original promise, final scope, completion date, final cost, evidence, changes and outcome status.

Reconcile project cost claims with Finance.

Show gross cost, net City cost and outside funding separately where material.

Show ongoing operating and replacement obligations created by completed projects.

Do not describe grant-funded projects as free.

Separate observed benefits from forecast or modelled benefits.

Never repeat pre-project forecasts as post-project actual results.

Allow completion labels such as Completed, Outcome Below Target and Completed, Outcome Not Yet Measurable.

Define Partial Completion through specific delivered and undelivered scope rather than vague percentages.

Do not use "mostly done" without explaining what remains.

Give every partially completed term-end commitment a handoff package.

Do not rush long-term contracts before an election solely to manufacture completion.

Continue legitimate procurement, emergency and grant-deadline work when timing genuinely requires it.

Do not hold premature ribbon cuttings.

Label soft openings and trial operation honestly.

Set a clear final reporting cut-off date.

Do not include expected future work in the completed total.

Do not backdate completion.

Use words such as Secured, Created, Launched, Implemented and Completed according to their actual meaning.

Preserve every meaningful qualifier in the original promise, including duration, funding source, geography, population and whether something was a study, pilot or permanent program.

Publish a simple promise-language dictionary defining Explore, Study, Pilot, Approve, Fund, Build, Launch, Operate and Complete.

Require baseline evidence for commitments to reduce, improve, increase or eliminate something.

Do not use undefined superlatives as completion standards.

Treat ethical, privacy, transparency, accessibility and similar governance commitments as ongoing standards rather than one-time completed projects.

Separate finite commitments from continuous operating standards in the final report.

Publish Finite Commitment, Ongoing Standards, Major Project, Outcome, Changed Commitment, Blocked Commitment and Stopped Commitment tables.

Use Green, Amber, Red and Grey only as supplements to actual status words.

Never use Green to turn approval into completion.

Recognize responsible stops separately from project failure.

Use a standard verification checklist before a major commitment closes.

Protect staff and professional advisers from political pressure to certify incomplete work.

Do not accept contractor, consultant or vendor declarations as sufficient evidence without City acceptance where required.

Treat software launch, data migration, legacy-system retirement, accessibility, privacy, security and portability as separate completion requirements where they were part of the original scope.

Do not call digital transformation complete while legacy processes remain unresolved.

Apply Infrastructure Scorecard completion standards to physical assets.

Distinguish studies of major infrastructure from actual construction.

Treat recurring annual commitments as complete only after the promised cycles have occurred.

Require pilots such as downtown street changes to operate, measure, report and reach a decision before the pilot commitment is complete.

Distinguish housing services operational from houses actually built.

Distinguish housing approved, enabled, built and occupied.

Distinguish business programs launched from businesses successfully created.

Apply full governance gates to RealMap, map.ca and any other conflict-sensitive technology before claiming municipal implementation.

Allow evidence to stop the real-estate sign transition or other staged pilot without calling the evidence-based stop a failure.

Require senior, youth and other pilots to actually operate and report before completion.

Do not call accessibility studies barrier removal.

Do not call privacy-policy adoption system remediation.

Do not call trees planted a survival outcome.

Do not call a signed partnership document a completed relationship outcome.

Do not call a satisfaction survey an improvement in satisfaction.

Do not call a budget adopted a financial result.

Do not call forecast savings a completed Efficiency Dividend.

Do not call a tax-rate announcement the resident's final tax outcome.

Do not call a safety-program launch a completed safety improvement.

Always return to the original verb of the promise.

Archive campaign versions and identify the final platform presented to voters.

Do not use a later municipal business plan to retroactively change campaign wording.

Maintain a public revision log for post-election changes.

Allow plans to change when evidence changes.

Never change the original scorecard record merely because a new decision is more defensible.

Allow a promise to be marked Completed, Delivery Method Changed where the essential result was still achieved.

Report lower cost, higher cost, partial delivery and abandoned work honestly.

Acknowledge commitments that proved unnecessary, unlawful or outside municipal authority.

Do not rewrite campaign mistakes out of history.

Use clear reason categories for commitments that could not be completed.

Distinguish external barriers from City-caused failure.

Do not classify every miss as outside the City's control.

Require a short lesson from significant failures, stops and delays.

Use lessons to improve future commitment quality.

Review which original promises were too vague, outside authority or impossible to measure.

Write future commitments with clearer authority, deliverable, cost, measurement and timing.

Improve Council motions by assigning owners, deadlines and report-back requirements where appropriate.

Track open Council direction rather than allowing old resolutions to disappear administratively.

Cancel outdated directions openly when Council chooses not to pursue them.

Do not confuse a budget line with a completed initiative.

Do not call capital carry-forward completion.

Explain whether unspent funds reflect savings, delay or cancelled scope.

Do not call under-budget performance efficiency until the scope and result are verified.

Do not call over-budget performance failure until the causes are understood.

Do not confuse money spent with public outcome.

Perform a Public Promise Audit every year, not only before the election.

Publish what was due, what finished, what did not, what changed, what it cost and what comes next.

Have the full major commitment list established early enough that Year Four cannot be used to selectively construct it.

Allow new commitments later in the term only with clear source and date.

Never create retroactive promises after successful projects.

Never delete inconvenient promises.

Never flood the Year Four register with trivial tasks to improve the completion rate.

Maintain a public change log for additions and modifications.

Allow factual public debate about whether the evidence supports a status.

Use the independent-reader test: could a reasonable resident understand why this is marked complete?

Use plain-language completion notes with technical documents linked separately.

Maintain a searchable public dashboard showing original promise, status, target, cost, evidence and last update.

Do not require an account to view public accountability information.

Make the Commitment Register accessible, printable and portable.

Avoid vendor lock-in for the public commitment dataset.

Keep municipal and campaign versions of the data institutionally separate.

Use neutral official language rather than personal political credit in City reporting.

Use the same completion rules from Year One through Year Four.

Never redefine Completed in the election year.

Never rebaseline commitments invisibly.

Never shrink scope in the final year solely to mark a promise complete.

Never bundle missed commitments to reduce their count.

Never split one completed promise into several election-year achievements.

Never include future-term promises in completed totals.

Publish the final factual pre-election status on a predetermined schedule.

Continue normal City operations after the reporting cut-off rather than freezing government for political optics.

Give auditors and appropriate reviewers access to the underlying records.

Protect privacy, confidentiality, legal privilege and security while still publishing sufficient evidence of status.

Focus public accountability on the institution rather than individual employee performance.

Verify partner facts before publicly assigning missed commitments.

Conduct a structured final review of every major commitment before the Four-Year Audit.

Allow political offices to clarify the original commitment but not control technical verification.

Consider a factual-correction period before final publication.

Do not turn factual correction into negotiation over inconvenient status.

Publish the complete register, not merely a selection of highlights.

Publish Completed, Partial, Stopped, Blocked, Not Proceeding and Ongoing Standards summaries.

Publish major commitments separately so major failures cannot be buried under minor wins.

Name the most important completed commitment.

Name the most expensive completed commitment.

Name the largest cost overrun and underrun with scope context.

Name the most delayed completion.

Name a delay that was responsible rather than avoidable.

Name commitments completed through better methods than originally planned.

Name material scope reductions and expansions.

Name completed projects whose outcomes underperformed or exceeded expectations.

Name pilots that stopped and pilots that earned expansion.

Name campaign commitments Council rejected.

Name commitments blocked by another government.

Name promises outside municipal authority.

Name commitments revised because better evidence changed the decision.

Name commitments stopped because the complete cost was not worth the result.

Name commitments that were poorly written at the outset.

Name the largest incomplete commitment.

Name the largest financial liability attached to unfinished work.

Name the most important commitment being handed to the next Council.

Judge the final record by the original promise, actual scope, actual cost, actual date and actual evidence rather than the political value of the story.

A strong Completed Scorecard should allow any resident to ask:

What exactly was promised?

Did the City actually have authority to do it?

Did Council approve it?

Did the work start?

Did the work finish?

Is it operating?

What did it cost?

What changed?

Was it late?

Why?

Did the promised result happen?

What proves that?

Did the City stop something that no longer made sense?

What is still unfinished?

What does the next Council inherit?

That is completion accountability.

A public business plan should not end with:

Look how much we announced.

It should end with:

Here is what we said we would do. Here is what actually happened. Here is the evidence. Here is the cost. Here is what remains.

The number of completed commitments matters.

But the integrity of the definition matters more.

Preserve the original promise. Define completion before the victory speech. Separate launch from delivery. Separate delivery from outcome. Keep the cost and scope visible. Count once. Verify independently where needed. Admit what stopped. Admit what failed. Hand unfinished work to the next Council honestly.