Langley City hired outside reviewers to look at how City Hall works. What happens next?
The City put $125,000 into an outside effectiveness and efficiency review in May, hired MNP LLP in August, and expects the report in front of a brand-new council. Here is what it looks at, what it doesn't, and how to see it when it lands.
Somewhere in a consultant’s inbox right now is a report about how Langley City Hall runs. Council voted the money for it in May, the City announced the hire in August, and the people who will read it first were only sworn in on Monday night. If you have heard “efficiency review” and wondered whether that means cuts, a reorganisation or just a thick PDF, here is what the public record actually says.
What was ordered?
An “external effectiveness and efficiency review” of the City’s operations. The City’s August 11 release says the review will look at services, processes and ways of working, with the aim of tightening coordination between departments, clearing bottlenecks, improving service delivery and making better use of technology. The consultant is to deliver an evidence-based assessment and practical recommendations in five areas: service delivery, workflow, how resources are allocated, governance, and the use of technology and data.
The City’s chief administrative officer, Francis Cheung, framed it as “an independent perspective on how we can improve processes, better support our employees” and keep services up as the City grows.
Who is doing it, and what did it cost?
MNP LLP, chosen through a public request for proposals. MNP is a national professional services firm (accounting, consulting, tax and digital) that has been around since 1958, and the City says it has done similar reviews for other BC municipalities.
The money came through a mid-year amendment to the 2026-2030 financial plan. On May 25, council gave three readings to a package of one-time items paid from reserves and savings elsewhere in the budget, and the then-mayor’s notes from that meeting list the review at $125,000. Because it was one-time money from reserves, it did not touch the property tax rate.
Why now?
Two reasons show up again and again in the City’s own material. The first is size: the then-mayor’s blog put the City’s population at about 27,000 in 2016 and 35,000 now, a 30 per cent jump. The second is SkyTrain, with a planned opening in late 2029 and a lot of growth expected around the stations. The City has done internal reviews before but, by the then-mayor’s account, never an external one. The 2026-2031 Strategic Plan already lists “Achieve Organizational Excellence” as one of its three focus areas, with a long-term staffing plan as the 2026 priority under it; the review is the outside pair of eyes on the same question.
Is this about cuts?
Not according to the people who ordered it. The then-mayor wrote in August that the review “isn’t about laying people off or reducing service,” and that the City needs to raise service levels, not lower them. The stated goal is structure and process: making sure a mid-sized City Hall is set up to run a larger city over the next decade. Whether the new council agrees with every recommendation is, of course, up to them.
When do we get to see it?
The City’s release says the final report is expected to be presented to council in fall 2026. The then-mayor’s August post was a little more cautious, saying the report would be completed “this winter for a future council to review.” Either way, the audience is the council that took the oath of office on Monday, November 2: Mayor Delaney Mack and six councillors. Our City council page has who they are, and our after the election page covers how a new term starts.
The report will arrive as an agenda item at a regular council meeting. Regular meetings are at 7:00 pm in the council chamber at City Hall, 20399 Douglas Crescent, and they are livestreamed and recorded. Agendas and the reports attached to them are posted on the City’s council meetings page ahead of each meeting, so the full MNP report should be readable there before council discusses it. If you want to say something about it, our how to attend a council meeting page walks through delegations and written submissions.
And the Township?
This review is the City’s alone. The two municipalities have separate councils, separate staffs and separate budgets, which our City vs. Township page explains. Nothing in the City’s review changes anything in the Township.
We will add a short note here when the report is on an agenda.