A New Resource for Council Orientation: The Asset Management Orientation Toolkit
New and returning members of Council play a central role in asset management decision-making, yet many arrive at the Council table without a foundational understanding of what asset management is or why it matters.
At the 2026 Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference, AMO and Asset Management Ontario (AMONTario) hosted a kick-off session introducing the Asset Management Orientation Toolkit for Members of Council, a new resource designed to help Council members understand the fundamentals of asset management and the role they play in supporting sustainable service delivery.
AMO and AMONTario walked attendees through the Toolkit's three components:
- An Executive Summary, offering a high-level overview suitable for inclusion in Council orientation packages.
- A Handbook, providing a deeper reference on asset management principles, key elements, roles and responsibilities, and Ontario's regulatory context
- An editable PowerPoint deck, giving municipal staff a ready-to-use presentation for briefing their own Councils
The session also featured case studies illustrating how asset management supports risk-based, evidence-informed decision-making, moving beyond "worst-first" investment thinking to weighing the long-term savings of proactive lifecycle management.
The Toolkit is currently in draft form, so the session doubled as a focus group. Municipal representatives shared examples of use-cases for the toolkit and provided insightful feedback on a range of considerations.
Links to the draft Toolkit materials, along with the session slides, will be posted here once available.
