With Collingwood’s population expected to continue ballooning over the next 20 years and the town having issues hiring and retaining staff due to high workloads, the town needs a little more help, according to Collingwood’s chief administrative officer.
During the July 10 committee of the whole meeting, chief administrative officer Sonya Skinner came before councillors to request the approval of a new full-time public works position at a cost of about $189,000 and to allow the department to re-jig some of their existing staffing and resources to address the ever-increasing workload on the department. However, some councillors held firm in not supporting staff increases.
“This about an in-year need. We have a very high number of development applications and there’s a very high interest in development,” Skinner told councillors. “We have some pretty consistent complaints from people who are in and around developments around customer service issues. Some are related to capacity, and some are around our standards and where we are with what we require.”
“With this high amount of development and the number of subdivisions and site plans... we want to make sure we get it right. You only get to build the community once,” she said.
For the new public works, engineering and environmental services position, the estimated salary range is $166,296 to $188,925.
The town’s engineering division is currently comprised of six staff. That staff is responsible to deliver more than $20 million in capital spending in 2023 and approve and facilitate development-driven infrastructure and residential growth, while also keeping up town infrastructure. The division also provides input into all development applications and is responsible for site monitoring, registration, release of securities and liaising with adjacent neighbourhoods.
In 2021, the town issued 780 building permits – its highest number ever.
“A bit of a sleeper issue is... a large project commencing this year related to stormwater and how we (will) manage stormwater across the town in the years to come,” said Skinner. “It's something that needs to be looked at and needs to be managed.”
During 2023 budget deliberations, council approved a part-time transit co-ordinator position, the salary of which would be combined with the one-third of a full-time position that already exists within the department assigned to transit, and one part-time seasonal public works position to make up a new full-time co-ordinator of community transit role.
For that role, the total salary is expected to be about $112,000.
The full-time position would provide more direct oversight, support and management of the third-party transit provider (including service audits) and would take a lead on a more regional approach to transit services (including Town of Blue Mountain, Clearview and Wasaga Beach, and County of Simcoe transit), integration with active transportation and lead the research and development of fleet electrification.
In her report on the matter to councillors, Skinner noted higher salaries and enhanced benefits are being offered by other municipalities in the Simcoe County area.
“I have some concern about personnel redundancy, succession planning and staff retention,” said Skinner. “Staff everyday come to work and they're trying to find a solution that's going to work for the community and they're trying to make sure that...the vision for the community is actually implemented but every day they don't quite get to the end of job.”
“We have staff that are overwhelmed and really are not enjoying their jobs and it starts to trickle out to other places,” she said.
When it came time for councillor questions and comments, opinions were split on approving new staff positions mid-budget year.
“As unpalatable as it may be, I think this is a logical, reasoned and realistic recommendation at this time,” said Coun. Christopher Baines.
Coun. Chris Potts said he would not be in support of the motion.
“A lot of businesses are struggling. When you go through some challenging decisions, you maybe have to lean on your internal resources a little more to get through it,” said Potts. “At this point, I do not support any increases in staff.”
Coun. Rob Ring and Deputy Mayor Tim Fryer also said they were not in support of the motion.
“I'm not comfortable with adding resources at this midway point of our budget,” said Fryer.
Coun. Deb Doherty and Mayor Yvonne Hamlin both said they were in support. Doherty noted she had supported the addition of a full-time transit co-ordinator back during budget talks.
“When I consider how many people we all have reaching out to us all the time with questions related to public works...we don't have the capacity,” said Doherty. “I truly do believe this is the right way to ensure that we get the job done.”
“We're on a path to double our population and it's all dependent on the infrastructure,” said Hamlin. “I would not want to be embarking on all of this on a shoestring.”
Coun. Kathy Jeffery asked if there would be any offset for the $189,000 for the public works position, and asked for more financial details from the treasurer when the matter comes before regular council.
“We were down to pennies in our negotiations for this budget. We went tooth and nail with staff (so) we could get it where we thought it was affordable for the residents,” she said.
Skinner said the town has recently had some staff resignations, and some of those salary resources could be re-allocated this year. Director of public works Peggy Slama said some funds from development fees and water/wastewater budgets could also be used.
The committee voted 5-4 in favour of adding the full-time position in public works with Potts, Fryer, Ring and Coun. Steve Perry opposed. They voted 7-2 to reallocate existing resources for the transit co-ordinator position, with Potts and Fryer opposed.
The matter will come back before council at their regular meeting on July 24 for a final vote.
