Council deliberated the merits of adding several new staff positions to its roster during budget discussions last week, in anticipation of a May 3 vote on the 2016 operating budget.
The first proposal includes reorganizing the town鈥檚 operations department by adding a full-time utilities manager who would be responsible for overseeing Jasper鈥檚 water and sewer operations. The proposal also includes adding a full-time maintenance worker.
鈥淲e鈥檙e missing the dimension of proactive, preventative maintenance in our current operations, in other words, there鈥檚 no plan yet developed to determine what needs to be repaired before it falls apart,鈥� said Bruce Thompson, director of operations, during a committee-of-the-whole meeting April 12.
鈥淥ur challenge is that things continue to fall apart and as they do we won鈥檛 have time to develop and operate such a plan without more managerial staff.鈥�
He said the two areas that pose the most challenges are the town鈥檚 water system and its facilities.
According to Thompson, these two areas of responsibility are currently split between two managers who are struggling to keep up with their other duties, such as roads and waste collection, because they are constantly dealing with breakdowns and issues related to the town鈥檚 water system and its facilities.
鈥淏asically we鈥檙e consistently practicing crisis management,鈥� said Thompson, adding the workload will only increase once the new library and cultural centre opens.
According to documents presented at the meeting, adding a full-time utilities manager would cost the municipality $102,000 annually, including benefits. Hiring a new maintenance worker would cost $69,000 annually, including benefits.
In December, council rejected a proposal to hire an accounts payable clerk for the operations department, saving taxpayers nearly $60,000, which partially helped to reduce this year鈥檚 interim tax increase to 4.55 per cent, down from the proposed 5.56 per cent increase presented to council in November.
If council approves the budget on May 3, the operations department will be broken down into three branches, with a manager responsible for the town鈥檚 fleet and facilities, a manager responsible for public works and waste management, and a new utilities manager solely responsible for the town鈥檚 water and sewer operations.
鈥淲e鈥檙e convinced that new structure will give us the ability to deal more effectively with our corrective measures as well as develop and implement our asset and long-term management plan,鈥� said Thompson.
鈥淲hile these new positions won鈥檛 prevent the unexpected from happening it鈥檒l help us deal with things as they do break down.鈥�
Mark Fercho, the town鈥檚 chief administrative officer, as well as Yvonne McNabb, director of culture and recreation, supported Thompson鈥檚 proposal.
鈥淧reventive maintenance is an item on the health and safety audit and we are required to present what we do in preventive maintenance ... and we have not been able to do that in the last four years,鈥� said McNabb.
Coun. Rico Damota was the first to voice his support for the proposal, however it was clear there were still some lingering questions from others in the room.
Mayor Richard Ireland questioned whether it made sense to have a manager responsible for the town鈥檚 fleet of vehicles, when the public works and utilities department would primarily use those vehicles.
鈥淚f there is a director or manager responsible for fleet, but also responsible for facilities, the heavy draw it seems to me is going to be on fleet and we still won鈥檛 get caught up on our facilities, so it just seems to me that public works, waste management and utilities ought to look after their own fleet,鈥� said Ireland.
He said he鈥檇 like to see someone exclusively in charge of the town鈥檚 facilities.
鈥淭he facilities are of such value to us that they cannot be neglected,鈥� he said.
In response, Thompson said that by moving the responsibility for roads and grounds under the public works and waste manager, the fleet facilities manager would be able to focus on updating the town鈥檚 aging fleet in turn freeing up more time to maintain the town鈥檚 facilities.
鈥淚 think that the reorganization that we鈥檙e proposing will work,鈥� said Thompson.
Following Thompson鈥檚 presentation, the mayor and council discussed the merit of hiring a new full-time deputy fire chief.
There appeared to be little opposition to the proposal presented by Greg Van Tighem, the town鈥檚 director of protective services and fire chief.
鈥淎pproximately three years ago I suggested that a second full-time fire officer position was required for the Municipality of Jasper,鈥� said Van Tighem.
鈥淭his position would help increase our productivity by improving the delivery of key fire department functions [such as] operations, response, firefighting training, fire prevention, inspections, programming delivery and strategic planning and administrative and supervisory duties.鈥�
According to Van Tighem, if council approves his proposal it will cost taxpayers $76,000 annually, including benefits.
Besides improving the fire department鈥檚 productivity, a third full-time duty officer would also allow the department to fulfill its 24-hour duty requirements, which are currently shared between two full-time firefighters.
If approved, the fire department will likely move to a four-day on, four-day off schedule, with alternating 9.5 hour shifts, with a 24-hour duty officer.
With the addition of a new deputy fire chief, the department would also be able to conduct more fire inspections and improve firefighter training, explained Van Tighem.
During his presentation, he compared and contrasted Jasper鈥檚 fire department with other municipalities, such as Hinton and Edson.
鈥淭he only thing consistent that I found is that we do things totally different than everybody else. That being said, what I mean is that every other fire department that I know of has some form of paid on-call system,鈥� said Van Tighem, explaining volunteer fire departments in many rural towns are paid for their work in one form or another.
In Jasper, 34 volunteers and two full-time firefighters currently staff the fire department. The volunteers share a $68,000 honorarium each year.
In Edson there are two full-time firefighters and an administrative assistant, as well as 39 volunteer firefighters, which share a $100,000 honorarium.
鈥淚f you do the math what becomes apparent is the $68,000 the community pays to the society for those 34 volunteer members is an extremely good deal and if we move to a paid on-call system that would increase dramatically, I鈥檓 guessing in the neighbourhood of 60 or 70 per cent to accommodate the paid on-call positions,鈥� said Coun. Gilbert Wall, who is a volunteer firefighter.
鈥淟ong story short I think this is necessary, but I鈥檓 still not convinced that we have to add the entire position,鈥� he said, adding he is also concerned about how to compensate the town鈥檚 two full-time firefighters for their lieu time.
Currently Van Tighem has collected about 10 weeks of vacation time.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the nature of the job,鈥� said Van Tighem. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 use your lieu time or vacation time as much in a small town. That鈥檚 just the way it is.鈥�
Council will make a final decision on the budget and all of the proposed positions May 3.
Paul Clarke [email protected]听
