The two-tier jurisdictional structure of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry has existed in largely the same form since 1850. Each tier serves a purpose. The Counties manages departments that serve a larger geographic purpose, while the six lower-tier municipalities serve the serve the more localized area. It’s a balance that has worked for 173 years, but a plan by South Dundas may upset that balance.
At the June 17 SDG Counties Council meeting, staff proposed that the Counties hire a full-time planning technician within its Planning Department, to then be contracted out solely to the Municipality of South Dundas. Councillor Jason Broad, who is also South Dundas’ mayor, spoke of the plan helping with succession planning at the Counties-level, while also providing needed experience for people working within the department. The salary and other costs for the position would be billed to South Dundas. Council deferred the action, opting for more discussion at an upcoming Committee of the Whole meeting.
Contracting staff between the two levels is nothing new. During vacancies, SDG administration staff have been loaned to lower-tier municipalities. At least two are currently. Additionally, some SDG staff members are contracted to multiple lower-tier municipalities in the planning and IT departments. One councillor explained that Counties’ staff were supplemental to the lower-tier staff. Another said this scheme went against the spirit of what sharing services is. Council was right to raise an eyebrow as South Dundas’ plan blurs too many lines.
Contracting staff to be shared between multiple lower-tier municipalities makes sense. Some jobs have a special skill set but a municipality does not have enough work to justify a full-time hire. Planning is the responsibility of both tiers and it makes sense to have pool resources and share staff. That is not what has been proposed. South Dundas parted ways with its own Planning Technician months ago and has not attempted to fill the job. South Dundas wants SDG to hire a full-time permanent hire only for South Dundas. There is no valid financial argument for this as Counties’ staff are paid more than lower-tier staff for a similar employment position. South Dundas would pay more for the same position than hiring the staff themselves.
If approved, this blurs the lines too much between the upper and lower tiers of government. It will complicate employment matters, and make delivering services more expensive to residents. And it invites overreach if it becomes the norm rather than the exception. At what point would the line between the two levels of government disappear?
If some municipal officials are keen to look at the structure of sharing services and blurring the lines, then the door should be opened wide to exploring amalgamation or devolution of the two-tier governing structure. Haphazardly erasing the lines is not the way to do this – fulsome discussion is. Otherwise, South Dundas should look after its own house and not try to get SDG Counties to do their work for them.
