CORNWALL – A proposal to outsource a full-time planning staff position in South Dundas to SDG Counties has been withdrawn.
Last month, SDG Counties council discussed a plan put forward by the Counties’ planning department to hire a full-time planning technician, to be contracted out to South Dundas. The move was billed as a way of attracting and retaining planning staff within the region. South Dundas has been without a planning technician since early May.
In June, the motion to create the new contract position was deferred until the July 15 council meeting to allow for more discussion.
Disagreement between councillors that was apparent in June, continued into Monday’s meeting.
Warden Jamie MacDonald said he did not understand why South Dundas would not hire its own employee, adding there were risks with SDG hiring an employee on behalf of the lower-tier municipality.
“We don’t know if South Dundas will decide they don’t like the employee. They want to fire her, how do we fire her when she’s doing a good job,” he asked of what municipality holds the liability.
Councillor Andrew Guindon (South Stormont) said that many of those issues could be worked into an employment contract when hired.
Still, councillors were not onside with the idea. Councillor Carma Williams (North Glengarry) said the move still had broader implications for the governments involved.
“This has implications,” she said. “Whether or not we are moving towards more regional government in general, or more centralized government, and we don’t want this to be a sort of haphazard decision.”
She continued that the broader discussion needed to be had.
“This will also potentially have an impact on the local municipalities that need to be strong in themselves, and stand on their own two feet to serve the public.”
Councillor Tony Fraser (North Dundas) also spoke against the outsourcing plan as it stood. North Dundas currently has an SDG staff member, Transportation Director Benjamin deHaan, acting as CAO on a temporary basis.
“We’ve undergone this process in North Dundas where if we do need someone on a full-time permanent basis, we go out and hire,” he said. “We hire someone who fits our needs, our culture, our decisions, our hopes and dreams, and they respond to the direction of our council, CAO, and local community.”
He said that with the position being at the upper-tier government, it would create unneeded competition over pay and benefits as SDG pay classes are higher than that of the lower-tier governments in a similar position.
Councillor Theresa Bergeron (North Dundas) affirmed her position that as the Counties staff was dedicated for one municipality, they should be the ones hiring that staffer.
For his part, Councillor Jason Broad (South Dundas) said that he appreciated seeing all the ways that there is collaboration between the municipal governments already, as was outlined during a committee of the whole meeting the same day. Collaboration between the two levels of government is a key component of this term’s strategic plan by Counties Council.
“A lot more boxes are checked than I imagined. So I am super glad with the presentation today,” he said.
In withdrawing the motion, Broad added that he encouraged an organizational review of the two levels of government.
Councillor Marc St. Pierre (South Dundas) offered that a unified or centralized SDG planning department that handled planning services for all six lower-tier municipalities might be a better option. Reception to that idea was lukewarm around the council table.
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