Starting this year, the Public Works department will have a new Heavy Equipment Operator position as well as a full time Occupational Health and Safety Officer.
In addition, there will be two new temporary seasonal labourers for this year only.
While this may seem like position bloat, the Public Works department is eliminating three positions— the Fleet Manager, Asset Coordinator, and a vacant Recycle Operator position.
While the Occupational Health and Safety Officer is being hired under the auspices of the Public Works department, the position is going to be utilized by all the departments.
According to a report submitted by Director of Protective Services Dustin Curry, at the moment, health and safety is the responsibility of each department head. Ultimately, the responsibility for health and safety falls on the Chief Administrative Officer. “However, the subject of health and safety should not be just another duty added to what is an already heavy workload,” writes Curey, “but rather it be the main focus of a role due to its unparalleled importance in the workplace. With this now a best practice in both private and public sectors across the country, staff has proposed that we, too, acknowledge its importance and create a dedicated position with the primary focus on health and safety in the workplace.”
The intent of the position is to increase the District’s health and safety management and process development. “The proposed position of Occupational Health and Safety Officer would be an exempt staff position reporting to the Director of Protective Services in order to provide a clear and unbiased perspective to all departments while having the appropriate level of authority to effect a positive impact in both the exempt and unionized setting.”
This year, staff has also budgeted for a second Heavy Equipment Operator position. This position is for “developing, tracking, and implementing a District equipment training program in addition to providing flexibility in workloads and scheduling of day-to-day operations,” writes Curry. “In addition to being able to complete a variety of tasks using heavy equipment, the current role of the position also carries the requirement to train our developing operators. Unfortunately, this is a task that we have not been able to successfully apply in full to our operation, due to short staffing and recent turnovers resulting in the department training reactively in order to accomplish tasks.”
The position would allow the District the flexibility of creating a training program and “alleviate operational disruptions.”
Finally, with spring finally arriving, the District is hard at work maintaining the town’s infrastructure, and this year they’re hoping to catch up on work that was unable to be completed in previous years. “This includes—but is not limited to—pot hole patching, crack sealing, line painting, hand brushing, parks maintenance and trail maintenance,” says Curry. “As the increased work plan has been forecasted, two additional Seasonal Labourer positions on a temporary basis have been included in the budget.”
These positions are typically filled by youth and returning college students, and are typically funded by Canada Summer Jobs Grants.
Curry hopes these additional positions, plus other recent hires, will bring stability to the department, which has seen a lot of turnover in the last couple years, as well as personnel being moved from place to place as the town struggled to cover these missing positions.
The District is also hoping to replace a number of vacant senior staff positions.
On May 15, the new Chief Administration Officer will be starting.
Brian Woodward is the former CAO of the Village of Canal Flats.
The District is also hoping to find a new Chief Financial Officer soon.
But it’s not all about new hires. The District will be spending $2,564,056 on road clearing and other Public Works projects, as well as $3,150,398 on the operation of the Community Centre.
Add to those General Governance, at $3,311,824, and you have well over half the spending on this year’s budget. Other services include water and sewer, Protective Services and operating the golf course.
Special Projects make up 15 percent of this year’s budget, or $2,162,681.
Special projects for 2023 include revitalizing the downtown core. This includes renovating the Community Centre, fixing the sidewalks, planting trees and enhancing the Roman Walkway, including replacing the stairs, which are currently falling apart.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
