In a 5-4 vote, Kincardine Council has approved a motion calling for a consultant to do a complete organizational review of the municipal staff and council.
Councillor Marsha Leggett believes a complete review of how municipal staff and council are organized is needed.
She believes that after 10 years since amalgamation, it’s time to make sure everything in the municipality is running properly in order to put tax dollars to the most efficient use.
The price tag is 125 thousand dollars, something Mayor Larry Kraemer says is too expensive in a year when Kincardine is facing a 12 percent levy increase going into the budget process.
Kraemer doesn’t believe it will save money, saying Kincardine staff already do an excellent job. He also doesn’t want to see the difficult pay equity process revisited again.
Leggett is concerned about transparency in the municipality.
She plans to introduce a future motion firmly stating the cost of the review and specifying it will be conducted as a closed session committee of council without senior management being included.
As for the cost, she believes that would eventually be recovered because of the cost saving measures she thinks the consultant would recommend.
Leggett says council has not always been made aware of decisions made in the municpality.
She says the Chief Administrative Officer, the Mayor, and Deputy Mayor hold a meeting once a month that isn’t a committee of council.
Leggett wonders what they discuss and says if it affects council, it should be made public.
When Leggett voiced her transparency concerns during Wednesday’s council meeting, she was warned not to let her complaints get personal and that those matters should be discussed in closed session.
She later said council held a closed session two years ago to discuss working relationships and doesn’t believe any progress has been made.
She says if staff and all members of council are doing their jobs, she can’t understand why they would be “scared” of having a consultant to a review.
Kraemer insists management is transparent when it comes to personnel matters and doesn’t want to create a feeling of uncertainty for staff if the review takes place.
The final decision on allowing the review process to happen will be made during Kincardine’s budget discussions.
