Coun. Alex Reed made several requests of administration related to fiscal accountability and hiring transparencies at Monday night council, in addition to his motion that Cochrane adhere to the province’s Public Compensation Transparency Act.
Should council choose to participate in the act, all staff salaries, particularly those earning over a certain threshold, would have the potential to be disclosed and made available to the public.
Reed has also requested that administration provide details to three matters of interest: the town’s process is for ensuring town-funded organizations and agencies are living within their means; plans to counter the added pressures on EMS services by the province; and the town’s hiring practices and policies to ensure minimal nepotism.
“I want people with fresh ideas and a new approach to come in,” he said, adding “recent studies suggest that hiring from within leads to mediocrity in organizations.”
Reed said he has seen many instances throughout his career in administration where hiring from within, rather than sourcing for “new blood” has led to “continuing to promote people to the level of incompetency.”
This was brought to Reed’s attention when he took note of the $122,000 budget shortfall from RancheHouse revenues – where he now sees the justification for the hiring of a RancheHouse manager at $113,000.
“I really hope our policies allow us to look beyond the end of our noses,” said Reed, adding that his inquiry is in no way meant to slight current staff.
While it is uncertain as to what course of action is available for the town to address the added pressures downloaded through the province’s realignment of EMS services, Reed wants to highlight the significant additional costs pressured ambulance services have placed onto town taxpayers – including the hiring of four additional firefighters.
“The former town council did nothing to address this problem of the realignment of these critical EMS services and this town council has felt the need to hire four additional firefighters at a cost of half a million dollars, thus subsidizing these services.
Reed said he was flagged to the efficiencies of town-funded organizations and groups through the recent budget-approved 12 per cent increase to library funding.
“The library asked for a significant amount of money … this could set a poor example for other organizations in town,” he said.
Reed explained that while the library’s justification of being below the provincial average for per capita funding for the last several years and failure to keep up with growth rates may be acceptable, he is seeking additional information and wants to ensure the process to make sure organizations are run properly in order to receive fair funding as per what dollars are available to them.
Stacey Loe, manager of legislative services for the town, said it is anticipated that administration will provide answers to Reed’s inquiries at the next council meeting on Jan. 22.
