Flip-flop on hiring

by Darren Handschuh CASTANET - Aug 11, 2015 / 7:00 am
The City of Vernon's planning department will be getting a temporary, full-time planner after all. Council agreed Monday to hire an additional planner for one year at a cost of $84,000. At its last regular council meeting in July, the majority voted to reject the request to hire another person for the department of eight, but reversed that decision and gave the go ahead to bring on the extra help for a year. Counc. Brian Quiring led the charge saying the new position is needed because the city is losing money because development projects are not being taken care of fast enough due to the heavy workload existing staff face. Counc. Juliette Cunningham supported the motion as did Counc. Dalvir Nahal who had previously opposed the hiring. Nahal said she has talked to some developers since the last meeting and saw the need for another city planner. “When the issue did come back, I felt I needed to step up,” said Naha. “This is going to create more jobs. There is a shortage so this is a necessary position.” The idea is to have the development fees pay for the position, but Counc. Scott Anderson said if there is a sudden slow down, the person could spend the year with very little work to do. Quiring did not see that as a concern, noting current staff are too busy. “Look at our statistics, the numbers are up. They are just overloaded and this is a temporary position,” he said. “We should be able to get some good revenue over the year.” Quiring said the application process is more complex now than it has ever been “because of requests from higher levels of government. Things are taking longer and we need more help.”
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Don Quixote Note: The original motion from the minutes of July 13: (p.23):
Moved by Councillor Quiring, seconded by Councillor Anderson: THAT Council endorse the creation of a Planning Assistant position in the Current Planning Department for a period of twelve months, effective immediately, and funded through the excess development revenue anticipated from 2015 building permit activity; AND FURTHER, should excess development revenue from 2015 be insufficient to cover the additional staffing cost, that the balance be funded from the Development Excess Reserve, to a maximum of $84,200. DEFEATED, with Councillor Lord, Spiers, Naha!, and Anderson opposed. 
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This motion was brought back at yesterday's  and passed by a 4-3 vote. (Lord, Spiers,Anderson opposed)