OLDS — One of Olds council’s longest debates during a Nov. 28 budget session was a suggestion to add two new full-time equivalent staff positions — a human resources support position and a third municipal enforcement officer.
The discussion lasted just over half an hour. In the end, a decision was not made. Council anticipates finalizing its budget Dec. 9.
However, the budget will likely need to be tweaked this spring, when property assessments are determined and the provincial government’s budget is unveiled.
According to a town budget document, the net projected cost of the two full-time positions is $210,000 in 2025, $215,000 in 2026 and $220,000 in 2027.
“Despite this proposed staffing increase, the town will continue to have one of the lowest staffing costs among its comparator municipalities,” the budget document said.
The document said 2024 salaries and benefits are tracking to be around $8.6 million, while 2025 salaries and benefits are projected to be $9.1 million, “should all operating decision papers be approved.”
A chart listing 2023 financial data for eight similar communities – including Olds – showed Olds had the second lowest total of salaries and benefits at $8,598,359.
The community with the highest salaries and benefits total for that year was Whitecourt, at $15,343,749. The lowest was Innisfail at $7,585,988. The average was $11,398,814.
Coun. Heather Ryan expressed support for the HR admin position, but not the third municipal enforcement officer one.
She and chief administrative officer Brent Williams noted that the HR admin position stems from an organizational review undertaken of Town positions.
“I would say this directly relates to a lot of the areas identified in the org review,” Williams said.
“The words organizational culture, professional development, training, succession planning and other things, those were identified fairly heavily in that review as areas where certainly staff saw things lacking and where consultants saw room for improvement.”
Ryan said the HR admin position fits in with her desire to make sure the municipality is “filling our gaps that we need (to fill) right now.”
She said the organizational review did not identify a third community peace officer position as being needed to fill those gaps.
“My concern about the CPO addition, I've mentioned it many, many, many times about not being in favour of having an additional person doing that, but to prioritize what our current guys are doing,” Ryan said.
Coun. Darren Wilson said he liked the fact that the municipality is a “lean organization.”
Wilson spoke in favour of the third CPO but said he was “lukewarm” about the HR one.
He said social disorder appears to be increasing, although perhaps not so much in Olds yet.
“So to me, part of this is being proactive,” he said.
Wilson said an RCMP official had suggested to him that an individual providing back room support might free municipal enforcement officers up from paperwork to “allow them to be out there doing what they’re supposed to be, which is enforcement.”
However, director of protective services Justin Andrew said “with 100 per cent certainty” that a back room employee would not provide any “extra added efficiencies of administrative support to any officers.”
“The administrative support is there. They just don't have the physical officers of on the street to go and do the job as our number one priority, and we can't free them up,” Andrew said.
Andrew said for one thing, about half of all municipal fines and tickets issued are being challenged in court these days.
“So that's not something that an administrator or admin support person can do in their presence,” he said.
“That's requiring the officer that issued the citation to actually attend court, to defend the ticket or to help in the prosecution.”
He said another example would be when plows are ready to clear snow in Uptowne at night but plow operators need vehicles ticketed and moved so they can do so.
“When they do that, then the next day, they're not expected to be at work. You can't have people working 24 hours. So we'll have an entire day without any municipal enforcement protection,” Andrew said.
“Those are the things that we're seeing on a more regular basis, and as the community grows, with more issues and things like that, we physically need boots on the ground.”
Coun. James Cummings liked the fact that according to Corporate services director and finance director Sheena Linderman, the HR position looks like an increase year-over year compared to 2024, because that position was unfunded this year but it is actually a decrease from 2023.
“I'm looking at that as a great move forward,” he said.
“We're more efficient, we're more effective, and we are funding it at a reduced rate. So that sounds great.”
Cummings also gave the proposed third CPO position the thumbs-up.
He said Olds had the smallest number of bylaw officers/community peace officers according to a comparison of similar Alberta communities.
Cummings said for years, local residents have complained of a lack of bylaw officers.
“I've heard, as we all have, from citizens for years now that there is no presence, or there's a lack of presence, or we're not enforcing. We're creating all these bylaws, we're just not enforcing them,” he said.
“So I think this is a good step forward to regain the confidence of our community that when we create bylaws, we're able to enforce our bylaws.
“I agree entirely with this decision; looking forward to future years where we have more capabilities in department.”
Coun. Dan Daley also liked the idea of adding a third CPO position, especially in light of Andrew’s statements.
However, he wondered if doing so would require additional equipment, such as radios, personal protective equipment gear and vehicles.
Andrew said that won’t be a problem.
He said another patrol vehicle won’t be necessary because it’s believed that the current two vehicles could be shared among the three officers.
That’s because while two are on the road, the third could be in the office, doing paperwork and dealing with phone calls or walk-in complaints.
Andrew said the other equipment can be accommodated in the operating budget.
