Council compromises on full-time employees for communications dept.

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on November 16, 2022.

erald photo by Al Beeber Acting mayor Jenn Schmidt-Rempel and councillor Jeff Carlson engage in discussions about a budget item during discussions Tuesday in council chambers.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

A discussion that briefly started in the morning before city council, acting as the Economic Standing Policy Committee, resumed Tuesday afternoon after a lengthy closed session with an 8-1 vote in favour of giving the City Communications and Engagement department one full-time employee.

The department had requested that three term positions be transitioned to full-time but after a friendly amendment from councillor Rajko Dodic, the SPC decided on a compromise.

Just before the matter was to be addressed in the morning, SPC went into closed session at the request of acting mayor Jenn Schmidt-Rempel. It returned shortly before 2 p.m. to begin discussing the Communications department request.

Several councillors said communications is vital to the City of Lethbridge and staff is needed to get information out to the public.

Schmidt-Rempel said she would have wholeheartedly supported the transition of three staff to permanent but would half-heartedly support the hiring of one.

The matter now moves farther along the budget process as council works on finalizing the budget for 2023-24.

Councillor Jeff Carlson said he believes the City needs “more robust” communications, adding the department’s work needs to be enhanced.

Deputy mayor Ryan Parker said he believes the city gets good value for its money from Communications adding council can’t fund every project that comes before it. He pointed out the Communications department has grown from four to 10 people “over the last few years.”

Councillor Belinda Crowson said the city relies on its communications department a lot and supported the amended motion.

Mark Campbell said Dodic came up with the right compromise. The motion was also supported by mayor Blaine Hyggen.

While the numbers were being crunched on the cost of one FTE, the SPC unanimously approved moving along the budget path the hiring of one permanent full-time employee “to meet the growing demand and comply with legislated service levels for FOIP (Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act).”

The SPC was told the city was dealing with increasing FOIP requests and legislated time frames for answering requests aren’t being achieved because of a lack of capacity.

The cost of this initiative, if passed, will be $210,000 in 2023 and $73,800 annually from 2024-26.

FOIP, says the initiative, is provincially legislated “requiring the City to perform specific requirements within a specified time frame.”