Municipal council approved adding a new management position for the community and family services department (CFS) during a council meeting on Oct. 4.
The new community development manager will oversee social planning and community development and help ensure the long-term sustainability of the department.
The position will also replace and augment the work done by the Jasper Community Team鈥檚 (JCT) coordinator, which was formally a contract position.
According to Kathleen Waxer, the director of the department, the position will not require any municipal funding and will be solely funded by the internal reallocation of money within the department.
鈥淎n investment in community development will provide a rich picture of what鈥檚 taking place in the community, including what鈥檚 working well and what could be done to improve and adjust to changing circumstances that occur in the community,鈥� said Waxer, during the meeting.
鈥淲ith enough capacity, it鈥檚 very possible to be highly responsive to the needs of the community.鈥�
Council voted 3-1 in favour of adding the new position. Mayor Richard Ireland voted against the proposal, citing concerns about the timing of the proposal ahead of the 2017 budget.
鈥淚 want to be clear that I鈥檓 not voting against the merits of the position, I鈥檓 simply opposed to making the decision at this time outside of the budgeting process,鈥� said Ireland.
鈥淲e are attempting to develop a practice where positions for consideration would come before council at budget time, we certainly did that last year with emergency services and operations and I think it鈥檚 important to look at the entire context of the municipal budget when we鈥檙e adding positions,鈥� said Ireland.
鈥淎nd although I can see how financially you can make the argument that there is no net cost to the department because you鈥檙e using funds that would otherwise have resulted in a saving on rent, as an organization we will never be able to achieve savings if every time there is a proposed saving we find something else to spend it on.鈥�
Coun. Rico Damota, Coun. Dwain Wacko and Coun. Helen Kelleher-Empey all voted in favour of the position.
Waxer first proposed creating the new position in August because she was concerned that as she approaches retirement her successor might not have enough time or energy to sustain the various social services offered by the municipality.
According to Waxer, the majority of Jasper鈥檚 social planning and community development work has required an unsustainable investment of her time because a lot of the positions in the department are contractual and require writing grant proposals to fund them.
The new position is expected to help alleviate that burden, essentially freeing up the director鈥檚 time to focus on running the department.
Aside from writing grant proposals, the community development manager will also help develop a communications strategy for the department, evaluate and report on the department鈥檚 progress and help bring teams together to tackle issues in the community, such as elder abuse.
Liz Olsen, team coordinator for the Jasper Community Team Society, and Robert Benison, an RCMP officer and co-chair with the Jasper Community Team Society, were also in attendance for the meeting to show their support.
Paul Clarke
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