Centre Wellington council has started looking at the type of staff it will need to hire over the next few years.
At a special council meeting on Aug. 26, council approved the hiring of McDowall Associates Human Resources Consultants Ltd. of Toronto, to undertake a study at a cost of $26,470.
The focus of the study is non-union staff, particularly department heads and other top officials.
Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj said one reason for the work is the township has now existed for nearly 12 years and it has not undertaken a staff review like this one.
Further, she said, a number of department heads are nearing retirement and she said it is prudent that when they are replaced, council knows what skills it is looking for when it conducts interviews for the top jobs.
“We need to look at succession transition,” she said, adding a number of top positions will likely come open during the current council term.
Ross-Zuj said in the course of several years, “I have seen this amazing change. I have to be sure that [hiring] is not going to be the same old – or, is same old what we should be doing?”
She said she has seen municipalities struggle to fill some spots in their administration, and does not want that to happen in Centre Wellington.
Ross-Zuj said in some cases council already knows some areas it has to focus on, because it is the law.
She cited libraries (a county responsibility) as one area that has changed very much. She noted the skills for hiring a library department head 20 years ago will have almost completely changed today because of computers and on-line programs and capabilities.
She cited water regulations as another area of change. She said because of Walkerton, the rules and regulations for running water systems have changed drastically, and so have the skill sets for top staff. She noted the township recently received its accreditation for meeting water regulations; a complex and lengthy process that was done in house.
The report to council noted the personnel evaluation study was posted on the township’s and advertised in the local press. Direct invitations were sent to four firms and ten firms picked up proposal documents. Seven companies submitted a bid.
