Stouffville council answers ‘cry for help’ in planning dept.
Staffing shortfall of six leads to delays, frustration: Report

Yorkregion.com
May 18, 2016
By Ali Raza

The town is on its way to resolving its recent employee exodus.

Whitchurch-Stouffville town council passed a motion on Tuesday to hire new staff for its planning and development services department.

The department was identified to have a staffing shortfall of 6.15 full-time positions in a report presented to council. The report, prepared by acting planning manager Isa James, gave a detailed review of the current staff situation in one of the town’s largest departments.

Councillor Ken Ferdinands called the report a “cry for help.”

Significant factors were identified in the report that prevented the department from functioning efficiently and productively.

They included delays in responses to queries and correspondence, frustration expressed by development applicants regarding delays, additional delays in building permits, security account deposits and follow-ups, a lack of thorough reviews of submitted planning documents, incomplete coordination and a “growing frequency in the number of emotional breakdowns and angry outbursts by staff” as written in the report.

Regarding the high stress levels experienced by employees, the report notes, “the situation is unacceptable and if not rectified quickly is likely to result in additional staff resignations.”

The high-priority need for a staff review in the planning and development services departments comes at a time when the department is receiving a major increase in the number of development applications.

The report also outlines staff working “beyond their shift hours” and mentions they have “no authority to claim overtime hours”. The backlog of work isn’t alleviated despite staff’s extra hours, the report continues, as applicants and potential applicants still experience delays in correspondence and processing.

The department has identified nine major positions that are imperative to fill. They are principal planner, zoning/building administrator, development services director, administrative assistant to the development services director, planning services manager, two planners, building inspector and a development engineer.

The town aims to fill these positions within the coming year with principal planner, zoning/building administrator and administrative assistant listed as an “immediate” need.

But Councillor Maurice Smith stressed that hiring the director should be the main priority.

“I hope we can move quickly into that,” he said. “It seems to me that a number of these jobs will be reporting directly or indirectly to the director, who can be part of the hiring process.”

Mayor Justin Altmann remarked that the planning department was the “heart of the body” and since 2013 the department has been “operating as a team with not a lot of oars in the water.”

Council also approved hiring Gallagher McDowall Associates at $42,490 for consulting services for a review of 130 non-union jobs across the municipality and council compensations. The review will include full job evaluations, a pay equity review and a market salary survey.

The consulting review will take three to four months and comes in response to “compensation dissatisfaction” as identified by directors, managers and former staff, as outlined in the council in committee report.