Aurora thaws hiring freeze to ensure drinking water standards

YorkRegion.com
Aug. 13, 2015
Teresa Latchford  

Aurora has waived its hiring policy to ensure the safety of residents when it comes to drinking water standards, council decided Tuesday.

During the 2015 budget process, council made the decision to implement a four-month gap between a position becoming vacant and hiring a replacement in an effort to reduce the town’s bottom line. However, a request that town staff be immediately authorized to fill a vacant water operator position had some councillors asking questions.

“We made a clear decision to have this four-month hiring gap,” Councillor Paul Pirri said. “It was a good decision, so why are these reports coming now?”

Ilmar Simanovskis, director of infrastructure and environmental services, said he brought the report forward because there is limited staff in the department and the town has regulatory requirements to meet when it comes to town water.

‘I’m not willing to take this risk to save $10,000.’

“What I’m hearing is it would be difficult to move forward without the operator but not impossible?” Councillor Tom Mrakas said.

When asked outright if having only five staff in water operations instead of six would put residents or the town at risk, Simanovskis replied the operations are currently working with a reduced staff but he wouldn’t commit to saying there isn’t a risk if the position remained unfilled.

However, the staff report states water operation positions require regulated certifications and there will be insufficient operators in the department to allow for guaranteed safe and compliant operations come Aug. 14.

“I’m not willing to take this risk to save $10,000,” Councillor Michael Thompson said. “We need six (employees), we are down to five and if operations loses one more (due to illness), then it will have a significant impact.”

Mayor Geoff Dawe pointed out that because the hiring bylaw states any change must be reviewed by council, Simanovskis was well within his rights to bring forward his request.

Councillor Sandra Humfryes suggested the town think about training existing staff on water operations, so a situation such as this can be avoided in the future.

Councillor Wendy Gaertner said a four-month hiring gap likely wouldn’t even save money in this situation. She reminded council that, in the past, when it denied a request to fill a parks and recreation department position, cost savings were eaten up by the overtime needed to complete work.

A majority of council voted to waive the hiring gap policy to allow staff to hire a replacement.

Mrakas and Councillor Harold Kim voted against the motion.