Town of Irricana staff requested council engage in a Strategic Planning session on Nov. 10 to finalize the Town’s strategic plan for 2014 to 2017. The matter was reviewed by council members during their meeting on Nov. 3 and differed to an in-camera session after the council meeting for discussion.
“Council as a group has started strategic planning throughout this year, however, there has been either no affirmation of the previous strategic plan or an announcement of the new revised strategic plan,” said Interim Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Geoff Stephenson.
“My desire is that we get on it,” said Councillor Laura Thiessen. “I think it’s very important that we do this as soon as possible, so we can move forward.”
“We don’t have a plan right now and things have changed since we sat down and discussed it together originally,” Thiessen added.
One issue council debated was moving forward with the strategic plan without appointing a new permanent CAO.
Council had several options to pursue, one to defer the requested until a new CAO is appointed or hired, approve the request and appoint a facilitator, approve the request and appoint a facility if the new CAO is not available, or to reject the request.
Stephenson had been contracted to act as the interim CAO until Oct. 31. A new CAO is required after CAO Bob Payette resigned in August 2014 due to family reasons.
“We do have to get this formalized, because we did go through an awful lot of work in March and, yes, there have been definitely transitions since then,” said Mayor Valerie Squires.
Stephenson informed council that he has seen prices for facilitators range from as low as $500 to as high as $10,000 for one planning meeting.
“I think what we want to get at that (planning) meeting is to get us to that point where the next step would be the final version,” said Deputy Mayor Dennis Tracz.
“We really need to go back juggle things and then come back, with a high level view of where we are going and then the next step would be to finalize that.”
Volunteer Awards
Three residents have been chosen as the recipients of the Rural, Urban, Youth Volunteer Recognition and Mayor’s Recognition Awards.
Sidney Milton has been selected to receive the 2014 Urban Volunteer Award. Richard Luft was selected as the recipient of the Rural Volunteer award and Kyle Graham is the winner of the Youth Volunteer Award.
Irricana council reviewed a request by the Community Services Board to honour the nominees at the Nov. 3 meeting. Members of the Irricana Family and Community Support Services vett the awards.
Councillors reviewed the request for a decision from the Community Services Co-ordinator Megan Dornstauder during the meeting.
Town staff is also planning a volunteer appreciation dinner and the Rural, Urban and Youth Award presentation on Nov. 20. The awards ceremony will be held at the Irricana Lions Community Hall and are meant to celebrate those who make a positive contribution to the community through volunteerism.
The Community Services Board reviewed nominations for the awards at their meeting on Oct. 16.
Purchasing and personnel policy review
The Town of Irricana’s Personnel and Purchasing policies have been revised. Council approved a request to remove the Personnel Policy directing staff to bring forward a revised Personnel Policy by January 2015.
The Personnel Policy, which came into effect in September 20, 2010, outlines conditions of employment, hours of work, working conditions, the code of ethics and several other items and definitions.
The Purchasing Policy came into effect on June 3, 2013 and guides the Town in purchasing methods. The policy gives the Town the ability to purchase materials, equipment and supplies or services.
There are some items of inconsistency under the policy, for example items under $5,000 in the purchasing policy do not require quotes before the service is approved, according to CAO Geoff Stephenson.
Numeric limits, for example for vacation timing and approvals are contrary to some past employment contacts and agreements, he added.
Stephenson recommended to council the removal of item 3.01 in the Personnel Policy and requested item 2.01 in the Purchasing Policy be revised pending the finalization of the 2015 budget.
The action will create clarity within the document and remove duplication, according to Stephenson. Council unanimously voted to accept Stephenson’s recommendations.
