City of Red Deer planning to expand workforce
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The City of Red Deer hopes to hire a range of employees over two years to help run municipal services in newly annexed areas.
The city proposes to annex 7,500 acres of Red Deer County land to the north, east and to the west including Riverview Park and Heritage Ranch.
And if the province approves this first phase of annexation, the city plans to take over services in those areas on Sept. 1.
City Inspections and Licensing Department manager Paul Meyette Paul Meyette said a wide range of services would be needed.
During 2009 operational budget talks on Tuesday, city council was requested to support 10.87 full-time equivalent positions for annexation purposes. The costs of these would be spread out over 2009 and 2010.
Positions include a full-time fire prevention officer, a bylaw officer and a city planner.
A number of other positions would be part time, such as the two employees being proposed for assessment and taxation.
“When you are managing a large area, you have to offer services and those services cost money,” said Meyette. “We need people to drive graders and to enforce bylaws.”
The annexation of these 47 quarter sections would have a $689,000 impact on the 2009 budget.
Contact Laura Tester
at ltester@reddeeradvocate.com
