Lantzville councillors will put the brakes on a core review until after a strategic planning session.
Coun. John Coulson called for a core review in late October, including a detailed forecast on staffing at the district for the next five years.
It’s “good business practice” and the timing is suitable, with municipality now in its 12th year and a new chief administrative officer who is already going through a form of review as he familiarizes himself with the organization, according to Coulson.
But while civic politicians supported the idea during an open meeting, not everyone agreed with the scope or timing.
Mayor Colin Haime said he struggled with the narrowness on the staffing projection part of the motion.
“The detailed forecast for staffing is so dependent on where we want to go that it’s kind of throwing mud and seeing what sticks,” he said, adding it is asking staff members to guess on development and service levels that are set more or less at the council level.
Coun. Dot Neary preferred to see the core review issue dealt with in a strategic planning session to discuss more in depth what it means and how high a priority it is.
Council unanimously agreed to postpone the motion for a core review and staffing projections.
Coulson said he thought the core review would be nice to have in advance of budgeting and strategic planning but he also understands the rationale.
“Council felt different, so, so be it.”