The Town of Prescott is looking into creating an agreement with Augusta Township and the Township of Edwardsburgh-Cardinal.
Committee of the Whole recommended staff work on developing an agreement to provide building and bylaw services to all three municipalities.
In a report from CAO/Treasurer Matthew Armstrong, CAOs from the three municipalities met at the end of September to talk about the possibility of creating a system for building inspection and bylaw enforcement for the South Grenville area.
Armstrong says there are currently three full-time Chief Building Official (CBO) positions and three part-time By-law Enforcement Officers and their combined hours equal around 40 hours a week. Edwardsburgh-Cardinal had a vacant CBO position. Around the same number of building permits are issued in each municipality each year, while Prescott has a higher level of bylaw enforcement activity compared to the other two, according to Armstrong.
They are looking at having four full-time equivalents to provide building and by-law services. An option that was presented includes two full-time CBOs, one full-time Building Inspector/Enforcement Officer and the three existing part-time By-Law Enforcement Officers. The introduction of a Building Inspector/Enforcement position instead of replacing the vacant CBO position, would allow for mentoring and training and that person could eventually become a CBO, according to Armstrong.
Armstrong says this would be allowing Edwardsburgh-Cardinal to access the expertise of the two CBOs and Prescott would be able to access the inspection services from the individual that would be hired by Edwardsburgh-Cardinal. Armstrong also said they couldn’t afford both a CBO and inspector on their own but by doing this with the municipalities it does provide some succession planning.
Councillor Ray Young says when the three councils met they discussed they would like to do things like this and Young thinks this is the first opportunity to do it.
Committee of the Whole all voted in support of this.