The following matters relating
to Perth town
council came up this month, while council was on its summer break.
Hiring of contract accountant
authorized
Perth town council authorized the
hiring of an accountant/deputy treasurer to make up for a reduction in
personnel.
The town’s staff was down two people after the departure of Jorgen
Hoeven, the town’s former director of environmental corporate
services/treasurer. Two senior staff members, Grant Machan and Lang Britchford,
stepped up to take over the two halves of Hoeven’s role, leaving their
positions vacant.
Machan and Britchford were supposed to review their positions
after a year to make suggestions on staffing levels. In a July 5 report to
council, Britchford requested that a contract-position accountant be hired
during the review period to maintain the status quo in the corporate services
department.
Another treasury staff member changed from full-time to part-time
status late last year, which further lowered staffing levels in that
department.
The financial implications are expected to be minor (the
equivalent of 0.1 full-time position) as the position was already budgeted for.
Open house for community
improvement plan
A public open house to obtain input for a downtown community
improvement plan was set to be held Wednesday, July 28 from 7 to 9 p.m. at town
hall.
The town is considering financial incentives (grants, loans, or
tax incentives) for property owners who wish to improve or develop their property.
The plan could also include infrastructure and streetscape improvements, and
other revitalization initiatives.
The town is especially interested in what residents perceive as
the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing downtown Perth.
The draft plan will be available in the early fall. Read more
about the study in next week’s Courier.
For those who were unable to attend the public open house, written
comments will be accepted until Aug. 12. They can be addressed to Eric Cosens,
director of planning, at town hall (ecosens@perth.ca).
Infrastructure master plan for
lands north of Highway 7
The town is moving forward to plan how the land north of Highway 7
will be developed.
Building on work to redesignate the area as part of Official Plan
amendment 10, the town is calling for proposals for consultants who could
design a master plan for how sewer and water servicing in the area would be
laid out.
“This is to create the basic backbone of the system,” Cosens said.
“We want to make sure there is a co-ordinated approach to service delivery in
the area.”
The area covers approximately 95 to 98 hectares of land, between
17 and 20 ha of which are wetland or low-lying land. Most of the land will
support residential development.
Aug, 19 is the deadline for submissions to the request for
proposals, which can be directed to Cosens at town hall.