ST. PAUL - As part of the process to trim expenses and balance its 2023 budget, Town of St. Paul council has opened a discussion regarding the level of service that residents receive in the municipality - and whether or not those levels need to change.
Topics during the Town's Committee of the Whole meeting on Oct. 13 ranged from how many lifeguards are needed at the swimming pool, to garbage pick-up and maintaining the Town's street sweeper.
Opening the conversation was Town of St. Paul CAO Steven Jeffery, who noted the reality is that the 2023 budget "will not be an easy budget. It will not be a walk in the park."
While a preliminary budget has not been put together yet, administration is confident that numbers will be tight.
"We know we will have issues with the rising costs of goods," said Jeffery, adding, utility costs and policing costs will also add to budget challenges.
Mayor Maureen Miller noted that there have been adjustments taking place prior to the discussion of service levels taking place, such as snow removal, hours at facilities, and similar topics.
“Maybe walk us through some of those head conversations that you’ve had," said Miller, speaking to Jeffery.
“Our (recreation) facilities are no money-maker... but is that necessarily an area that this council is willing to reduce services?" asked Jeffery.
Coun. Ron Boisvert noted that one "elephant" was the golf course, and another was the CAP Arena. Both facilities were once run by volunteers who fundraised to support the recreation facilities.
Jeffery acknowledged that the Town of St. Paul stepping in may have saved some facilities from "an inevitable fate," and at the time councils and administrators likely were hoping the economy would rebound. Instead, quite the opposite happened, with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Miller acknowledged that offering residents a certain quality of life does cost the municipality money.
“I think what’s important tonight is not to focus on the past decisions,” said Coun. Nathan Taylor, who encouraged fellow councillors to be forward thinking and instead ask: “Where can we improve?”
Lifeguards
One of the first topics Taylor brought up was how many lifeguards are employed at the St. Paul Aquatic Centre. He questioned if it was necessary to have lifeguards on hand all the time, or if there were times - such as during lane swimming of AquaFit classes - where lifeguards could be doing other things, thus reducing the amount of staff required.
He noted that hotels, for example, have swimming pools that aren't staffed with lifeguards. He also noted that maybe there was technology that could help with supervising swimmers in the pool and also noted that there are incidents where swimming pools must close down due to a lack of lifeguards.
Taylor added that during family and public swim times, "of course we want lifeguards," but perhaps there were times when people could sign a waiver to take part in activities that are lower risk and fewer lifeguards would be required.
Coun. Gary Ward responded, noting that the swimming pool has been following a policy that is based on how many people are in the pool, when deciding how many lifeguards were needed.
Flowers on main street
Another topic that came up was the watering of flowers on main street during the spring and summer months.
Taylor said he has received more complaints from residents who are not in favour of the Town having staff water the flowers, than he's received from people who are happy with the service.
While it wouldn't save the Town a lot of money to forgo the service, "it's the individual things that add up." If one duty is taken away from staff, then they can do other tasks, and eventually that could add up to a full staff member. Hopefully, the result would be as simple as choosing not to rehire a vacant position, rather than laying someone off.
The mayor responded, saying she liked the flowers on main street, and believed that beautifying the town is an important part of community belonging.
While, Coun. Brad Eamon noted it was just about the time spent watering the flowers, but the truck that is required, and the fuel it takes to run the truck.
Street sweeper
The conversation then went to the Town's street sweeper and back alley maintenance.
Eamon asked if the street sweeper was a vital piece of equipment to run. Taylor agreed with the street sweeper concerns, noting the equipment was broken down a lot over the past summer season.
He questioned if the reduced service level that was provided as a result of the street sweeper not being available was noticed this year, or was the level OK and can it now be maintained at a lower level than previously.
“Change is hard. And it’s not only hard for residents but it’s hard for the staff who are doing the duties,” acknowledged Jeffery. He agreed there was a significant amount of issues with maintenance of the street sweeper and perhaps this summer was a good snapshot of how service levels could be reduced.
Other topics and questions
Other topics brought included the need for councillors to attend all committee meetings, or if having one council representatives at some of the meetings was sufficient. Miller noted that it was a topic she was wanting to bring forward at the Town's organizational meeting, and noted that discussions have already occurred withing groups such as the Chamber of Commerce and the MD Foundation where meetings have been cut back and some sharing of information switched to more efficient electronic means.
Garbage collection was also brought up during discussions.
While administration was able to answer some of the questions posed during the discussion, councillors agreed the discussion was meant to put the information forward to administrators so they could review the topics and come back with suggestions.
