Council Votes Not To Explore Contracting Out 100 City Jobs

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City Council has voted against exploring the contracting out of municipal caretaking services.

City administration had recommended that council consider studying contracting out due to budgetary pressures.

City owned buildings where caretaking services are used include the City Hall campus, Public Works administration, Parks, Recreation & Facilities administration, Fire Headquarters, the Windsor Justice Facility, Tilston Armoury and other Police buildings, cultural buildings, the new downtown pool, and Huron Lodge.

In total there are 100 jobs currently held by caretakers.

Several current caretakers appeared before council saying their jobs required specialized training – and that it was more than just about pushing a broom.

They said, as an example, that Huron Lodge and caretakers used at the Joint Justice building are both highly trained to deal with infections and diseases.

CAO Helga Reidel said this is not about the quality of work provided by city staff, but that they “are running out of ideas” on how to maintain a 0% tax increase.

After close to two hours of debate and questions from city council to city administration, Councillor Fred Francis put the motion on the table to move forward with issuing a request for proposals to explore outsourcing caretaking in the city.

Councillor Irek Kusmierczyk spoke out against the motion saying there are other places to look to for cost savings, listing projects such as FINA, the downtown pool and sports tourism. He said it should not be on the backs of city employees.

In the end the motion failed with a vote of 6 to 5.