HIGHLANDS EAST, ON – A pending staff shortage has the roads superintendent for Highlands East sounding an alarm.
At a council meeting earlier this week Earl Covert approached council outlining a plan to hire an additional full-time general equipment operator.
Covert noted his department was short-handed and consisted of a high percentage of older staff with high accumulations of vacation and sick days.
He noted that shortages have been an issue since the 2018-2019 winter season and things were not going to get better heading into the current winter season.
At one point last winter, Culvert reported, they were down three full-time positions due to medical reasons.
To underscore the severity of the shortage Culvert outlined that current roads department staff have 71 weeks of vacation, eight weeks of lieu time, and 26 weeks of sick time, which works out to 12 days per person.
The CAO for the municipality, Shannon Hunter noted that town staff were trying to get ahead of hiring requirements before they become critical.