(File Photo: Council meeting on Dec. 10, 2014. Crystal Laderas/MORNING REPORTER).
Councillors got a first look at a proposed fly-in fly-out policy for municipal employees, but they sent it back for retooling after some unanswered questions.
“Do we have a policy regarding how often they can fly out within that four month time frame or a maximum amount of money we will be putting towards that?” asked Coun. Colleen Tatum at last night’s meeting. “Because they can be flying in and flying out from Dubai, they could be flying in and out of Nova Scotia.”
The Long Distance Commuter policy was recommended in KPMG’s audit of the Municipality. It said as of May 2014, there were three employees who had flight passes or paid for travel costs written into their contracts.
“The ultimate decision was to refer it back to administration to be able to take into account the full sweep of transition allowances that we provide for employees coming into the organization. So council really wanted to get more breadth in terms of what they would be considering,” said Mayor Melissa Blake.
Coun. Sheldon Germain chairs the Audit and Budget Committee. He says the policy does have some holes.
“From a recruitment and retention point of view, the four months seems fairly reasonable in the sense that it gives a person some transition time. And I get that. I guess what I’m missing in all of this is the entire transition package [cost],” said Germain.
The document says hiring someone who doesn’t live in Fort McMurray will be a last resort for filling senior staff positions. It would not apply to contractors or consultants.
–with files from Bradley Karp
