CBRM approves mayor's political hires, but not without debate

Cape Breton Regional Municipality's new mayor got her wish for a pair of political hires, but not without a lengthy debate at this week's online council meeting.

Former two-term mayor Cecil Clarke was often criticized for using his budget to hire a communications adviser and an executive assistant.

Mayor Amanda McDougall wants to do something similar, but plans to hire an Indigenous adviser and a community consultation co-ordinator.

Coun. Gordon MacDonald said he never liked the idea of the previous mayor having two political hires in his office and couldn't support the practice continuing.

"Long before our past mayor brought these two assistants in, the role of the mayor's office seemed to function quite well," he said.

Some councillors worried there's not enough work for a full-time Indigenous position.

Others said the consultation co-ordinator would simply duplicate the work of CBRM's communications adviser.

Coun. Darren Bruckschwaiger said elected representatives are already expected to consult with constituents and the new position might not be necessary.

"It really doesn't matter at the end of the day how much consultation you actually do, you're always going to have people agree and disagree with your decisions," he said.

McDougall said with two First Nations nearby, there's plenty of work for an Indigenous adviser.

In addition, she said, controversy over the location of the new downtown fire station and other issues prove consultation is vital.

"You're not going to have everybody in a community agree to Project A, Project B and Project C," McDougall said.

"What we do need to do is a better job of reaching out before we get to a point of making a decision instead of having all of this negative feedback after we make a decision and people feel like they had no idea what was coming at them."

McDougall also said with new developments such as the NSCC Marconi campus move downtown and buildings being sold in anticipation of an influx of students and staff, council has to start taking into account infrastructure needs and climate change.

Those make it imperative that CBRM do a better job of connecting with people in the community, she said.

"The fundamental value of community consultation is communications, so the way I see it, we're only growing right now," McDougall said. "We have developments, for the very first time in a very long time, coming out the wazoo."

Coun. James Edwards said he wrestled with the idea of hiring a community consultation co-ordinator when the municipality already has a capable communications person on staff.

'Hands-off' hiring: mayor

However, he said, during the election campaign, he came across a lot of different people who were passionate about a variety of issues in different communities and the pandemic was an extra challenge.

Given those factors, "I don't think we can have too many people out in the community helping our communities grow," Edwards said.

Some councillors expressed concerns about the mayor having control over a couple of employees outside the rest of the staff, who are ultimately the responsibility of the chief administrative officer.

McDougall said she plans to take a "hands-off" approach to the hiring.

She said Membertou Chief Terry Paul and some advisers in Eskasoni are providing input on the Indigenous adviser job description, and both positions would be advertised and hired through the municipality's human resources department.

Cost savings expected

McDougall said the positions would be full time for the length of her four-year term, but that council could vote each year to eliminate the funding from the budget, if they were not happy with the results.

She also said the two positions cost about $158,000 in the former mayor's office budget, but she planned to reduce that to about $135,000.

Council eventually approved the mayor's request.

She got unanimous approval for an Indigenous adviser and only Coun. Gordon MacDonald voted against the consultation co-ordinator position.

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