JASPER – The municipality may establish a two-year-term position to oversee municipal infrastructure reconstruction projects following the 2024 wildfire.
Courtney Donaldson, director of operations and utilities, told council on Tuesday (May 27) that the construction co-oordinator would also manage cost recovery from third-party damage to municipal infrastructure such as sidewalks, curbs and roads. Council is expected to decide on the matter at next week’s meeting.
“This position is slated to provide direct oversight to limit and prevent the municipality from incurring costs that should be allocated to contractors directly for unintended and negligent damages to municipal infrastructure during the recovery phases,” Donaldson said.
The new position would begin mid-June and additionally involve securing voluntary agreements from utility contractors to co-ordinate repair activities at a single occurrence and prevent costly rework.
The provincial Disaster Recovery Program (DRP) would cover 90 per cent of the cost, with the municipality covering the remaining 10 per cent. The new position would be subject to the confirmation of DRP eligibility.
According to administration, the municipal contribution would be paid for through specific cost-recovery activities rather than taxes.
“Outsourcing this role would be costlier, less aligned with municipal processes and limit effective cost recovery,” Donaldson said. “Existing staff at this current time cannot take on these duties without affecting essential services.”
The municipality currently has 17 DRP-funded positions, which include the term firefighters, the extra outreach workers, the core positions with the Jasper Recovery Coordination Centre and staff supporting the urban design and standards team.
Coun. Scott Wilson said they were getting “weary” of adding positions but conceded that these had a visible benefit to the community. He asked if all the existing positions were being fully utilized.
“I want to make sure that we are maximizing the positions we do have before adding extras,” he said.
Michael Fark, director of recovery, confirmed that there was neither an aligning skill set nor excess capacity within the recovery positions that could handle the work of the proposed position.
Beth Sanders, director of urban design and standards, explained that the amount of building in Jasper would be “unprecedented,” and administration was being proactive by predicting that the infill construction would damage municipal infrastructure.
“We’ve already seen some from demolition but also from fighting the fire,” Sanders said. “We know that more is coming, and we want to make sure that we keep tabs on that so that the cost of it isn’t egregious down the road.”
Administration added that interim housing would be available for the new hire, and they would try to recruit locally if possible.
Coun. Kathleen Waxer agreed that there was visible damage to municipal infrastructure and that it had increased during the debris removal.
“I’m certain that through the reconstruction phase that we’re going to see more and more,” Waxer said. “I felt that the document provided to us for a request for decision was comprehensive and convinced me that this was an important next step.”
