OLDS — Mayor Mike Muzychka is defending three new positions outlined in a booklet regarding the town’s 2020 budget.
Those positions are:
- A deputy fire chief (salary $121,250 including benefits).
- A municipal energy manager, whose purpose is to find savings in town energy use (salary $106,250, including benefits. Eighty per cent of this wage is being paid for by the province).
- An operator 2, whose job will be to maintain the new Rotary Athletic Park after it opens later this year (salary $73,000 including benefits).
During an interview, Muzychka was asked if he was concerned about the town adding these positions at time when Olds residents and businesses are suffering economically.
Muzychka said all three positions are needed.
“I think in keeping with the statistics that I dug up a while back, the number of employees per capita in our group is extremely low. So we’ve probably put these off a little too long,” he said. “So yeah, I think they’re necessary.”
Muzychka was asked if these three salaries are in line with salaries for the same or similar positions in communities the size of Olds.
“Pretty much, yes,” he said.
When asked what “pretty much” means, he said, with a laugh, “well, they may be a little bit bolstered, but I believe they’re not far off, if they are over.”
A check with the Alberta Fire Chiefs Association did not turn up a salary for a deputy fire chief in a community the size of Olds, but there was an ad for an assistant deputy fire chief in the City of Spruce Grove. That salary ranges between $140,000 and $160,258.
The Alberta Parks and Recreation Association said turfgrass management specialists, which are responsible for things like managing sports fields and parks and recreation, receive an average salary of $36,644.
Muzychka said the municipal energy manager’s job will likely pay for itself because of the efficiencies that person will find in town energy use; especially given the fact the town is only paying 20 per cent of that cost.
“So I view that position as not costing the Town of Olds anything,” he said.
The municipal energy manager position is expected to run for about a year in Olds. Muzychka said the town is exploring the possibility of extending that position for another year or so, sharing it with other communities in the area. If that happens, he said, those other communities would help cover that 20 per cent wage cost.
“If that grant is available for another year and other municipalities want to piggyback and utilize that person, we’ll farm that person out,” he said.
Muzychka said the deputy fire chief position was created to help ease the load for fire Chief Justin Andrew.
He said in addition to running the department, Andrew has been working hard to ensure that fire inspections, which had fallen off lately, were brought back up to par and creating/updating an emergency response plan for the community.
During budget debate last year, council was warned that there was a concern Andrew could burn out due to the pressure of his workload and responsibilities, hence the creation of the deputy fire chief position.
It was noted that position would tie in with a greater concentration on preventing fires, rather than responding to them after they occur.
It was noted that there was a time not long ago when the entire Olds fire department was a volunteer entity.
Muzychka conceded that.
However, he said, “the model of the full volunteer fire department is going sort of by the wayside. In fact, we call it paid-on call because the actual firefighters do get an honorarium.
“So for the time that they’re actually in the fire department and working, they do get a small amount of money to cover the cost.”
It was pointed out the Rotary Athletic Park will likely see its greatest use only during the warm weather months – four to six months a year, maybe.
Muzychka agreed, but said when those months are over, “we repurpose (that person) and set them out in other departments” doing things like snow clearing.
