The rehiring of Western Municipal Consulting Ltd. (WMC) to provide board of revision services prompted several city councillors to question the decision, including whether there were other options available.
City administration explained during the Feb. 12 regular meeting that there are 26 Saskatchewan organizations providing board of revision (BOR) services, including seven local boards, 16 district boards, two third-party service providers and one new centralized provincial board.
Furthermore, of 16 cities, only four maintain boards while 12 contract out those services, administration added. Those jurisdictions contract out for several reasons, including recruiting issues, impartiality and the complexity of commercial appeals.
Coun. Kim Robinson — who, along with Coun. Jamey Logan, voted against rehiring WMC — wondered why city administration recommended rehiring the Meota-based company instead of looking for other options or tendering the contract. He also wondered how rehiring this company compared cost-wise to the previous in-house board.
When administration began looking for an independent board, it contacted Prince Albert-based NorSask Board Services and WMC since they were the only provincial boards providing services outside of a municipality, explained city clerk Tracy Wittke.
However, NorSask said it wasn’t interested in providing services to Moose Jaw because it was more of a northern-focused company and didn’t want to expand south.
“A lot of their municipalities up north were looking at disbanding their local boards and they were busy enough in the northern part of the province,” Wittke said.
Administration looked at other centralized boards and found their rates were higher than WMC’s, while it contacted other groups on the provincial list and learned they were not interested in serving Moose Jaw, she continued.
One reason those boards declined was that they were composed of community business owners and people in rural professions who lacked the necessary skill set to deal with city-focused commercial appeals, complaints they don’t usually see.
Furthermore, those boards receive only two to three appeals a year, whereas Moose Jaw acquires over 100 complaints annually.
As for costs, Wittke said expenses for the in-house board were “significantly lighter” compared to WMC. However, city hall found that it was difficult to find residents who had the required skillset, while many lost interest after learning they had to take 20 hours of training.
While the motion budgeted $45,000 this year, Wittke added that she didn’t know how much the city paid WMC last year but could find out.
Robinson later said he wouldn’t support the motion because he thought it was another example of council “taking the path of least resistance” with hiring contractors. He pointed out that they could save money with an in-house board but believed they were pursuing a principle of going “the easy way down.”
He also thought council had paid WMC roughly $90,000 last year, based on what he recalled from budget talks.
Before he saw the report, Logan said he had concerns about rehiring WMC but thought the document addressed many of his concerns. He hoped the company followed through on its promises, including addressing the concerns that city administration raised during a virtual meeting on behalf of community business owners.
“Hopefully, going forward … the citizens of Moose Jaw will be happier, if not with the outcomes, then with the process,” he added.
Coun. Dawn Luhning found it interesting that the motion appeared more detailed compared to previous years.
For example, the recommendation urged council to appoint 25 members to the board, while she thought they had only ever appointed eight people. Furthermore, she was curious about why council was giving direction to the board chair and secretary about who to appoint in certain situations.
Assistant city clerk Dawn Lugrin agreed that the motion has more details compared to recommendations from 2021 or 2022, “but not by much.” Previous reports still provided names of board candidates and directed that three people comprise a hearing, while if the chair or secretary was absent, they could name someone else to fill their roles.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Feb. 26.
