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Council debates creating a city safety coordinator amid split views on cost and outsourcing
Summary
City staff proposed a new safety coordinator position to centralize safety and emergency-preparedness duties; councilors split on hiring a full‑time employee versus contracting the work, citing workload, cost of benefits, and the city's roughly 160–174 employees.
City human-resources staff presented a proposal for a new safety coordinator during the FY26 budget committee-of-the-whole session, saying the role would centralize workplace safety, update manuals and training, and act as an emergency‑preparedness coordinator.
“Providing the training to the employees, and restoring the safety equipment is all gonna be part of this position as well as conducting accident investigations, training, and just generally being the subject matter expert,” said the HR presenter. The position was proposed at a Grade 9 classification; staff estimated the pay range at about $37.48–$49.90 per hour and a maximum around $60,000 (salary bands and benefits to be finalized in a forthcoming classification study). Staff noted benefits would add roughly 31% plus health‑insurance costs.
Council members expressed differing views. Some argued the workload and a backlog of safety‑manual updates (many manuals last updated in 2017) justify a full‑time coordinator; one councilor said the city has roughly 158–174 employees depending on seasonal staff and that a dedicated person would be “very busy” addressing safety across public‑works, police, parks and other divisions.
Other council members recommended exploring outside contracting for safety services. “I’d be more interested in hiring a firm at a hundred thousand dollars with no benefits as opposed to hiring somebody at a hundred thousand dollars with the $35,000 benefit package,” one councilor said, noting that many engineering and safety firms provide ongoing compliance services and that an outside vendor might maintain greater specialty depth than a single hire.
Staff said they would research contracting options and return with comparisons. Pending further analysis and the city’s classification study, the council did not take a final vote on the position; some members suggested the budget‑amendment period as the appropriate time to debate or move to strike the proposed hire.
