Owen Sound and Georgian Bluffs will be entering into a shared service pilot project that will see the city provide building department support to the township.
City council approved the shared services pilot as part of its consent agenda at Monday’s meeting.
Georgian Bluffs CAO Niall Lobley brought a report to his council in early April saying the township’s building services team was left unstaffed, and consultants had been retained to ensure building services continued uninterrupted.
Georgian Bluffs council then endorsed a plan to try to establish an agreement with Owen Sound to set a rate the township would pay the city, to have its building services department provide support.
“Over the past 18-20 months, Georgian Bluffs has attempted to hire building inspectors and a Chief Building Official on multiple occasions. In the city’s case, we have a very dependable and highly skilled building
services team; however, as noted, current work volumes and the implementation of Cloudpermit have created an opportunity to extend support to Georgian Bluffs as a pilot project,” says City Manager Tim Simmonds in a report. “This will allow the city to monitor service delivery, the revenue potential, and the ability to balance the service delivery across the two municipalities.”
The rate Georgian Bluffs would pay Owen Sound for handling building services would be established in a memorandum of understanding, Simmonds says. But the number is not communicated in the report to council.