MOOSE JAW — To enhance efficiency and improve community service efforts, city hall plans to create two new positions to support activities with planning and development, bylaws, and building inspections.
During the 2025 budget discussions, city council unanimously authorized the community services department to redirect $18,092 from the vacant bylaw officer position toward a new supervisor position for the just-created community standards division.
This supervisor will offer enhanced oversight of two bylaw officers and two building officials and address gaps in supervision, a budget report said. This money will cover the salary difference between the bylaw enforcement officer and supervisor positions, including overhead costs.
The new division brings together building standards officials and bylaw enforcement officers.
Council also authorized the department to spend $16,141 to hire a seasonal summer student to support the planning and development branch during the peak construction months of May to August.
The student will help speed up permit approvals and enhance service delivery to residents and contractors, while focusing primarily on administrative tasks and responding to public inquiries, the report said. This will allow the branch’s two planners to focus on their main responsibilities, such as managing the Official Community Plan and zoning bylaw.
Supervisory role
The primary focus of the manager of planning and development is on development activities, leaving the enforcement and building areas without adequate oversight, direction or supervision, Derek Blais, director of community services, said during a budget meeting.
This lack of oversight limits the ability of these areas to engage in long-term planning or implement major improvements, leaving staff without consistent guidance and support, he continued.
City hall had envisioned using a third bylaw enforcement officer to generate revenue through increased fines, but it has since shifted its stance and recognized that “relying on fines is not a sustainable revenue source,” Blais remarked. The municipality has also encountered challenges with this approach since court time is limited and there are inefficiencies in the ticketing process.
So, having a supervisor provide additional support to the two bylaw officers will enhance service delivery and hopefully reduce the frustration of “dissatisfied individuals,” he said. Meanwhile, the two bylaw officers are sufficient to manage the current workload.
Blais added that a major priority for this division will be addressing derelict properties, particularly through updating the property maintenance standards bylaw.
Asked whether there was grant funding available to offset the summer student cost, Blais replied that his department relies on federal grant funding annually to support the summer playgrounds program. However, the city did not receive that money last year, similar to other third-party community groups such as Tourism Moose Jaw and the Festival of Words.
“We have applied again this year, and we will see where things go,” he said. “If we apply for this position, it would just mean another position would not (be funded).”
Blais added that city hall has enough space to accommodate the two new positions — some configuration of offices will occur — while he would wait for the new online permitting software program to go live before deciding whether to eliminate the summer student position in the future.
Coun. Dawn Luhning appreciated knowing that city hall would approve permits faster but wanted city administration to provide a future update about whether the additional staff were increasing customer service.
“We need to know if it’s working because if it’s not helping anything or the average citizen is not seeing the benefit of it with these initiatives, then we as a council need to know that,” she said, noting that council wants residents to receive better customer service.
Luhning added that before the 2026 budget discussions occurred, she wanted administration to provide a summary report of all the initiatives and positions council had approved this year and how they were doing.
