Minden Hills will continue using a Peterborough-based planning consultant as its director of planning position remains vacant.
At an Oct. 14 meeting, CAO Trisha McKibbin asked council to extend the township’s agreement with D.M. Wills Associates Ltd. for another six months.
The township entered into an initial sixmonth pact with the company on April 13, 2021, but it’s over at the end of October.
McKibbin said, “These services have included all planning functions, including but not limited to, shore road allowance applications, minor variance applications, policy development, site plan agreements and planning consultations.“
An attached schedule of fees shows the manager of planning services receives $135/hour; senior land use planner $120/ hour; land use planner $90/hour; planning/ GIS technician $80/hour; and administrator $65/hour.
Asked for clarification on why former planner, Ian Clendening, had left the municipality, McKibbin said, “The Township does not comment on current or former employees.”
Clendening has joined the City of Kingston planning department. He was never named to the province’s sunshine list meaning his salary and benefits were less than $100,000 a year with Minden Hills.
The CAO added, “Minden Hills will be recruiting for a planner, and in the interim will continue to use the services of D.M. Wills. The Township is committed to ensuring that planning applications are processed in a timely manner and are utilizing the services of D.M. Wills to accomplish this.”
Asked what the contract had cost them as of mid-October, McKibbin said $138,576.27.
