By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Northumberland County should foot the bill to extend the Environmental Officer’s position for three months, Manager of Environmental and Technical Services Adam McCue told county council’s Public Works Standing Committee at its May meeting.
The committee agreed, and recommended paying the $21,000 for the extension.
“We were fortunate enough to be one of a few municipalities to receive funding from the FCM (Federation of Canadian Municipalities) for our Environmental Officer position to develop a greenhouse-gas inventory and a plan to address greenhouse-gas emissions,” McCue said.
Once the staffer was in place, he continued, three member municipalities became part of that project in order to get that work done within their own communities. This turned out to be more than could be achieved for the 24-month term during which the FCM paid 80% of the staffer’s salary, and the contract expires May 31.
The work is completed for the Town of Cobourg, and is at the stage of presenting a draft plan for the Municipality of Port Hope and Hamilton Township, McCue said. And a little more time is needed to get this work done for Northumberland County.
“We are confident the greenhouse-gas emission work can be finalized within those three months?” committee chair Brian Ostrander asked.
McCue said that would be sufficient, identifying savings in the Transportation Services Division that would help cover the cost.
