Chatham-Kent council passed a motion to have administration conduct a service review on service centres, municipal information desks and customer service delivery.
Administration will report back to council in the fall of this year so council can make a decision if there is a possible cost savings heading into the 2022 municipal budget by eliminating some or all of the municipal service centres or possibly reducing or combining services into other municipal operations.
Councillor Steve Pinsonneault said municipal service centres in rural towns and villages are the only link those places have to the municipality.
“Honestly you could close them to save money, there is no question about that, but they are a lifeline …to the municipality.”
Chatham councillor Michael Bondy said he would prefer to have a neutral third party do the service review rather than Chatham-Kent staff, referring to a similar service review that was done in 2013.
“When we ask staff to look inside to find cuts it’s really not that terribly successful because you’re asking employees to find reductions in their own departments,” Bondy said.
Chatham-Kent CAO Don Shropshire said administration has a responsibility to look for efficiencies on a constant basis and is committed to that.
Currently, Chatham-Kent has six municipal offices, three municipal information desks and a municipal call centre.