Municipal planning is set be handled internally, after council accepted a staff recommendation to make the change at Monday’s meeting.
Bruce McAllister, director of planning services provided a presentation regarding planning services delivery model.
Council approved all of the development application services and related functions be provided internally by municipal staff, resulting in a savings of $178,000 in the first year with a sustainable annual savings of $141,000 by the fourth year.
The decision ends the tenure of Storey Samways Planning Ltd., who had been the municipal planning consultants in Chatham since amalgamation.
Tom Storey spoke before council to address what he said was the fifth attempt by municipal officials since amalgamation to eliminate the firm.
Council has rebuffed the requests each previous time.
He said dealing with senior municipal administration has left the firm “bitter and fed up,” and after a meeting of partners, the firm has decided, “we’re done. It’s affecting our health,” he said. “It’s like a death of a thousand cuts. It’s stomach aches and anxiety.”
He said interaction with senior administration has “made our jobs so unpleasant that we don’t want to do them.”
Storey strongly objected to parts of the administration report which he said, “seriously distorts the facts” concerning charges by his firm.
He said his firm proposed a number of other options regarding planning but those to his knowledge were never sent to council.
“They were discarded without explanation,” he said.
The contract between Storey Samways and Chatham-Kent expires in May.
– With files from Jim Blake, Chatham Voice
