North Cypress-Langford Council: Recruitment and Requisitions

While there were a lot of planning matters to clean up on the agenda, the North Cypress-Langford Council focused on two other main topics at their November meeting.

First was the perennial issue of doctors, which has been plaguing the community for some time. The community and the RHA have tried several methods to recruit doctors to work in the community, including going through private recruitment services. Dr. Dave Maharajh and Barry Banek are responsible for helping to recruit four doctors to the community, two locum that kept the ER open and two on a more long-term basis. They were promised $12,000 for each doctor, or a total of $48,000, by Prairie Mountain Health, but as of the date of the Council meeting had received nothing. 

As a courtesy, and because they knew they may find themselves needing their services again in the near future, the Health Action Committee and the Town of Carberry agreed to pay the recruiters $12,000 each and are asking if North Cypress-Langford will do the same. This will not cover the full amount owing, but would be a good faith gesture to maintain the relationship. The province may still come through with the amount owing, but there has been no response from them as yet. For comparative purposes, going through a recruitment agency to find doctors would be at least $50,000 for each Council, per doctor. Council ultimately agreed to pay the amount requested out of the Healthcare Reserve Fund.

As well, Council welcomed a delegation from Canoe, a national program that pre-vets tenders on behalf of public sector organisations. This would save the municipal administration a lot of time and effort, and could result in better deals due to economies of scale. Canoe is partnered with the Association of Manitoba Municipalities and already works in several areas of the province, and is fully compliant with all regulations that govern procurement in the public sector. Council will be looking further into this option.

Also covered at the meeting were a one-time gift to the Carberry Daycare Committee, application to the Manitoba GRO program for fire equipment, vehicle procurement, gravel purchase, the purchase of tablets for Council use, and approval for a hundred new water hookups