Council Round-Up

Thursday, 13 February 2014 at 05:30

New HR software, proposed subdivision and tobacco taxes among topics at County Council.

The County is going ahead with the purchase of new software for payroll, Human Resources and scheduling.

The costly Dayforce Human Capital Management Solution software has a one time implementation cost of $104,000 followed by $116,000 in annual fees starting in 2015.

The new software is expected to replace three programs that are currently in use by the County.

County CAO Peter Crockett says with a $58 million payroll, from time to time issues arise and a significant amount of time is spent to correct errors which causes angst amongst staff.

Crockett anticipates the new software will mitigate problems and allow staff to focus more attention on other aspects of their job that may be put on the back burner when dealing with errors in payroll.

The new system is expected to be online by September.

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The County now knows when it comes to a proposed subdivision in East Zorra Tavistock, Woodstock is strongly opposed.

During the County Council meeting Wednesday, councillors were officially told the city is not in favour of cross boarder servicing the application, located on the north side of County Road 17 which would require connection to city services, like sewer and water.

Woodstock Mayor Pat Sobeski says the matter is dealt with by councils other than the City of Woodstock. "East-Zorra-Tavistock will deal with the zoning side, but it also requires Official Plan Amendments, and that's done by the County."

Sobeski says the proposal is still in the hands of the applicant but now the applicant knows that when he comes before EZT council, Woodstock has already expressed their opposition to his subdivision.

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While smokers are likely fuming over the federal government budget which would see an increase in the cost of cigarettes, the local Health Unit says it's welcome news.

While she didn't have the exact figures, Manager of Health Protection for Oxford County, Mary Metcalfe says smoking rates remain high locally. "Research evidence suggests when there's an actual 10% increase in the real cost of tobacco, there's a 3-4% decrease in usage and 7-8% among youth, because the cost does impact them more."

She adds there are many resources throughout the County available for those wishing to stop smoking.

The Ontario Convenience Stores Association says the move will only drive smokers to the purchase contraband tobacco products instead.