District Municipality of Muskoka CAO Julie Stevens was before the District’s Finance and Corporate Services Committee on November 20, making the case for hiring two new positions—a Digital Media Specialist and an Executive Administrative Support Clerk.
Digital Media Specialist
According to Stevens’ report, the digital media specialist would be paid an estimated “$107,450 per year plus the cost of equipment replacement “or a fully burdened hourly rate of approximately $59.”
According to Stevens, in 2020, the District hired Redbrick Communications “to provide supporting information to staff in order to develop a Corporate Communications Strategy.” Based on Redbrick’s research and the District’s population, she said the consultant indicated that the benchmark staffing for the District’s Communication Department ought to be ten full-time positions compared to the current five, which she noted is still well below the benchmark of ten.
She said this year, in order to produce District education and engagement content to achieve the goals of the Strategic Plan, an existing staff position was temporarily realigned to focus on digital production and a temporary coordinator position was hired to continue with ongoing communication needs. As a result, she said the department made advancements during this term of council by significantly increasing audience engagement in District communications. (You can see her report Here).
“Staff has gained insight into the value of having a position dedicated to digital media on a permanent basis for the production of high-quality, high-impact digital and social media content. Over the past year, staff has had to outsource various video production needs and, as a result, there is good data to support the addition of the Digital Media Specialist in a permanent capacity to the Communications team,” she noted.
She told the committee that based on vendor invoices or quotes received, a single video production ranged between $8,000 and $15,000 each for 3 to 5-minute clips. “For simplicity, if we assume the goal is to produce a video campaign every two weeks during the year, this would cost between $208,000 and $390,000 per year (26 video campaigns), if fully outsourced,” states her report, which adds that the position will also be in charge of graphic design, which based on “vendor invoices, graphic design usually costs between $500 and $2,400 to produce based on the volume and complexity of the design. A recent procurement for hourly rates for graphic design indicated costs per hour ranging from $125 to $225.”
Executive Administrative Support Clerk
The Executive Administrative Support Clerk would cost an estimated $107,446 (as per the report but Stevens said it’s about $11,000 lower). Currently, the CAO and District Chair positions get supported by the Executive Assistant. “The primary responsibility of this position is to provide confidential administrative support as well as coordinating and planning the activities of these two roles to maximize efficiency and effectiveness and reprioritizing daily activities as necessary to respond to unanticipated events. This responsibility also includes conducting research and compiling background information for upcoming matters to ensure the District Chair and CAO are prepared and to increase their capacity,” according to Stevens.
She noted that the Executive Administrative Clerk would “provide the much-needed capacity for administrative support with a primary responsibility of planning and organizing meetings and events for internal and external stakeholders. This position will be instrumental in assisting the Executive Assistant in supporting the CAO and District Chair and other departments in the Administration office in achieving the District’s Strategic Plan and Action Plans.”
“What we’ve noted over this term of council is that we’ve seen a significant increase in the role of the District Chair and the implementation of the Strategic Plan, so in particular, we’re talking about sort of really increased amount of advocacy, engagement with the public as it relates to [the]Big Move on housing, the Housing Taskforce, expanding economic development, the hospital redevelopment and the Alternative Level of Care work that’s being done,” said Stevens. “In particular, I think this has been since COVID, is that the desire of the public to have a very fast response has grown, and that’s not only the public, but it’s the media as well as in some cases upper levels of government and as well we know there’s an increased need for public events so council really turned their minds to ‘how do we make sure that the public knows what the District’s doing and how do we engage people,” she said, noting that it has resulted in increased work, which has reduced the capacity of the Executive Assistant to support the CAO’s position and internal communication which also leads to the retention of positions.
Councillor Peter Johnston said while he is pleased with the District’s work, “I’d like to be assured that we have looked at all the things that are available in today’s technology to address those functions rather than looking at necessarily a [new]position,” he said while noting that in some cases it may not be possible. Stevens said, “We have looked across the organization, and it best fits within this structure that we’re suggesting from a staff perspective.” She said technology and processes are being looked at across the organization, and a report will be brought to the committee in the future.
Councillor Guy Burry said his concern relates to an increase in headcount in general at the District. He spoke about the levy for the hospitals, Fairvern, housing projects, “and we have a finite amount of money. Something is going to have to give and unfortunately this council, probably led by us, are going to have to make some very difficult decisions,” he said.
According to a 2024 District report, the upper-tier municipality has 585 permanent, full-time employees; 138 permanent, part-time employees, and 120 temporary/seasonal employees.
The positions will be added to the 2025-2026 draft tax-supported operating budget.
You can find the staff report HERE.
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