Amherstburg is hiring a health and safety officer after a Ministry of Labour investigation led to the town being issued eight orders.
Councillor Jason Lavigne was critical of administration's request to approve the hiring.
"Some of these issues probably didn't need to come to this point and council did make a decision on this during budget [talks] a couple of months ago," says Lavigne. "For it to come back so quick was a little surprising."
Up to $49,000 from the tax stabilization reserve has been approved to pay for the new position — which is expected to be filled quickly.
Only councillors Diane Pouget and Rick Fryer opposed the motion to approve the new hire with Lavigne begrudgingly giving his support to the motion after a heated debate. Councillor Joan Courtney was absent from the meeting.
"Administration kind of made it clear that they couldn't handle it or didn't have the resources, so at the end of the day sometimes you have to make that decision and make sure it doesn't happen again," says Lavigne.
Despite Lavigne's criticism of administration's handling of the health and safety concerns, he remains confident in town staff.
"They've done a great job with what we had to deal with coming in here as a new council and a new administration," says Lavigne. "We're going to have some bumps in the road and this is one of those bumps."
The orders came after ministry staff investigated a complaint at the Libro Centre and reviewed town policies during a province-wide safety blitz beginning on January 18. The town has until March 11 to comply with the orders pertaining to equipment lockout procedures, training records and health and safety committee meetings.