Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley is recommending council approve a temporary hiring freeze at city hall until budget deliberations in January.
Essential services such as Sarnia Fire Rescue Services would be exempt. The Sarnia Police Service is independent from council.
"There are some opportunities with vacancies that Council should review," said Bradley. "They should also look in the long term at an attrition management plan so we can continue to try to keep our costs under control. I realize there is a need to infill when people leave or retire. But in the past, before we had an attrition management plan that made sure every position was examined to see if it could be job-shared, eliminated or an early retirement. I think we need to get back to that type of direction. Council should not micro-manage the city, but at the same time, they are the ones responsible for the budget and the dollars that are raised from the citizen."
Bradley's notice of motion comes to council on December 17.