qathet Regional District’s finance committee is recommending approval of two expenditures from the additional $117,000 provided by the province through the COVID-19 safe restart grant funding.
At the June 16 finance committee meeting, directors voted to recommend the regional board approve an amendment to the 2021 budget to recognize receipt of the money and transfer it to a non-statutory reserve fund.
The committee then discussed a recommendation for the board to approve a $7,800 expenditure for seven ergonomic office chairs. Electoral Area D director Sandy McCormick said she had trouble believing the chairs can cost that much. She said $7,800 for the purchase of seven chairs amounts to more than $1,000 per chair.
“You know, you can get some really good chairs at Costco for a lot less than that, so I’d like comments from staff regarding the cost of these chairs and why they are so expensive,” said McCormick.
Corporate officer Michelle Jones said the chairs are quite expensive, at between $600 and $1,000 each, and there is shipping on top of that. She said each employee has to go through an ergonomic assessment and the recommendation is to get chairs that are fully adjustable.
“That way, they can have longevity and last many, many years,” said Jones. “When you buy the less expensive ones, you don’t have the fully adjustable arms or the seats that are needed and recommended by the person who conducts our ergonomic assessments.”
McCormick asked if these were the only chairs on the market that could do this.
“Clearly, there is a health or wellness benefit to having the adjustable chairs but I’d like to hear a little bit more about that, and if there is only one supplier, or many suppliers,” said McCormick.
Jones said one of the many components is having the ability to not only have the arms go up and down, but also to tilt in to provide elbow support, to reduce repetitive stress injury, for keyboarding for example.
“That one is a difficult component to locate, and on the chairs we have located that were slightly less expensive, they didn’t have the adjustable seats,” said Jones. “Having an adjustable seat is very important for ergonomics.”
Manager of financial services Linda Greenan said staff have purchased less expensive chairs and they haven’t lasted well. She said while the purchase seems expensive at the outset, over the lifetime, they are quite a good value.
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said he shared McCormick’s concern and that $1,000 a chair is a little high.
“I’ve heard concerns from the public about the steady increase in taxation and while $8,000 isn’t much compared to our overall budget, at more than $1,000 a chair, it perhaps sends the wrong message to the taxpayers,” said Gisborne.
Doubt, Brander call expense 'reasonable'
City director and committee chair George Doubt said he’s been involved in a number of large workplaces from a health and safety standpoint where ergonomic chairs have been purchased and the requirements don’t surprise him at all. He said it doesn’t take much of an injury to end up costing the employer more than $1,000 in sick time.
“I don’t find the cost of ergonomic chairs outlandish,” said Doubt. “A set of chairs like this seems like a reasonable expense.”
Electoral Area C director Clay Brander said he was quite shocked at the price but he did some research and there’s a lot of chairs out there for more than $1,000.
“It seems to be a reasonable expense,” added Brander.
The committee recommended the board approve the purchase of the chairs.
The committee then considered an allocation of $44,000 from the safe restart grant funding for renovations at the regional district’s maintenance facility, construction of an accessible washroom at the site and installation of a chlorination system to treat the well water.
Brander said he is pleased to see the concept of universal design was considered when making renovations at the maintenance facility.
“I imagine it possibly costs a bit more but if we incorporate this kind of thinking into everything we do, eventually, every regional district facility will be fully accessible,” said Brander. “I’m pleased to see that.”
The committee voted to send the expenditure to the regional board for consideration.
