Brampton city staff will report back to council in January after some councillors indicated they needed more staff to address the customer service needs of the city’s growing population.

At the Dec. 5 meeting of committee of council, Wards 9 and 10 Coun. Gurpreet Dhillon tabled a motion to implement a new “council office political support model” that would increase councillor office budgets and give individual councillors sole oversight over their staffing decisions.

Currently, Brampton councillors have the budget for one executive assistant. Dhillon’s motion suggests Mississauga’s staffing model is more appropriate for Canada’s second-fastest growing city.

In Mississauga, each councillor has an administrative assistant in addition to an executive assistant. They’re also given discretionary expense accounts, which Dhillon would also like to see Brampton adopt.

“This is the modernizing of our staffing model. This is to improve customer service levels,” Dhillon told council. “I think we need to improve our customer service … In my particular ward, we don’t have the capabilities to handle the number of calls coming in. In my opinion, we’re doing a disservice to (our constituents).”

“The Vision 2040 … says that we need to, as leaders of the city, engage more with the communities that we represent. I think this motion speaks to essentially the need for us to have more resources in the councillor offices,” added Wards 1 and 5 Coun. Rowena Santos.

Dhillon’s motion also took into account that not all wards are equal in size and population and that some councillors may not require the additional staff.

After a lengthy debate and request from senior staff for more time for study, council decided to adjust Dhillon’s motion to have staff report back to council with a fully costed report after the holiday break for council’s consideration.

“I don’t want folks to get ahead of themselves. We’re not saying this change is going to be made. We’re asking for a staff report on what the formula is in other municipalities and then council has the information to decide if this is something they want to go ahead with,” Mayor Patrick Brown told council.