Help is on the way for the overworked assistant to Orillia Mayor Angelo Orsi.
Council has approved an proposal to hire an additional staffer in his office to help create a lighter workload and a more secure environment.
Council was told that the Mayors Executive Assistant is currently working 60 hours a week on a regular basis trying to keep up with the the volume of administrative work council is generating.
Councillor Linda Murray told council when a person is constantly working one and a half job then something has to be done to try and relieve some of that pressure.
In addition she says the Mayors Assistant is under additional pressure because there are seven out of nine members of Council who are brand new to the job and require extra help to do adjuts to their new responsibilities.
She says also the way council is doing business has changed and they are accomplishing more in a shorter period of time, and as a result, they need the additional administrative and executive help.
Murray says if they are not able to get that, then they will not be able to do the jobs they were elected to do.
One councillor, Paul Speers again suggested perhaps council should wait a bit before moving forward with the hiring of this additional staff person.
However the majority of Council felt differently and gave the green light to providing more help in the Mayors office.
