The Town of Halton Hills has been forced to scale back some of its summer camps as it grapples with a staff shortage and low registration numbers.
The Town had originally planned for a staff team of 65 and 2,180 camp spaces for children, but the latter figure has now been reduced to 1,526. The municipality reports that, at press time, 54 staff have been hired.
“Spots were reduced where required as both a response to lower than anticipated registration in some camps, as well as addressing the overall staffing shortage,” Director of Recreation Services Samantha Howard said in a statement emailed to HaltonHillsToday.
Staffing shortages are plaguing many workplaces across the province and municipal recreation facilities are no exception. According to a recent survey by The Harris Poll commissioned by Express Employment Professionals, about 26 percent of surveyed employers say they have hired someone they normally would not hire due to the shortage of workers. Some of those specific employers said they often had to overlook things like lack of experience, lack of soft skills or even disregard a candidate’s ability to pass a background check.
“To address the staffing shortfall, the Town will be focusing on offering youth leadership programs throughout the year in preparation for next summer, increase our volunteer base for leaders in training and continue to engage summer employment opportunities within our existing staff team,” Howard said.
A program in Acton, a week of Play Outdoors, had zero registrations and had to be cancelled, while another at the Cultural Centre in Georgetown was nixed due to low registration. Two “Tyke” programs, Tyke Hullabaloo and Tiny Tyke Sports have been combined into one program.
Tyke Hullabaloo is a program where preschoolers practice crafts, some sports, songs and even get to play in water. Tiny Tyke Sports is more athletics focused, where the kids are introduced to soccer, volleyball and other sports.
“Eight weeks of Play Outdoors in Prospect Park were transferred to Acton Community Centre (ACC) and combined with camps at that location,” Howard said. “Families registered in these programs were given the option to switch to full day programming at ACC or remain within a half day program. Families impacted by the cancellation at [the] Cultural Centre were given options for another camp.”
The Town believes the reasons for such a sharp drop in interest might be two-fold: a demographic change where fewer families have camp-aged children, and the new normal of the pandemic.
“With our facilities having been closed for so long and programs cancelled, we don’t have our usual complement of staffers that would roll over into working for us during the summer,” Howard said.
“We’re all kind of reeling from COVID and getting back into the swing of meeting together and being together,” said Councillor Ann Lawlor during the June 13 council meeting.
Howard told HaltonHillsToday that camps are currently 90 per cent full, so spaces at some locations are still available.
"This will continue to be a moving target," she said. "If we are successful in recruiting more staff, we will open more spots or address any waiting lists."
