BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — Buffalo Common Council members are considering the creation of on-site daycare for their employees.
“I can tell you as a parent of three young kids, and I have staff who has young kids, it would be great to have them in the building,” declared Chris Scanlon, south district, Buffalo Common Council.
The Common Council recently adopted a resolution sponsored Scanlon to examine the possibility of creating child care for City Hall workers.
“We're going to have this conversation with the administration, with the Department of Public Works — see what would work in the building — what might not work in the building and how we would go about doing it,” Scanlon explained.
Realizing access to daycare can be a big challenge for families, Scanlon tells me as more City Hall employees hit retirement age it's time for the city to offer this benefit to future employees.
“We've got to attract people who want to come work for the City of Buffalo and, you know, there's the obvious salary benefits things of that nature, but if we can offer them any other benefits in addition to that — it's great,” remarked Scanlon.
But there are a number of state regulations and guidelines that would need to be established in order to create the daycare space, including having children located on the first floor, an area Scanlon showed me inside City Hall that he believes could be adapted.
“There's plenty of space within the building. I think it's just a matter of having the will to do it and finances to do it and again making sure it fits within whatever existing guidelines or other things that exist,” Scanlon described.
I asked several city hall workers to comment on the daycare proposal — all declined to go on camera, but told me it was a great idea. one woman even declared it would be “wonderful”.
Scanlon says they will be conducting a full feasibility study on this topic and then will report back to the full common council.
