By Jason Luciw - Kelowna Capital News Published: September 16, 2008
Four management jobs have been eliminated in the final round of the Central Okanagan Regional District’s restructuring—the final fallout from last year’s Westside incorporation.Regional district chief administrative officer, Harold Reay said, in addition to staff losses, most major departments have been reorganized. “We’ve made some substantial changes in the organization,” he stated. “We looked at our organization and said we need to refocus on what we’re doing.” Twenty per cent of the regional district budget had been made up of services, which have now transferred over to Westside. Many of those services were large and required a significant amount of staff, such as Westside Fire Rescue, Westside Parks and Recreation and Westside’s Royal LePage Place arena. Regional district staff stood at 200 full- and part-time positions a year ago. After today, 105 people will be employed with the organization. Most jobs were transferred to Westside and recent vacancies weren’t filled, to avoid significant layoffs. Reay also said that the regional district’s entire operation will be moved to the main floor of its two-storey building on KLO Road.
The regional board must now decide who will rent the second floor, said Reay. “We’ve had overtures from the Okanagan Basin Water Board, also the Sterile Insect Release board has looked at it, we’ve had the province say (it) needed some space for some of (its) agencies and the City of Kelowna has looked at it.” The regional board commissioned an eight-week study to determine how best to restructure, mentioned Reay. “We knew this was coming and we know the regional district has to move forward.” To determine its future direction, the regional district will next develop a strategic plan with co-operation from its member municipalities in the new year, said Reay. For the time being, the regional district continues to manage transit, waste reduction, Westside waste water, 911 services, regional rescue services and regional parks. It also continues to govern a vast unincorporated area surrounding Kelowna and Lake Country on the east side of Okanagan Lake and an expansive rural area around Westside and Peachland on the west side of the lake.
1 comment:
How can they end up with 105 people,after the loss of Westside-this is absurd. They should be reduced to handling solid waste out of a building at the landfill and any other services offered by one of the municipalities on a contract basis.This is government at its worst-they do not care about the cost to the taxpayer.
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