By Jason Luciw - Kelowna Capital News Published: September 17, 2008
The four senior management positions eliminated at the Central Okanagan Regional District were revealed in the wake of an official restructuring announcement on Wednesday. Human resources director Gary Leier, engineering director Hilary Hettinga, parks director Bill Vos and parks manager Bill Kenney have been let go, according to regional district spokesman Bruce Smith. "The changes were recognized by the board to better position the regional district for the future in light of the transfer of services to Westside," stated Smith. The positions of those senior staff members became redundant because the regional district had transferred about 60 odd staff to Westside, said Smith. The transfers have occurred in almost every department including finance, engineering, planning, building inspection, licensing, parks and protective services. "As the bottom of our organization shrunk there was a corresponding need to look at restructuring (at) the top and unfortunately those positions were seen to be redundant." The four senior management layoffs came after 15 months of change that has occurred since Westside voters chose incorporation, instead of continuing with the regional district's rural form of governance, in a June 2007 referendum.
The regional district continues to administer transit, regional parks, 911 response and a handful of other Central Okanagan-wide services for its four member municipalities–Peachland, Westside, Kelowna and Lake Country and two remaining rural electoral areas called Central Okanagan East (Joe Rich and Ellison) and Central Okanagan West (Fintry to Traders Cove, Trepanier Valley and Brent Road).
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