Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: September 19, 2009 12:00 PM
North Okanagan Regional District employees will soon be under one roof. Work will start this week on a 1,900-square-foot expansion to the NORD office on Aberdeen Road in Coldstream. “It will pull everyone together instead of them being scattered around,” said chairman Herman Halvorson. Most of the staff is currently located at the Aberdeen Road site, but the Greater Vernon water utility and solid waste department are based out of an office in downtown Vernon.
“The expansion is a good business decision,” said Greg Betts, administrator. “The project will come in at about $350,000 and we’re paying a lease of $90,000 a year down there. There will be a three-year payback.” Reducing offices will also eliminate some costs like reception and travel. Money aside, Betts insists centralization will create efficiencies among staff. “We will get all of the synergies together,” he said.
“If you need to get together for a meeting, you can just walk down the hall and do it. It’s all about the team.”Parks and recreation staff were recently moved into the Aberdeen Road location from downtown. Betts doesn’t believe there will be any layoffs created by having one less office.“Not in the short-term. We will just better utilize the staff we have,” he said.The expansion project will include construction of a laboratory for water testing and changes to the front counters.The work should take about 10 weeks to complete and NORD must be out of the downtown rental space by Feb. 28.
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