A Vernon politician is accusing his colleagues of shuffling the deck chairs instead of making a serious effort to reduce staffing. It was revealed Thursday that, as part of a core services review, restructuring is occurring within two departments. Some positions will disappear but others will be created, meaning no net change to the number of personnel. “I don’t agree with this reorganization,” said Coun. Bob Spiers. “It’s just moving positions around instead of creating a new dynamic.” Restructuring of community development will include the creation of an economic development planner and a manager of long-range planning and sustainability. They will be funded through the elimination of the environmental planner position, the transfer of 0.5 time of the transportation demand management co-ordinator to engineering, reallocation of the 0.35 building inspector funding from a 2014 carry-forward and reallocation of a portion of the economic development project and planning budget. Council will also consider the creation of a parks planner during the 2014 budget process. Beyond Spiers, the new community development structure was also opposed by Councillors Catherine Lord and Patrick Nicol. In the safe communities unit, there will be a reduction of possibly one staff position. The unit will be refocused on the core services of a community policing office by providing educational and safety programs. All council members supported changes within the safe communities unit. Mayor Rob Sawatzky supports the direction the city has taken overall with spending. “The organization has already reduced staff over the past year and we will continue with that effort,” he said. Coun. Juliette Cunningham says staffing decisions were based on the core services report produced by KPMG. “The report says we’re not overstaffed compared to other jurisdictions and we’re understaffed in planning,” she said. There has been some anxiety among city employees since the core services review was initiated last year. Some were concerned that there could be widespread layoffs. However, that hasn’t occurred and CUPE president Ken Juniper believes most workers will accept the process. “We were never fat to start with and the KPMG report satisfied council,” he said. KPMG had recommended combining operations and engineering into one department but that has been rejected. Current staffing levels in the human resources department will also be maintained.
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Administration Analysis Core Services Review
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