County shows $1.5 million savings with staffing changes
Administrator | Oct 12, 2012 | Comments 10
Round three of the County’s corporate restructuring was presented to council and staff this week. Staffing changes in the three phases are said to result in a total reduction of nearly $1.5 million in employment costs annually.
“The County’s new corporate structure will facilitate effective operations and maximize employee skills and abilities while maintaining customer service excellence as a primary focus” says mayor Peter Mertens. “These staffing changes demonstrate one more step that will help us develop a sustainable municipality and ensure we’re delivering services effectively and efficiently.”
The three phases of the realignment result in the elimination of 44 positions and the creation of 29 new positions overall.
In a press release, the County states the new corporate structure is intended to maximize County employee skills and abilities, while supporting the effective use of staff resources.
“The new structure will facilitate a new way of doing business at the County – enabling decisions to be made at all staff levels and improving process flow,” the release states. “This will result in more efficient service for the customer as all staff will become more accountable and be afforded more ownership of their day to day responsibilities, reducing the need to obtain management approval for routine tasks.”
Phase three sees the elimination of an additional 10 positions and the creation of three new positions. While phase three results in a net reduction of seven positions, the County hopes to use a number of current vacancies to offset displaced personnel, reducing job losses while maintaining financial benefits.
“The County will continue to make significant efforts to minimize the realignment’s impact on employees through early retirement initiatives, attrition, and employee reassignment. While the goal of the realignment is a more efficient and effective organization, the County will strive to ensure that needed resources, knowledge and skillsets will not be lost,” the release states.
The fourth phase of the realignment will be rolled out in December, and address the need for sustainable business practices for the County by identifying opportunities to improve organizational efficiencies. This process will involve improving core business practices – including but not limited to policies, procedures, bylaws, advisory committees and financial strategies.
As staffing changes are taking place, all County business will operate as usual until changes are finalized and appropriate contact information has been updated.
Filed Under: Local News
The questions need to be asked of the people who are in charge, and if they are not answered, go to Council. Arguing on the internet will get us nowhere. There is an election in 2 years, we need to remind them of this.
No hydrant maintance or flushing spells a whole lot of trouble. If this is the kind of savings were getting than we better rethink these changes. We’ve seen time and time again how saving a dollar can affect drinking water (Walkerton)…. My son is now having to pay for water due to the discoloration of their water and this is not right. When he called for an explanation he was simply told to let it run. Well who is going to pay for the high water bills? One would think that a little bit of clear thinking could of prevented this situation. And yes the man who has made these wonderful savings is now gone once again on holidays, go figure. So who’s calling the shots this week is anyones guess????????????
Well my son lives on the heights and his water is so dirty they are now buying water to drink. Everyone should get at least a percentage off their water bill until this is corrected. In regards to the hydrants i guess will have to wait and see when a fire breaks out. No flushing, no maintaince spells a whole lot of trouble. If this is the kind of savings were getting than they better re-think what they have done before someone gets hurt ie: health,fire protection, law suits. Remember WALKERTON COUNCIL MEMBERS !!!
this is all a bunch of BS
we arenot saving money
we don’t have any water to drink
we are sending some of our employees to caribean or someplace WHAT FOR
WHY WOULD THE CAO GO ON HOLIDAYS
WHY WOULD COUNCIL RUSH THROUGH A FIT HTANT FOR SOMEOME WHEN IT IS DALTON AND ALL THIS NONSENSE THAT HAS MADE ONTARIO A HAVE NOT PROVINCE
WHAT A MESS THE COUNTY THE PROVINCE AND COUNTRY IS IN AND WHO PAYS FOR ALL THIS —- ???????? You and I
But we continue to pay the same exorborant rates for water regardless of the quality. That is not acceptable. Paying that kind of price for water that most residents will not drink due to colour, smell and taste. I also wonder with the hydrants not being flushed if the pressure is adequate for effective fire fighting.
Looks like a game of musical chairs to me.
Must be nice to be the boss. Does anyone know the salary?
Wevil & Dee, so,So, true…. And i just heard AGAIN that Mr. Dewing is headed off for another three weeks holidays (now 11 weeks vacation) returning Nov. 14 and i guess the taxpayer dosn’t deserve to know the answer to the question asked “Are we/taxpayers paying his rent as well”? I don’t care if its in his contract or not,this crap shouldn’t be going on especially when everyone else is being cut job/pay wise,everyone but him of course. I was on facebook tonight and people are pissed due to the color of our water (brown) they are even taking photo’s and posting it, and were paying for this ??????? Give me a break
SO very true Wevil!!
pen and paper is a wonderful thing.you can make whatever you want to look like whatever you want.SMOKE SCREEN