Wednesday, October 28, 2009

City Re-Org: Much Ado About Little


To all Employees:

Earlier this month, I sent an email to all staff to tell you about my first priority as CAO - to develop a revised organizational structure for the corporation. Following consultation with our senior management team over the past 4-5 weeks, I prepared a report and provided Council with recommendations for a revised structure at its meeting yesterday afternoon, Tuesday, October 27th.

The proposed changes to the structure reflect consideration of the groupings of the programs and services the City of Windsor provides, as they were documented by the service delivery review committees last winter. We believe the new groupings and reporting paths make sense and Council has approved the following changes to take effect immediately.

I have attached the new corporate org chart to this message. The chart illustrates the formal elimination of the following positions: the vacant position of Executive Director of Environmental Services, and the positions of General Manager of Corporate Services, General Manager of Public Works, and General Manager of Community & Protective Services. As you know, John Skorobohacz and Dev Tyagi both left the employ of the Corporation in mid-September.

It is now with mixed feelings that we contemplate saying good-bye to Michael Duben, General Manager of Community & Protective Services. Michael has been offered the position of Vice-President Customer Relations with EnWin Utilities Ltd and is expected to assume this position by mid-November. I have enjoyed working with Michael over the past few years and I congratulate him on the appointment to this exciting new role.

In light of this news, Ronna Warsh will continue with her responsibilities for Social Support, Housing & Children’s Services, Huron Lodge, and will assume additional responsibilities for Recreation and Cultural Affairs Ronna’s new title will be Community Development and Health Commissioner. The attached org chart indicates the balance of changes to the structure and I congratulate and thank all those, including Ronna, who have agreed to take on additional responsibilities in this new structure: Valerie Critchley, City Clerk; Onorio Colucci, Chief Financial Officer; Mario Sonego, City Engineer, and George Wilkki, City Solicitor.

With these announcements, I realize there will remain some unanswered questions for many of you in terms of reporting paths and teams within the new alignments. These reporting structures will all be considered and reported to you at a future date, yet to be determined. As I’m sure you can appreciate, a number of factors must be considered first to ensure the best outcomes.

This first step in the restructuring process is an important one and it is my hope that you too will see the benefits of these changes, especially in the context of service delivery review and our collective goal to provide services to our community in the most effective and efficient ways possible.

We will continue to evaluate the structure and recommend further modifications now and throughout the 2010 budget discussions.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on these changes or to provide suggestions on any other improvements to our operations. You may send your comments to caodept@city.windsor.on.ca or call 255-6439.


Helga

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