| Town still pondering reorg options |
| 'Parameters' for town hall's
restructuring to be set by mid-March, says mayor |
| By Morgan Ian Adams |
| Enterprise-Bulletin (Fri, February 9, 2000) |
| COLLINGWOOD - A consultant is just one option council is
looking at with an eye to implementing the town's organization review. |
| On Monday night, council met behind closed doors with Bob
Reynolds, a consultant hired by Simcoe County to restructure its
operation. Reynolds also made 'substantial changes' to the municipal
structure of Tillsonburg, a town in southwestern Ontario. |
| Reynolds' presentation to council dominated an
hour-and-a-half in camera meeting, a presentation on which Mayo Terry
Geddes says council is still pondering. |
| "We're in reflection," Geddes told the E-B.
The mayor was also quick to point out council would have to go through a
Request for Proposal process should it decide to move ahead with a hiring
a consultant to help in restructuring the municipal operating. |
| Contracts more than $10,000 are required by town policy to
go through a tender process. |
| And, the mayor cautioned, the public shouldn't get the idea
the town is going to hire an outside company such as Reynold's, because
that's just one direction in a process that is still yet to be finalized. |
| In October, the town wrapped up an organizational review
process with consulting firm KPMG, a report prepared at a cost of $50,000. |
| One of the report's main issues being tackled now by
council is the issue of human resources, and whether to hire an
individual, use a consulting firm, or contract the position out. |
| Reynolds' name was originally presented two weeks ago at
the council table by Deputy Mayor Tim McNabb, who briefly discussed
Reynolds' success in revamping the county structure. |
| "Whether we implement this (the KPMG report) ourselves
or we bring in someone, we have to sit down with department heads and the
CAO to determine a direction... to set the parameters," Geddes
said. "We need to sit down with staff and ask them a direct
question whether they're comfortable with implementing (the report)." |
| That process, the mayor said, should be done by March,
after which implementation of the KPMG report begins - a process which
will likely take two-to-five yeas. |
| David Morris, the CAO/clerk for Tillsonburg, said his
municipality hired Reynolds in 1999. |
| "Council felt it was time for a review," he told
the E-B, noting the last organization review for Tillsonburg, a community
of 14,500, took place in 1985. Morris said Reynolds' examination of
the municipal structure focused in on several areas, including organization
and compensation, customer service, and technology issues surrounding
Y2K. Tillsonburg, through Reynolds' recommendations, eventually
developed a customer service centre which operates Monday through Friday,
8 a.m. until 8 p.m., and on Saturday mornings. |
| The council converged the Parks, Recreation and Culture
Board - which was an autonomous body similar to a library board - the
Public Utilities Commission, and the town into one corporate body, and the
committee structure was done away with, with those respective issues now
presented to the five-member council as committee of the whole. |
| Morris said a senior management team was also developed, so
council's primary function was policy development, while the management
team carried out those policies along with other management duties.
While there were some staff cutbacks - the municipality has 80 full-time
staff, with an operational budget of around $7 million - those were
achieved through "pending retirements... which were moved along
a little faster," Morris said. |
| "There were some substantial changes," he said,
noting over three years, the municipality has saved nearly $1 million. |
| Geddes said Simcoe County representatives would be heading
to Tillsonburg later this month, as would Collingwood officials if the
council agrees to hire Reynolds. |
| Councillor Rick Lloyd, who has already gone on record as
dismissing the KPMG report, said he doesn't believe the town needs to
"throw more money at this stuff. |
| "We need to get the job done ourselves," he said,
adding spending money "doesn't solve the problem. |
| "The municipality has the people with the talent, and
(council) should be empowering them," he said. "A lot o
the job could be done in house without consultant reports." |
|
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