I made a request at the last Council meeting that has confused some people. I simply asked for a Council work session on the City’s org chart. This seems like a relatively innocuous request but I suppose in tough budget times, something that seems straightforward to me might be misconstrued. For my part, I’m not looking for places to cut jobs. I’m looking to make the government more efficient. You may ask why bother?
Well, our local government was established in a time where we still had working farms in the City. When we did the proactive zoning enforcement initiative last year, we discovered that while we had 1 zoning inspector for 40k people, surrounding jurisdictions had many times that number. In short I want to ensure that as the City becomes more urban that our staff adjusts with it. That’s it.
February 5, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Andy,
Anytime “upper management” asks for an org-chart, folks are concerned that will lead to a “re-org chart”. They are worried that the “two Bobs” will come in, start interviewing people, and then the pink-slips start flying. “Staff” is looking at their individual “staffs” and wondering how many heads they’ll lose. The only difference between the private sector and public sector during tough buget times is that the private sector doesn’t have the option to raise taxes, in order to increase revenue. If revenue is flat, the private sector must cut expenses to remain profitable.
February 7, 2008 at 9:39 am
Well Andy, I don’t think an across the board examination of City Staff is outside the purview of what a responsible elected official should be doing. With REAL NEEDS for staff increases in Public Safety, if the budget doesn’t support just adding more bodies, then reassessing is in order.
February 10, 2008 at 9:40 pm
I agree with Andy’s idea that a periodic look at the organization of a company or a city or any other organization is worthwhile. It does not imply anything is necessarily wrong, it is simply worthwhile to question whether services are being provided as efficiently as practical.
February 23, 2008 at 7:50 pm
This makes perfect sence and l’m glad you Andy and Jon are taking the initiative on this. The status of our town has changed and when we don’t tweak and peak at how services are being delivered and just keep the same old way in place, it may be costing us alot more than we realize. And frankly, frequent review just helps everyone work at a high level of competency and efficiency and have stronger accountability. And that is always a good thing!