A reorganization is underway at Nanaimo city hall as senior managers shuffle responsibilities and create new jobs.
The City of Nanaimo announced organizational changes last week, which it says is aimed at supporting the rollout of a core services review completed last month.
Changes include five new job positions at city hall, which will expand a new culture, heritage and social planning area, as well as legislative services.
Not all the jobs have official titles yet, but the city reports there will be a new manager of strategic planning and policy as well as employees in areas of Freedom of Information, social and multiculturalism, information technology and culture and heritage.
More than $500,000 that went to the salaries of three former senior managers will be funnelled into the five new jobs, which tally $451,000, according to Victor Mema, who was promoted to chief financial officer.
Mema, previously director of finance, is now also responsible for legal contracts, RCMP support services, information and communication technology and risk enterprise management. He did receive a pay increase, but his salary has not been released by the city.
There’s also a newly created city clerk position, and Dale Lindsay, director of development, has a larger portfolio with additions of culture, heritage and social planning.
More changes could come this fall, according to Tracy Samra, chief administrative officer.
“We’re just taking an incremental approach, making sure that we are being responsible with the funding that we have and that we’re resourcing the areas that are priorities for council and for the community,” she said.
Samra believes the new structure will do a “ton of things” not able to be done before. Culture, heritage and social planning is now a “cohesive group” and will get additional employee support with the new social and multiculturalism employee.
The city is also creating a new manager of strategic planning and policy, which Samra said was a core review recommendation. It was a job previously handled on the side of the desk of a former director of human resources and “fell off” when she left.
A main critique from the core services review is that the city had no centralized planning function to make sure the organization puts together an annual business plan and supports strategic objectives of council, Samra said.
She sees the new structure as being able to support reorganization and transition, expected as a result of the core review which has recommended changes to consolidate certain functions and greater compliance to purchasing policies.
The new model has 100-per cent buy-in from directors and a number of managers, according to Samra.
“This is one of the first times ever, if not the first time, senior management has been central in deciding what the organizational structure looks like and we also consulted with council and gave them information and got feedback from them.”
