As Kimberley City Council, enters the final stages of financial plan preparation, staff are looking to restructure some upper management positions.
One of the changes will be scaling back personnel in the Economic Development department. To that end, Director of Economic Development, Schaun Goodeve, has been laid off.
Mayor Don McCormick says that with Council’s stated goal of keeping property tax increases to 2.2 per cent, they can’t simply go to the taxpayer when staff positions are needed.
“It’s a shift within departments to try to address where most pressure is and how to address it to keep investment momentum in place.
“Some departments are under severe pressure,” McCormick said. “”But we can’t just hire people. We have to pay for it without going back to the taxpayer.
“We are looking at how best allocate our resources. Part of that is some restructuring in senior management.
“Those changes are that the Director of Economic Development has left. It’s not a reflection on Schaun. We are thankful for his contributions. It’s just the reality of where we can cut.”
The job that needs to be done is changing, he says.
“How do we achieve our economic impact within the city to encourage people to invest?
“We are responding to the huge investment we are getting. When you go from $15 million to $32 million in building permit values, it affects the level of service across many departments. It has huge impacts across all departments.
“How do we best allocate the resources we have and reach our goals?”
McCormick says that developers first want to know that a city is business-friendly.
“That relates to the energy the city has created to encourage investment and what service levels are in place. How quickly can a project get underway?
“Economic impact impacts all departments. It effects the level of service across all departments.”
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