Town staff presented an update to Huntsville’s General Committee on September 27 regarding the organizational review proposed in November of last year.
That review recommended changes that were intended to “enhance organizational success and to ensure the appropriate organizational structure was in place to support the vision of the Corporation,” according to the staff report.
In practice, that meant streamlining the corporation’s executive level and aligning departments that shared commonalities, said the Town’s CAO in a later conversation with Doppler.
“I had heard from council on many occasions that they felt our organization was top-heavy,” said Corry. “Every time the sunshine list came out, there was the comparison to other municipalities and how things worked, so I recognize that was a concern because they have an obligation to their taxpayers to get work done at a reasonable cost… Prior to 2012 there were fewer directors, so I knew it would work because it had in the past. Just putting things back into place where there were synergies between departments.”
As part of the review process, the number of direct reports to CAO Corry was reduced from eight to five and the number of executive directors was reduced from five to four.
A new position, Director of Corporate Services, was created to take over some of the responsibility Corry had been shouldering – for two-and-a-half years she performed the functions of that position as well as clerk while also being CAO – and free her up to take on other projects. Yvonne Aubichon was hired for the role in the spring. The managers of finance, I.T. and marketing all report to her, along with the Town’s clerk and corporate information coordinator. Included in those departments is a new executive assistant, Brenda Jones, who assists Aubichon, Corry, and Mayor Scott Aitchison.
“What I found over the past couple of years is that it really didn’t allow me to get to bigger picture things such as the strategic initiatives and the more overreaching policies and things that needed to be addressed because I was so buried in the day to day requirements,” said Corry. “It also resulted in working excessive hours every single week. I am very committed to my job and very passionate about what I do, but it really wasn’t providing any type of life-work balance for me and I did feel it wasn’t benefiting the corporation… Wearing three hats was virtually impossible. I am so thankful that council was so supportive in recognizing that it wasn’t working.”
After a transition period to train Aubichon in her new role, Corry has been able to turn her attention to other projects like affordable housing initiatives, the RFP for the Waterloo Summit Centre and working on the hospital matter with Mayor Scott Aitchison. She has also been working with the Town’s Manager of Human Resources to focus on human capital.
“I did commit to staff this year that my focus was really going to be a lot on our human capital and making sure we have the tools in place to set the corporation up for qualified, educated individuals who are 100 per cent engaged right now but everybody is so overwhelmed that we need to look at ways to energize them,” said Corry.
The reduction in the number of directors came from the merging of public infrastructure with the fire department. Steve Hernen, formerly Director of Protective Services, took on a new combined role as Director of Operations and Protective Services in February when the position of Executive Director of Transportation Infrastructure was dropped. Within the new division are the parks and cemeteries, roads and fire departments. Two new positions were also created within the roads department: a Yard/Fleet Administrator, which has been filled, and a Manager of Roads/Fleet which should be filled by the new year.
“We did indicate in our proposal (last year) that we would be hiring a Manager of Public Works,” Corry told committee. “Director Hernen has been in his position since February and has been working through the operation and wasn’t quite comfortable saying that that (position) was the missing link… I commend Steve for taking his time to determine what our needs were instead of just automatically hiring someone.”
She added later in conversation with Doppler that, “It is a very big portfolio – he has public works, fire and parks and cemeteries. I can honestly say we’ve seen some great leadership in that area and I don’t question that it wasn’t the right decision, it was the exact decision that we needed to make. Just trying to do a little bit more with less, and so far it has resulted in huge successes in my opinion.”
In Development Services, which includes planning, building, economic development and bylaw enforcement, Director Derrick Hammond, who was previously on loan from the District of Muskoka, became a permanent Town employee this year. “He is such a great addition to our team, we are very happy to have him,” said Corry.
In Community Services, which remains under the direction of Kari Lambe, marketing was moved to Corporate Services and parks and cemeteries was moved to Operations and Protective Services.
I think we’re back to where we need to be and I look forward to accomplishing many great things.
Town CAO Denise Corry
See the revised organizational chart below.
When there are new positions created or substantial changes to existing positions, the Town uses an external consultant to evaluate the position and determine where it falls in the corporation’s pay grid. That process didn’t occur until after the organizational review had been proposed to council last November because of the cost involved.
“We weren’t going to send out the changes in some of the positions until such time that we knew council was going to support the direction that we were proposing,” said Corry.
As a result, the cost of the organizational changes that were implemented would have been over the original estimate by just under $30,000 if not for the delay in hiring the Manager of Roads/Fleets but due to that delay the cost was under budget.
In the chart above, the column at left is the current estimated cost of organizational changes for 2017, assuming a new Manager of Roads/Fleet is not hired by the end of the year, while the centre column is what was proposed in the organizational review presented to council last November. SWB stands for salaries, wages and benefits.
“We had quite a substantial savings this year, but that’s a little bit smoke and mirrors because we hadn’t filled the position so there wasn’t savings per se,” said Corry. “We did our best guesstimate (in the proposed review presented in November) based on other positions that we felt were comparable and there were some slight variations. We felt it was important for council to know that. It came in over due to the evaluations that were conducted.”
Corry also noted that for two-and-a-half years, the Town saved the salary of a corporate services director while she carried that role. “We were able to utilize those savings to carry out other expenses that were required of the corporation.”
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I have mentioned several times in comments how unfair it was for her to be wearing 3 hats. I was thrilled, therefore, that she finally acknowledged the fact; as well as how much extra time she works. It is time that she is recognized for the extremely valuable employee she is.