OSOYOOS TIMES-September 29, 2010
By Laurena Weninger – Osoyoos Times
Over the next six months, seven jobs are going to be axed by the Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS).
The cutbacks are part of an effort to save taxpayers $470,000 per year, the RDOS announced in a media release sent out on Sept. 20.
Positions that are being slashed include that of engineering services manager Andrew Reeder, a human resources advisor, an accountant, an environmental planner, a project engineer, an air quality coordinator and various part-time or relief positions totalling the equivalent of one full-time position.
With the exception of Reeder’s job, which is a management position, and the human resources advisor position, all the jobs being lost are union jobs.
“Three of the discontinued positions are vacant through attrition and the incumbents of others have been notified that their positions will expire over the course of the next six months,” states the release.
That means there will be no need for severance pay, explained RDOS chief administrative officer Bill Newell.
The RDOS currently has staff in the equivalent of 69 full-time positions and the payroll and benefits cost for the regional district is $5.5 million per year, Newell said.
An organizational audit process of the RDOS was started in June and was conducted internally, Newell said.
An audit committee was composed of RDOS chair Dan Ashton, vice-chair Tom Chapman, rural directors Bill Schwarz and George Hanson and municipal director Gordon Clark.
The audit report was adopted by the RDOS board on Sept. 20 and included more than 60 recommendations.
“The Operational Audit was adopted at an in-camera (meeting) of the Board to provide time to notify those employees who were directly affected by the recommendations and to go over it with our staff,” Newell said about the availability of the report to the public.
“Those objectives have been accomplished and I’ll be taking a recommendation to the board on Oct. 7 to release the report into the public realm.”
As the plan is implemented, the RDOS will advise the public of some of the strategic initiatives that will come from it, states the release.
“With the adoption of this report, the board feels comfortable that they have a leaner, more efficient operation and that they can provide their citizens a higher level of service at a reduced cost.”
The news of the RDOS cuts was released on the same day the Town of Osoyoos distributed a media release explaining it would be pursuing an operational review of its own.
“Osoyoos council has ordered an independent review of the Town’s structure and operations to ensure that its organization, staffing and financial arrangements are as efficient and effective as they can be,” states the release.
The Town is sending out a request for proposals looking for an independent third party to conduct the review.
The intent is to have the report completed in the next three months so the recommendations can be considered by council during 2011 budget deliberations.
According to the Town’s release, the last review of the Town’s administrative structure and functions was done 18 years ago.
But staff layoffs won’t be in the works for Osoyoos, said Osoyoos Mayor Stu Wells.
“It’s not even part of the equation,” he said.
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