The CAO of the Municipality of North Cowichan has put in place a new organizational structure that’s focused on enhancing service delivery.
Ted Swabey said the renewal of the organization aims to streamline the customer service experience, reduce administrative delays associated with cross-departmental approvals and coordination, and promote a more adaptive, responsive and accountable administration.
He said during the restructuring process there were some gaps identified in the leadership and he cites, for example, North Cowichan was one of the only municipalities that didn’t have any management staff when it came to the fire department.
“So, we created one in this reorganization. It’s going to manage the fire department, consolidate it with bylaw services and then lead our emergency services with the CVRD. That will be a new protective services type function.”
The new structure has a smaller senior leadership team comprised of four General Managers and it included combining some services like engineering and planning to one department under the heading of development services while another saw public works and parks combined.
Swabey said the new structure will also result in long-term salary savings at the senior leadership level of about 150, 000 dollars a year.
Swabey said the work isn’t over yet.
“I’m rolling out a new organizational structure. This is the start of the process. Many people think it’s the end of the process but now we have to make it work. We need a couple key positions hired and then we need to change the culture on how we service our community and service the customers and we need to ensure our service delivery is meeting the expectations we have for this restructuring.”
