There will be little to no changes to the organizational structure of the Town of Sidney, following a review commissioned by mayor and council.
Paragon Strategic Services Ltd. was contracted to perform the review and its contents were recently made public. Much of the process was done in-camera, as it could have affected people’s jobs within the municipality.
Chief administrative officer Randy Humble said council asked for the review to see how things were operating, from a third-party perspective.
What the consultants found is that the Town has high expectations from its staff and at all levels the employees are responding well.
The report also shows that there are few redundancies in the departments they assessed (fire, development services, public works and parks).
It also states that if council does want to find savings in any of those areas, it would require adjusting service levels expectations.
“It’s a very positive outcome,” Humble said of the report. “Mayor and council wanted to make sure that the Town is running efficiently.”
Humble added council has accepted the report and its recommendations — essentially that there be no structural changes in any of those four departments.
The only change that did occur, Humbe said, was reclassifying a gardener position with the municipality into an arborist position.
The report also states council needs to work with staff to clarify the politicians’ expectations and budget impacts when councillors are asked to respond to sudden service requests.
The Town, earlier this year, completed a similar review of its administration function.