City of Ottawa Planning Department

[highdensitysprawl]

Any truth to these rumours.....

http://zeromeanszero.blogspot.com/20...capegoats.html

Three major players in the City of Ottawa (and with lots of corporate knowledge) being 'sacrificed'/'super annuated'.

If there is any truth to this, it has ramifications for many who read this board etc.

[waterloowarrior]

More senior managers cut at City Hall

Jake Rupert
The Ottawa Citizen

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

OTTAWA - The city's senior management purge continued Wednesday with four more upper-level positions cut, and several demotions.

The cuts come act the director level, the third from the top in the bureaucracy, and after they are complete will reduce the number jobs at that level by 25 per cent from 31 to 24.

City property director Barry Robinson, director of housing Russell Mawby, and Mike Flainek, director of parking operations, are laid off and others including director of culture and arts Colleen Hendrick are being offered demotions.

The cuts were announced by the city after a closed-door council session, and follow the exit of three high-level departures about a month ago.

The cuts are part of a municipal government drive to create a lean, cheaper organization, and follow the departures of city clerk Pierre Pagé, deputy city manager Richard Hewitt, and business director Steve Finnamore.

City manager Kent Kirkpatrick eliminated 100 unfilled municipal jobs earlier this year and has announced his intention to cut 230 more jobs over the next two years. On top of this, 174 optional job cuts will be debated by city council during its 2009 budget deliberations next month.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2008

[waterloowarrior]

City of Ottawa dismisses 4 directors
Last Updated: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 | 4:50 PM ET Comments0Recommend0
CBC News
The City of Ottawa has cut four more positions from its senior management.

City council voted Wednesday after a closed-door meeting to dismiss:

Mike Flainek, director of traffic and parking operations.
Barry Robinson, director of real property and asset management.
Russ Mawby, director of housing.
Diane Officer, director of long-term care.

The latest management layoffs come in the midst of budget discussions, a month after council gave pink slips to its deputy city manager of public works and services, its executive director of business transformation services and its city clerk as part of restructuring.

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

Our City is so boned...Thanks again Suburbs for electing Scary Larry...

[highdensitysprawl]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

The City of Ottawa has cut four more positions from its senior management.

City council voted Wednesday after a closed-door meeting to dismiss:

Mike Flainek, director of traffic and parking operations.
Barry Robinson, director of real property and asset management.
Russ Mawby, director of housing.
Diane Officer, director of long-term care.

Looks like Moser is spared for now.

[waterloowarrior]

Keep going, 'O'Brien says as city cuts 7 more jobs
Part of drive to create leaner, less costly organization

Jake Rupert
Ottawa Citizen

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

OTTAWA-The city's purge of senior managers continued Wednesday with seven more positions cut near the top of the bureaucracy and more departments merged and reorganized.

The cuts come at the director level, two ranks below the city manager, and after they are complete, the number of jobs at that level will fall from 31 to 24.

City property director Barry Robinson, housing director Russell Mawby and parking and traffic director Mike Flainek are being laid off and others, including director of culture and arts Colleen Hendrick, are being offered demotions.

The cuts were announced by the city after a closed council session, and follow the exit of three more senior bureaucrats.

City clerk Pierre Pagé, deputy city manager Richard Hewitt and business director Steve Finnamore left their posts about a month ago.

The cuts are part of a drive to create a lean, cheaper organization.

City manager Kent Kirkpatrick eliminated 100 unfilled municipal jobs earlier this year and has announced his intention to cut 230 more jobs over the next two years. On top of this, 174 optional job cuts will be debated by city council during its deliberations on the 2009 budget next month.

Mr. Kirkpatrick said Wednesday's cuts are "designed" to improve city services and help control spending, two goals council approved for this term of office.

"This realignment will help define a leaner and more customer-focused organization that is better positioned to achieve the strategic priorities of council," he said.

Mayor Larry O'Brien has been pressing for 500 jobs to be cut from the city payroll. He said Mr. Kirkpatrick is "moving in the right direction.

"I want to hug him and tell him to keep going," he said.

Mr. O'Brien said city workers are often constrained because other departments need to be consulted before they can act, and citizens seeking multiple related services are often directed to three different places.

He said by removing some of these problems, things should be done faster and better.

[waterloowarrior]

More former employee-related news....LOL


Former city planner to testify for developer
Ex-official's role as consultant for Minto sparks calls for 'cooling-off' period

Pat Dare
Ottawa Citizen

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

OTTAWA-The City of Ottawa's former director of planning signed on as a consultant for a developer proposing a huge expansion of Manotick village two months after leaving his job.

Now Dennis Jacobs is preparing to testify at a major Ontario Municipal Board hearing on the issue - on the developer's side.

It's a situation that has Rideau Ward Councillor Glenn Brooks, who represents Manotick, concerned about how the city's and the village's interests are being protected.

"It was a quick jump from the city to a consulting position with a developer who was headed for an OMB hearing," said Mr. Brooks. "It puts the city and the residents at a considerable disadvantage. That gives the developer two steps up."

Mr. Jacobs left the city in July 2007 after a reorganization of city managers. He took early retirement and set himself up as a planning consultant. He said that he has an ongoing duty to uphold the public interest and that all of his representations for the developer would be matters of public record, rather than inside information.

The developer, Minto, informed the city about its proposal to expand Manotick in the spring of 2007, when Mr. Jacobs was planning director. An application for the project was submitted July 17. Mr. Jacobs left the city on July 20. He says he had no direct involvement with the file.

But Mr. Brooks says the recruitment of the city's top planner by a major developer clearly shows that the city needs a "cooling-off period" for senior officials leaving the city. He says there could be a rule that former senior officials not be allowed to work for developers dealing with the city for a certain period, perhaps a year or two - or at least for the time the city is still paying severance to the employee.

The Minto development, called Mahogany, is at the centre of an important fight for the city and perhaps other Ontario municipalities. The development would roughly double the size of Manotick, leading many residents to argue that it would ruin the village character of the community. Mr. Brooks and opponents of the project argue that the integrity of community planning is at stake because the detailed plan for the village, called a secondary plan, calls for much slower growth. As well, Mr. Brooks believes this to be an important test of the strengthened role of municipal councils in development decisions under a recently passed provincial law.

Minto has argued that the development fits within the city's official plan, which calls for residential and commercial development in Ottawa's villages. Minto, which owns 430 acres and wants to build 1,400 houses, won the support of the city's planners, but lost the support of city council, which voted against the project in February.

Minto filed an appeal with the OMB, which can overturn city council planning decisions, and there was a failed mediation to settle the issue in the summer. Now the matter is set for a 45-day hearing that begins Nov. 19 and could cost the parties millions of dollars.

In his witness statement for the hearing, Mr. Jacobs recites his professional background as the city's planning director and argues that city council's decision on the project was wrong.

In an interview, Mr. Jacobs said he is not "an advocate" in this matter, but a professional planner bound to uphold the public interest. He noted that he could have been subpoenaed by Minto to testify at the municipal board hearing anyway.

Tim Marc, the city's lawyer at many municipal board hearings, acknowledged it is advantageous for the developer to have hired the former planning director and have him testify on its side. However, Mr. Marc said, Mr. Jacobs did not have any inside knowledge about the city's legal strategy.

The city does not have a specific policy governing the post-employment activities of employees, though city solicitor Rick O'Connor says former employees are bound by codes of conduct to not make public certain confidential information. He said he has written to some former employees in the past to point out those responsibilities.

The federal government has some restrictions on former senior officials about what employment and lobbying work they can do, set out under the 2006 Conflict of Interest Act.

Duff Conacher, co-ordinator of Democracy Watch, said there are many loopholes in the federal act, but that the law, if applied at the municipal level, would not permit a planning director to join a development company that has such substantial dealings with the city.

Mr. Conacher said politicians in general have done a weak job of policing the post-employment activities of influential employees, perhaps because they are concerned about their own activities after politics. He said there should be a clear five-year prohibition on employment and lobbying with companies that have significant dealings with the government involved.

Councillor Peter Hume said municipalities could bring in rules to restrict the activities of former employees, but they must be fair and not just for planners, but also in such areas as finance, engineering and information technology.

Councillor Rick Chiarelli said if the city were to bring in restrictions on what employees can do when they leave, the city might have to pay higher severance costs.

© Ottawa Citizen 2008

[waterloowarrior]

Councillor decries city layoffs while colleagues discuss details


BY JAKE RUPERT , THE OTTAWA CITIZENMARCH 25, 2009 2:39 PMBE THE FIRST TO POST A COMMENT


OTTAWA — At least one city councillor is not happy with a round of layoffs being made at city hall Wednesday.

Council is in a closed-door meeting discussing the layoffs, which are a part of a larger city-wide push to save $113 million, and the job cuts are to be formally announced when the meeting finishes.

But that didn’t stop outspoken Capital Councillor Clive Doucet from criticizing the move.

Doucet left the meeting as city manager Kent Kirkpatrick was explaining how the middle-management cuts expected in this round would work, and how they are expected to improve city services.

Doucet said what’s happening simply doesn’t make sense, and he couldn’t stand to sit and listen to it any more.

“We’re seeking half a billion dollars in funding from upper-tier governments to create jobs, and we’re laying people off at the same time,” he said. “Finding employment is hard now, and if we get the government money, we’ll need to hire more staff because there will be more work.

“It’s hard for me to see the coherence in all of this.”

The realignment was launched before the worldwide economic downturn took hold, but Mayor Larry O’Brien has said it’s even more important now in order to keep property-taxes in check.

Last year in Ottawa, Kirkpatrick eliminated 100 unfilled municipal jobs and announced his intention to cut 230 more.

In two completed rounds of downsizing, several top managers were laid off or took early retirement. At the time, O’Brien and Kirkpatrick said the next level to be targeted would be middle managers and the numbers would be greater.

There have been reports Wednesday of people being escorted from their offices by city security guards.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen


Ottawa City Hall 'realigns' through job cuts
Last Updated: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 | 11:57 AM ET
CBC News

Ottawa City Hall is going through a "corporate realignment" that could mean pink slips for as many as 50 mid-level managers, CBC News has learned.

Mayor Larry O'Brien has called a special council meeting Wednesday in which Kent Kirkpatrick, the city manager, is expected to brief councillors on the coming changes.

The city hopes to reduce the size of its bureaucracy as it works toward its Corporate Realignment Project goal of cutting $100 million in city spending.

uh oh...

[highdensitysprawl]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

uh oh...

Why does it not surprise me that Doucet left in a huff and a puff. He is one of 23 and to leave like that doesn't strike me as being professional. His distaste and distrust for anything from the Mayor is obvious. If these cuts mean more people being in charge of their destiny and removing a layer of middle management who didn't roll up their sleeves, then I can see the purpose.

My condolences to any who have lost their job. However, I think it is time for us to come to the realization that the City cannot be everything to everybody.

One of the funniest things I've witnessed is when 2 former middle/upper management City of Ottawa people (now in the private sector) were bemoaning the bureacracy, red tape and inertia going on at 110 Laurier to all those who would listen in the cafeteria. The irony that they were often the cause of the same sorts of problems when they worked for the City was lost on them.

[waterloowarrior]

I dunno, 'middle managers' can get a bad rep (the phrase itself has a negative connotation).... at one of my co-ops they were some of the hardest workers. I'm not that familiar with the situation in Ottawa yet, but hopefully the cuts are sensible and they aren't just letting great personnel go to the private sector. There was a story in the Citizen that Toronto is taking the opposite approach and hiring more people.

Citizen: The city has laid off 33 middle managers and support positions.

the Sun says 44

Forty-four city managers and administrative staff have been let go in the latest round of realignments at City Hall.

The information provided in a briefing at City Hall today says since restructuring began, 44 people have lost their jobs; 115 city employees have been affected in total. In addition to the staff who have lost their jobs, 23 have been offered lower-level positions, 26 have been offered transfers and 22 have been promoted.

The realignment will result in a total savings of $3.7 million, or a 7% reduction in total city administrative costs.

"There is going to be a wave of shock through this corporation," a City Hall source told the Sun yesterday.

"There isn't just going to be layoffs, it's a total reorganization. This is going to be big for the city."


The restructuring is an attempt to streamline city bureaucracy.

"A lot of people are going to be reporting to different people," said the source. "It's a shake-up."

[highdensitysprawl]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

I dunno, 'middle managers' can get a bad rep (the phrase itself has a negative connotation).... at one of my co-ops they were some of the hardest workers. I'm not that familiar with the situation in Ottawa yet, but hopefully the cuts are sensible and they aren't just letting great personnel go to the private sector. There was a story in the Citizen that Toronto is taking the opposite approach and hiring more people.

Citizen: The city has laid off 33 middle managers and support positions.

the Sun says 44

I love this quote from Fox News Ottawa...er I mean that radio station for angry old folks.

The Mayor says the city will be introducing the "single point of contact" at City Hall today, which will allow Ottawa residents to go to one individual to access all City of Ottawa services.

A single point of contact...that would be great in theory, but unfortunately the City is too large for that these days.

[waterloowarrior]

Originally Posted by highdensitysprawl

I love this quote from Fox News Ottawa...er I mean that radio station for angry old folks.

The Mayor says the city will be introducing the "single point of contact" at City Hall today, which will allow Ottawa residents to go to one individual to access all City of Ottawa services.

A single point of contact...that would be great in theory, but unfortunately the City is too large for that these days.

didn't something like that happen in the Harris years?

[waterloowarrior]

More jobs cut at City Hall; manager says services will improve


BY JAKE RUPERT AND PATRICK DARE, THE OTTAWA CITIZENMARCH 25, 2009 6:14 PM


OTTAWA — A smaller bureaucracy at City Hall, with 44 more people laid off on Wednesday, will deliver better service for Ottawans, the mayor and city manager say.

After a 4 1/2-hour closed-door council meeting, the layoffs were announced by city manager Kent Kirkpatrick.

When added to earlier layoffs, 56 managers and support staff have been given pink slips over the past six months. The restructuring also includes offers of demotions to 23 people, 26 transfers, 22 promotions, and 11 new hires. In all, 33 fewer people will be working in city hall’s management ranks.

The changes largely undo the management structure set up when the city was amalgamated nine years ago.

Mayor Larry O’Brien, who has pushed for change in the city government since entering the mayoral race in 2006, praised the new structure and Kirkpatrick’s decisions.

“We’re now focusing on the client, instead of the organization,” O’Brien said. “It hasn’t been easy and many tough decisions have been made. I’m confident now that the overall goals of transformation I put on the table 600 days ago will be accomplished.”

Kirkpatrick said the new management structure will result in a more efficient, streamlined, and focused organization doing a better job for citizens seeking information and services from the municipality. He said this will be accomplished because the new structure tears down false walls that forced people to deal with multiple departments for simple requests.

“This represents a significant springboard for the renewal of management and service delivery in this city,” Kirkpatrick said.

The restructuring is part of a larger goal of shaving $113 million off the city’s yearly spending, which was about $2.1 billion for operating expenses last year. Kirkpatrick said severance payouts will cost the city $5 million immediately, but the cuts will save $3.7 million annually in the long run.

He said it’s the end of his management restructuring, but, as part of the overall savings target, a goal of eliminating 200 more positions remains alive. He said these jobs will be further down in the organization where turnover is higher, and he expects the bulk of these positions can be eliminated through attrition, much the way 100 vacant positions were eliminated last year.

Many councillors expressed sadness for the people who were laid off while supporting the moves. However, Capital Councillor Clive Doucet criticized the restructuring.

Doucet left the meeting as Kirkpatrick was explaining to councillors how the middle-management cuts would work, and how they are expected to improve city services.

Doucet said what’s happening simply doesn’t make sense to him, and he couldn’t stand to sit and listen to it any more.

“We’re seeking half a billion dollars in funding from upper-tier governments to create jobs, and we’re laying people off at the same time,” he said. “Finding employment is hard now, and if we get the government money, we’ll need to hire more staff because there will be more work.

“It’s hard for me to see the coherence in all of this.”

However, Doucet was in the minority.

Baseline Councillor Rick Chiarelli said the old city structure was better suited to the needs of bureaucrats rather than citizens and he is glad to see change.

He said that after the reorganization now underway, residents who walk into a building like the Nepean Sportsplex should be able to get the information they need from one city staff person. He said that under the status quo, residents were having to deal with multiple city departments even on straightforward questions such as on recreation facilities.

Rideau-Rockcliffe Councillor Jacques Legendre said he is sorry to see staff being cut but supports better city organization. He said one clear improvement will be a planning-approval system that sees specialist teams of city staff assigned to deal with development projects specifically in rural, suburban and central areas.

Beacon Hill-Cyrville Councillor Michel Bellemare said he’s all in favour of a city administration that better serves residents, but he is somewhat concerned that management’s strategy tailors a new administration to the talent at the city now. For instance, the city’s top lawyer, Rick O’Connor, now holds both the position of city solicitor and city clerk. O’Connor was deputy city clerk before taking on his current job and can fill both roles, but Bellemare said the city could find itself in difficulty if O’Connor decides to leave the city.

Gloucester-Southgate Councillor Diane Deans said Wednesday’s changes marked the end of the administrative structure created by the transition board that merged 12 municipal governments into the new City of Ottawa in 2001. She said the model created by the board, using “centres of excellence” that were meant to provide specialized services to other city departments, generated frustration for the staff and confusion for the public and never worked very well.

Deans said she felt sorry for the staff who were being let go and frustrated that the city administration had not told council yet which specific staff members were losing their jobs. But she said the city must cut staff to improve efficiency and balance its budget.

Deans said the new, more traditional, municipal structure will mean more accountability from city staff. But she is concerned that some managers in the revised administration will have “huge portfolios” and might struggle to manage them.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

[waterloowarrior]

Ken Gray

Ottawa City Hall Suffers from a Morale Problem

By KENNETH_GRAY 03-26-2009 COMMENTS(0) THE BULLDOG

The biggest difficulty at Ottawa City Hall right now is not administration, but morale.

In 2001 with amalgamation of the Ottawa and area municipalities, everything seemed possible in our municipal world. Ottawans were moving toward a light-rail system in the near future, planning could take place on a regional scale, federal employees were coming to the municipality to work because it looked like the place to be, and Ottawa City Council was working dilligently toward harmonizing the mass of conflicting bylaws between the 12 area governments. City hall was an exciting place to be.

Contrast that with today. The flip-flop on the light-rail project, a giant lawsuit over that action, constant employee trimming, the changing of people's duties, public servants taking on extra work, the feuding on city council, the mayor's legal woes, the battle between city manager Kent Kirkpatrick and Larry O'Brien ... the list goes on and on ... have badly hurt the spirit of city staff. Staffers want to be planning a great city, providing excellent services, undertaking big projects and just seeing some results from their work. Public servce is a calling and these people have got civic religion. They care.

No doubt Kirkpatrick's reorganization is better than the system created by former chief Bruce Thom. Thom was public relations, lots of sizzle, not much steak. Kirkpatrick and his deputy city manager Steve Kanellakos are very good people. Kanellakos has superb interpersonal skills. Employees would run through a wall for him.

But the disorganization of the mayor and council is hurting staff badly. This must end so that people such as Kirkpatrick and Kanellakos can motivate the public service. Imagine having 14,000 empowered employees. Ottawa would be a greater place.

And here's another note. Chopping 44 people from city staff is not a huge number in the grand scheme of things when you see the carnage that has occurred at places such as Nortel over the years. But it doesn't seem that way if you are one of the 44. These are fine individuals with families and bills and mortgages. I worked among our civic public servants for a number of years at the Citizen municipal bureau and, for the most part, found them responsible, helpful and hard-working. I hope that circumstances turn around for those who were laid off. These are difficult times.

[highdensitysprawl]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

Citizen: The city has laid off 33 middle managers and support positions.

the Sun says 44

I got a memo sent to me (I'm not sure how the sender got it) from Kirkpatrick and there is only 1 person whose name I recognize that would have a direct impact on planning issues. I'm sure the list will become better known in the coming days.

Some of the titles of people let go would have people outside of 110 Laurier scratching their heads.

[waterloowarrior]

Key city planner among those laid off
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Busines...422/story.html
Lindsay one of 25 managers to be let go

BY PATRICK DARE, THE OTTAWA CITIZENMARCH 26, 2009 11:01 PM


OTTAWA-One of Ottawa’s most experienced planners is among the managers being laid off this week by the city administration.

Grant Lindsay, the manager in charge of development approvals for the western and central parts of the city, was one of 44 employees — including 25 managers — who lost their jobs.

Lindsay had been in the thick of city planning issues for many years. Last year, he was one of several planners to warn city councillors against permitting residential development on rural land that has substandard water supply. The councillors eventually went ahead and allowed the development.

River Councillor Maria McRae said employees such as Lindsay represent valuable corporate memory at the city that she is sorry to see gone. But she said councillors must allow the senior managers to run the city.

Many of the employees who were let go are leaving immediately and their names have vanished from the employee directory. A few are staying on for a transition period.

“It’s unfortunate that there isn’t a chance to say goodbye and thank people,” said McRae.

Senior city managers spent much of Thursday sorting out who will be doing what jobs under the new city administration structure. In all, 115 people were affected by this week’s changes. Twenty-three have been offered lower positions with red-circled salaries; 26 have been offered lateral transfers and 22 have been placed in higher positions.

Employees offered jobs have 24 hours to decide.

On Friday morning, city councillors and staff are to meet with the new senior management team and get briefed on the new structure. The object of the reorganization is to deliver city services with clearer and cheaper lines of responsibility.

The severances for departing staff will cost the city an estimated $5 million.

The final step of the job-cutting exercise will be about 200 non-management jobs. But, with about 17,000 employees (not including police), the city believes that many of the 200 will be through attrition and few layoffs will be needed.

List of managers who were fired

The other managers let go by the city in the third wave of its administrative reorganization under city manager Kent Kirkpatrick were:

Paula Arnold, manager, infection, disease prevention/control; Jim Bell, manager, traffic operations; John Buck, manager, safety and traffic; Kenneth Connolly, area manager of parks; Raymond Duffy, program manager; Kenneth Hollington, program manager, municipal fleet support; Rustin Hollywood, strategic support co-ordinator; Lyn Hunt, manager, labour relations; Pierre Jolicoeur, manager, comprehensive asset management; Wilf Koppert, program manager, cycling and pedestrian facilities; Randy Lalonde, strategic support co-ordinator; Pauline Marenger, program manager, call centre; Maureen Murphy, manager, family and community health division; John Murray, district manager; Stephen Murray, manager, information management; Doug Ritchie, program manager, property management; Andy Roche, program manager, inspection; Raymond Roy, area manager of parks; Gilles Seguin, program manager, heritage; Albert Shamess, director, solid waste (who was recruited to the city only last year); Pierre St. Jean, manager, fleet maintenance; Jack Toppari, strategic support co-ordinator; Connie Woloschuk, manager, residential and support services; Ray Yantha, district manager, parks.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

Holy Crap, someone elect O'Brien out and let's get someone who can unify council and get stuff done!!!

[Cre47]

Well, there is only about one month left before the criminal trial begins, maybe his absence will help.

[Proof Sheet]

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Ci...082/story.html

Anybody got an experience or thoughts on this. The optics of it are pretty sketchy as far as I am concerned. For once in my life, I agree with Diane Holmes on some of her points.

[Dr.Z]

The optics depends on what the reader chooses the read. It doesn't help that the Citizen puts a bit of a 'controversial' spin on all planning related matters in Ottawa. Even when the City kicked the he11 out of the developers at the OMB urban boundary hearing was this noted in a positive light by the Citizen? They somehow spun it back into the City losing.

It looks like the 2 FoTenn planners will be working on very minor stuff not related to development approvals.

In addition to 2004 the City also hired FoTenn planners in 2002 for more direct approval related work. Many of these planners then jumped ship from FoTenn and worked for the City when positions opened up.