North Huron restructures administration department
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
The North Huron Clerk’s Department is undergoing a restructuring after council voted in favour of a proposal on the matter, detailed in a report from Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Dwayne Evans and presented at a regular meeting on June 19. The decision creates two new positions: Director of Legislative/Clerk and Deputy Clerk/Planning Co-ordinator, and eliminates the positions of Clerk/Planning Co-ordinator and Clerk’s Administrative Assistant. Council, however, decided against a related proposal to create a third full-time position for Records Management/Legislative Services Assistant as part of the overall restructuring effort that would have replaced two contract positions.
Evans presented council with a report he co-authored with Human Resources/Health and Safety Co-ordinator Alyssa Lidow outlining the proposed restructuring. Evans indicated that the department is experiencing recruitment and retention challenges, specifically with the vacant Clerk’s Administrative Assistant position. Exit interviews with departing employees reveal common reasons for leaving, including a lack of career advancement opportunities, high workload and stress, and inadequate compensation.
The report called for the elimination of the Clerk/Planning Co-ordinator position, a role staffed by Carson Lamb, and the Clerk's Administrative Assistant position, which is currently vacant. In addition, the proposal would eliminate two temporary contract positions related to records management and replace them with a full-time Records Management/Legislative Services Assistant.
The report says that the restructuring aims to improve employee retention, implement succession planning, enhance efficiency and improve customer service. According to Evans, the restructuring would have a minimal impact on the 2023 budget and would achieve modest cost savings.
Councillor Mitch Wright expressed skepticism about the cost savings of the proposal, saying, “I don’t think this should be portrayed as a net-savings. This is adding a full-time head to the organization and it’s going to be a long-term cost. That’s not something that I’m in favour of… I just don’t think the community would welcome adding an additional full-time staff at this point.”
Deputy-Reeve Kevin Falconer praised the proposal’s focus on employee retention, saying, “I’m happy to see the incentive portion is built into this… I’m in favour of the improvements that [the report] is mentioning here. I don’t see too much of a downfall in any of it. I think we’ll benefit from this kind of an approach.”
Councillor Chris Palmer cautioned against adding new positions to staff without focused planning, stating that, “We’re at that breaking point for staff - if we add to that number, you really have to have a good sales pitch, because we’re going to be hearing it from the ratepayers… we just cannot keep rolling contracts into full-time positions unless there’s an absolute good reason for it.”
Clerk Lamb explained that scanning all of the records for the entirety of North Huron was a much larger project than originally believed, but ensured that the modernization effort would lead to streamlined bill paying, onboarding new employees, and freedom of information requests, creating a more functional work flow.
Council then made a motion to restructure the Clerk’s Department and add the Records Management/Legislative Assistant position, which was voted down in a recorded vote 4-2 with Falconer and van Hittersum in favour. A new motion was drafted to instruct staff to investigate efficiencies in the Clerk’s Department to offset the restructuring costs, which passed in a recorded vote 4-2 with Falconer and van Hittersum voting against the motion.
An agitated Lamb stressed that he still needed direction on whether he should staff the existing Clerk’s Administrative Assistant position, or hire a new Deputy Clerk/Planning Co-ordinator, as proposed under the restructuring that was voted down by council. The decision was made to conduct the remainder of the conversation in a closed-to-the-public session because the decision to restructure the existing Clerk/Planning Co-ordinator position, held by Lamb, would involve discussion about an identifiable municipal employee. Evans and Lamb were both invited to participate in the closed session.
In an e-mail correspondence with The Citizen, Evans said council decided during the closed session to go ahead with restructuring the Clerk’s Department, creating the new positions of Director of Legislative/Clerk and Deputy Clerk/Planning Co-ordinator, both of which include pay increases. Although Evans’ report called for the immediate creation of the Deputy Clerk/Planning Co-ordinator role, it didn’t intend for the Director of Legislative/Clerk position to begin until 2024. Evans said that council decided to make the change effective immediately with Lamb assuming the new title.