Don’t Derail The Municipal Gravy Train (1)
Perhaps city manager Wendy Stephanson could come closer to the truth as to why the City of Ottawa is having trouble hiring senior people.
The main reason is that people don’t want to work there. Yes, there is a labour shortage for unskilled jobs. Doubtful a labour shortage exists for senior city posts offering hundreds of thousands of dollars for remuneration.
The real reason many people are choosing to retire or are just leaving is because good, honest, ambitious people, careerists perhaps, don’t want to be in a sick organization. In the following post on The Bulldog, we will illustrate just how dysfuntional the City of Ottawa has become.
Here is Stephanson from her staff reorganization memo:
“… the organization is experiencing significant change due to ongoing retirements and leadership turnover, continuous legislative changes from the federal and provincial governments, new and emerging technologies and ways of working, ongoing economic and social challenges, and evolving community and workforce needs.”
Stephanson does not mention the herd of elephants in the room. The culture at Ottawa City Hall is abysmal.
And that is one of the biggest problems at the municipal government. People there are unable to recognize the reality or don’t want change because they got a good thing going.
The LRT might derail but a lot of people have great interest in not derailing the municipal gravy train.
We send you to the next post for details outlining just how bad the situation is at Ottawa City Hall.
Ken Gray
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There could be another reason that Ottawa has not filled major positions.
The Strong Mayors Act gave mayors the right to appoint positions in the City Administration, ending the Canadian commitment to independent public service.
The Province has limited sources of funds for development and holds the power to allot funds among cities as they determine what best advances their interests.
We have heard the Premier state that he wants to control as many positions as possible to promote the Conservative agenda whether it be judges, members of commissions, boards, committees and even human rights tribunals.
So what price will Mayors pay in appointing people to positions who might not be qualified in order to get sufficient funds to meet city needs?