City of Brampton sacks 25 managers, key staff (TheStar.com)
Twenty-five managers, many of them key staff in the administration, fired Tuesday as councillor hopes for ‘complete change of culture.’
TheStar.com
Sept. 6, 2016
By San Grewal
In a sweeping move, the City of Brampton has informed 25 managers, including some of its most senior staff, they are no longer employed with the municipality.
“All the chiefs are all gone. The sixth floor has been cleaned out,” said Councillor Pat Fortini, following the stunning announcement by the city’s new chief administrative officer Tuesday.
The move comes after an external financial review by Ontario’s former auditor general last year revealed unsustainable labour costs, including the bureaucratic class, that were swallowing up a disproportionate amount of property tax revenues. The move will reportedly save the city $2 million a year, as many of the vacated positions will not be filled.
“This is disruptive,” said Mayor Linda Jeffrey, “there’s no doubt about it. Losing 25 people, 25 key individuals in the city is a very large change to what we’re going to do in the coming weeks, and I think we’re all going to grapple with that. Whether you choose change or it’s thrust upon you, it’s difficult. But I am confident in the leadership provided by our CAO.
“This is a lot to take in all at once,” Jeffrey said. “We have a lot of things at stake. Our residents expect us to do the best, and I think we’re now better positioned to compete with people across Ontario and around the world.”
Jeffrey said that recently hired CAO Harry Schlange was specifically brought on as “an agent of change.”
Following Tuesday's announcement, Schlange was asked to confirm that the city’s most senior staff, those occupying the roles of “chief” of the largest departments, are no longer with the organization.
“We had to notify 25 individuals that had to exit the organization this morning,” he said, but would not divulge details of who was let go. “Building a better organization has led to the elimination of 20 jobs (the other five will be replaced). All non-union management jobs.”
“I will not be citing specific individuals at this time ... I can tell you 25 have left, and I’m not replacing 20 of those.”
The change came as welcome news to some councillors.
“The sunshine list (of public sector employees in Ontario making $100,000 a year or more) is growing like crazy in Brampton,” Fortini said, mentioning the independent report last year by former Ontario auditor general Jim McCarter.
“People are walking around trying to justify these management jobs while property taxes are going up and up.”
Councillor Jeff Bowman said the move will help council get its work done: “Change was inevitable in order to move the city forward.”
“Everyone will really get things moving along now,” Councillor John Sprovieri said. “I’m very hopeful there will be a complete change of culture with these changes.”
Tuesday’s unprecedented move is the latest surprise in a city whose government has been dogged by problems in recent years:
- In 2014 it was revealed that staff had lost track of the status of capital projects worth tens of millions of dollars.
- After years of being told that no taxpayer dollars were spent on former mayor Susan Fennell’s private events, councillors learned staff had purchased about $175,000 worth of tickets to the events.
- A $28.5-million lawsuit has been filed against the city alleging there was staff misconduct in the handling of a $500-million downtown development deal.
- Senior staff secretly altered Fennell’s salary without informing council.
