Town of Morinville reorganization sees five staff gone, including two senior positions

by Colin Smith

Five Town of Morinville Administration staff have been dismissed as a result of organizational changes announced last week.

Chief Administrative Officer Stephane Labonne stated Tuesday that positions affected by the reorganization are Director of Corporate Services, Engineering and Facilities Manager, Human Resources Coordinator and two Administrative Assistants.

The two senior positions have been reclassified and the Town has begun the recruitment process for them, he said.

The new General Manager of Administrative Services position will oversee the Planning and Economic Development Department and the Communications and Legislative Services group, along with Finance, Information Technology, Information Management and Human Resources.

Leading and managing Facilities, Fleet, Utilities, Transportation and Parks will be the responsibility of the General Manager of Infrastructure Services.

Labonne said the Town’s operational needs and requirements are currently being reviewed, with decisions on the other three positions expected in the next few weeks, to be followed by recruitment processes for some or all.

The roles of the dismissed employees amounted to 4.6 full-time equivalent positions.

“We are working through the terms of the separations and I am not prepared to release the costs associated with them as, quite frankly, the negotiations may take up to several weeks to complete based on how long previous ones have taken,” said Labonne.

Also as part of the reorganization Enforcement Services and Fire Services have been amalgamated into the new Community Safety Department and other reporting structure changes have been made within this department.

According to a Town of Morinville news release, the reorganization is intended to address the needs of the growing community and the changing expectations of residents and businesses, moving from delivering services from Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., to 24 hours a day, seven days per week.

“We made the difficult decision to move forward with these organizational changes to ensure in future, we had the ‘right’ roles organizationally, as well, the ‘right people’ in those roles,” Labonne said.

“Once the key leadership and other critical roles are filled, nothing will hold us back from proudly serving and raising our collective performance levels for the community in the most effective and efficient way possible.”

He noted that when he arrived at the Town of Morinville there were five members of the Senior Leadership Team, the Chief Administrative Officer and four directors. Now the team will be made up of three members, the CAO and two General Managers, which will offer savings.

Labonne added that for the 2021 Operating Budget savings based on previous changes totalled about $170,000.