Two Communities First city councillors believe the public should know how the city administration reorganization is faring, and they want an independent review to find out.
Couns. Sonya Sharp and Andre Chabot have put forward a Notice of Motion for technical review at the July 22 Executive Committee meeting that would seek an audit of sorts on the administration realignment, that which started back in 2020.
Both Sharp (mayor) and Chabot (Ward 10) are running for re-election in the 2025 Calgary municipal election.
The Notice of Motion calls for the total cost incurred due to the organizational realignment, the number of new positions created, including their labour classification, challenges experienced by employees during and following the realignment, any measurable outcomes or benefits from the realignment and the structure’s efficiency, or if it has delivered the intended efficiency.
Coun. Sharp said that back in 2021 she’d attempted to pause the budget for city admin reorganization, as they were new councillors and didn’t yet have a grasp on the internal city operations. It passed, but then was later reconsidered.
“Fast forward to this point, we get our reports from the city, CAO (Chief Administrative Officer), and they’re fine, and we see the FTEs and but what are people getting?” Sharp told LWC.
According to the City of Calgary’s page dedicated to explaining the changes to organizational structure, it talks about streamlining services and making information sharing more transparent. When the reorganization was done, it created seven departments that ultimately reported to the CAO.
“The organization realignment brings like functions and teams together to create opportunities to be more innovative and collaborative in delivering services,” the site reads.
Sharp said, however, that after the past four years, she’s often heard from citizens and stakeholders that there are still silos between departments and that there’s confusion around which department handles certain aspects of the city operations.
“I would say this (review) needs to be done in every good organization. You start to look back and say, OK, this was the intention. Did it execute?” Sharp said.
May be value in the examination: Mayor Gondek
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said Wednesday that she’ll review the Notice of Motion more fully to see what’s being sought and whether there’s merit in the request.
“I think it’s always important to evaluate whether or not you have achieved your outcomes when you go through a major organizational change, like a realignment,” Mayor Gondek said.
Mayor Gondek is also running for re-election in the October municipal campaign.
This is one of two Notices of Motion directed at the performance and execution of CAO duties at the City of Calgary. Last week, Coun. Sharp added a Notice of Motion to the upcoming Executive Committee meeting agenda that seeks a more publicly transparent account of CAO pay and performance.
Sharp said that ultimately, the accountability for the reorganization comes down to the CAO. She said it’s often a CAO’s legacy piece when they take over an organization. From there, she said subject matter experts put together a team to execute it, in what she referred to as an “empire-building” exercise in their departments.
“I would say… did we just keep reinventing the wheel every time a new CAO gets hired to do another reorg? And is it efficient?” Sharp said.
“Let’s just see if this is working. If it’s not, and CAO Duckworth has some tweaks to make, let’s make sure he does that.”
Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot said this is something he’s been pondering for some time, and when he’s asked about how the success of it is measured, he said he’s been getting “soft answers.”
He said leading up to an election, citizen confidence in city council’s oversight is important.
“We’re trying to establish customer confidence, if you will, or citizen confidence in in council, and if they don’t feel that that we are, providing good oversight in regards to the management of the corporation, it’s going to be hard to get consumer confidence, if you will, or elector confidence in their city council,” he said.
“I think leading up to the election, I think it’s important for Calgarians to feel confident that their council is doing their due diligence to ensure that the city is operating efficiently and effectively.”
If the motion is approved on technical merit, it would be debated and potentially approved at the July 29 Regular Meeting of Council. That will be the final council meeting before the August summer break.
