The Town of Oliver has released to the media a full report from consultant Dugal Smith who concluded:
Oliver is a well run community with low staffing and low expenses in comparison to some other municipalities of a similar size. Council has decided to move forward with 22 of 47 recommendations. 18 other recommendations will get further discussion with only 7 suggestions tossed out.
On staffing issues, Mayor Ron Hovanes says council’s decisions have been made with a great deal of thought to better the operations of our community as a whole. “Not all decisions were easy”, he said.
Hovanes says Oliver is fortunate to have a trained dedicated management and staff working as a team.
Oliver Operations Review – Council-Approved Implementation Schedule
Numbers next to each recommendation correspond to the numbers in Exhibit 10 of the consultant’s report. ( See link to full report below )
The following items to be implemented in the next six months:
10. Review water pricing and cost allocations regularly
12. Implement a time reporting system for managers and all salaried staff to improve the allocation of administration costs to billable services
17. Live within the grants in aid policy of 0.05% of budget
18. Sell surplus mowing equipment
26. Find ways to reduce sewer operations costs
27. Hire a Manager of Operations
30. Eliminate a Clerk position at Town office
33. Change Town Hall hours to 8:30am to 4:30pm & open through lunch
34. Eliminate the Earned Day Off program
35. Reduce vacation carryovers and payouts
37. Discontinue the practice of moving unused vacation credits to the overtime account
39. Budget for management and exempt staff overtime
42. Hire summer students for routine tasks as permitted in the Collective Agreement
The following items to be implemented in six to twelve months:
24. Develop a policy for reserve accounts
32. Dedicate three successors to train as Utility Operators/hire an additional crew member
43. Establish reserves for accrued time banks which are carried forward from year to year
44. Increase the wage level for utility operators with incentives for qualifying operator levels
The following items to be implemented in one to two years:
4. Develop infrastructure maintenance & renewal plans
6. Prepare fire response plans for public buildings
9. Explore shared cemetery costs with RDOS
14. Increase service pricing
31. Assess the need for a Director of Development Services in 24 months
Full Document is about 80 pages and can be read here – be patient on download