The Goings and Goings at the District of Lantzville Office!

As has been mentioned in several of my recent postings, senior staff turnover at the District of Lantzville has become significant. It has now been over two months since Ian Howatt, the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and Jane Ayers, the Director of Financial Services, both left the employ of the District. This left Twyla Graff, the Director of Corporate Administration (DCA), as the only remaining senior bureaucrat. In the ensuing two months, Ms. Graff has been promoted to the Chief Administrative Officer position, while continuing to carry on her old duties as DoCA plus she has also taken on the duties of Ms. Ayers (with "assistance from a retired Director of Financial Services on an as-needed basis").

Now, some of you may be surprised by all of this since there has been no formal announcement from the District about the changes. It has been my experience that, unless the departure has been 'forced', when senior staff leave a public body there is a broadly distributed communique thanking the individual for their contributions and wishing them well in their new job/endeavours and, if possible, introducing their successor. The only way residents of Lantzville would have found out about these departures would have been to have had occasion to ask for either of them by name at the District office or to have had reason to read the 'April CAO Report' attached to the April 24, 2006 Council agenda.

In my mind, this raises a number of questions.
1. why did they leave and why did their departure happen so 'quietly'?
2. while the District has advertised the two vacant positions and have apparently received a number of applications, so far, neither position has been filled.
3. either important work of the District is not getting done, Ms. Graff is rapidly heading for a 'burnout', or we didn't need all three positions in the first place!
4. it is not good practice to concentrate all of the day-to-day running of any organization in the hands of one person. 'Checks and balances' are built into the system for a reason.

[Update 08 10] Based on a single page item regarding severance paid to non-union staff in the middle of the District of Lantzville 2006 Annual Report, it now becomes apparent that one of these two senior staff members was, in fact, fired. If I had to put money on it, I would guess that it was Jane Ayers, our Director of Finance. When I inquired soon after she left, I was told by a staff member that it was to 'spend more time with her grandkids' but, as to the real reason why she was let go, I suppose we'll just have to continue to wonder.

Since several significant projects requiring much effort, knowledge and skill are on the horizon for Lantzville (Lantzville Foothills Estates, sewage collection system, Lantzville Projects), we need to see these positions filled with qualified people of the highest integrity as soon as possible.
This just in - along with all of the duties mentioned above, it is now proposed that Ms. Graff also share the recently-vacated Emergency Program Coordinator position (with Fire Chief, Tom Whipps, and Supt. of Public Works, Fred Spears)!

UPDATE #1(06 06 28)
On Tuesday afternoon, June 13/06, Lantzville Mayor, Colin Haime, left a message on my answering machine regarding this posting. He begins by saying that "a resident" (I think it's safe to assume that this is not the same 'resident' often railed against by him on his website or in his mail-outs) alerted him to the item posted to this blog just that morning (nice to know that I have developed somewhat of a regular audience!). It would have been preferable if the vigilant resident would care to come forward and debate/discuss issues such as this in a forum accessible to all Lantzville residents and not filtered through the 'optics' of politics. Regretably, that hasn't been how things are done here in Lantzville for quite some time.

To quote the Mayor:
... Specifically, it makes reference to Ms. Graff and I believe it questions her abilities and also her integrity within the blog, specifically at least items 3 and 4 in your list, as well as the last paragraph. Based on this, as a representative of the District of Lantzville, I request that you remove all references to Ms. Graff, specifically with respect to her abilities and integrity and update the blog as soon as possible. Thank you.

Well, I'm not going to be able to do that and, although I've explained this to him before (see comments/discussion for my "Are You Being Provided ALL The Information You Need?" entry, http://vigilantz.blogspot.com/2006/04/are-you-being-provided-all-information.html), for the edification of anyone new 'listening' in, I'll provide my specific reasons here:

First of all and, in order to provide fair comment and useful, readable information, I choose my words very carefully for intent and meaning, editing an entry three or four times before it goes to "press". Also, the information which I have provided in this article and the questions I have raised, as with all my entries, are in the public interest.

I am not specifically questioning Ms. Graff's abilities, I am questioning the ability of anyone to effectively and consistently perform 3 jobs for a prolonged period of time and the wisdom of politicians who would allow such a situation to occur in the first place and then let it continue for months. Furthermore, I am sure that the three Chartered Accountants on Council would strongly support my concern in point #4 if it related to any of their business clients, so why should the public expect anything less? By pointing this out, I am not questioning Ms. Graff's integrity, any more than requiring two members of Council to sign District cheques would be questioning their integrity. It is Council's responsibility to see to it that the necessary, qualified staff and appropriate safeguards are in place.

Once again, as with the concerns raised in my earlier blog entry on communications, instead of providing residents with answers, the Mayor's approach is to "shoot the messenger" by blustering and attempting to censor relevant information. Perhaps, if the District was more forthcoming with information such as this, I wouldn't have to be spending my time telling residents of things which have the strong likelihood of directly affecting them - dare we hope that any new 'communications' strategy will at least begin to address these concerns?!

UPDATE #2 (06 10 05) According to the August/September CAO Report included with the Sept. 11/06 Regular Council meeting agenda, Scott Churko, our 'water guy'/maintenance worker for the past 10 years, has resigned. Unlike the leavings discussed above, this notification at least thanks Scott for his contributions to our community and wishes him well in his future endeavours and even tells us where he will be going (Parksville).
The District has also finally hired a new Director of Financial Services (Mr. Paul Sangalang), five months after Jane Ayers 'resigned'. This still appears to leave the position of Director of Corporate Administration unfilled, now going on six months after Twyla Graff was promoted out of that position to become our Chief Administrative Officer.

UPDATE #3 (07 01 31)
According to the December CAO Report included with the Dec. 11/06 Regular Council meeting agenda, Aletta Larsen, Corporate Administrator Assistant, left the employ of the District in October in order to travel. The same document also states that we finally have a person to fill the position of Director of Corporate Administration, the position that our CAO (Twyla) has continued filling since she was promoted out of it way back in April of last year. The new DDoCA is Ms. Sandra Carlton and she began her employ with the District of Lantzville on Jan. 2/07. Also joining the District is Jason Gosling and it would appear that he is filling the spot vacated by Scott Churko in September, although it looks like he will be able to operate our sewer collection system, as well. I would like to welcome these two individuals to our community and wish them well in their service to the residents of Lantzville. In terms of numbers, we had something like 50% turn-over in staff last year.

UPDATE #4 (07 09 25)
Ms. Sandy Carlton, Deputy Corporate Administrator, who joined the District on Jan. 2/07 had her employment terminated on June 11/07, after being "unable to successfully complete her 6-month probationary period". The District then hired Ms. Donna Tutyko, an Executive Assistant with the City of Nanaimo (one of their favourite entities), who began her employ on Sept. 4/07, without advertising the position to the public. While it would only be proper to welcome Ms. Tutyko, it is clear that the revolving door continues.

UPDATE #5 (07 11 21)
Ho Boy! The November CAO Report informs us that still another senior, staff member of the District is leaving their employ. Paul Sangalang, the Director of Financial Services, is leaving after just over a year of 'crunching the numbers' on our behalf. Unlike most of the previous staff 'resignation' notices made available to the public, this one at least tells us why he is leaving - apparently to return to the Lower Mainland to be closer to his fiance and family. Aside from expressing regret at his leaving, our CAO, Twyla Graff, did not take this opportunity to thank him for his contribution to the past successes of the District. I find that unfortunate.

UPDATE #6 (08 04 21)
In her February CAO Report to Council, Twyla Graff, our CAO, notified Council and the public of the hiring of Greg LeBlanc as Lantzville's newest Director of Financial Services (3 months after Paul Sangalang resigned). Then, in her April CAO Report, she shares the news that, he too, has now resigned. Three Directors of Finance/Financial Services in the almost five years since we became a municipality, including 8 months where we were using temporary staff to complete the work. Is there no one on Council who is concerned about this grossly excessive turn-over and the reason(s) behind it?

UPDATE #7 (08 09 30)
At the May 20th regular meeting of Council, Lantzville's CAO, Twyla Graff, was once again, appointed the Director of Financial Services, which is a 'statutory' position, required under the legislation which governs the operation of local governments in B. C. (Community Charter), giving her both of the 'statutory' positions (DoCA & DoFS) , as well as the only other officer position mentioned in the Charter (CAO). As stated earlier, this is not good 'business' practise! Since this is not her forte and she obviously already has a full-time job to perform (it may even be two!), the District has retained the services of a former retired Director of Financial Services, Mr Doug Lang. While his assistance and expertise should be welcomed, this puts us right back into the position where we have lost a good part of the 'checks and balances' which are built into any 'solid' bureaucracy.

UPDATE #8 (09 03 14)
At the Dec. 8th regular meeting of Council, Lantzville Council appointed Ms. Jedha Holmes, as Deputy Director of Financial Services for the District, effective Dec. 1st. This would appear to mean that Ms. Graff, our Chief Administrative Officer/Director of Corporate Services, will continue to also fill the position of Director of Financial Services, 8 months after our last full-time person in that position resigned. So many questions regarding the financial operations of the District, yet so few answers.

 UPDATE #9 (12 07 30)
At the Feb. 13th regular meeting of Council, Lantzville Council agreed to add yet another 'statutory' responsibility to Ms. Graff's plate, that of the Subdivision Approving Officer for the District. In case you're like me and its become difficult to keep track of her ever-increasing responsibilities over the years, let's make a list, shall we. This single individual now has the following FOUR titles and responsibilities: Chief Administrative Officer, Director of Finance, Director of Corporate Administration, and finally, Approving Officer. Apparently, just as with the other two 'statutory' positions, there are no specific education/experience requirements to hold these positions. In order to help her with these new duties, she will be attending a one-week course and relying on other staff members and 'consultants' for advice.

UPDATE #10 [14 01 17]
At their Mar. 11/13 regular meeting of Council, Lantzville Council appointed Jedha Holmes to the position of Director of Financial Services. For those keeping track, this is the District's sixth Director of Financial Services appointment in the past 8 years. As noted above, Jedha joined the District in December of 2008. A Chartered Accountant, she appears to have now satisfied the District's Chief Administrative Officer, Twyla Graff, that she is 'up-to-the-task' and Ms. Graff has, as a result, switched tiles with Ms. Holmes still leaving our CAO with 4 titles/responsibilities.

Also at the same meeting, Lantzville Council appointed Tamie Nohr, formerly with the RDN, to the position of Deputy Director of Corporate Administration, to fill the vacancy left when Donna Blank resigned to return to employment with the City of Nanaimo.
On Nov. 5th/13, a District of Lantzville advertisement for a Deputy Director of Corporate Administration, Ms. Nohr's position, appeared on the CivicInfo.bc.ca website (an information/communication resource for all BC municipalities). There has been no mention of her departure on the District's website but, by checking the staff present at meetings of Council in the Minutes, it would appear that Ms. Nohr left the District's employ at the end of December, meaning that she was only with the District for 10 months. It does not appear that the District's advertisement met with success since, according to the CAO's Report in January, Lynn Kitchen, a retired Deputy Clerk from the City of  Parksville has been hired on a temporary/contract basis for this position. The same report also announces the resignation of Vince Coles, our Maintenance Technician since 2006, and the District "wish(es) him well in his future endeavours". Given the relatively short time that Tami Nohr was with the District and the fact that she did not garner similar good wishes, I think it is reasonable to assume that she was let go, the second Deputy Director of Corporate Administration to suffer such a fate. On June 1st, Ms. Trudy Coates, formerly Town Clerk for Qualicum Beach, was appointed Director of Corporate Communications, fanilly removing this position from those held by Twya Graff, our CAO.

UPDATE #11 [15 01 05]
At the end of July, only a few months after Council had voted to increase her position from 3 days/week to 5, our Community Planner, Merideth Seeton, left her position with the District of Lantzville, a job she had held since 13 04 01 (16 months). On Oct. 6th/14, Ms. Robyn Holme began her employment with the District as our new Community Planner. On Dec. 12th/14, a District of Lantzville advertisement for a Community Planner, Ms. Holme's position, appeared on the CivicInfo.bc.ca website (an information/communication resource for all BC local governments). There has been no mention of her departure on the District's website but, by checking for the staff present at meetings of Council in the Minutes, it would appear that Ms. Holme left the District's employ at the end of November, meaning that she was only with the District for less than 2 months!!

UPDATE #12 [15 04 07]
Although the process was begun by the previous council and the new council had expressed concerns around the need (best summed up in the following piece by Brian Blood in the on-line Lantzville Log how-many-100000yr-bureaucrats-does-lantzville-with-3600-residents-need ), Ms. Lisa Bhopalsingh, formerly a Senior Planner with the RDN, has been hired as our full-time Community Planner, and is scheduled to start work at the District offices on Feb. 23rd. In case you're keeping track, that means we've had 4 Community Planners in a 6-year time period.