District of Squamish reorganizes internal structure

The District of Squamish has reorganized its internal structure to ensure ongoing improvement and increased effectiveness of service delivery, two aspects of its corporate culture that are foundational to the work the organization tackles every day.

“This is a structure that really leverages the strengths of our leadership team and creates synergies among departments to deliver on Council’s Strategic Plan,” says District of Squamish Mayor Patricia Heintzman. “Streamlining upper management and redistributing that horsepower to build capacity at the ground level in an effort to improve processes and target strategic priorities has been a goal of Council’s over the past two years. I’m very much looking forward to seeing the results of these most recent shifts and believe it will meet the goal of continual improvement and will help foster innovation within our organization.”

In addition to building on current leadership strengths and creating synergies to deliver on the strategic plan, the reorganization achieves other important objectives. It operates within the 2016 budget providing a savings of $50,000, reduces hierarchy, and reduces current risks and liabilities in the two key areas of finance and human resources where staff attrition had left the departments vulnerable.

Chief Administrative Officer Linda Glenday committed to reviewing the management structure of the District within her first year in the role.

“I’m very excited to present the updated structure as this builds upon the incredible team we have here at the District and plays to individuals’ strengths,” says Glenday. “At the same time, the change in alignments of departments will further serve to increase the opportunities for synergy and continued improvement at all levels of the organization.”

Key changes include:

• Alignment of Recreation and culture (Library) under one division, while connecting the Facilities and Real Estate departments more directly to those municipal buildings.
• A change of division name to Community Planning and Infrastructure to better reflect the goals that the departments within that division work to achieve.
• A Chief Financial Officer and increased technical financial support staff to reduce a top-heavy finance team.
• A new Senior Director of Human Resources & Public Safety to align these departments under a leader with extensive leadership and public safety experience.

“We have an excellent management team and staff here at the District,” continues Glenday. “I am looking forward to continuing to work with them to deliver municipal services to our community while building a culture that is service-driven, solution-focused, continually improving and nimble in the face of change.”

The departments are aligned under the following leaders:

• Linda Glenday, Chief Administrative Officer
• Robin Arthurs, General Manager of Corporate Services, Recreation and Culture
• Gary Buxton, General Manager of Community Planning and Infrastructure
• Christine Mathews, Chief Financial Officer
• Jeff Sim, Senior Director of Human Resources and Public Safety

View the new organizational structure.

August 19, 2016