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City bureaucrats out of control

If the double-time overtime taken in by senior management at the City of Prince George during last year's Cariboo wildfires evacuation wasn't bad enough, the wage hikes are even worse. The city manager's salary was $211,282.55 in 2014 and $237,487.
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If the double-time overtime taken in by senior management at the City of Prince George during last year's Cariboo wildfires evacuation wasn't bad enough, the wage hikes are even worse.

The city manager's salary was $211,282.55 in 2014 and $237,487.10 in 2017. That's a 12.4 per cent increase over three years, totalling $26,204.55. The city manager got a 3.3 per cent raise or $7,660.10 last year.

Four of the city's nine-member management team did have salary increases at or around 1.5 per cent between 2016 and 2017. Their boost in overall pay, however, came as the result of vacation payouts, overtime paid by the province to respond to last year's Cariboo wildfires evacuation or both.

Three other senior staffers received salary increases in 2017, ranging from 6.6 to 6.9 per cent, while the director of external relations saw a 2.4 per cent increase.

In an email sent Monday, city manager Kathleen Soltis explained some of the increases, as well as why the data released by the city to The Citizen under a Freedom of Information request only made income comparisons back to 2014 for the city manager and none of the other eight posiitions.

"None of the titles you identified - with the exception of mine - existed in 2014," she wrote.

"Following the election in late 2014, the new Mayor and Council appointed me as City Manager and expressed priorities that were subsequently presented in the Corporate Plan. These priorities informed a new administrative structure that also reflected some departures of staff, such as Frank Blues who retired in 2015.

"For example," she goes on, "when the General Manager of Engineering and Public Works position was created in early 2015, it was held by Mr. Blues until his retirement later that summer. Dave Dyer then transitioned into the position in September. It is a similar situation for many of the Directors and General Managers who moved into their current senior roles from less senior positions in the City. For example, Mr. Dyer transitioned from a manager supervising six staff to a General Manager with a portfolio that has 240 staff."

Sounds good... until a glance back at the 2014 statements reveals the remuneration received by Blues in 2014 was $117,663.80. Dyer's salary in 2017, just three years later, was $188,246.51 and his overall remuneration, due to evacuation overtime and other payouts, was $208,218.80.

When Blues was with the city, his title was "assets manager."

Under Dyer, it's the far more impressive sounding "general manager, engineering and public works."

The other three general manager positions "created" in 2015 were all filled internally by individuals who were already top city bureaucrats before then.

In 2015, Rob Whitwham became "general manager, community services." His previous title was "director, recreation and cultural services."

In 2015, Ian Wells became "general manager, planning and development." His previous title was "director, planning and development."

In 2015, Walter Babicz became "general manager, administrative services." His previous title was "director, legal and regulatory services."

A comparison of the organizational structure from the city's 2013 annual report to the 2017 report shows Babicz still has roughly the same job, with the additional responsibilities of overseeing the service centre and the IT department. The service centre isn't listed as anyone's responsibility in 2013 while IT reported to Soltis, who was the corporate services director at the time.

Wells has roughly the same job, as well. Engineering has been shuffled off to public works, with economic development added to his portfolio, after the city collapsed Initiatives Prince George.

Whitwham has roughly the same job, too, with the addition of fire and rescue services, which used to fall under the city manager.

Gina Layte Liston was the "associate director, operations" in 2014 and now she is "director, public works" but the responsibilities she shares with Dyer, the GM of engineering and public works, are roughly the same as what they were when Bill Gaal was the operations director. Based on the organizational structure, the only difference seems to be civic facilities and asset management, once overseen by other managers, now fall under public works.

To sum up, a two-tier management team of general managers and directors was introduced in 2015, a handful of responsibilities were shuffled around and new job titles were created.

Then came the raises.

Whitwham's 2017 salary was $188,534.55 while his remuneration in 2014 was $165,881.58.

Wells' 2017 salary was $188,172.69, while his remuneration in 2014 was $152,970.58.

Babicz's salary in 2017 was $188,279.59, while his remuneration in 2014 was $153,557.49.

Layte Liston's 2017 salary was $174,747.25 while her remuneration in 2015 (can't compare to 2014 because of the Blues shuffle) was $149,392.02.

Meanwhile, two positions - human resources and external relations - further down the food chain before 2015 were kicked up to the senior management level.

The human resources department (with Rae-Ann Emery as its manager) used to report to Soltis when she was the corporate services director.

In 2014, Emery's remuneration was $122,388.04. Last year, her salary as director of human resources was $174,232.72, a $52,000 raise in three years.

As for communications, prior to 2015, a staff person worked off to the side and reported directly to the city manager. Now the new position of director of external relations comes with a $174,232.73 salary in 2017 and three other employees.

Feed bureaucracy more and more money and it will grow and grow and grow.

Some weeding needs to be done at Prince George city hall.

-- Editor-in-chief Neil Godbout