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The City of Greater Bendigo will cut five manager positions as part of an internal restructure, which it says is in response to a “significant change” in the local government industry.
The revisions, which come into effect on July 3, mean 21 managerial roles will be available within the organisation.
City of Greater Bendigo chief executive officer Craig Niemann said the new structure was designed to best serve the community and the council over the next 10 years.
“The local government industry is experiencing significant change, which has influenced the organisation’s restructure,” he said.
“The new structure does not reflect what has happened in the past but intends to build on our successes and the organisation’s capacity to operate effectively in a rate capping environment.”
The CEO said while the changes focused on the manager level, there would be some some slight adjustments to the number of permanent staff.
However, a final staffing figure could not be confirmed until the recruitment process for the new manager positions was complete, he said.
It is currently unclear which managerial positions, from which departments, have been shed.
Staff were informed of the changes on Tuesday after a three-week consultation period.
After a series of resignations from some directors in 2016, the City of Greater Bendigo went from five directorates to four.
The city completed its new executive management team late last year with former Mount Alexander Shire sustainable communities director Vicky Mason becoming the city’s new health and wellbeing director from December 5.
Ms Mason’s appointment to the executive management team was the third in as many months, with the roles of Bernie O’Sullivan and Craig Lloyd announced in September.
Mr O’Sullivan started in the role of strategy and growth director on October 12 while Mr Lloyd has been the director of presentation and assets since October 10.
In the 2016/17 budget, the city’s staff was to expected to increase by 17 people – from 682 full-time equivalent positions in 2015/16 to 699 FTE in 2016/17.
The city at the time said the new positions were a result of growth, government programs, change in part-time hours for some staff, new services to the community and undertaking some activities in house, rather than using contractors.
Employee costs were also forecast to rise by 5.3 per cent – or $3.1 million – in 2016/17.
This was attributed to a new enterprise agreement and positions funded by the state government.