English scolds council, defends staff

Halifax's top manager Dan English, shown here in Dec. 8, 2008, told HRM council Tuesday he will not stand idly by while the administration the municipality and his own role as CAO are 'undermined.' (TIM KROCHAK / Staff)

Halifax’s chief administrative officer is mad as hell and he says he’s not going to take it anymore.
Public criticism of city staff by some regional councillors "generates poor morale" and "possible disengagement" and has to stop immediately, Dan English said Tuesday at a meeting of council’s committee of the whole.
"For me, the tide begins to change today," he said. "I deserve better, my team deserves better, this organization deserves better and I expect better."
English said he will not stand idly by while the administration of Halifax Regional Municipality and his own role as CAO are "undermined."
Budget talks are underway and council is grappling with a $30-million shortfall. City staff are looking at ways to save money and boost revenues.
Some councillors have publicly mused about shrinking the municipality’s 3,500-employee workforce to save programs and services.
Cathie O’Toole, the municipality’s finance director, and Catherine Mullally, the human resources director, both urged councillors not to cut staff.
"In any financial crisis or challenge, an effective, efficient, engaged workforce is our single, greatest competitive advantage," Mullally said.
"As an administration, it’s our job . . . to support council with our best professional support and advice.
"Recent comments during council discussions on budget challenges and subsequent articles in the media regarding our workforce are having quite an impact on our employees. Our workplace is becoming fairly stressed, anxious and in some cases resentful."
Some 543 city employees are eligible to retire by April 1, 2011, and another 322 in the three years after that.
Before budget talks continued, Mayor Peter Kelly hastily asked the public to leave the council chambers and the discussions went behind closed doors. About 90 minutes later, the meeting became public again, but not before the mayor read a statement.
"I would like to reiterate that we’re here today to talk about solving the budget gap, and the focus of that gap will be on programs and services," he said. "Ultimately, however, it is council which decides in what they believe is the best interests of the municipality and will make whatever final decision that they deem appropriate.
"And if staffing impacts are necessary, they’ll be addressed together with the administration as part of a workforce plan for HRM, and these decisions will be, as they are deemed to be, in camera."
Council is allowed to debate personnel, legal and real estate issues privately.
Staff are recommending that six visitor information centres — three in Halifax and one each in Dartmouth, Bedford and Lower Sackville — be mothballed for a saving of $266,200.
Council is also considering a staff report recommending that the municipality expand its burial and urn-storage services to help turn a $400,000 annual deficit into a revenue stream ranging from $55,000 to $100,000 a year. An increase in parking meter fees is also up for discussion.
Coun. Gloria McCluskey (Dartmouth Centre) said she’s not sure she can support staff’s recommendations.
"It’s all about hitting the residents again, and I was looking for bigger items," she said.
"This is serious business that we’re faced with here, and so let’s not be sidetracked by the comments this morning. We are the ones responsible for whatever happens in this budget, Your Worship, it’s going to come back to us."
Council isn’t expected to approve the municipality’s 2010-11 operating and capital budgets until next month.
( sborden@herald.ca)