By Pepper Parr
November 8th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
When the public gets wind of just how many new jobs city department managers say they need – everything will go up in smoke.
Chad Macdonald: An Executive Director and Chief Information Officer
During one of the Workshops during which there was drill down deep questions during which the staff member responsible for the department was asked to explain what they needed and who – and then – how it could be done.
A lot of this stuff is way over the heads of most people.
But there was one new job that will delight those who pay some attention to what goes on in city hall.
They want to hire a webmaster!!! Halleluiah!!!
No word on when this might happen – but it is clear that the Executive Direction and Chief Information Officer Chad Macdonald has it on his list.
Macdonald is doing a superb – and could get a lot of what he is asking for.
The chart below will blow your mind – it is a list of the jobs that need to be filled.
There are at least 16 new jobs on the list. A webmaster would be very very welcome. It is hard to find someone that likes the city web site as it is today.
My question is a little more fundamental – why does each municipality need its own web support staff and its own distinct and discreet.website? Is there not an opportunity to consolidate things into a common look and feel for each of the municipalities in the region? Why not create a Regional standard that is then ‘tweaked’ at the local level but that provides a uniform “experience” for the citizens of each municipality? It would enable a reasonable consolidation of resources and a depth of expertise not possible with the existing ‘each to their own’ approach.
Better question is why a two tier municipality.
Amalgamate or separate the hybrid isn’t working.
Ditto for the new solicitor/lawyer position. They need to find a way to spend the tsunami of tax dollars.
A new webmaster will not fix the lack of coordination between city services. For example, if you get a notice (in the post mail!) to renew your dog license you will find that if you have a question (e.g. I no longer have a dog) the instructions in the letter to “contact animal control” lead only to the city homepage, or the main phone number. (After a while on hold, helpful people in fact are there)
Perry,
The staff generally wants to be helpful.
The system is preventing them from easily interacting with residents.
That leads to job frustration and accounts for the high turnover.
There are some bad apples in every group but you only have to attend the Food for Feedback to find out how enthusiastic the staff can be about their job and talking about it with residents.
I’m going to give a shout out to Tracy Hasselfeldt and Nicole Barich-Williams for how they handled the first meeting on the Engagement Charter that I attended.
The crowd (not just me) was generally hostile but they handled it very professionally.
Denise Beard was also given a tough job on Bateman Indoor Engagement and also handled it well.
Exactly. There’s just too much information they’d rather you not have. They prefer keeping keeping citizens in the dark.
Long overdue.
Hopefully the search function can be improved.
Depends on what instructions the webmaster gets from above on what information to make readily and easily available. I’m not holding my breath that the powers that be suddenly change their tune in that regard.