Chief Administrative Office William Daniel is optimistic voters will approve the proposed reorganization of the Department of Public Works, which is appearing on the Dec. 6 ballot. Still, he and consultants who have worked with the city-parish on the reorganization plan for the past two years are making the rounds to editorial boards and community gatherings in an attempt to spread the word before the election that the new plan will streamline the unwieldy department and make it more efficient and effective.
“We have a rambling, ineffective organization today,” Daniel says. “The whole idea with the reorganization is to make it more responsive, transparent and accountable to the public.”
The proposed reorganization, which requires a vote of the people because it is a change to the city-parish Plan of Government, calls for breaking apart the sprawling DPW into six smaller departments and appointing over each a separate director, who would report directly to the CAO. The existing department director position will be eliminated.
Under the proposed reorganization, the six department heads will be unclassified employees, meaning they would not be protected by civil service rules and could be terminated by the CAO. That structure will make them more accountable and is the reason that the city Plan of Government must be changed. Under the existing Plan of Government only two employees from each department can be unclassified.
“We could accomplish a lot of the reorganization without changing the Plan of Government,” Daniel says. “But this way there will be accountability.”
Though hiring six department heads at a salary of around $100,000 each to replace a single director with a salary of some $120,000 would seem to represent an increase to the DPW budget, Daniel says the approximately $750 million annual budget will remain unchanged. Several upper level administrative positions are already vacant through attrition and under the reorganization several upper level positions will be combined or eliminated, even though none of the department’s 800 or so employees will be laid off.
“We have considerable salary savings right now,” he says, noting about 30% of DPW positions are currently vacant. “This won’t cost any more money, and in the long run we believe it will save money because the department will become more efficient.” See an overview of the proposed DPW reorganization. —Stephanie Riegel
