Carbondale creates a new department of administration

By Gus Bode

Civic Center Manager Darren Stearns said it was strange his division was ever within the public works department, but after the conception of an administrative services department last week, the arrangement was changed.

“We have been reviewing the organization structure here for some time,” Carbondale Mayor Brad Cole said.

The Civic Center Operations Division, responsible for organizing meetings and events in the building, has been operating within the public works department since it was created, Stearns said.

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City Manager Jeff Doherty requested the creation of an eighth administrative office as a way for the city government to become more efficient.

“In this organization, it’s going from two to one,” Doherty said. “That allows me to do some things down the road for further reorganization.”

The reorganization will also put the human resources and city clerk divisions, which currently report directly to the city manager, within the new department.

As a result of the change, Stearns said the only difference is that he will report to a different supervisor.

The most important part of the creation of the new department is putting divisions that should be working together in the same area, Cole said.

All the divisions will now report to a department director, which should decrease the amount of positions that directly report to Doherty.

However, there is currently no one in place to head the department, but Doherty said he should have some one appointed by early next week.

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The request for reorganization is coinciding with an unusual amount of senior management positions left vacant from retirements.

The deputy city clerk and the development services director retired this summer, and Doherty said he expects four more positions to be open within the next 18 months.

“As some positions become vacant, I am taking opportunity to make changes,” Doherty said. “We will combine positions in house so we’re not adding any.”

However, the reorganizations will not cut staff, Cole said.

The best time to do reorganization is when there are some vacant positions, Doherty said.

The city prefers hiring internally to fill the vacancy, however, sometimes they may need to hire someone from outside the city, Doherty said.

“In some cases, we would hope that some one in-house would step forward,” he said.

Reporter Destiny Remezas can be reached at [email protected]

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