Staffing issues and shrinking surpluses were addressed in Sechelt’s 2016 annual report, released during the regular council meeting on July 19.
“On the human resources side, we’ve administered 31 recruitments and selections in 2016,” director of finance Doug Stewart told council, noting the district employs a total of 58 full-time employees.
While council was pleased with the new hires reported, one woman in the audience stood up to say what was missing from the report was “the underlying causes as to why those 31 recruitments had to take place.”
Stewart explained the 2016 turnover looked worse than it actually was, as several employees retired or moved up the ladder and left their old positions vacant, which then had to be filled.
“This is one that’s been misread in the community,” Mayor Bruce Milne said.
Stewart gave an example of the domino affect, saying when the district’s former accountant left the Coast for Penticton, the financial disbursements accountant was promoted and her job opened up.
“That job was actually filled internally as well by an administrative assistant and so that was another posting and then we had to fill her job,” Stewart said.
“So one vacancy actually resulted in three job postings in itself… The number 31 doesn’t represent the number of people who actually left the district.”
Milne said he’s hopeful the workforce has now stabilized, noting many of the new workers are under 40 and “able to serve 15 or 20 years with us.”
He said the senior management team has also stabilized now and council gave a round of applause to Doug Stewart, who has worn several hats over the past year while the staffing was worked out.
Originally hired in May 2016 as the director of finance, Stewart has also acted as the district’s director of planning and development services and as CAO while senior staff turnover took place.
Coun. Noel Muller noted the amount of work done by Stewart and other senior staff while vacancies remained open was “enough to drown less dedicated individuals.”
“My hat’s off to particularly Doug Stewart but also many of the other new hires here. I’m very happy at what I see.”
In his director of finance role, Stewart explained the decrease in surplus that showed up in the annual report brought to council on July 19.
“In 2016 the district’s accumulated surplus balance was $147.3 million, which is a reduction of $2.1 million since 2015,” Stewart said.
The surplus as reported is made up of four components: statutory reserves for specific purposes, general revenue reserves, sewer reserves and equity in tangible capital assets.
Sechelt’s total statutory reserves actually increased by $35,000 to $1.062 million in 2016, but its general reserves decreased by $644,000 due to a funding deficit on the general operations side.
The sewer operation reserve also decreased by $544,000 as the money was needed in 2016 for operations and capital funding.
The largest reduction, however, was reported in the equity and tangible capital assets category.
“There was a reduction of $1 million due to the assets depreciating more than the capital assets made by the district,” Stewart said.
See the full annual report online at www.sechelt.ca.
