Springtime is for axes

Early spring is a tough time for CAOs in Prince Edward County. It was late March in 2015 that council convened a special meeting to draw out the long knives for then-Chief Administrative Officer Merlin Dewing.

By then, they had heard enough grumbling from residents and employees and their proxies. Council bristled at being told to stick to governing rather than meddling in the management of County business. They understood well-enough that big, structural change was needed in this sclerotic organization, and were pleased with the initial results. But the cost of intense public blowback proved to much for this skittish bunch. So they bailed on restructuring, and dismissed Dewing.

They didn’t have a plan for the day after. That much is clear now.

Without any forethought, they set in motion a set of dominoes that sent packing the most effective manager in the history of the amalgamated municipality, and ultimately led to the departure of their top financial people—Susan Turnbull and James Hepburn.

Your municipal council became a mob that day in March 2015. There was zero consideration of the costs, the impact on the organization or the risk of backsliding on the progress that had been achieved. Their only objective was to show constituents they had taken back control.

But like dogs chasing cars they hadn’t thought about what they might do if they achieved their goal. They had no idea what to do next. And really no ambition beyond high-fiving themselves for having made a big decision.

Afterwards, many folks obsessed about the size of the payout to Dewing. Far fewer considered the impact on the organization. In the previous three years, council had been under stress during a difficult, but utterly necessary, transformation from a dysfunctional collection of townships and villages to a $60 million a year corporation. Big change was, by then, already a decade overdue.

Turnbull (Finance Commissioner) and Hepburn (Treasurer) were central in this transformation. Both had come to the County a few years before Dewing. All three had deep experience and strong resumes. What they found was a mess that bordered on malpractice. Budgets were built on fantasy. Increases, in any given year, were based on increases won the previous year. What they lacked was any sense of what the municipality actually spent. The real world and the County’s fictional finance narrative never crossed.

Turnbull and Hepburn, and their team, quickly put order to the County finances. Now, any council member or member of the public can drill down to find out what we spent on a line item basis last year, and see the planned spending for this year. For the first time, we, as residents, have the basic building blocks of financial accountability. We can measure performance over time and understand what was is driving rising costs. It was an important first step.

After Dewing’s departure, however, council chose James Hepburn as interim CAO, plucking him from middle management. In doing so, they freed both commissioners Turnbull and Robert McAuley to apply for the top job.

Months went by. General unease settled in among the County’s senior staff. Meanwhile the lethargy and unresponsiveness that had defined the organization after amalgamation, rushed back into the vacuum created by Dewing’s departure.

Having lost its enthusiasm for change, council quietly appointed Hepburn its permanent CAO. (Permanent being a relative term in this context). Not so much a product of a thorough search, but of distracted indifference.

So now we wake up to another spring morning to learn Hepburn is gone. Turnbull, sensing the drift, left of her own accord a few years ago. McAuley has moved into an advisory role, reporting to a vacant CAO position.

The four adults most responsible for the professionalization of the County’s business and operations have now exited this municipality or have been sidelined.

To be accurate and fair, there are capable young folks who have filled some of these roles, building on their predecessors’ achievements. But not all.

Shire Hall appears, from the outside, a broken and dysfunctional organization.

This context will make it difficult to recruit suitable talent and skill to this position. A major restructuring remains unfinished. Operational rigour and accountability must be rebuilt from the ground up. This is no easy task.

The next CAO will need to bring a track record of transformation. And the determination to see it through. Our new council must then work to support her or him. No matter how much it hurts. No matter how much griping they hear.

Otherwise, we will be doing this all over again, in four years or less.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca