City looks to fill new positions

NORWALK — The city of Norwalk is looking for a number of senior-level managers as part of Mayor Harry Rilling’s government reorganization.

The Norwalk Department of Personnel and Labor Relations recently posted on its website five new positions as approved by the Common Council on Sept. 11.

Sought are a Chief of Economic and Community Development, Chief of Operations and Public Works, Director of Recreation and Parks, Superintendent of Recreation, and Transportation Planner.

“Obviously, posting the jobs is the first step in finding candidates to fill those jobs,” said Norwalk Director of Personnel and Labor Relations Ray Burney. “We’ll be

posting the jobs on all of the sites that we can find that are specific to those types of specialties.”

For the Chief of Operations and Public Works position, the department will advertise with, among other places, the Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers and Connecticut Society of Professional Engineers. For the Chief of Economic and Community Development post, the department will post the job notice with, among other locations, the Northeast Economic Development Association, according to Burney.

“The best possible scenario would be to get candidates in those jobs by the end of the year. That’s a little aggressive but you want to get things moving,” Burney said. But “the entire reorganization is not going to be an overnight thing. We’ve got some of the format set up. A lot of things have to get done. One of the first things is to find acceptable candidates.”

Some filled, others not

Under the reorganization, nine senior managers will serve under the mayor. Six of the positions are already filled — Chief of Staff, Corporation Counsel, Chief Financial Officer, Chief of Police, Fire Chief and Chief of Human Resources and Personnel.

To be filled and now advertised are Chief of Operations and Public Works, and Chief of Economic and Community Development as well as three other positions created as part of the reorganization.

The Chief of Economic and Community Development will be responsible for planning, organizing and implementing economic and community development, from conception to

completion, including planning, zoning, code enforcement, business development and tourism. The salary is $118,886 to $162,687, under the job posting.

The Chief of Operations and Public Works will organize and direct civil engineering, road maintenance, solid-waste collection and disposal, wastewater collection and treatment, and department equipment maintenance as well as public property maintenance. The salary is $118,886 to $162,687.

The Director of Recreation and Parks will report to the Chief of Operations and Public Works, and be responsible for planning, organizing and directing comprehensive group recreational, social and cultural programs, and coordinating the care and maintenance of parks and recreation buildings, grounds and facilities. The salary is $118,886 to $162,687.

The Superintendent of

Recreation will develop, coordinate and supervise community recreational, social and cultural programs as well as assist the Director of Recreation and Parks in planning and administering the department’s programs and activities. The salary is $94,451 to $111,628.

The Transportation Planner will perform professional tasks related to transportation planning, including transportation project development, implementation management and transportation studies as needed. The salary is $74,230 to $90,208.

Like functions aligned

According to the Rilling administration, the reorganization will tighten the mayor’s span of control from 18 to nine direct reports, align like functions within city government, and improve code enforcement, the permitting process, transportation, mobility, parking and public property maintenance.

“We’re excited about it because we think it’s time,” Rilling said. “Norwalk’s government has been operating in the same fashion for decades, and communications and transparencies and efficiencies haven’t been explored and now we’ve done that. We’ve taken about a year — or a little bit more — to put together what we believe to be an efficient table of organization.”

According to the city’s finance department, the net annual cost of the reorganization, after factoring in salaries and efficiencies, will be $181,140. That’s across an annual operating budget of $354 million.

The council approved the reorganization on a 10-3 vote with District D Republican Douglas Hempstead, District B Democrat Ernie Dumas and At-Large Democrat Michael Corsello voting no. Hempstead said the plan didn’t “put forward first identifiable areas that either you’re going to increase productivity, increase your availability to the public, (create) more efficient deliverable services and also identify what you’re not doing efficiently.”

While approving the bulk of the reorganization, the council held back on creating the position of Chief of Community Services – one of the nine senior positions.

“We’ve taken about a year — or a little bit more — to put together what we believe to be an efficient table of organization.”

Mayor Harry Rilling