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On Wednesday Dagsavisen Fremtiden wrote that the Drammen councilor planned to slash the direction of the municipality.
Director of Society (equivalent to the current director of culture, urban and local development, Einar Jørstad), director of management and ownership (Trond Julin) and director of development and digitization (Fredrik Holtan) are the three who remain with Councilor Elisabeth Enger in the top.
The other four current director positions will be wound up. The same is the case with the position of director of labor and inclusion, which has been vacant since the departure of Manuela Ramin-Osmundsen.
– I do not make these cuts carelessly, but with the economic challenges of the municipality, it is natural that the management also has to go through savings. It is important to ensure stability in the functioning of the municipality, and rather to look at the savings at the senior management level, says councilor Elisabeth Enger.
Chief Security Representative John Ole Olsen has not spoken to any of the people who may be reassigned now. But he is clear about what his message to the councilor has been:
– My role has been to say that those affected by job task change should be cared for like all Drammen employees. Everyone should be cared for equally, whether they are nursing assistants or directors. That is supposed to happen.
Male directors only
The proposal also means that the top management level, in addition to the councilor, is made up only of men.
Councilor Elisabeth Enger acknowledges that this is far from ideal, but points out that the gender balance must be looked at holistically at the municipal senior management levels.
– If you include our trained municipal managers, women are the majority.
She emphasizes that the most important consideration should also not be whether those holding the positions are men or women.
– The most important consideration that I have taken is what functions it is most important to have in the function of councilor. That there are three men left is not ideal, but coincidence.
Five director roles disappear
This means that the positions of director for public health, labor and inclusion; health and Environment; watch out; education; administration. and efficiency and for culture, urban and local development are taken out of solitary.
This is the counselor’s proposal, but it has not been adopted. The councilwoman will first present the case for discussion, then make a decision later this fall.
Chief Security Representative Olsen emphasizes that there has been no dissatisfaction with the directors or that they have done a poor job.
– It is not at all about the people who have worked in the jobs. But about the features. I have only good things to say about all the directors, he says.
Olsen is pleased that the line within the municipality is clearly clarified.
– By the way I read the note that comes now, I trust the well-being of the employees. You will not be affected by this. If the line, from the municipal director downwards, does not exercise its responsibility towards employees well enough, now it indicates that it is the councilman himself who is its director. It has not been clear.
Chose to retire
Kirsti Aas Olsen, director of administrative efficiency, tells Dagsavisen Fremtiden that she is in a special position from the directors now proposing to be removed. This summer, she decided to resign as director, to move to a consultancy position where she will work with leadership development at the municipality’s competence center.
Aas Olsen says he supports the counselor’s proposal to reduce the number of directors.
– My assignment as director was the administrative efficiency towards the new municipality. This resulted in a cut in administration with 15 percent fewer managers. So I think that much of my mission has been accomplished.
The rest of the people who occupy the positions of director who will disappear do not want to comment on Thursday morning.
Unclear distribution
The councilor justifies the changes, among other things, with the fact that sometimes it has been a little clear who has been responsible for what. Describe uncertainty about roles, including responsibilities and authority.
– We have been in the new municipality for ten months. After two months of establishment marked by start-up, we entered crisis management in March. We just haven’t had enough time to prioritize development tasks and make the framework work well.
The changes come as a result of discussions with directors, shop stewards and managers at other levels.
The people who have the jobs will be reassigned to other jobs in the municipality, writes the councilor in his discussion note. This probably means a reduction in salary; at least the councilor concludes that it will lead to savings:
What is the point of these directors?
While the municipal managers will focus on the operation of municipal services for the inhabitants, such as education, health and care, the directors will work for the municipality to achieve its development goals.
– Some have thought that we shouldn’t have directors at all, but then we become a pure operational organization, swallowing the fact that the focus on everything must work day by day. We do not want to achieve the goals that we have proposed to have a strong regional position, strengthen relations with the business community, work for better living conditions, develop new forms of interaction with the inhabitants and reduce child poverty.
Drammen was the first municipality in the country to have its own director of labor and inclusion. It is precisely this directorial position, Enger believes, that was more difficult to put on the cut list.
– Creating jobs for as many people as possible is the foundation for reducing child poverty, which is an area we work with at Drammen. I am not saying that we should not prioritize job creation now, but we should do it differently.
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