Picture Kevin Ramsay, our recently appointed chief administrative officer, trekking down from the Stawamus Chief to bring order to his wayward flock.
Like a latter day Moses with flowing white beard and dressed in a robe of similar hues, he brandishes the Service Squamish Initiative (SSI) etched indelibly on two tablets of stone, retrieved from a burning bush atop the Third Peak.
Amidst much fanfare and gushing reviews from our mayor and council, the SSI has been presented as a new game plan for everything that moves, shakes, rattles, or rolls, twitters or tweets, in the administration of the District of Squamish.
The SSI promises to transform the municipality into a "dynamic organization," ready to engage in "leveraging" and "benchmarking" while delivering "excellence."
That's not all, folks. We're in for "a leading edge transformative experience that exceeds expectations," and we're about to get "creative solutions," "a culture of empowerment," "collaborative relationships" and "intuitive nomenclature."
So, it appears a lot of exciting stuff will be coming down the SSI pipeline very soon. And what would any business epistle worth its salt be without that trifecta of MBA babble, "sustainability," "synergy" and "transparency?"
Putting all the linguistic overkill aside, this is an ambitious and much needed plan. It's no secret that Kevin Ramsay was parachuted in from Vancouver to clean house, a task which in six short months he has undertaken with considerable thoroughness and flourish.
Still, caution is in order here. We've seen this script before. Like so many system overhaul directives issuing from muni hall the real challenge will be to move beyond rhetoric and into the realm of reality.
Cutting through ingrained attitudes and outmoded procedures will be tough slogging.
The SSI is a classic example of a document heavy on generalizations but light on specifics. To be fair, this is only a skeletal outline, with most of the details still to be filled in.
The new administrative team, headed by CAO Ramsay, has been pared down from 12 to five departments: chief financial officer, Joanne Greenlees, general manager of protective and support services, Linda Glenday, general manager of engineering services, Bob Kusch, general manager of corporate services, Robin Arthurs, and general manager of community services, Cameron Chalmers.
This is a strong and experienced core leadership group assembled to transform the DOS into a leaner, more efficient municipal machine by starting with high standards, making sure everyone on staff knows what is expected, and having a system in place to measure those expectations. In due course, according to the theory, what gets measured gets done.
Council's preamble to the SSI document tells us we are entering "into a new era of exceptional leadership, creativity, strategic growth, accountability, and ultimately superior performance as an organization." And, according to the document itself, the SSI "should result in financial savings that can be utilized in a number of ways, such as reduction in taxation, increases in levels of service, or the introduction of new services."
To that we say, "Just bring it on."
