Third in a series
Re “5 to 10 Percent Cutback Looms for City Employees”
[img]843|left|Interim City Manager Lamont Ewell||no_popup[/img]With downsizing of the City Hall workforce under way, Interim City Manager Lamont Ewell is confident that he can maintain morale by being aggressively candid and direct with the entire staff.
City Hall never has been a bastion of openness, but it may be before Mr. Ewell leaves this summer.
Last Friday, under Mr. Ewell’s supervision, the first bi-weekly “City Manager’s Update,” a nearly 3,000-word compendium of developments in progress, was distributed to the City Council, to the workforce — which he calls “the organization” — and published by this newspaper (“What Is Going on in City Hall? Here Is a Lengthy Peek”).
“What I have found in my career,” Mr. Ewell said, “is when we make the same report that goes to the Council available to the workforce, they say, ‘Now we know what is going on, what the critical issues are.’”
Release of the City Manager’s Update “is part of the strategy for keeping the workforce informed of what is going on. It is like cliff notes of what is going on.
“This document is especially important for the Council. As we have fewer and fewer people here, it does mean people are going to have to focus on spending more time on key areas.
“I want to be sure the Council is aware of what is going on. They will be able to respond to their constituents and say, ‘Here is what is going on in the organization.’ We will churn these out every other week.
“We will see, then, if this has the desired impact — which is just information sharing, transparency and making sure we are keeping up with top information.”
That was a gust of rare fresh air that just blew down Culver Boulevard.
In the last few weeks, City Hall workers have been pleasantly surprised how much useful information — verbally — they are getting from the third floor, which used to feel sealed off.
“I am forthright with them, letting them know precisely what is going on, what we are proposing and why we are proposing it,” Mr. Ewell said at the start of his second month in Culver City.
“I will help them with alternatives, too.
“There is nothing you can do to change the (recessionary) realities out there. But what people have been most happy about is telling them the truth, not keeping them in the dark, waiting to see what happens.
“That is what builds the anxiety.
“If people know (downsizing) is likely to occur, they can at least prepare for it. I am not saying anyone would like it. I don’t like it. But at least they will understand what is going on, what is causing it, and start making plans.
“If you are void of that information until the last minute, it just creates anxiety and frustration.”
(To be continued)
