Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald file photo

To say that Orem is going through staffing changes and improvements is an understatement.

For the past month or so, Brenn Bybee, acting city manager, and other members of the executive staff have been fine tuning city staff and department structure with the approval of Mayor Dave Young and the city council.

Here are some of the department changes and highlights.

• The Finance Department is now in charge of the CARE (Cultural Arts and Recreation Enrichment) program, which used to be the responsibility of the city manager.
• Community service efforts, led by Kena Mathews, have moved to the police department along with the Neighborhood Improvement Team. This move made sense, according to spokesperson Pete Wolfley because Mathews and her team work closely with the police, especially the mental health and school resource officers. She will help facilitate better community policing.
• The Fire Department restructured their leadership team, without increasing their budget, to expand fire prevention efforts and services. This allows them to do more community interaction and prevention work.
• The Library Department and Recreation Department have been combined. Bryce Merrill, former Recreation director, is now the Library and Recreation director, which will both be autonomous departments. For a brief time, the combined departments were expected to be called Leisure Services.
• Economic Development has moved to Development Services to work more closely with the planning and building teams.
• Public Works is taking over clean-up programs, as well as the solid waste partnerships. These were previously handled by the office manager in the city manager’s office.
• The Department of Management Services is a newly created department under the leadership of Keri Rugg, former Human Resources director. It includes Information Technology, Human Resources, Risk Management, Communications and the City Recorder’s office.
• Ryan Clark is serving as acting assistant city manager and continuing his role as Develop Services director. Jason Bench, city planner, will also be the assistant Development Services director to assist Clark.
• The City Attorney’s office will be working alongside the city’s Legislative Counsel, Jesse Riddle, and with lobbying efforts.

“All of these considerations have developed over time,” Bybee said. “Where we can, we want to reduce redundancy.”

These changes were all carefully considered and have the support of the mayor and city council, Wolfley added. Bybee believes these are all positive steps going forward and is reticent to reflect on past issues and changes.

Courtesy Orem city

Those issues include losing a number of middle- and top-management personnel in a short period of time since the departure of former City Manager Jamie Davidson in December.

“Employees in every department are getting new opportunities to learn, grow, and contribute in meaningful ways to the mission of the city,” Bybee said. “We have such talented and dedicated employees that we wanted to find new ways to unlock their potential and encourage collaborative problem-solving. We are confident that these changes will not only streamline our existing operations, but spark new and innovative ways to serve the public and carry out the City Council’s Areas of Focus.”

Those areas of focus include:

• Safe, Livable, Connected & Engaged Neighborhoods.
• Thriving and Balanced Business Environment.
• Dependable Infrastructure.
• Community-Focused and Effective Government.
• Skilled and Talented Workforce.

“The council and I have been greatly impressed with the service of Brenn Bybee in his role as acting City Manager,” Young wrote in a letter to staff members. “While he is too modest to take any credit himself, he has proven to be an extremely capable, steady, and dedicated leader.”

Bybee and Wolfley both noted the atmosphere of personnel at a recent employee town hall meeting, calling it “energetic” and adding a belief that employees are focused on helping the city thrive.

“We have so many exciting opportunities ahead of us as a city and with these efficiency changes in place we feel like we are ready to make more great things happen for Orem,” Bybee said. “As an organization we are dedicated to continuous improvement and these changes are just part of that never-ending process to be the very best that we can be. Our quest is to always give our residents excellent value for their tax dollars and we believe that these adjustments maximize both our employee and monetary resources.”

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