City of Wilmington undergoing major reorganization of departments and staff

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The City of Wilmington is undergoing a major organizational restructuring, including the removal of several department heads.

During a budget workshop held in early February, City Manager Becky Hawke outlined the planned changes as part of the restructuring.

The changes implemented by the restructuring include the combination of the budget and finance departments, relocating communications and HR under the new chief of staff position, and the creation of an assistant city manager, among other moves.

Hawke said this is a rebuild of the city’s structure from top to bottom.

“I, I’ve sort of described it like tentacles have sort of developed over the years,” Hawke said. “And so uh we sort of took personalities out of it and said what’s the work and restructured accordingly.”

But other changes have come in the form of departures by high-profile staff members, including two heads of trash and recycling, deputy city manager Chad McEwen, and, most recently, HR director Clayton Roberts.

Roberts announced his resignation earlier this month, with his last day set to be Friday, March 13th.

The city claims Roberts and other departures are not related to the restructuring.

In addition to the restructuring, Hawke believes the city could see savings by reducing staff.

“We’re still vetting there may be a few positions that were able to then say hey after we redid all of this we actually don’t need 1197 people. it may be a slightly lower number. Those dollars could then become available.”

She also said the savings could go towards potential pay increases and reassignment of employee responsibilities.

“The important takeaway from it is just this is not business as usual than looking for some adjustments to pay. We’re also looking at the duties of employees, making sure that they are fully utilized. Um, and that is causing some additional readjustments and smoothing out.”

The city says more details about the newly formed departments and positions, along with other changes, will be announced in the near future.