Four of six Sturgeon Foundation senior lodges saw their managers escorted off the premises last week as part of the foundation's restructuring plan.
The board of directors unanimously decided April 18 that a restructuring was necessary to meet future challenges, said Dennis Magnusson, executive director of the Sturgeon Foundation. Details of the restructuring were announced Monday.
"These changes are not about individual persons," he said. "It's about what's best for the organization and the people we serve. And the people we serve, the residents and the tenants, are the most important persons in this whole equation."
The restructuring involves terminating four managers – one each from St. Albert's Chateau Mission Court and North Ridge Lodge, Morinville's Heritage Place Lodge and Gibbons' Spruce View Manor.
The two remaining managers were retained as housing administrators in the north and east area with a third housing administrator to be hired to cover St. Albert.
"What we're looking for is somebody who has either some training or a degree perhaps in human services, perhaps health care administration or business administration," Magnusson said.
The Sturgeon Foundation expects to fill this position in roughly two to three months, with Magnusson and two assistant managers filling in until that time. Three administrative assistants will also be hired.
This staff restructuring is expected to save an estimated $100,000 annually for the foundation according to Magnusson.
"It's not a massive amount of money for sure," he said. "But then there isn't a massive amount of money to be saved. This is the best plan that we could come up with."
He said no other employees are at risk of being terminated.
A resident at St. Albert's Chateau Mission Court who did not want to be named for fear of being kicked out of the facility, said the restructuring is "unbelievable."
Sharon Hill, manager at the lodge, was terminated last Thursday with residents being notified the following day via a letter from the Sturgeon Foundation.
"[Residents are] just devastated; they feel lost," said one resident. "They've taken our family. These are senior citizens, this is not a young crowd where they can move on and get on tomorrow. Change is not what they want."
She said Hill had less than 15 months until her retirement date and had been with the lodge for more than 15 years and with the foundation even longer.
"I realize that in the corporate world things are done this way, but this is our home. This is altogether different and she could not even say goodbye to us," she said, adding she worries Hill won't be allowed back to the lodge to visit.
Magnusson said it is typical that when an individual is terminated, they leave the premises immediately. Although not told specifically, he said these individuals will have to seek permission before visiting the facility
"Once you leave a place, you're done," he said. "If you keep going back, it can be disruptive and cause concerns or upset among people."
The terminated employees were offered severance pay in accordance with a contract or by law, totalling roughly $250,000 for all four employees.
Situation revisited
The plan to restructure the Sturgeon Foundation isn't new to the board – the idea was brought forward in 2010 when an outside consultant recommended the organizational restructure.
"Things just didn't happen the way that we expected or the way we discussed it," said Paul Krauskopf, current and past board chair.
He said the executive director at that time, Marguerite Bosvik, was terminated from her position for not following the board's will.
"We were going in different directions would be a good way of putting it," he said.
Cost conscious
In addition to the annual savings for the foundation regarding staffing, Magnusson said the seven funding municipalities will also benefit.
The amount paid by each municipality jumped 10 per cent this year — a number he said he does not expect to see in the future.
"Our goal is to plan our finances so that any increase for next year will be a single-digit increase," he said. "I don't know what that will be yet because we're still a ways from it, but this ongoing double-digit increase in requisitions is just unacceptable."
