Surprise shuffle of City of Cambridge senior leadership and corporate structure

Cambridge Mayor Jan Liggett is shaking up the leadership structure at city hall.

In an email to city staff, the mayor listed changes to department names and titles, as well as the introduction of a brand new department.

Starting Monday, Corporate Enterprise will be called Customer and Financial Services. The deputy city manager, Cheryl Zahnleiter, will continue to run the department.

Community Development becomes Planning and Growth, still under the leadership of Deputy City Manager Hardy Bromberg.

Yogesh Shaw, the deputy city manager of Infrastructure Services, will continue on with Infrastructure Services, while the previously vacant position in Corporate Services will be run by City Clerk Danielle Manton.

The new department has been named Community Services, and will be led by Lesley Head, who was formerly the director of Recreation & Culture.

Employees, meanwhile, did not get much advance notice. The email, sent out on Friday, July 5, said the changes would go into effect as of Monday, July 7.

According to Mayor Liggett, only a small group were consulted about the changes.

“The results of this reorganization come because of consultation with the City Manager, current Deputy City Managers, and a panel of senior leaders within the organization who provided valuable feedback, thoughts and recommendations for consideration,” the email read.

It went on to say the changes would make the city a more efficient and effective municipal service provider.

“As part of our commitment to building a more responsive and effective municipal government, I am undertaking a thoughtful, comprehensive reorganization of our internal structure and services,” the email continued. “This initiative is not just about change; it is about transformation. At its heart, this plan is designed to improve how we serve you as our employees and how we serve our community together.”

Meanwhile, some members of council are expressing their displeasure with how the process rolled out.

“We had no awareness of it,” Councillor Scott Hamilton told CTV News. “We didn’t participate in its development or its implementation.”

Hamilton said had council been part of the process, they would be better equipment to answer questions they are now receiving from members of the public.

However, in an interview on Tuesday, Liggett said time was of the essence because the current city manager is retiring this summer.

“Since Strong Mayor Powers came into being, the city manager and I have been discussing this. I felt there was an urgency to it,” she said.

“I had 12 to 15 people who were part of this process. If I had added another eight that are councillors who do not know all the insides out of the city I would have had a cacophony of people all around,” Liggett added.

She also said nobody will lose a job as part of the reorganization.

“There will be a small impact to the budget, but we already have operational funds for some of this,” Liggett said.