BIDDEFORD — City Manager Jim Bennett has proposed significant changes to city management, including letting go of Biddeford’s longtime health and welfare director and making the city’s environmental code officer the chief operating officer.

Bennett presented his suggestions last week to the Personnel Committee, which consists of four city councilors. The committee will meet again Thursday to review the plan in more detail and possibly vote to approve it.

The plan reduces the number of city departments from 18 to 11. Affected departments include Community Development, Engineering, Environmental Compliance, Health and Welfare, Information Technology, Planning and Public Access.

Under the proposed plan, the duties of Health and Welfare – which include administering the state-mandated General Assistance Program and addressing health-related issues – would be redirected to other departments, Bennett said this morning.

Code Enforcement Officer Roby Fecteau would take on the title of health officer. The two employees currently administering general assistance to residents – Kristen Barth and Katie Duross – would continue doing so and be trained to take on other duties, Bennett said.

The changes would eliminate the Health and Welfare director position, which for years has been held by Vicky Edgerly. This is the only major layoff that would result from the proposal.

In a Facebook post last week, Edgerly said learning of the proposed elimination of her position was “the shock of (her) life.”

“Tonight I am in shock with emotions ranging from sadness, anger, and relief,” she wrote. “I sensed that changes were going to take place. I wish the city had given me a heads up and offered early retirement (I had 2 years to go) rather than to handle it this way.”

Edgerly did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment this morning.

Other changes Bennett has proposed include making Community Development and Planning part of the Economic Development Office, with City Planner Greg Tansley becoming the deputy director of that department, and the duties of Engineering being redirected to Public Works and a new Technology office, which would include IT and Public Access.

The plan would also make Environmental Code Officer Brian Phinney second in command to Bennett as the city’s chief operating officer. This change would do away with the Environmental Code Office and suspend an environmental compliance ordinance that brings $10,500 in revenue to the city annually.

Bennett said the city put the ordinance in place to regulate the Maine Energy Recovery Co.’s trash burner on Lincoln Street, but it also unintentionally affected other businesses, which continue to pay to be in compliance. Now that MERC is gone, Bennett said he sees no use for the ordinance.

Bennett has also proposed restructuring the fire department to include a chief, assistant chief and deputy chief, rather than the current chief and three deputy chiefs.

The plan would save the city an estimated $177,000 each year. But the proposal is just as much about saving money as it is about simplifying the chain of command in city management, Bennett said.

If the changes don’t get approved, things will simply go back to the way they were, he said. Bennett said he was unsure as of this morning whether the proposal could move forward with approval from the Personnel Committee or if the City Council would have to approve it.

— Staff Writer Angelo J. Verzoni can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or [email protected].