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“The shock is disproportionately affecting professionals,” Dunn said, noting CIPP members account for a large chunk of the reductions.

A sense of gloom filled city hall early Wednesday as word spread that the termination notices were being delivered. It was the next wave of job reductions after city manager Steve Kanellakos shuffled his senior management team in July.

In an interview, Kanellakos said employees have told him that he needs to reduce the internal red tape to get projects off the ground. With the cuts, he has flattened the reporting structure and is encouraging staff to take ownership of their programs to deliver initiatives.

Kanellakos said the new organizational structure will empower staff to make decisions without getting stymied by levels of bureaucracy.

“I’ve heard loud and clear from council, staff and the public,” Kanellakos said.

Kanellakos maintained the cuts won’t affect front line services, especially since that was a key request from council. There was room to tweak the administration of city services to save money and improve operations, he said.

“We have to streamline how we do our work if we’re going to do a good job,” Kanellakos said.

The cuts will actually affect 1,400 workers since many will have new roles and new reporting responsibilities.

City management is under pressure by council to table annual budgets with property tax increases capped at two per cent. The current round of cuts has been anticipated for several months as council nears the 2017 budget process in November.