Mayor Daley Consolidates Departments, and Some Chicago City Workers Will Be Laid Off

Chicago - Mayor Richard M. Daley on Wednesday announced consolidations of a handful of city departments, aimed at avoiding duplication of functions and reducing costs but also resulting in the elimination of several jobs.

Daley announced that effective January 1, 2011, the city will:

Consolidate the Departments of General Services and Graphics. The move will produce efficiencies in providing security, custodial services and printed materials and several positions can be eliminated, a release from the mayor's office said.

Consolidate the Department of Cultural Affairs and the Mayor’s Office of Special Events, which are funded from the same source and have some common functions. Some positions can be eliminated.

Consolidate the Departments of Community Development and Zoning and Land Use Planning, to place all neighborhood development functions in one department. In this consolidation, zoning inspectors will be moved to the Department of Buildings and some positions could be eliminated.

’To build an even more modern and diverse economy in Chicago, we are carrying out a comprehensive, long-term strategy to create new jobs and a secure future for all our residents,’ Daley said.

’But, especially during these tough times, many of those things can’t happen the way we want them to unless we manage city government as efficiently as possible,’ he said.