From Bisceglie
The lights in his office go out late. All the paperwork went through his office, but few know it because he is the man behind the scenes. The general director of the Municipality Sandro Mazzatorta took charge of the “small revolution” that took place in the municipality and outside of it. He is one of the 24 general managers present in the large municipalities and in his interview with Carlino, he draws up a balance sheet of all his activities in the name of innovation.
Director Mazzatorta, according to a recent statistic it emerges that the digital maturity of the Municipality has risen significantly, placing Ferrara in the Italian top ten. How do you explain it?
“The Municipality must provide services to citizens and businesses on a daily basis. In the 21st century it is no longer possible to provide them only through physical branches, there was a need to strengthen the path of digital services. From here the multifunctional digital desk was born which allows you to obtain with one click the answer you need. On the issues of digitalisation, Ferrara is now a model”.
One point on which he worked is linked to the reorganization of municipal staff. What is its budget?
“We worked on our staff, focusing on the need to improve the quality of services, trying to simplify procedures and eliminating excess bureaucracy. When we took office, we found an extremely critical situation, first and foremost from a generational point of view. Through various actions, including the application of training and work contracts for the first time, we now have 113 employees under the age of 35 out of a total of 1,034 employees. We have cut managers and lightened the budget – reducing spending of staff from 46 to 40 million per year – freeing up resources for investments and services”.
Many complain about the excessive presence of collaborators in the staff between the mayor and the council. How to respond?
“All the capital municipalities have support staff for the political leaders and Ferrara certainly has fewer than other important municipalities in Emilia-Romagna. It was a controversy artfully created in 2020 on the basis of incorrect data, including in the calculation of the staff of the mayor also of the permanent employees of the Municipality. Furthermore, the four members of the mayor’s staff are all expert collaborators who carry out fundamental support functions”.
You participated in all the work of the Pnrr control room. What experience was it?
“Mayor Fabbri’s intuition to establish an ad hoc political delegation was farsighted, as was that of establishing the control room. The added value, beyond the extraordinary results obtained – over one hundred and forty million who poured into Ferrara for strategic works that will change its face – was the working method. We have overcome the compartmentalization between politics and the technical component. Managers, officials and project managers worked shoulder to shoulder with the councilors”.
How do you imagine the role of the general director in the administration of the future, assuming that Fabbri is re-elected?
“The general director is the guarantor of the implementation of the mayor’s mandate lines. But he is also a strategic figure who must help the management of the public administration grow, dispelling the myth of the lack of interest and unattractiveness of the public sector. The plan strategic role, on which the future of Ferrara will depend – from infrastructure to the establishment of new businesses – inevitably also passes through this office and whoever will hold it in the next mandate”.
