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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDA REPORT 2005 0316 CC REG ITEM 09BITEM q. a• CITY OF MOORPARK, CALIFORNIA City Council Meeting of 3 -/6 -a 00,1' ACTION: MOORPARK CITY COUNCIL BY: AGENDA REPORT TO: Honorable City Council FROM: Steven Kueny, City Manager 6V-- DATE: March 10, 2005 (CC Meeting of 03/16/05) SUBJECT: Consider Reassignment of Certain Departmental Responsibilities, Changes to Certain Department Names, Changes to Certain Positions, Creation of Five New Position Classifications and Addition of Two Positions BACKGROUND The City's staffing levels and organization of responsibilities are monitored and adjustments are periodically made to address changing needs and priorities and to achieve operational improvements. When staff vacancies occur we also evaluate the current workload, assignments, and reporting relationships to see if any adjustments are warranted. With vacancies in the Department of Administrative Services, Senior Management Analyst (Redevelopment) and Public Works Supervisor (since filled) positions, an evaluation was conducted. This report recommends certain changes to department responsibilities and positions and the addition of two positions. DISCUSSION The City's workforce has increased to meet increasing and changing service needs but the number of employees continues to be less than what is needed to fully address the adopted priorities and objectives. In addition as previously mentioned, assignments and responsibilities are periodically evaluated to improve operations. The City Manager has the authority to make the transfer of assignments and to generally organize the City's departments. However, because some of the proposed changes involve upgrades of positions, added positions, changes in salary ranges, new names for three City departments, and approval of additional funding, City Council action is required. The proposed actions are described below. 000106 Honorable City Council March 16, 2005 Regular Meeting Page 2 Administrative Services Department and Assistant to the City Manager /City Clerk (ATOM /City Clerk) The City's Information System (IS) function is currently a division of the Administrative Services Department and staffed with one full - time and one part -time staff supplemented with contract services for specific needs. With the vacancy in the Administrative Services Director position, responsibility for IS was shifted to ATOM /City Clerk. This transfer was already being evaluated in 2004 in order to give this function a higher priority and will remain in place. With this action it is proposed that the Administrative Services Director position and Department be changed to Finance Director and Department. The Finance Director position is proposed to be at Salary Range 79 which is 10% below the other Department Director positions. The position will report to the Assistant City Manager as had the Administrative Services Director. If this proposal is approved, the current Budget and Finance Manager will be promoted to this new position. The Budget and Finance Manager position will be left vacant and would be filled with a Finance and Accounting Manager position (Range 71) which is 10% less than the former position. In addition the current Account Technician II (Range 51) position would be upgraded to a newly established classification of Senior Account Technician (Range 53) which is 5% above the former position. This reflects both increased and more complex responsibilities. The Receptionist position will be shifted to the Community Development Department along with the Business Registration Program. The net costs are minor and will be absorbed within the existing budget. The ATOM /City Clerk is currently responsible for City Clerk and Human Resources /Risk Management functions in addition to general assistance to the City Manager as time permits. With the addition of the IS function, the responsibilities in the department are more reflective of an overall administrative service function. It is recommended that the ATOM /City Clerk position be renamed Administrative Services Director and the Department the Administrative Services Department. The transfer of the IS function is important to the entire City organization. As you are aware, IS continues to be upgraded to better serve internal and external purposes and to achieve operational efficiencies. The upgrade of the current half -time IS Technician to a full -time position will assist the City in achieving its IS objectives. This additional cost is proposed to come from the General Fund Reserve for a three year period as discussed in the Funding Section of this report. To allow the Director to spend an appropriate amount of time on this function, it is proposed that the Human Resources Assistant be upgraded to Human Services Analyst and the approximate half -time Administrative Aide that supports the Human Resources function be upgraded to a three - quarter time Secretary I 00010'7 Honorable City Council March 16, 2005 Regular Meeting Page 3 position. The Analyst will assume some of the administrative tasks now performed by the ATOM /City Clerk and the Secretary I will assume more of the clerical and some of the quasi- administrative support tasks now performed by the Assistant. The cost for these two proposed upgrades will be absorbed within the current approved budget. City Manager /Assistant City Manager The currently vacant Senior Management Analyst (Redevelopment) position is proposed to be upgraded to Redevelopment Manager (Range 75) . This reflects the importance of the redevelopment agency activities by,hiring a person more experienced in such programs. The Senior Management Analyst (Housing) would report to the Redevelopment Manager. This combination will allow the Assistant City Manager to spend more time on finance related matters, construction projects, and less on the more routine redevelopment and housing activities. The cost for this change can be absorbed within the existing budgets. It is also proposed that an additional Senior Management Analyst position be authorized. Initially the position would be assigned to the City Manager's Office and would focus on specific projects related to City Council approved objectives that current staff do not have time to address. This may include electronic signs, freeway landscaping, trails, secondary access to the south Metrolink parking lot, records retention, City entry signs, and relocation of Metrolink layover facility. This position would be assigned to various departments for specific work efforts on an as needed basis. The funding for this position is proposed to come from the General Fund Reserve for a three year period as discussed in the Funding Section of this report. Community Services Department The responsibilities of the department include landscape maintenance, parks and recreation, transportation /transit, solid waste /recycling, facilities, and animal /vector control. The administrative support to the Director is limited. It is proposed that the current Maintenance Supervisor (Range 59 competitive service) be upgraded to an exempt position of Parks and Facilities Superintendent (Range 67) . This position will assume primary responsibility for minor capital projects and a larger role in major capital projects and in the management of the landscape maintenance contracts. It will retain overall responsibility for parks, landscape, and facilities maintenance. The Community Services Technician position is proposed to be upgraded to an Administrative Specialist (Range 51) position which is 10% 000108 Honorable City Council March 16, 2005 Regular Meeting Page 4 above the former position. Currently the position reports to a Senior Management Analyst and generally works on recycling /solid waste and transit matters. The upgraded position would report to the Director and provide general administrative support as well as receiving specific assignments on recycling /solid waste and other matters. It is my intention to reassign the responsibility for transportation/ transit matters to the Public Works /City Engineer Department if the staffing proposed in the report is approved and when the positions are filled. The cost for these proposed changes can be absorbed within the existing budget. To more appropriately recognize the parks and recreation emphasis in the department, and to make it more recognizable to the public, it is proposed to rename the department and the Director's position as Parks, Recreation and Community Services. Community Development Department The responsibility for the CDBG program and film permits have been recently transferred here from the Assistant City Manager's Office. In addition, the Business Registration Program and Receptionist position will be transferred to the department from the Administrative Services Department. It is proposed that the contract Building and Safety services consisting of four staff be relocated to City Hall. This will provide greater coordination between planning and building and safety and be more convenient for the public. Building and Safety will provide the initial contact for the public counter. The Receptionist will continue to have primary phone contact and will be assigned appropriate ancillary duties in support of the department. While there is sufficient floor space for the relocation, modification to the front counter and some work space will be needed. This is estimated to cost $25,000.00. Funds are contained in the 2004/05 FY budget for this purpose. As you are aware, one of the department's three Principal Planner position has been eliminated. It is anticipated that current staff will be supplemented by contract planning services as needed and funded by applicants. The responsibilities of the current Senior Management Analyst in the department have both increased and become more complex. This position operates with a minimum of direction and handles most of the complex financial and administrative activities for the department as well as assisting the City Engineer as needed on financial and administrative matters. It is proposed that the Senior Management Analyst position be upgraded to an Administrative Services Manager position (Range 75) which is 20% above the former position. The cost for the proposed 000109 Honorable City Council March 16, 2005 Regular Meeting Page 5 change can be absorbed in the current budget. The proposed new position will continue to provide assistance to the City Engineer on financial and administrative matters as needed. Public Works /City Engineer The current Public Works Director is scheduled to retire in the summer of 2005. The in -house City Engineer position was established with this in mind with the combining of the two positions upon the Director's retirement. We are currently in a transition period with the City Engineer to officially assume administrative responsibility of the combined department by June 30, 2005. During much of the time since the City Engineer's arrival in December 2003, he spent more time than anticipated on assisting the contract engineering services improve customer service, their processes, and overall operations. It is our intention to retain the services of the retiring Public Works Director in the foreseeable future on half -time basis (the maximum allowed by applicable law) to continue work on specific projects. With the exception of the City Yard project, the time will be funded by non City general fund sources. Even with this expected work effort, it is apparent that to achieve the desired level of development engineering services, to improve traffic engineering services, and to enhance the delivery of the numerous capital projects will require additional support staff. It is proposed that the position of Assistant City Engineer be established at a Range 77 ($6,855- $9,214 per month). The ultimate goal is to fund this proposed position from a combination of development and project revenue sources. This will take time as we continue to evaluate the provision of engineering services. Any diversion of current contract engineer related revenues from the Community Development Fund will only exacerbate the funding concerns for the Community Development Department. Therefore, it is recommended that the equivalent of three years of expenditure for the proposed position be funded from the General Fund Reserve. This is addressed in the Funding Section of this report. This funding mechanism was used to fund the City Engineer position for its initial 18 months. The department has a Public Works Supervisor position which is proposed to be upgraded to a Public Works Superintendent at a Range 67. This is 12 %% above the prior position. This recognizes the increased responsibilities in the maintenance function as well as capital projects. This increase can be absorbed within the existing budget. 000110 Honorable City Council March 16, 2005 Regular Meeting Page 6 The recommended changes in certain salary ranges and addition of certain positions to the Salary Plan are contained in a separate report on this agenda. If the recommended changes are approved by the Council, staff will return with the necessary modifications to the Classification Plan and Council action for appropriation from the General Fund Reserve. Funding As described in this report, it is recommended that three positions be funded from the General Fund Reserve for up to three years when increased revenues should allow them to be funded within the regular operating budget. The three positions are Assistant City Engineer, Senior Management Analyst, and modification of the IS Technician from a half to a full -time position. This funding mechanism was used to fund the City Engineer for its initial 18 months and about five years ago was used to fund at least three positions (Teen Coordinator, Maintenance Worker, and Information Systems Supervisor) until City revenues were projected to increase sufficiently to absorb the funding of those positions. The Assistant City Engineer is projected to cost about $430,000 over the three year period with an initial annual cost of $130,000 for salary /benefits and increasing by 10% per year. The Senior Management Analyst is projected to cost about $331,000 over the three year period with an initial cost of $100,000 for salary /benefits increasing by 10% per year. The additional one -half time for the IS Technician is projected to cost about $116,000 for the three year period with an initial cost of $35,000 salary /benefits increasing by 10% per year. The total for the three positions is projected at about $877,000 for the requested three year period. The preliminary audited financial statement for 2003/04 FY shows a projected General Fund surplus of about $1.3 million. Most of this was a result of expenditure savings, not growth in revenue. It is recommended that the Council approve the funding for these positions from the 2003/04 General Fund surplus. SUMMARY The following actions are proposed: 1. The Assistant to the City Manager (ATCM) /City Clerk position and department will be retitled to Administrative Services Department to reflect its responsibility for Information Systems, Human Resources /Risk Management, and City Clerk functions. 0001.1. Honorable City Council March 16, 2005 Regular Meeting Page 7 2. Shift responsibility for Information Systems from the current Administrative Services Department to ATOM /City Clerk Department (to be renamed Administrative Services Department). 3. Modify the part -time Information Systems Technician position to a full -time position and increase the salary range by 12% to Range 51. 4. Modify Human Resources Assistant to Human Resources Analyst at Range 56. 5. Upgrade the approximate half -time (1300 hours) Administrative Aide position to a three quarter time (1500 hours) Secretary I position in the newly named Administrative Services Department. 6. Modify the current Administrative Services Department to a Finance Department with the transfer of Information Systems to the renamed Administrative Services Department and reassign Receptionist position and Business Registration Program to the Community Development Department. 7. Establish the position of Finance Director at a Range 79 and authorize hiring for the position of Finance /Accounting Manager at Range 71 in lieu of the current Budget and Finance Manager position. 8. Establish the classification of Senior Account Technician at Range 53. 9. Modify Senior Management Analyst (Redevelopment) position to Redevelopment Manager position at Range 75. 10. Add a Senior Management Analyst position to City Manager's Office. 11. Retitle Community Services Department and Director to Parks, Recreation, and Community Services. 12. Establish the classifications of Parks and Facilities Superintendent and Public Works Superintendent at Range 67. 13. Modify the current Maintenance Supervisor position in Community Services Department to Parks and Facilities Superintendent. 14. Modify Community Services Technician position to an Administrative Specialist at Range 51. 00011.2 Honorable City Council March 16, 2005 Regular Meeting Page 8 15. Modify the Community Development Department Senior Management Analyst position to an Administrative Services Manager position at Range 75. 16. Establish the classification of Assistant City Engineer at Range 77. 17. Modify the current Public Works Supervisor position to a Public Works Superintendent position. 18. Concur with relocation of contract Building and Safety services staff to City Hall. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Approve the recommended changes as contained in this report and direct staff to return with revisions to Classification Plan and General Fund appropriations. 00011.3