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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDA REPORT 1990 0418 CC REG ITEM 11FPAUL W. LAWRASON, Jr. Mayor SCOTT MONTGOMERY Mayor Pro Tern ELOISE BROWN Councilmember CLINT HARPER, Ph.D. Councilmember BERNARDO M.PEREZ Councilmember LILLIAN KELLERMAN City Clerk TO: FROM: DATE: SUBJECT: Introduction MOORPARK STEM M E M O R A N D U M The Honorable City Council Steven Rueny, City Manager April 13, 1990 Organization and Management Review STEVEN KUENY City Manager CHERYL J.KANE City Attorney PATRICK RICHARDS, A.I.C.P. Director of Community Development R. DENNIS DELZEIT City Engineer JOHN V. GILLESPIE Chief of Police RICHARD T. HARE City Treasurer After review of the responses to the City's Request for Proposal, the firm of William Hamilton and Associates (WHA) was selected to perform the Organization and Management Study. WHA began their work in June 1989. The attached report from WHA includes their evaluation, findings and recommendations. During the period of the study, the City has accomplished or initiated a number of items addressed in the report including: 1. Acquisition of add it::_)naI computer hardware and software; 2. Hiring of additional Administrative Secretary and an interim Public Works Di_7ector; and 3. Reconfiguration of certai-n offices within City Hall and related physical impro-voment.s to upgrade the working environment,, Many components of these items were in the planning stages prior to initiation of the Study. The use of an outside consultant allowed a confidential setting fo: all employees to express their views and opinions concerning current operations and procedures. WHA also obtained critical input regarding employees' perceptions of time allocation and task accountability. The findings confirmed that a large percent.a,Ie (about 50 %) of our work is 799 Moorpark Avenue Moorpark, California 93021 (805) 529 -6864 unplanned and employees generally feel there are too many priorities and too much shifting of priorities. The goals and objectives and work program process recommended by WHA can help alleviate these conditions and provide the means of relating workloads and staffing levels wi"-:h reasonable expectations of work accomplishment. Study Findings and Recommendation:., I generally agree with the findings and recommendations developed by WHA. My comments concerning their findings as well as the capabilities and timing required to implement their recommendations are as follows: 1. Definition of mission, long and short term goals, priority for departmental,/ functional objectives for the fiscal year and planned work programs. As you are aware, the v,olume of tasks relative to available staff made this process difficult to implement in the past. It was informally done to a limited extent, but was not integrated with the budget process. The survey results contained on page 20 of the report indicate that about 50% of staff time is spent on unplanned work. Goal setti..ng and implementation thereof should alleviate some of this situation. The Implementation Plan (page 55) has goal setting occurring during the first or second quarter of the calendar year. At present, staff i:,, updating the list of activities /projects /assignments which will form the basis for this process. We will be able to incorporate an abbreviated process as ;part:. of the Council's 1990/91 budget deliberations. 2. Budget Format The current (1989/90) budget document contained more information than in previous years. Staff will be including additional information in the draft 1990/91 budget document incorporating several of the items mentioned by WHA. 3. Staff Stability I concur with WHA that turnover in a small city presents more problems than in a Larger organization. We are often dealing with one position classifications and few, if any, levels in the organizational structure. When a vacancy occurs responsibilities are usually shifted upward or even outside of that department. Improving stability in the workforce requires attention to employee development :ind training, workload and salary /benefits among other factors. In the past, the City has worked with the employees to continue to provide ful payment of dependent health coverage (with an option to pay them for a portion of this amount if eligible "or coverage, but electing not to enroll) . Both City management and employees continue to face increasing diff ic: silty in securing good coverage at a reasonable cost. City payment of the employee's portion of the retirement contribution has enabled Moorpark to be more compeatitive with other area public employers. Salary comparability is important. This is continually reviewed by City management. It is unlikely that the two sides to this issue would ever completely agree. Competitive wage rates are especially critical with the relatively high cost _sf "tous.ing in Ventura County and adjacent areas. Employee development, w1ii.le not, ignored in the past, has generally taken a buck seat. due to other demands and workload consideratic,ns. Current training efforts are generally focused on data processing as we learn to operate the newly acquired hardware and software. In- house City management currently meet once a month with primary focus on matters related to this subject. We are currently developing a comprehensive assessment of and program for achie-v,inq personal and organizational development and training needs. `Phis is an expansion of the Individual Development Plan portion of the employee evaluation process. Increased funding for employee development Nil be included in the 1990/91 draft budget. 4. Decision Making I do not support the routine use of study sessions. They should be reserved for major items or issues such as the General Plan update, or the annual budget. I generally support the agenda format changes which staff will try out over the next.. few months. We will elicit Council and staff feedback before determining a final format to be used. 5. Controlling /Communicati.ng,Eva= luati.ng The City Manager conducts the regularly scheduled meetings referenced in thE� study. Each department also holds meetings. It's inccimbent that these meetings be held for the same a:3en-ra masons cited by WHA regardless of other demands on the manager's time. This will be evaluated and monitored as part of my meetings with the Department Heads. I agree that the performance evaluation needs revision. I'm not sure we will use the sample form, but new forms will be developed and used. The importance of the Individual Development Plan currently contained on our evaluating form is not diminished. There will cue increased focus on this as it relates to goals, objf�ctives and work program. 6. Organization StructurE� ar d Staffing Since initiation of this rev.:iew, the Council has authorized two additions positions as follows: A. An Administrative secretary position has been filled and supports both Administrative Services and Public Works, with this addition, the secretary position L. -is been assigned to Community Development full- -t_me. (This position still provides primary ba(,.up to the receptionist.) B. An interim Public: w <_rks Director. This position has been filled since November, 1989. A separate study of whether this position should be expanded to be an in- house. City Engineer or be more focused on public works is b( ing conducted by city staff. I support WHA's re.c::)mmendation that we separate the maintenance fur(., -tion into two components- - streets and Parks/ f r t ci 1 ides . I see this as an interim configurat:ioa to allow establishment of a traditional Public W_)rks Department. We can then further evaluate the available options. It also allows us to deti°e c:p an additional supervisory level position to m-re effectively plan for the expansion of maint( nance activity in streets, parks, facil.itie:.,, landscaping and other assignments. It is apparent that additional staffing is or will be needed in the dleas of finance, recreation, maintenance, recy(. -ing, redevelopment and clerical /secretarial support. Some of these Positions are being_ E`,aluated and will be included in the 1990/91 prop+.) .,ed budget.. With the implementat.ior. of: AB 939, the city's intention to regulate. refuse pick -up within the City and related Solid Waste issues, I foresee the need for a position zilch as Recycling Coordinator in 19go/91_ Wi tl _hE implementation of the financial software, the continuing need to manage trust deposits and meet the needs of expanding organization, a full -time account clerk position is being evaluated. An added position would more easily permit the better separation of duties the auditors are seeking, provide more effective use of time by the Finance Officer and create a career track within the organization. The increase in park, parkway and median landscaping, street mileage and aging of streets may require an additional maintenance worker. This will allow the Cty to consider doing more functions in- house, such as pavement markings and provide coverage for extended hours and weekends. Staff has currently begun evaluation of a training program for maintenance workers. This would provide a labor pool. for the City including backup crossing guards and training to unskilled entry - level employees. It provides a prospective trainee the potential for co- ltinued employment as the City expands its in- house maintenance capabilities. Staff is currently I,evelop -ing a work program for recreation services It appears that at least a half -time position is needed to assist the Recreation Superv_isc. r° to meet the desire for and anticipated expansion of' activities. Program expansion is limiteC: to some extent by a lack of facilities at peak: t m,3�,;. 5 While it is anticit.,ated that the redevelopment function can be contracted, we will need to evaluate the need f(:r at least one staff person. This will depend -,n i number of factors including the level of invol`,rement in housing programs including rehabilitation and economic development, and availability c)f ther st.:aff. We currently have six secretarial positions including the Deput ° City Clerk and Executive Secretary, plus a Receptionist. The recently added Administrative Secretary is k% shared by Administrative Services and Public Works. This is supplemented by two part -time clerical support Positions. The final decision on the in -house City Engineer /Public Work Director, recycling /solid waste activities,:- ede;rvelopment start -up, progress on implementing certa -1 prajf =.cts such as munimetrix 5 and records retention as well as generally expanding services will be evaluated in determining any reassignment and /or need for additional secretarial /clerical staff. 7. Facilities During this study, tine City implemented planned improvements and reconfiguration of the City Hall work areas. The combined work and storage space is essentially at maximum use. We can probably accommodate three additional staff positions within the current building. This will necessitate a second displacement of a planned City Ha 1 office for the Sheriff's Department.. Staff is proceeding Wlth preliminary planning for expansion of City Hall A proposal from a firm specializing in office space planning has been solicited. The initial work of such an assignment will be an evaluation of our current utilization of existing space. A projection of expansion needs would then be done. Expansion of City Hall is critical to maintaining the productivity gains realized since we occupied the City Hall offices in October 1988. We want to avoid use of temporary office space (either off -site rental or on- site temporaries) until we have a construction plan and schedule. City staff conducted a telephone survey of other comparably sized and generally contract cities concerning staff size and available office space. The numbers of positions in each functional area all include clerical /secretarial, pr_)feas.ional.s, management/ supervisory and laborer_ 6 No. of San Juan Santa Employees Solvang Lawndale Capistrano Paula Walnut General Management 2 4 10 3 6 Community Port Agoura Hueneme Hills Moorpark 9 Development I A 4 3 Contract 9(3) Public Works 10(1) 20 22 28(2) 10 Finance 5(1) 4 11 8(2) 4 Recreation, �. . ^0.000 24.000 Contract :;fcs (sq ft) 8,000 ?0,000 15,000 FI.000 10,000 Population 4,100 24,000 25,000 '-,000 25,000 4 5 5 8 27 2 5 6(4) 3 2 7 4.5 3 70,000(4) 6,800 4,5UU ^0.000 24.000 26,500 NOTES: (1) INCLUDES WATER AND SEWER OPERATIONS AND BILLINGS. (2) INCLUDES SEWER AND REFUSE OPERATIONS AND BILLINGS. (3) INCLUDES BUILDING AND SAFETY. (4) INCLUDES 30 PERSON POLICE DEPARTMENT AND WATER, SEWER AND REFUSE BILLINGS. 7 An equally critical need is a public works yard. I concur with WHA that this has limited our ability to acquire certain equipment. This has been a targeted project for some time, but staff has not had sufficient time to process beyond preliminary steps. The addition of the Public Works Director position will allow this to be pursued in 1990/ (,)'. 8. Systems, Procedures and fWtomat: ion Both Council and staff have demonstrated a commitment to implementing computer hardware and software improvements. Many items were implemented during this current fiscal year. Automation improvements will continue to receive attention. This will require on- going review to insure that we take advantage of future innovations. Two items identified by WHA need to be emphasized. The first is the need to obtain and implement a work management system for both Community Services and Public Works maintenance activities. The other item is the purging of project files in Community Development as well as the City's central files. This will require a significant time commitment and should be a priority in the goal setting and work programs for 1990/91. Conclusions In summary, the WHA Report has provided a number of recommendations. It is incumbent on the Council to demonstrate a commitment to the recommendations and for City management to implement those recommendations t : :,ndorsed by the city Council. Staff is proceeding as follows: 1. Implementation of a focused goals, objectives and work program process to be integrated with the budget process; 2. Completing acquisition if identified hardware and software within 1989/90 [ audget appropriations; 3. Evaluating employee development and training needs with proposals to be consideree: during 1990/91 budget review; 4. Planning for City Hall expansion and City yard with funding to be reviewed as part. of 1.990/91 budget; 5. Evaluating staffing requ.ii ements to be considered during 1990/91 budget review. Staff Recommendation Accept recommendations contained in the Organization and Management Study and as modified ky this report and direct staff to proceed with implementation.