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2023-10-19; City Engineer and Deputy City Engineer Functions and Responsibilities Update (Districts All); Gomez, Paz

Carlsbad City Council
October 19, 2023

Document
2023-10-19; City Engineer and Deputy City Engineer Functions and Responsibilities Update (Districts All); Gomez, Paz
Meeting
October 19, 2023
Body
Carlsbad City Council
Pages
3
Original file
12 KB
Text extracted from the city's file for reading and search. Open the original on records.carlsbadca.gov. That file is the official record.

To the members oft-he:

CITY COUNCIL
Date lb~1l2~CA L CC V
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October 19, 2023
Council Memorandum
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Carlsbad
Memo ID# 2023108
To:

From:

Honorable Mayor Blackburn and Members of the City Council Paz Gomez, Deputy City Manager, Public Works
Via:

Re:

Geoff Patnoe, Assistant City Manager/§)
City Engineer and Deputy City Engine~unctions and Responsibilities Update (Districts -All)
This memorandum provides an update to a previous Council Memorandum dated June 11, 2020, included as Attachment A, on realignment of City Engineer and Deputy City Engineer functions and responsibilities.

Background
Attachment A provides the background on City Engineer and Deputy City Engineer functions and responsibilities and a proposed realignment. Since then, the proposed changes have been incorporated into the Carlsbad Municipal Code (CMC).

Discussion
CMC Chapter 15.16 covers Grading and Erosion Control. Section 15.16.030(K) describes the City Engineer's authority to delegate to the Deputy City Engineer, and provides that the city engineer shall have the authority and responsibility to:
"[g]rant authority to appropriate members of the city engineer's staff to act on behalf of the city engineer with regard to any aspect of the administration of the provisions of this chapter." With Attachment B, the City Engineer has delegated the authority for the administration and enforcement of CMC Chapter 15.16 to the Engineering Manager in the Community Development Department, a Deputy City Engineer.

Next Steps
Staff plan to propose amendments to the CMC to reflect changes in stormwater management terminology in the next few months. As part of that CMC amendment process, staff plan to clarify the delegation of authority currently provided in Section 15.16.030(K).

Attachments: A. Council Memorandum dated June 11, 2020
B. City Engineer delegation memorandum dated October 17, 2023 Public Works Branch
Transportation Department
1635 Faraday Avenue I Carlsbad, CA 92008 I 442-339-2730 t

Council Memo -City Engineer and DCE Functions and Responsibilities Update (Districts -All} October 19, 2023

Page 2 ends

cc: Scott Chadwick, City Manager
Cindie McMahon, City Attorney
Ron Kemp, Senior Assistant City Attorney
Gary Barberio, Deputy City Manager, Community Services
Laura Rocha, Deputy City Manager, Administrative Services Tom Frank, Transportation Director/City Engineer
Jeff Murphy, Community Development Director
Vicki Quiram, Utilities Director/CMWD General Manager
Allegra Frost, Assistant City Attorney
Gina Herrera, Deputy City Attorney
Dave Padilla, Assistant Utilities Director/CMWD District Engineer John Kim, City Traffic Engineer
John Maashoff, Public Works Manager/Deputy City Engineer Hossein Ajideh, Engineering Manager/Deputy City Engineer Jason Geldert, Engineering Manager/Deputy City Engineer Emily Hasegawa, Engineering Manager/Deputy City Engineer

To the members of the:

CITY COUNCIL Dat✓f#/,, {w CA ✓ CC ✓
CM _ACM ✓ DCM (3) /
June 11, 2020
Council Memorandum
To: Honorable Mayor Hall .and Members of the City Council From: Paz Gomez, Deputy City Manager, Public Works
Gary Barberio, Deputy City Manager, Community Services
Via: Geoff Patnoe, Assistant City Manager @
Attachment A
{city of
Carlsbad
Memo ID# 2020119
Re: Proposed Realignment of the City Engineer and Deputy City Engineer Functions and Responsibilities
This memorandum provides information on a proposed realignment of the city engineer and deputy city engineer functions to improve efficiencies, maximize effectiveness and more closely align the positions with associated roles and responsibilities.

Background
The primary role of the city engineer is to ensure that city infrastructure such as roads, bridges, facilities and related improvement projects comply with adopted engineering standards and practices while adhering to budgetary and environmental requirements. The position oversees the execution and construction of capital improvement program {CIP) projects and works closely with engineers and construction contractors. Close working relationships are needed because the person serves as the final authority over whether a project {1) complies with city engineering standards, approved plans and specifications, and (2) should be accepted into the city's capital assets maintenance program. The city engineer manages multiple contracts throughout the engineering process and is responsible for resolving contract disputes. In most jurisdictions, the city engineer is located within the public works department because they are typically responsible for building and maintaining the city's infrastructure and capital assets.

The city engineer's responsibilities are often delegated to various deputy city engineers who are assigned various roles and functions and make decisions as the city engineer designee on relevant matters. They may report to a different manager within the organization but will typically consult with the city engineer as required.

Currently, the role of city engineer has been assigned to the Land Development Engineering {LDE) manager, who currently resides within the Community Development {CD) Department. Because the LOE manager is not part of the Public Works {PW) Branch, the LDE manager does not actively participate in the review and development of CIP projects and therefore must spend extensive time getting up to speed in order to make decisions and resolve conflicts. To address.this organizational issue, PW and CD are pursuing an organizational change {Carlsbad Municipal Code Public Works Branch
1635 Faraday Ave. I Carlsbad, CA 92008 I 760-602-2730 t

Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 11, 2020

Page 2 ends

(CMC) amendment) to better align the city engineer's roles and responsibilities with current best practices.

Discussion
Historically, the city engineer position was in the former PW Department until a previous reorganization resulted in transferring the duties to the LDE manager. This change was made in 2011, when CMC Section 2.08.035 was amended to define the city engineer as the LDE manager (Ord. CS-164 § 4, 2011). Currently, the LDE manager has the primary responsibility of reviewing grading, drainage, stormwater and road improvements that are associated with private development projects. The LDE manager does not have oversight on matters such as CIP contracts, CIP project and construction management or CIP inspections. As a result, the LDE manager spends extensive time learning about public works projects in order to make decisions and resolve conflicts related to these other matters. The following is a summary of the proposed changes being considered to address this issue.
• Transfer the city engineer responsibilities from the LDE manager to the current PW transportation director, who is a registered professional engineer certified by the State of California. The transportation director currently oversees CIP project engineers, is familiar with various public works projects and can make timely engineering determinations and decisions.
• Clarify that the LDE manager will continue to oversee engineering review of private land development applications as a deputy city engineer. The LDE manager will continue to report to the community development director, but will make decisions as the city engineer designee on relevant land development engineering matters and will consult with the city engineer as required.
• Similarly, the Carlsbad Municipal Water District (CMWD) district engineer/deputy city . . engineer for utilities engineering will continue to report to the CMWD general manager/utilities director, but will make decisions as the city engineer designee on relevant utilities engineering matters and will consult with the city engineer as required. • There are currently other deputy city engineers in PW including engineering managers or equivalent for traffic engineering (also referred to as the city traffic engineer), construction management and inspection, transportation and drainage engineering, and facilities engineering. These positions require current registration as professional engineers in the State of California to perform their role as deputy city engineers. Two of these deputy city engineers report to a different ·manager within the organization but will typically consult with the city engineer as required.

The proposed changes will be cost-neutral.

Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 11, 2020

Page 3 ends

Next Steps
The proposed timeline is provided:
• July 2020-staff will work with the City Attorney's Office to update relevant Carlsbad Municipal Code sections and City Council Policies
• August-September 2020 -Present proposed code and Council Policy changes to the Municipal Code and City Council Policy Update Subcommittee • October 2020 -Present proposed code and C9uncil Policy changes to the City Council cc: Scott Chadwick, City Manager
Celia Brewer, City Attorney
Gary Barberio, Deputy City Manager, Community Services
Laura Rocha, Deputy City Manager, Administrative Services Robby Contreras, Assistant City Attorney
Ronald Kemp, Assistant City Attorney
Cindie McMahon, Assistant City Attorney
Tom Frank, Transportation Director
Jeff Murphy, Community Development Director
Vicki Quiram, Utilities Director
Jason Geldert, City Engineer/Engineering Manager
John Kim, City Traffic Engineer
John Maashoff, Public Works Manager
Ken Knatz, CMWD District Engineer/Engineering Manager
Hossein Ajideh, Engineering Manager
Babaq Taj, Engineering Manager

Memo randum
October 17, 2023
To:

From:

Re:

Jason Geldert, Engineering Manager
Tom Frank, City Engineer tf
Delegation of Deputy City Engineer (Districts -All)
Attachment B
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Carlsbad
Per Carlsbad Municipal Code Section 2.08.035, the Transportation Director is the City Engineer.

Per Carlsbad Municipal Code Section 2.08.036, the term "deputy city engineer" is defined as "a licensed, registered professional engineer in the State of California who has been designated by the city engineer to perform duties delegated to the deputy city engineer." Effective immediately, I am designating you, Jason Geldert (RCE #C63912), Engineering Manager, as a Deputy City Engineer relating to land development engineering issues, and delegate the duties under Carlsbad Municipal Code Chapters 11.16, 15.12, 15.16, and Titles 20 and 21 (those applicable sections referencing "city engineer").

This memorandum supersedes any previous memoranda related to this authority. cc: Scott Chadwick, City Manager
Cindie McMahon, City Attorney
Geoff Patnoe, Assistant City Manager
Paz Gomez, Deputy City Manager, Public Works
Gary Barberio, Deputy City Manager, Community Services
Ron Kemp, Senior Assistant City Attorney
Allegra Frost, Assistant City Attorney
Gina Herrera, Deputy City Attorney
Vicki Quiram, Utilities Director/CMWD General Manager
Jeff Murphy, Community Development Director
John Kim, City Traffic Engineer
Dave Padilla, Assistant Utilities Director/CMWD District Engineer John Maashoff, Public Works Manager/Deputy City Engineer Emily Hasegawa, Engineering Manager/Deputy City Engineer.

Hossein Ajideh, Engineering Manager/Deputy City Engineer Office of the City Engineer
1635 Faraday Avenue I Carlsbad, CA 92008 I 442-339-2766 t

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