Business Agenda Item 5b
STAFF REPORT
City Council Business Agenda Item
DATE: August 1, 2012
TO: Honorable Mayor and Council Members
FROM: Brendan Byrd, Public Works Director/City Engineer THROUGH: Merritt Perry, City Manager
SUBJECT: Authorize the Addition of a Public Works Project Manager Position to the Organizational Chart and place the City Engineer at Salary Classification Step F54 in Lieu of an Ongoing Recruitment for a City Engineer STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Authorize the City Manager add a Public Works Project Manager Position to the Organizational Chart in lieu of the City Engineer Position, add a new Salary Classification and Step F54 to the FY 2022-23 Full-time Pay Rate Schedule and authorize the City Manager to approve starting a new employee at Step 3 of the Project Manager Pay Classification.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Following the departure of the Deputy Director of Public Works in September of 2021, staff began planning a reorganization of the public works management and mid-management positions. Unlike when the Deputy Director position was created, public works staff included a stand-alone City Engineer, and it was decided that a stand-alone Public Works Director would best meet the needs of the department’s diverse working responsibilities. This reorganization began with the Council’s approval to recruit for a Public Works Director (replacing the Deputy Director position) on January 18, 2022, a position that was later filled by the City Engineer in April.
Following the promotion of the City Engineer, staff released a recruitment for the City Engineer position which produced no applicants. After the unsuccessful recruitment, staff reached out to local agencies and consultants to get a sense of the current hiring climate locally. Based on those conversations, local employers are having a difficult time recruiting licensed engineers with sufficient experience, which has caused some agencies to either freeze recruitments or develop positions with responsibilities not requiring professional licensure as an engineer.
Recognizing the immediate need to alleviate portions of the workload of the Public Works Director, staff decided to perform the second posting for the City Engineer position and advertise concurrently for a new position, a Public Works Project Manager. The hope was that we would have qualified candidate for City Engineer, and if not, then recruiting for a Project Manager, that did not require engineering expertise, would have a better chance of being filled. If filled a Project Manager could offset a large portion of the current workload, but not necessarily those requiring engineering expertise. Other nearby jurisdictions, such as the City of Eureka, have taken a similar approach to the same problem and been successful.
In June staff released both recruitments, which closed on July 15th. There were no applicants for Business Agenda Item 5b
the City Engineer position, however, the Project Manager position received two qualified applicants which were interviewed the week of July 18th. Staff selected a well-qualified candidate that has worked professionally as a consulting project engineer that is qualified for the position of Project Manager, and that with continued experience may be qualified to be City Engineer in the future.
Therefore, it is staff’s recommendation that the Council approve the addition of the Public Works Project Manager position and add a new salary step, F54, to the current Full-Time Pay Rate Schedule, as shown on Attachment A. A revised organizational chart is also attached. In addition, staff is seeking council approval to start the employee at up to Step 3 of the salary schedule for this position which is 12% above the base salary for the position. Council approval is required for starting employees beyond 10% of the base salary for any position. Staff is requesting the approval in this case, as we have a well-qualified applicant with engineering expertise. Without the ability to start at a higher salary, it is unlikely that the City will be able to hire someone as qualified for this position.
If approved, the Public Works Director would continue to serve as the City Engineer and provide oversite to the Project Manager position. The City Engineer position would remain on the org chart and frozen until such a time as it can be filled. Ideally, the new Project Manager will be qualified to be competitive for this position in the near future. Both positions will not be filled at the same time.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The current salary range for City Engineer is $84,204.73 - $102.447.93. The proposed range for the new Public Works Project Manager is $67,816.63 – $82,509.30. The decrease in salary presents the City with a potential average annual savings of $19,938.63.
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:
1. Receive staff presentation and review questions with staff
2. Open public comment
3. Close public comment
4. Motion to authorize the City Manager to create a new Public Works Project Manager position and freeze the City Engineer position, add a new salary classification of F54 to the Full-time Pay Rate Schedule, and authorize the City Manager to start an employee at Step 3 of the F54 salary classification.
ATTACHMENTS:
Exhibit A – FY 2022-23 Full-time Pay Rate Schedule and Organizational Chart including the proposed Public Works Project Manager