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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/18/2025 Item 6f, Collins and Domini - Staff Agenda CorrespondenceCity of San Luis Obispo, Council Memorandum City of San Luis Obispo Council Agenda Correspondence DATE: November 18, 2025 TO: Mayor and Council FROM: Nickole Domini, Human Resources Director Scott Collins, Assistant City Manager VIA: Whitney McDonald, City Manager SUBJECT: ITEM #6f – CONSOLIDATION OF THE PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES DEPARTMENTS AND ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW DIRECTOR POSITION Staff received the following questions regarding the proposed consolidation of the Public Works and Utilities Departments. The questions are below with staff’s response shown in italics: 1) Who would decide whom to appoint the Assistant Director of Public Works and the Assistant Director of Utilities? The Director of Public Works and Utilities will make the appointments for both Assistant Director positions, as each role reports directly to the Director. 2) What is the process for promoting internal candidates to these new positions? The recruitment process will follow the City’s Employment Opportunity Program (EOP). This program provides eligible City employees with the opportunity to apply for and potentially transfer or promote into classifications with a vacancy before any external recruitment begins. The internal recruitment for the two Assistant Director positions is planned to open on November 24, 2025. All City employees will receive an email notification of the opportunity. After the application period closes, all internal candidates who meet the minimum qualifications will be invited to participate in an interview. The interview process will involve several individuals, and after it is completed, the Director of Public Works and Utilities will make the final selection and work with Human Resources to extend a job offer. 3) Can any current City employee apply? Yes. Any current City employee may apply. However, only current City employees who have completed probation and who meet minimum qualifications will be eligible for consideration through the EOP program. ITEM 6f – CONSOLIDATION OF THE PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES DEPARTMENTS AND ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW DIRECTOR POSITION Page 2 4) What management position is slated for elimination if consolidation of these two departments are approved? A specific management position has not yet been identified for elimination. The position will be determined after the Assistant Director positions have been filled. These recruitments could create two vacancies, so the department may need to backfill their positions based on operational needs, which may create an additional vacancy. Although the particular position to be eliminated has not yet been determined, the department remains committed to eliminating one manag ement position as part of the consolidation. The remainder of the questions are related to Table 1 in the Council Agenda Report in the fiscal impact section. It has been added below for quick reference. 5) Do the total costs outlined for each position include salary and benefits costs, or just salary? The estimated costs for each position include salary and benefits. ITEM 6f – CONSOLIDATION OF THE PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES DEPARTMENTS AND ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW DIRECTOR POSITION Page 3 6) How were the salaries determined for the new Director of Public Works and Utilities as well as the Assistant Directors? The salary and benefits for the three positions are estimated in accordance with Section 2.36.240 B4 of the Personnel Rules and Regulations , which states that when a promotion occurs, the employee shall receive at least five percent more than the rate paid in the former position. The rules further state that if the promotion is to a supervisory position, the promoted employee shall receive no less than the next higher rate (generally five percent) above the highest rate being paid to their subordinates. The Assistant Director of Public Works is estimated at a slightly higher starting pay than the Assistant Director of Utilities because a highe r salaried position, the Deputy Director of Public Works/City Engineer, reports directly to it. 7) The reports states that in the past, the Public Works Director costs were allocated through a back-end cost allocation process to parking and transit. However, the proposal going forward for the Assistant Public Works Director and the Director of Public Works and Utilities positions is to allocate costs per the table above. How were the above percentage allocations arrived ? The projected percentage allocations were based on actual amounts of time currently spent by the Interim Director, and the estimated amount of time each position is expected to spend on the related funds . These amounts were proportioned relative to Public Works and Utilities for each Assistant Director position. This estimation of actual time spent f ollows the same methodology the City uses to allocate costs for all other positions that are charged to multiple funds. 8) In the past, the Utilities Director was not charged to the General Fund. Why is staff proposing to change that now for the Assistant Director of Utilities ? The Utilities Department currently manages both the City’s regulated Stormwater Management Program and the Solid Waste Program. These two positions are General Fund programs. Moving forward, the General Fund will also be contributing a portion of the salary costs to the Director of Public Works and Utilities position which will better reflect the time needed to oversee all of these programs. 9) It appears staff are estimating that the one position eliminated will be from the Utilities Department, rather than Public Works, but it does not clearly state what position is proposed to be eliminated , rather it is only an estimated total cost. Can you provide more information about how this estimated savings was determined? The estimated savings reflect the elimination of a mid -manager level position, but the actual position and funding split is to be determined. Once the specific position is identified, a more precise calculation of the associated cost savings will be completed. The percentages appearing under the Eliminated Position in the table reproduced above should read 0% for each fund because the exact position to be eliminated at this time is unknown. The 50% shown for the Water and Sewer funds in this line were included in error. ITEM 6f – CONSOLIDATION OF THE PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES DEPARTMENTS AND ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW DIRECTOR POSITION Page 4 10) Please provide a bit more context about the proposed combined Public Works and Utilities Department. How many F ull-Time Equivalent positions (FTEs), total operations and CIP budgets, funds and programs? Further, please provide more of a breakdown in roles and responsibilities for the Director, Assistant Directors and Deputy Directors. • Combined Department FTEs – 180 • Combined Department Operations budget - $67.3 million • Combined Department manages 6 funds (General Fund, Parking, Transit, Water, Sewer and Whale Rock) • Combined Department manages 22 major program areas, including but not limited to: water resources, solid waste, wastewater collections, reservoirs, transit, parking, park maintenance, fleet management, engineering, facilities maintenance and transportation • Combined Department manages the 10-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) consisting of 1,000+ projects and $650 million across all City funds The following chart provides a list of examples of the various duties and responsibilities that would be implemented between the Director, Assistant Directors, and Deputy Directors under the proposed reorganization: Focus Area Deputy Director Assistant Director Director Primary Role Runs day-to-day operations within a division Coordinates across divisions; ensures quality, consistency, and compliance Sets long-term strategy and represents department citywide; ensures consistency in expectations, evaluation, and accountability across departments and managers. Time Horizon Daily → next few months 1–3 years 5–10 years Span of Oversight One division Entire department branch (11 major divisions for each Assistant Director) Entire department + executive-level partnerships ITEM 6f – CONSOLIDATION OF THE PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES DEPARTMENTS AND ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW DIRECTOR POSITION Page 5 Daily Work Staffing, scheduling, troubleshooting, operational decisions Reviewing finances, monitoring compliance, coordinating CIP & development review, improving processes Strategic budgeting, major project and policy direction, long-range planning People Leadership Supervises division staff; conducts evaluations Reviews evaluations for consistency; supports deputies and managers, including implementing training, development, and culture initiatives Leads department culture, succession planning, labor relations Financial Responsibility Manages division budgets Reviews credit cards, work orders, fund management; ensures department-wide financial consistency Oversees strategic budget decisions, rate- setting, long- term financial sustainability Regulatory/Compliance Ensures division compliance Provides department-wide regulatory oversight; anticipates new requirements Engages with state/federal agencies; guides compliance strategy Major City Projects & Development Review Provides division input Coordinates cross-division work; removes bottlenecks Sets policy direction; aligns projects with City Council goals Communications Communicates within division Leads departmental communications, including external communications, prepares Council correspondence Citywide spokesperson for the department; manages major partner relationships ITEM 6f – CONSOLIDATION OF THE PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES DEPARTMENTS AND ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW DIRECTOR POSITION Page 6 Emergency Role Supports operational response Leads Department Operations Center and cross-division coordination Serves on the City’s Emergency Operations Center Interdepartmental/Regional Partnerships Coordinates as needed Works with other City departments on shared initiatives Leads citywide and regional partnerships (Cal Poly, Downtown SLO, SLOCOG, State agencies) Process Improvement Improves division processes Implements department-wide efficiencies and consistency Identifies organization- wide improvements and culture enhancements Council Agenda Reports and Meetings Responsible for topic specific content and presentations Ensures alignment with strategic goals, inter- departmental impacts and coordination, timeliness, consistency, and quality control; oversees outreach plan development and implementation; oversees Council agenda correspondence Addresses strategic timelines and alignment with citywide priorities; ensures sustainable pacing for staff and Council; ensures external stakeholder alignment ITEM 6f – CONSOLIDATION OF THE PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES DEPARTMENTS AND ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW DIRECTOR POSITION Page 7 11) Did you consider a structure with just one Assistant Director position? Yes. This alternative was considered and evaluated . It was determined that the staff recommended approach is needed to provide a sustainable structure for the department, and to best support the current and future work plans and goals of both of the operational branches. Two Assistant Directors are needed in order to ensure that long-range planning, service delivery, and succession planning occur within both Public Works and Utilities and the Director has sufficient capacity to strengthen regional partnerships and align infrastructure and program investments with Council goals, as well as to prepare for future regulatory and funding shifts. Attachments A - City Employment Opportunity Program EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY PROGRAM In an effort to enhance employment opportunities for current City employees who desire to move from one position to another, and to provide department heads (or their designee) with a list of current employees interested in employment opportunities within their departments, the Employee Opportunity Program (EOP) has been developed. This policy replaces the former “Employee Transfer Policy”. The former policy covered transfer opportunities for General Unit employees only and involved filling out “Job Interes t Cards”. EOP is for all regular, non-probationary, contract and supplemental City employees. EOP is designed to give eligible employees a window of opportunity to apply for and possibly transfer or promote into another classification when there is a vacancy prior to the start of an outside recruitment. This process does not apply to department head recruitments. Effective March 1, 1998 when a department submits a request for a regular position, an e-mail will be sent to all employees informing them of the opening. Employees interested in applying for the position must submit an application within five working days of the notification to the Department of Human Resources. Due to time constraints, no application will be accepted after the five-day notification period. Human Resources staff will then review the applications to determine if the employees meet the minimum qualifications as listed on the current job description. If an employee fails to meet the minimum qualifications, their application will be removed from the process. Applications may also be removed from the process by the Director of Human Resources (or designee) pursuant to the Personnel Rules and Regulations, Section 2.36.160. The department head will be notified of the City employees who meet the minimum qualifications. After a review of the qualified applications, the department head and the Director of Human Resources will determine if an outside recruitment or an in -house promotional is appropriate. All qualified in-house candidates will be included in the next step of the process. • If three or fewer in-house candidates apply, the department can interview the candidates and hire. • If there are four or more qualified in-house candidates, a panel interview will be held. • However, the department may decide to open the recruitment to the public after the closing date of the EOP, regardless of the number of internal qualified candidates, in which case the in-house candidates will be included and a panel interview will be conducted. An eligibility list will be certified as stated in the Personnel Rules and Regulations only when an interview panel is conducted. Eligibility lists are certified for one year. Note: Some job classifications exist in multiple City departments. For example, the Administrative Assistant I eligibility list could be used by multiple departments throughout the year. If you would like to be on that list, you should apply when the EOP opens. October 2021 - Due to the challenges of the current recruitment environment, the City has started utilizing executive recruitment firms for positions that have historically been or are anticipated to be hard-to-fill. When a department decides to use an executive recruiter, the recruitment will be advertised externally regardless of internal applicants. To help expedite the recruitment process, and lessen negative impacts to departments of vacant positions, the Employee Opport unity Program will occur concurrently with posting the position externally. All internal candidates that apply during the Employee Opportunity Program that meet the minimum requirements for the job will be invited to participate in the oral board panel.