HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/05/1993, 6 - RECONSIDERATION OF MANAGEMENT POSITION VACANCIES���n�►�►ii�lllll���l1° 9 @IU city of San LUGS OBIspo
MOGs COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
MEETING DATE:
ITEM NUMBER:
From: John Dunn
Subiect: Reconsi eration of management position vacancies
CAO RECOMMENDATION
Authorize the CAO to complete the appointment of Public Works
Director and Advanced Planning Division Manager
DISCUSSION
Background
At the December 8 City Council meeting, the City Council considered
the recommendation from the staff to authorize appointment of two
vacant department head positions, Public Works Director and
Utilities Director, and to appoint two positions which resulted
from the reorganization study, Advanced Planning Manager and
Transportation Division Manager. The Council action at that time
was to not authorize the filling of these four positions due to the
City's current and projected financial circumstances. Information
was presented to the Council at that time, and there was
considerable discussion- at the City Council meeting. During the
course of the discussion, I offered two alternative suggestions,
the first of which would have authorized filling of three positions
and the second, later in the meeting, two positions.
At the City Council meeting of December 15, Councilman Roalman
asked that the matter be reconsidered at the January 5 meeting, and
the Council concurred. Councilman Roalman specifically asked that
the Council reconsider the appointment of the Public Works Director
and the Advanced Planning Manager positions. .
Public Works Director
It is my recommendation that this position be filled, in order for
the Public Works Department to operate at optimum effectiveness and
productivity. While Mr. Wayne Peterson has done an excellent job
as Acting Public Works Director, he has had to wear two, and
sometimes three hats, and this has meant that he has been stretched
too thin. Mr. Peterson has been kept very busy serving as Acting
Director of Public Works, as the City Engineer, the Division Head
over the Engineering Division, and at the same time has carried out
a Departmental reorganization which includes plans to create a new
Transportation Division within the Department. Under these
circumstances, he has not felt the freedom to explore new
innovations for the Department and has been unable to maintain his
usual close involvement with the Capital Program. The final
implementation of the Transportation Division has not occurred
since Division leadership has not been identified.
���ii���nu��V►Illllillli1° lI� city of San AS OBISpo
COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
In my comments of December 8, I gave the reasons why it is
necessary to have a strong department head in charge of a
department (attached) ; these reasons are very compelling at this
particular juncture. Essentially, since Mr. Romero's departure,
the department has been in a status quo or maintenance mode, and
given the problems and issues facing the City and the department in
the next year, it is absolutely necessary that creative, proactive
and strong management and leadership be provided to the department
if the department's human resources are to be most effectively
utilized by the City.
The recent recruitment process produced a strong field, with three
excellent finalists, and the top candidate has tentatively been
selected and, upon a bona -fide job offer, should be ready and
willing to give his notice to his current employer and come to work
for us.
Advanced Plannina Manaaer
In the case of the Community Development Department, our
organizational analysis came to the clear conclusions that the
existing organizational structure and managerial
supervision/ reporting relationship system does not work as well as
needed, and that a structural reorganization was necessary for
improved effectiveness. He recommended the breakdown of the
planning function into a Current Planning Division and an Advanced
Planning Division, both to be headed by "working supervisors ", with
both providing strong managerial assistance to the Director and
strong professional planning skills to the City. While, as
recognized in the study, the current recession and the country's
savings and loan /banking situation has caused a slow- down - in
current development activity, pressures on the City to do the most
thorough and competent planning for our future have never been
greater. As the Council is aware, it is critically important for
the community that we complete our General Plan review and approval
process, which includes the land use element, the circulation
element, housing element, noise element and downtown plan.
Cities that are truly committed to a quality planning process are
continuously involved in the advanced planning process, and are
continually updating their General Plan, with all the mandated and
optional elements. In doing so they avoid the situation, such as
the City has recently been through, of spending the last five years
to update a General Plan approved in 1977. This should not happen
in the future with a properly designed system, to continuously
monitor, and evaluate, and make changes as necessary so that, in
effect, the General Plan never becomes so out of date that it
requires massive, expensive and time consuming revision.
Ultimately it is the advanced planning function which defines a
future for the community, and the current planning function reviews
the day -to -day developments which, in the collective, create our
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�i�lilinhilV�llllll�110 II�III city Of sar. AS OBISPO
Nii% COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
physical community. After completion of the reorganization and the
hiring of the Advanced Planning Manager, the Advanced Planning
Division would have 2.8 persons devoted to this task, or
approximately 1% of the City's General Fund work force. With the
assistance of a new manager, the Division would produce a defined
work program which will, without question, fully utilize the staff
resources for the foreseeable future. From the beginning of this
process, the Division Head position was designed to be a shirt-
sleeves "working manager ", a person who would spend the majority of
their time working on advanced planning functions with an
appropriate amount of time devoted to management of the division
and supervision of division personnel. It is also necessary, in my
opinion, that the advanced planning function have greater interface
with the community and community organizations, than has been the
case in the past. This would be one of the major responsibilities
of the new division head.
Prior to December 8 we had completed the recruitment/ selection
process for the Advance Planning Manager, and have selected a
person with excellent broad - gauged experience, including experience
in quality- conscious, quality -of- life - oriented agencies. A job
offer, however, has been deferred per the Council's prior action.
Utilities Director (not being recommended for implementation at
this time).
Mr. John Moss, Wastewater Division Manager and Acting Utilities
Director, has been working with Mr. Gary Henderson, Water Division
Manager, and other departmental personnel to develop a system by
which Mr. Moss will continue to serve as the Acting Department Head
through the summer. He is developing an excellent program for
evaluating all the services and work projects for the department,
which will produce a list of all identified work projects, which
will be prioritized and reviewed with me, and later presented to
the City Council for your review. This system of program /project
identification and establishment of priorities and properly
attending to the prioritized tasks will depend on proper delegation
and the extension of responsibilities for all support staff
personnel.
He has taken on this task enthusiastically, and has the full
cooperation and assistance of departmental personnel in this task.
In summary, the department is working on a system of having two
people do the work of three (Utilities Director, Water Manager and
Wastewater Manager) , and this can only be done with proper
program /project identification and full delegation and utilization
of the skills and abilities of others within the department.
Transportation Division Manager (not being recommended for
implementation at this time)..
11111111 l city of san ,_.4s oBispo
manias MeMOMMEW
COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
The City Council earlier approved, rather enthusiastically I
believe, the creation of a Transportation Division within the
Department of Public Works, which would unify all the
transportation related functions of the City, which are currently
being managed by three different departments. To do this it is
necessary to create a Transportation Division, under a single
division head. This has not been done to date, though the
preplanning has been completed. After discussions with several
people and extensive discussion with Mr. Peterson, I am
recommending that the proposed position of Transportation Division
Manager be deferred at least through the 1993 -95 budget and
probably longer, and that this position and the City Engineer
position be combined into a Transportation and Engineering
Division, under one division head, City Engineer Wayne Peterson.
i
In the recent ten -year history of the Engineering Division, the
workload of the division has been dominated by three primary work
areas - transportation - related planning and projects, water and
wastewater' projects and other capital facility projects (new
facilities, rehabilitation of structures, parking structures,
landscape projects, etc.). Mr. Peterson and I concur that even
under the City projected financial /staffing situation for the next
few years, it will be necessary for the first two of those three
functions to continue at a pace approximately equal to the current
pace. While work on utilities and transportation projects must
continue at a proper pace, with the reduction of the capital
improvements projects spending, other types of capital facility
improvements and the resultant design work will be reduced. This
will allow Mr. Peterson the opportunity to use a substantial
portion of his time in the transportation area. Mr. Peterson is
the only current staff member who possesses experience in all of
the transportation programs that will compose the Transportation
Division.
Summary
In summary, regarding the latter two positions, it is my
recommendation that we defer filling the Utility Director position
at this time, and reconsider the matter as part of budget planning
for the next two fiscal years. It is also my recommendation that,
at least for the next two and one half years, that we defer the
establishment of a separate Transportation Division Manager, and in
the meantime we combine Engineering and Transportation divisions
into a single work unit.
Appointing two out of the four position vacancies was my .final
recommendation to you at the December 8 City Council meeting.
After two weeks of reflection, further thought and much discussion,
it still appears to be a program which will best meet the needs of
the City and at the same time, save us the cost of two high -level
managerial positions during this critical time period.
ii11�8��►m�lillilllli° �IIIIIII MY Of S&I JS OBISPO
COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
FISCAL IMPACT
Deferral of the Transportation Manager position will result in an
annual savings to the General Fund of approximately $80,600
(estimated salary and benefits). The deferral of the Utilities
Director position for six to nine months will save a total of
approximately $39,200 to $58,800. This savings will be shared
between the Water and Wastewater Funds.
Alternatives:
1. Hire the four positions as discussed on December 8th
2. Hire the three positions as discussed on December 8th (minus
the Transportation Division Manager)
3. Hire the Public Works Director and Advanced Planning Manager
(recommendation)
4. Hire the Public Works Director only
5. Hire none of the four positions
The Acting Director of Public Works, the Community Development
Director, the Acting Director of Utilities concur with this
recommendation.
Attachment: Department Head responsibilities and functions
h /appts
Department Head responsibilities and functions
1. Department Heads establish the responsibility and accountability for the
operation and proper functioning of the department?
A. Define the purpose and goals
B. Establish the objectives - the work programs
C. Establish the priorities
D. Establish the work schedules
E. Make certain that necessary resources are assembled
F. Make certain that there is integration of the parts to produce a
cohesive whole.
2. Department Heads must properly relate the work of the Department to the
needs and the perceptions of the community:
A. Work constructively, and empathetically with citizens
B. Work positively with community organizations, interest groups to
define their requests and respond appropriately
C. Work responsively with other governmental units that interact with
the Department.
3. Department Heads are responsible for the work of the Department being
properly coordinated with that of other departments:
A. Make certain that necessary communication is accomplished
B. Inspire an attitude of cooperation and accommodation
C. Be a fully participating member of the Management Team
D. Work constructively and enthusiastically with peers from other
departments.
4. Work effectively with the City Council and with the CAO:
A. Departmental operations have to be placed in the larger context of
overall City government purposes and goals
B. Department Head assembles and integrates the data, information and
proposals from departmental personnel and, after review and
concurrence, presents memos, reports, staff recommendations to-the
CAO and the City Council.
C. CAO and the Department act as a conduit, an "honest broker" between
City Council . actions and appropriate staff follow -up and
implementation
BE
5. Department Head handles the internal affairs of the Department:
Finance
A. Be responsible for preparing the budget for the department
B. Be responsible for controlling expenditures so they are within
budget
C. Seek ways to save money, to increase efficiency and productivity
Personnel
A. Appoint qualified personnel to vacant positions
B. Assume the major responsibility for creating positive morale for
the department
C. Attempt to know and address employee needs as best as possible
D. Educate employees on appropriate attitudes, skills, work methods
E. Handle personnel problems - counseling, improving performance,
disciplining when warranted, etc.
F. Make certain that job performance is fairly and objectively
evaluated, and that employees are given constructive suggestionp
.for performance improvement.
Operations
A. Make certain people are doing what they're supposed to be doing
B. Make certain that proper work tools are available and that proper
work schedules and work methods are being followed
C. Be responsible for contract administration
D. Handle problems and issues when they arise (as they do, almost on
a daily basis).
I'm sure I have left out a number of things that Department Heads actually
do. In summary, having a strong and effective Department Head responsible
for the services, resources and operations of their Departments is necessary
for the most capable, productive acid effective Department.
h /depthead
JD:mc
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city of sAn luis oBis p o
990 Palm Street /Post Office Box 8100 • San Luis Obispo, CA 93403 -8100
December 23, 1992
COMMUNICATION ITEM #1
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: Council Member Dave Romero
SUBJECT: DEVELOPMENT REVIEW PROCESS
During the campaign all council candidates indicated an interest in streamlining the
development review process. This is an item of high public concern.
In view of coming tight budgets, it is appropriate to commence immediately an analysis of
the Development Review process to determine which functions might be eliminted, reduced
or modified, thus saving time and money for both the City and the citizens who deal with
City government. I believe this can be done without adversely affecting the quality of life
which we all hold in high esteem.
I am hereby requesting Council concurrence with a direction to staff to conduct a detailed
in -house analysis of development review operations and submission of a report with
recommendations (including implied trade -offs) for changes.
Since changes will have budget implications, I would like the report to be submitted for
Council review within 90 days.
DR:ss
In The Superior Court of The State of California
In and for the County of San Luis Obispo
AFFIDAVIT OF PUBLICATION
No. 4n9 _
ltk r_ _ —
STATE OF CALIFORNIA,
ss.
County of San Luis Obispo
I am a citizen of the United States and a resident of the
County aforesaid; I am over the age of eighteen and not
interested in the above - entitled _M_Olklr
I am now, and at all times embraced
in the publication herein mention was, the principal clerk
of the printers and publishers of the SAN LUIS OBISPO
COUNTY TELEGRAM- TRIBUNE, a newspaper of general
circulation, printed and published daily, Sundays ex-
cepted, at the City of San Luis Obispo in the above
named county and state; that n CR,
at which the annexed clipping is a true printed copy, was
published in the above -named newspaper and not in any
supplement thereof — on the following dates, to -wit:
L� )4
that said newspaper was duly and regularly ascertained
and established a newspaper of general circulation by
Decree entered in the Superior Court of San Luis Obispo
County, State of California, on June 9, 1952, Case #19139
under the provisions of Chapter 1, Division 7, Title of the
Government Code of the State of California.
I certify (or declare) under penalty of perjury that the
foregoing is true and correct.
of Principal Clerk)
Date j a-1 ab 19 al
u1yvF
San tws ovsm
CITY COUNCIL
PUBLIC HEARINGS
On Tuesday, January 5,
1993, the San Luis Obispo
City Council will hold public
hearings beginning at 7:00
p.m. in the Council Chambers
i of City Hall, 990 Palm Street,
on the items listed below.
The reports will be available
for review in the City Clerk's
Department on the Wednes-
day before the meeting. For
more information, please call
781 -7103.
The Council may also dis-
cuss other hearings or busi-
ness items before or after
those listed. If you challenge
any one of the proposed
actions described below in
court, you may be limited to
raising only those issues you
or someone else raised at the
public hearings described In
this notice, or in written
correspondence delivered to
the City Council at, or prior to,
the public hearing.
APPEAL - MASSAGE
THERAPY HOME OCCUPA-
TION PERMIT - to consider an
appeal of a Planning Commis-
sion action to deny a home
occupation permit for a mas-
sage therapist at 3057 South
Higuera Street (Chumash Vil-
lage Mobile Home Park).
SONIC CABLE FRANCHISE
OBJECTIVES - to consider
the franchise objectives for
negotiations with Sonic Ca-
ble.
Diane R. Gladwell, City Clerk
Dac.26,1992 648739
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