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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/23/1975(fz Roll Call MINUTES ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO JANUARY 23, 1975 - 12:10 P.M. CONFERENCE ROOM, CITY HALL PRESENT: John C. Brown, Myron Graham, T. Keith Gurnee, Jesse Norris and May6r Kenneth E. Schwartz ABSENT: None City Staff PRESENT: J. H. Fitzpatrick, City Clerk; R. D. Miller, Administrative Officer; A. J. Shaw, City Attorney; Robert Strong, Director of Community Development; David Williamson, Assistant Administrative Officer 1. Item No. 5 of the Regular City - Council meeting of January 20, 1975. Councilman T. Keith Gurnee submitted a memorandum stating it was his opinion that the most important task facing the City was the timely completion of the General Plan. He felt the two major items that were interfering with the progress of the General Plan were: 1) the confusion surrounding the City Hall reorganization and staff relation- ' ships,.and 2) the ever increasing demands on the existing Development Services staff to administer new ordinances, pursue new programs, and complete the General Plan studies. Therefore, he asked that the City Council at this session take immediate steps to effect the implementation of the approved City Hall reorganization, approved by the Council in September, 1974. And, also that the Council consider staff needs to accomplish both the General Plan and the other ongoing, pending tasks in the Development Services Department. He felt that some of the matters the City Council should consider were progress of development services and public services reorganization, status of the one -stop counter, the role and responsibility of the Director of Development Services, role and responsibility of the Administrative Assistant, and immediate implementation of the City Hall reorganization including the interim space arrangement of the Development Services Department. He also felt the City Council should look to the Development Services program as it related to staff needs in regard to Ordinance 604 -A administration, Architectural Review Commission administration, Community Development grants administration, and General Plan revision including staff needs for a.city - county planning team, city - county regional planning advisory group, in -house option, consultant option, etc. R.D. Miller, Administrative Officer, submitted the following report stating that during recent weeks he had become aware of the increasing problems in the Planning Department caused by a combination of heavy workload and insufficient staff. He stated that he had taken this up with Robert Strong, Director of Community.Development, and had received a comprehensive report from him City Council Meeting January 23, 1975 Page 2 on the afternoon of January 15. He now wished to present this to the City Council. Mr. Strong stated that the problems causing concern had evolved over the last two years when new assignments had been delegated to the Planning Department without commensurate staff increases to handle the workload. These assignments included: 1. More.complex and time consuming E.I.R. procedures. 2. Additional mandatory General Plan elements. 3. Additional responsibilities in maintaining consistency of General Plan and zoning regulations. 4.. Creation-of the Architectural Review Commission and associated staffing requirements: 5. Administrative and reporting responsibilities imposed by.Ordinance No. 604. 6. The reorganization efforts. Mr. Strong suggested Council consideration of: A. Implementation of reorganization by moving planning personnel to Public Works quarters (or vice versa), combining planning and engineering into a one -stop counter location. B. Authorization to transfer.$5,000 from General Plan Capital Outlay account to enable purchase of essential furniture, equipment and supplies. C. Elimination of.or consolidation of Committee and Board operational functions. D. Authorization to promote present staff, convert some temporary to permanent positions, and recruit additional staff required for present assigned workload: 1. Promote Planning Technician (Ecklund) to Planning Assistant and add one additional Planning Assistant and half- time.secretary to:enable Current Planning to serve Architectural Review Commission. 2. Promote Planning Assistant (Sanville) to first -step Planning Associate, promote three part -time draftsmen to full -time Planning Technicians, and add one additional Planning Assistant and half -time secretary to enable Advance Planning to prepare Community Development, C.I.P., E.I ".R. evaluations and other special studies. 3. Transfer code enforcement to construction regulation and.consider additional.plan.check.personnel if additional assignments require-but defer optional code enforcement and code revision activities. 4. Evaluate need for additional engineering staff subsequent to reorganization. City Council Minutes January 23, 1975 Page 3 R. D. Miller continued that Robert Strong had recommended the promotion of Terry Sanville to Planning Associate in view of the quality of work he had been doing in advanced planning since coming to the City of San Luis Obispo. The Administrative Officer stated he concurred with the recommendation and thus recommended that Mr. Sanville be advanced to the starting step of Planning Associate, effective February 1, 1975. Mr. Strong also recommended the promotion of Jon Ecklund from Planning Technician to Planning Assistant in view of his increasing responsibilities in current planning. The Administrative Officer stated he recognized this and he, too, recommended that Jon Ecklund be promoted to Planning Assistant, effective February 1, 1975. The Administrative Officer stated that in both instances he was recommending these promotions without going through a formal examination process, relying on Mr. Strong's evaluation-of their performance. He felt that an examination at this time would be counter- productive, taking into account Mr. Sanville's and..Mr. Ecklund's demonstrated ability and considering the current workload problems.. The Administrative Officer continued that Mr. Robert Strong then recommended that he be permitted to recruit for at least one additional planning assistant; who would work primarily in current planning including Planning Commission and-ARC. The Administrative Officer also recommended that this additional position be granted at this time. Robert Strong also recommended that Victor Montgomery, a part -time, hourly planning aide, be placed on a full -time status as Planning Technician following graduation from Cal Poly in March. The Administrative Officer recommended that the City Council accept this recommendation. R. D. Miller then discussed reasons that the reorganization plan had been delayed including 1) changes to the plans and specifications going to bid on the City Hall remodeling, 2) State Personnel Board recruitment activities for Utility Engineer were delayed a month which made it impossible to release Mr. Quirk to the Community.Services Department, 3) the fact that Mr. Peterson had been busy with the Tank Site Preparation making it difficult to release David Romero to activate the Public Services Department, and 4) Mr. Strong's preoccupation with a critical phase in the General Plan preparation process. The Administrative Officer stated Mr. Strong now felt that pending City Hall remodeling might take cose to a year to complete and it would be helpful to group some of his people in one location. Therefore, he proposed that Mr..Peterson and Mr. Vessely.be moved into the present planning office, activating the one -stop counter and also allowing close coordination between Mr. Peterson and Mr. Strong in initial phases of reorganization. When the Utility Engineer:was hired, he would also be located in the Planning Department office area. Interim reorganization would thus involve Mr. Romero staying in the office where he was, but rather than supervise the day -to -day activities of the engineering staff, he would spend his time organizing the new Public 1 Services Department. For the.time being, perhaps until the basement remodeling was completed or until.a central corporation yard was developed,.Assistant Water birector John Quirk would move to the water yard; Park Foreman Lane Wilson would stay where he was at the City Council Minutes January 23, 1975 Page 4 recreation center; Maintenance Superintendent Milo Tappa would remain at the yard; and Chief Utility Plant Operators Carl Young, Frank Reed and Bob Mayes would stay at their respective locations. Art Hird, Mr. Romero's principal engineering aide, might be transferred to the yard with Mr. Tappa. Tony Juarez and other engineering inspectors would work out of the same general area as the Chief - Building Inspector, perhaps partially divided into the south wing of City Hall, if too crowded in the present planning office. The Administrative Officer.continued• that Robert Strong requested that he be allowed to transfer $5,000 from the General Plan Capital Outlay - Account to Office.Expense and Equipment accounts, with details to be worked out later, in order to-implement this interim reorganization and physical move of personnel. Robert Strong also stated that in the interest of-expediting processing. of project.applications, that the Tree Committee and Waterways Planning Board change their approach to function as advisory committees regarding policies-rather than-passing on individual applications. Mr. Strong also suggested consideration for additional staffing or contracting-for review of project applications -as far as landscape features were concerned and for more technical phases -of the E.I.R. reports. . R. D. Miller, Administrative Officer, stated that he concurred with these requests and recommendations of the Community Services Director and recommended'.to the City. Council that Mr. Strong be allowed to implement interim suggestions. Mr. Strong.suggested that the advance planning section undertake prepara- tion of a Community Development Program and application for Federal assistance. The Administrative Officer stated that he agreed with.this proposal and Mr.. Strong would work this out with his staff. Finally,. the Administrative Officer stated that it was his plan to relieve Mr. David Williamson of project responsibility and.line authority over various departments in the Community Development and Public Services areas and his time would be devoted primarily to coordination of the City Hall remodeling and analysis of the new phone system when the building was remodeled, plus any other assignments that the Administrative Officer wished to make. Mr.. Miller further stated that Dave Romero, Public Services Director, had requested.-that Sheri Ripa, Typist Clerk II, be transferred back to his department from the Police Department'. Caren Agueda would be trans- ferred with Mr. Peterson to Development Services which thus would provide adequate secretarial assistance for the engineering division. Further, the Administrative Officer had discussed with Dave Romero the promoting of Art Hird, Principal Engineering Aide, to the position of Administrative Assistant at the same salary range as Civil Engineering Assistant and he recommended that this promotion also be made without any competitive examination, so that the reorganization could proceed without further delay. . 7 The Administrative Officer felt that all�the changes suggested by Robert ' Strong, David Romero, and himself -were desirable and should be implemented as of February 1,.1975:to speed up the reorganization process.. He felt there might be -a temporary.-situation:.of. over- staffing in several divisions, but it should be borne in mind that.much of-this detail was handled in the past by professional .engineering.personnel and by other secretarial staff. He recommended that the-City Council allow the recommendations to proceed as submitted by himself. City Council Minutes January 23, 1975 Page 5 The City Council then discussed -the staffing proposal as made by Robert Strong and presented by Richard D. Miller. After discussion of various personnel matters, program.changes and implementations to be made-by the Community Services Director, the City Council approved the program. Upon question, Richard D. Miller, Administrative Officer, answered the City Council that the Assistant Administrative Officer, David Williamson, would be given other assignments.when the Development Services Department was taken over by Robert Strong. -He then listed. the type of assignments that.David Williamson would undertake. He assured the City Council that Mr. Williamson would not impose himself between the various department heads and their staff, and.he would only work under direction of the.Administrative Officer. -- - On motion of Councilman Gurnee, seconded.by Councilman Brown that the City Council establish,the final date for the reorganization of the City departments as of February 1, 1975, with Mr. Robert Strong to be appointed as. Development .Services Director; and David F. Romero to be appointed.to..the position- of.Public Services Director. The adminis= trative staff was instructed to.work up job specifications for the new planning department, for the advanced planning department and for .the divisions of the Development Services Department. The Administrative Officer was to have job specifications for the Assistant Administrative Officer made up. Further, the City's advisory committees were to look into their assign,�jent_s,to' see what could be turned over to staff and to limit their action to long -range policy and the establishment of planning criteria. O Mayor Schwartz objected to defining job specifications and department operations in particular as he felt that more generalized specifications should be used during the transitional period of reorganization and updated as the City saw what.evolved in the reorganization. The motion was approved on the following roll call vote: AYES: Councilmen Gurnee, Brown, Graham, Norris and.Mayor Schwartz NOES: None ABSENT: None The Administrative Officer made the.following announcement of promotions and-appointments: Promotion of Walter.Sanville from Planning Assistant to Planning Associate at Step 1 or $1,056 effective 2/1/75 Promotion of Jon.Ecklund from Planning Technician to Planning Assistant at.Step 3 or.$1,056 effective 2/1/75 with consideration for advancement annually. Promotion of Arthur.E...Hird,,Jr,., from Principal Engineering. Aide to Administrative.Assistant at Step 4 or $1,114 effective 2/1/75 with consideration for 5th.step in one year. Appointment of.Jacqueline M. Zimpfer as Typist Clerk II for the Human Relations Commission starting at Step 1 or.$574 effective 1/22/75 on:a full -time temporary basis (no retirement, sick leave or vacation but health plan and compensation benefits provided). City Council Minutes January 23, 1975 Page 6 On motion of Councilman Graham, seconded by Councilman Norris, the following resolution was introduced: RESOLUTION NO. 2719, a resolution ratifying the appointment of an interim temporary typist clerk for the Human Relations Commission. Passed and adopted on the following roll call vote: AYES: Councilmen Brown, Graham, Gurnee, Norris and Mayor Schwartz NOES: None ABSENT: None The City Council adjourned to Executive Session to discuss personnel matters. On motion of Councilman Brown, seconded by Councilman Gurnee the meeting adjourned at 2:10 P.M. APPROVED: April 21, 1975 . H_FITZPATRICK, CITY CLERK • 1 1 1