HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-06-2017 Item 14 Amendment to Deputy City Attorney Contract Meeting Date: 6/6/2017
FROM: Christine Dietrick, City Attorney
SUBJECT: AMENDMENT TO DEPUTY CITY ATTORNEY CONTRACT
RECOMMENDATION
Authorize the City Attorney to execute a First Amendment to the Legal Services Agreement with
the law firm of Hanley and Fleishman, LLP (Original Agreement effective April 1, 2017) adding
a term of 18 months and a not to exceed amount of $108,000.
DISCUSSION
Background
The City Attorney’s Department was recently authorized (attachment C) to execute a month-to-
month agreement (attachment A) with the law firm Hanley and Fleishman, LLP for code
enforcement, development review and other general municipal law support services to facilitate
the efficient and responsive operation of the office, as described in the attached contract.
After evaluating several different service delivery alternatives, contracting for these services was
determined by the City Attorney to be the most efficient use of funds budgeted to the department
to accomplish the goals of improved legal support for code enforcement, development review
and a broad range of issues, while additionally freeing up in-house time to provide greater legal
support and responsiveness on the most significant City projects, pending litigation, election
issues, and Council and advisory body advice and support.
Additionally, as part of the 2016-17 Budget, Council approved the Organizational Efficiency,
Effectiveness & Transparency Initiative SOPC (attachment D), which included $150,000 in
additional temporary staffing dollars each fiscal year, for three years, for legal and administrative
support in the City Attorney’s Department in addition to its three full-time, permanent employees
to address significant increases of volume and complexity of legal services requested of the
office over the past several years. Efficient use of these dollars to date to fund the salaries of a
Temporary, part-time Assistant City Attorney at a significantly discounted hourly rate as
compared to market attorney rates, and a part-time, contract Administrative Assistant I, has left
surplus budget which the City Attorney believes would be best used to further fund the
agreement with Hanley and Fleishman; significantly enhancing the objective of supporting the
varied legal needs of the City in a cost effective and flexible manner.
Contract Amendment
In order to ensure the continued ability of the department to fund the current month-to-month
agreement with Hanley and Fleishman, the addition of a time frame (18 months) and not-to-
exceed amount ($108,000) was deemed necessary. The City Attorney recommends this
amendment (attachment B) as a means to accomplish the goals for which the department has
been given contract and staffing budget. The contract remains terminable for convenience or
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financial need with 30 days’ notice.
FISCAL IMPACT
With funds already approved in the current budget (Fiscal Year 2016-17), and included in the
proposed two-year financial plan (2017-19), there is no impact of this request.
ALTERNATIVES
Do not authorize signature of the First Amendment to the Agreement, the consequences of which
would be to limit the department’s ability to use the funds in its budget to accomplish the
efficiency and legal support for which it was intended.
Attachments:
a - Agreement Hanley Deputy City Attorney
b - First Amendment Hanley Fleishman
c - City Manager Report Hanley Contract Deputy City Attorney
d - 2016-17 Efficiency SOPC
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RETAINER
HANLEY AND FLEISHMAN, LLP
Legal Services Agreement
{Municipal Law; Deputy City Attorney Services}
This Agreement made between HANLEY AND FLEISHMAN, LLP ("H&F") and
THE CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA ("City"), sets forth the terms and
conditions under which H&F agrees to provide certain legal services to City and is
intended to meet and fulfill the requirement for a written fee contract under California law.
SCOPE OF SERVICES
LEGAL SERVICES. City retains H&F to serve as a contract deputy city attorney.
As deputy city attorney, H&F will provide general municipal legal services ("Legal
Services") as assigned by the City Attorney, including but not limited to code
enforcement advisory and prosecutorial services, contract drafting and review, special
projects research and analysis, criminal court appearances, ordinance development and
review, program implementation support, election support, land use and development
review, advice and training, and public records act, Political Reform Act and Brown Act
advice and other support as directed by City. Said services shall be provided on an on-
call, as needed basis for a flat fee of $6,000/mo, whether or not firm's generally
applicable hourly rates for service would result in charges in excess of the flat fee. Legal
Services shall not include Council or advisory body support or attendance, nor civil
litigation. To the extent H&F and City are parties to any separate legal services
agreements providing for those legal services excluded from Services hereunder, the
separate agreements shall remain in effect according to their terms.
DEPUTY CITY ATTORNEY ASSIGNMENT
Roy A. Hanley shall serve as deputy city attorney, and he may assign such
matters to other attorneys within H & F as he deems appropriate in consultation with the
City Attorney..
CITY DESIGNATED REPRESENTATIVE
City designates its City Attorney as its representative under this Agreement. The
designated representative is authorized to assign work to H&F according to the legal
services described above.
Legal Services Agreement 1 San Luis Obispo
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RESPONSIBILITIES OF H&F AND CITY
RESPONSIBILITIES OF H&F. H&F will perform the Legal Services called for
under this Agreement, keep City informed of progress and developments, and respond
promptly to City's inquiries and communications.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF CITY. City will be truthful and cooperative with H&F,
keep H&F informed of developments, and timely make any payments required by this
Agreement.
LEGAL FEES AND BILLING PRACTICES
COMPENSATION. City agrees to pay H&F as and for attorneys' fees for Legal
Services, as defined supra, the sum of six thousand dollars ($6,000.00) per month.
TIME. H&F will account for all activities undertaken in providing Legal Services to
City under this Agreement, including, but not limited to, telephone calls relating to City's
matters, attendance at meetings, communications with the City Attorney and Staff,
correspondence, review and drafting papers, and legal research. In no event shall H&F
charge more than the amount stated as Compensation.
COSTS. H&F may, in addition to its base fees, incur various costs and expenses
in performing Legal Services under this Agreement. H&F agrees to absorb all internal
copying and telephone charges. All external costs and expenses will be charged at
H&F's actual cost and shall be payable by City only if the external cost and expense is
pre approved by the City Attorney.
PERIODIC BILLING. H&F will send City periodic statements, not less frequently
than monthly, indicating attorney fees and costs incurred, any amounts applied from
deposits, any current balance owed, a reasonably detailed description of services
performed, and any costs and expenses for which H&F is entitled to reimbursement.
City agrees to pay the balance within fifteen (15) days of billing.
TERM, DISCHARGE & WITHDRAWAL
TERM AND TERMINATION. This Agreement may be terminated by either party
with or without cause at any time upon 30 days' written notice to the other party. In the
event of termination, City shall be responsible only for a pro rata portion of the retainer
and costs incurred as of the effective date of the termination. This Agreement shall
continue until termination or until modified by written Agreement of the parties.
Legal Services Agreement 2 San Luis Obispo
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OTHER PROVISIONS
INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR. H&F acknowledges that it and/or its principals
are independent contractors and not employees of the City.
ASSIGNMENT. This Agreement cannot be assigned by either party for any
reason whatsoever without the consent in writing of the other party.
INSURANCE DISCLOSURE. H&F represents and discloses to City that it
maintains professional liability insurance, including errors and omissions coverage.
ARBITRATION. In case any disagreement, difference, or controversy shall arise
between H&F and the City with respect to any matter in relation to or arising out of or
under this Agreement, whether as to the construction or operation thereof, or the
respective rights and liabilities of the City or otherwise, and the parties to the controversy
cannot mutually agree as to the resolution thereof, then such disagreement, difference,
or controversy shall be determined by arbitration under the commercial arbitration rules
of the American Arbitration Association or upon such other rules as the parties may
agree. The submission to arbitration in accordance with the requirements of this section
of any and all agreements, differences, or controversies that may arise hereunder is
made a condition precedent to the institution of any action or appeal at law or in equity
with respect to the controversy involved. The award by the arbitrators shall have the
same force and effect and may be filed and entered, as a judgment of the Superior Court
of the State of California and shall be subject to appellate review upon the same terms
and conditions as the law permits for judgments of Superior Courts.
NON-DISCRIMINATION. H&F agrees that in the provision of services under this
Agreement, it shall not unlawfully discriminate against any individual based on that
individual's race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, cancer-related
medical condition, marital status, physical or mental disability, or on any other basis
protected by California or federal law.
ENTIRE AGREEMENT. This Agreement contains the entire understanding of the
parties regarding their rights and obligations hereunder. Any alleged oral representations
or modifications concerning this Agreement and the subjects thereof shall have no force
or effect unless reduced to a writing signed by both parties.
AMENDMENT. This Agreement may be amended only in writing signed by both
parties.
NOTICES. Notices regarding this Agreement shall be given to the parties at the
following addresses:
Legal Services Agreement 3 San Luis Obispo
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CITY: CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
ATTN: City Attorney
990 Palm Street
San Luis Obispo City, California 93401-3249
H&F: HANLEY AND FLEISHMAN, LLP
Roy A. Hanley
8930 Morro Road
Atascadero, Ca 93422
Effective Date. The effective date of this Agreement shall be
¿Wl I .2017.
Executed this i? day of /U/r; / , 2017 at San Luis Obispo,
California.
California.
HANLEY AND FLEISHMAN, LLP
7 ~" *r /
Roy A. Hanley (J
'hh
Executed this M^ day of frp^l , 2017 at San Luis Obispo,
CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
ristine DietricKTCity Attorney
Legal Services Agreement 4 San Luis Obispo
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FIRST AMENDMENT TO AGREEMENT
This First Amendment to Agreement is made and entered in the City of San Luis Obispo on
___________, 2017, by and between the CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO, a municipal corporation, herein
after referred to as City, and Hanley and Fleishman, LLP, a limited liability partnership, hereinafter
referred to as Consultant.
W I T N E S S E T H:
WHEREAS, on April 1, 2017, the City entered into an Agreement with Consultant for
professional legal services to serve as a contract deputy city attorney; and
WHEREAS, the parties wish to clarify the term of the Agreement; and
WHEREAS, the parties seek to modify certain provisions of the Agreement between them.
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of their mutual promises, obligations and covenants
hereinafter contained, the parties hereto agree as follows:
1. The “COMPENSATION.” Section is modified to read “City agrees to pay H&F as and
for attorneys’ fees for Legal Services, as defined supra, a sum not to exceed six thousand
dollars ($6,000.00) per month, or $108,000 over the term of the Agreement.
2. The last sentence of the “TERM AND TERMINATION.” section is modified to read
“This Agreement shall continue until termination, for eighteen (18) months from the
effective date of the contract, or until modified by written Agreement of the parties.”
3. All other terms and conditions of the Agreement, as amended hereby, remain in full force
and effect.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this instrument to be executed the day
and year first above written.
CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
By:________________________________
J. Christine Dietrick, City Attorney
HANLEY AND FLEISHMAN, LLP
By: ________________________________
Roy A. Hanley
Its:
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March 29, 2017
FROM: Christine Dietrick, City Attorney jcd
SUBJECT: Authorization to execute month-to-month contract for Deputy City Attorney
consultant services
RECOMMENDATION
1. Authorize the City Attorney to execute a legal services agreement with Hanley and
Fleishman, LLP, for Deputy City Attorney consultant services on a month-to-month basis.
2. Authorize the use of City Attorney: Contract Services budget in the amount of $6,000 per
month as needed and available, up to $48,000.
DISCUSSION
Starting with the City’s 2012-13 Budget, the City Attorney department contract services budget
line (15100-7227) was increased by $25,000 to facilitate code enforcement support for City staff
and prosecution of code enforcement cases in furtherance of the neighborhood wellness Major
City Goal (Code Enforcement SOPC). Since that time, these funds have been used to support the
hiring of contract and temporary staff into the department as those staffing methods were deemed,
at those times, the most efficient way to achieve the originally intended goals.
During the current fiscal year, the City Attorney department contract services budget line (15100-
7227) also includes an additional $25,000 for Development Review Support via a one-time SOPC
approved as part of the 2016-17 Budget. These funds remain largely unused to date. The City
Attorney department, while in clear need of additional staff to support development review, has
found it difficult to keep up with the demands of its workload and also procure any cost effective
contract with an attorney who would support the department in a useful and efficient way without
significant training demands.
At this time, the City Attorney negotiated an opportunity to contract with the law firm of Hanley
and Fleishman, LLP for code enforcement, development review and other general municipal law
services to facilitate the efficient and responsive operation of the office, as described below (also
in the draft agreement):
City retains H&F [Hanley and Fleishman, LLP] to serve as a contract deputy city
attorney. As deputy city attorney, H&F will provide general municipal legal
services (“Legal Services”) as assigned by the City Attorney, including but not
Final City Manager Approval Approver Name Date Approved
City Administration DJJ 04/03/17
Reviewer Routing List Reviewer Name Date Reviewed
City Attorney’s Office jcd 3/30/17
Finance XB 4/3/17
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Month-to-month contract for Deputy City Attorney consultant services Page 2
limited to code enforcement advisory and prosecutorial services, contract drafting
and review, special projects research and analysis, criminal court appearances,
ordinance development and review, program implementation support, election
support, land use and development review, advice and training, and public records
act, Political Reform Act and Brown Act advice and other support as directed by
City. Said services shall be provided on an on-call, as needed basis for a flat fee
of $6,000/mo, whether or not firm’s generally applicable hourly rates for service
would result in charges in excess of the flat fee. Legal Services shall not include
Council or advisory body support or attendance, nor civil litigation. To the extent
H&F and City are parties to any separate legal services agreements providing for
those legal services excluded from Services hereunder, the separate agreements
shall remain in effect according to their terms.
The City Attorney believes contracting for these services at this time and with this law firm will
simultaneously accomplish the goals of both original SOPCs, and also allow for legal support on
a broader range of issues as deemed necessary by the City Attorney, freeing up in-house time to
provide greater legal support and responsiveness on the most significant City projects.
FISCAL IMPACT
The combined funding in City Attorney department contract services (15100-7227) described
herein is a total of $50,000. Less than $1,300 of that amount has been used to date this fiscal year.
With resources available in existing budget lines, executing the proposed contract will have no impact
on the General Fund.
ALTERNATIVES
1. Do not authorize the execution of the contract. This is not recommended given the current
and anticipated workloads in the City Attorney department. Failing to authorize this contract
will result in slower response times to staff requests and diminished work-product production,
as well as delays in code enforcement filings and development review support.
ATTACHMENTS
1. 2012-13 - Code Enforcement SOPC.pdf
2. 2016-17 Development Services SOPC.pdf
3. Draft Legal Services Agreement - Hanley & Fleishman
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SIGNIFICANT OPERATING PROGRAM CHANGE – GENERAL GOVERNMENT
ORGANIZATIONAL EFFICIENCY, EFFECTIVENESS & TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE
Summary of Change: Add temporary and ongoing resources in Finance, HR, Administration and City Attorney’s office
to 1) support significant operational process improvements, 2) facilitate the acquisition and implementation of an
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, 3) continue to respond to increased demands for service in support of
operating departments and the community and 4) implement systems to enhance transparency and accountability.
Fiscal Impact: Ongoing cost of $ 472,545 starting in 2016-17 and one-time cost of $ 2,832,000 in 2016-17.
One-time cost to support the significant operational process improvements and implement the ERP system will continue
through fiscal year 2018-19. Staff requests Council to designate one-time General Fund available balance in the amount
of $2.8 million for this purpose to be allocated in the 2016-19 Financial Plan.
The total one-time cost of this effort is estimated at $4.6 million throughout the three years of implementation. This cost
will be shared between the General Fund and Enterprise Funds and the General Fund portion of the cost is estimated at
$2.8 million. The $1.8 million funded by Enterprise Funds has been included in the Enterprise Fund analyses.
Ongoing costs to support added resources and technology will increase to $514,500 by fiscal year 2018-19 and will be
paid by the General Fund with the Enterprise Funds paying the proportional costs under the Cost Allocation Plan. Once
new business processes are in place, it is anticipated ongoing costs would be approximately $1 million dollars per year
in the 2019-2020 fiscal year. Of that amount, $815,000 would be paid by the General Fund with the remaining amount
covered through the cost allocation plan.
In the long-term, implementation of operational efficiencies through process realignment and implementation of
technological advancements, will result in operational efficiencies, staff expenditure savings (i.e. reduction in use in
temporary employees) and enhanced service levels.
Service Level Impact: Key objectives include: 1) ensure support functions provide a solid foundation to operating
departments that deliver service to the community, 2) improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness and minimize
inefficient duplication of efforts, and 3) provide integrated information and reporting that enhances efficiency,
transparency and improves service to the community.
KEY OBJECTIVES
1)Increasing efficiency, effectiveness, responsiveness, and transparency of support departments will have positive ripple
effects on the City’s ability to deliver quality services and projects to the community.
2)Acquiring and implementing an Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP1) system that meets the needs of the organization
and community during the course of the next three years, will increase efficiency in daily operations, and establish a
strong foundation for data, analysis, and transparency in the future.
3)Addressing deficiencies in business policies and processes will increase efficiency, effectiveness, responsiveness,
transparency, and reduce redundancy.
4)Clearly aligning roles and responsibilities of support departments and adjusting staffing levels as the organization
transitions to improved business policies and processes and an ERP system will set the above investment up for success.
1 ERP is a category of software that provides integrated modules to handle financial transactions, purchasing, human resources, payroll
and other related functions.
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SIGNIFICANT OPERATING PROGRAM CHANGE – GENERAL GOVERNMENT
ORGANIZATIONAL EFFICIENCY, EFFECTIVENESS & TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE
EXISTING SITUATION: FACTORS DRIVING THE NEED FOR CHANGE
Implementation of GFOA Recommendations
The GFOA report was presented to Council on April 19, 2016 and provides four key recommendations: 1) Immediately
address the lack of a complete financial system, 2) Align a chart of accounts with business requirements and system
capabilities, 3) Streamline ineffective business policy and process, 4) Clarify roles and responsibilities and implement
service level agreements for all central functions.
GFOA concludes that these core issues represent the most significant problems faced by the City’s Finance function and
cause ripple effects throughout all City departments. In other words, over time, the Finance Department has blurred lines of
responsibility as staffing levels have decreased and responsibilities have increased. This combined with an outdated
financial system inhibits the department’s ability to improve efficiency and effectiveness even with temporary resources.
While there have been attempts to address challenges in FIT in the past by allocating temporary resources or transferring
work to other departments, little if any relief has been achieved and the foundational changes and improvements needed for
long term sustainability have not been achieved.
The GFOA report recognizes that addressing these core issues will take time, a considerable financial investment and a
concerted organizational focus. GFOA recommendations must be phased and the initial funding request includes:
Additional Resources for Finance
1. Temporary Staffing ($638,000)2
1) Temporary staffing for a Project Manager to focus on streamlining business processes, identifying the requirements for
a new ERP system, and managing the implementation of the system.
2) Temporary staffing to provide support through anticipated transitions in the area of advanced accounting.
3) Temporary staffing in the area of payroll and accounts receivable to support role and responsibility clarification as
recommended by GFOA.
2. Regular Staffing ($156,000)
1) Regular staffing to establish a centralized purchasing function that will manage and coordinate all purchasing functions
at the City, including purchasing policies and processes, competitive bidding, p-cards, and contract management. This
should ultimately result in organizational wide improved efficiency as most departments expend considerable resources on
purchasing.
2) Regular staffing, half-time, to provide administrative support to the Finance Department so that technical and
professional staff is relieved of this work. The reason for this request is that administrative tasks are being managed by
accountants and the creation of a separate IT department will require additional administrative support.
3. Foundational Technology Systems ($1,939,000)
1) Acquiring an ERP system will require approximately $2.25 million to purchase. $1.9 million is budgeted for 2016-2017
and then$350,000 would be budgeted in 2018-2019 to align with the timing to implement an HRIS system. Additionally,
there will be one time temporary staffing costs to revise business processes and manage the implementation effort of
$640,000 over three years.
2) Due to the fact that purchase and implementation of a new ERP system is estimated by GFOA to take three years,
$89,000 is requested to purchase an “off the shelf” budget module to reduce the amount of data entry and routine spreadsheet
work necessary to conduct key budgeting functions. Again, implementation of an interim system could save significant
time throughout the City in addition to Finance staff.
2 Costs identified in each heading are for the 2016-2017 fiscal year.
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SIGNIFICANT OPERATING PROGRAM CHANGE – GENERAL GOVERNMENT
ORGANIZATIONAL EFFICIENCY, EFFECTIVENESS & TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE
4. Contract Services ($80,000)
Continued consultation from GFOA will be essential in 2016-17 to ensure implementation of GFOA recommendations
including “quick wins” that will provide relief and improvement as staff works towards the longer term business process
improvement and ERP system implementation.
Additional Resources for Information Technology ($179,500)
The Citywide Technology Strategic plan addressed the need to increase help desk staffing back in 2010. That
recommendation has not yet been implemented and the help desk workload has increased substantially since then. Analysis
of the KBox trouble reporting system indicates that year over year Network Administrators are consistently working the
majority of trouble tickets, which means they aren’t working on critical City IT projects.
The proposal is to add a regular ongoing Customer Services Supervisor to manage the help desk workload and to add
temporary support in GIS and for the help desk to manage service requests. Further, staff that could effectively provide
Help Desk support is currently providing administrative support to IT staff. The Customer Services Supervisor is identified
as a need in the IT Strategic Plan. Adding regular, half time administrative support allows technical resources to focus on
technical work. A shared Administrative assistant is proposed in support Finance and in the new IT Department to relieve
technical staff from doing clerical tasks.
The second component of the request is to convert the existing IT Manager to an IT Director position to oversee the newly
created department. This request is consistent with GFOA’ recommendations and is meant to provide strategic focus,
direction and oversight to the continued maintenance and development of IT systems.
Additional Resources for Human Resources ($256,000)
Human Resources Department has seen a steep increase in the demand for services during the past several years for a variety
of reasons including: 1) An increase in authorized positions and ongoing attrition driving an increase in recruitment and
retention activities, 2) Legislation surrounding leaves of absence and paid sick leave resulting in a higher need to track and
report time, 3) Affordable Care Act driving more tracking to ensure benefits are appropriately offered and increasing
enrollment workload, 4) The City’s commitment to addressing workforce reliability and succession planning efforts through
its Leadership and Learning Academy requiring more planning and administration, 5) Council’s commitment to its Labor
Relations Objectives requiring more sophisticated financial analysis of labor relations effort, 6) Continued management of
the City’s liability and workers compensation programs and costs including ensuring compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act and other legislation, 7) Council’s adoption of a Compensation Philosophy suggesting a regular (every five
year) review of market compensation data. Increased workload has been spread across existing full time staff and recently
very limited temporary staffing has been approved to address increase in classification and recruitment work critical to meet
major city goals. Recruitments have been “paced” according to HR staff capacity, not organizational needs and recruitment
advertising has only been partially funded from HR due to limited operating budget. Focus on important initiatives has
suffered and in some cases, including risk management, only limited progress on Council’s Other Important Objective of
Fiscal Responsibility has been made.
Further, in reviewing Finance recommendations made by GFOA, similarities exist in HR where there is lack of clarity
regarding roles and responsibilities as workload is distributed based on availability and urgency. Human Resources is
dependent upon the outdated financial system for all employee related data and, as GFOA concludes, the functionality of
that system is very limited. Efforts have been made to improve processes and streamline, but these additional stand-alone
systems, reports, and processes require extraordinary efforts to maintain for fundamental information on turnover, time and
cost of hire, status of performance appraisals, etc.
In order for HR to fully participate in the streamlining of processes and implementation of an ERP while meeting the legal
and organizational demands, additional resources are necessary as provided here:
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SIGNIFICANT OPERATING PROGRAM CHANGE – GENERAL GOVERNMENT
ORGANIZATIONAL EFFICIENCY, EFFECTIVENESS & TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE
Additional Resources for HR
1. Temporary Staffing ($206,000)
1)One full-time and one three quarter time Analyst to provide process improvement, systems identification and
implementation, classification and compensation analysis, and recruitment support.
2)One three quarter time Specialist to support recruitment, new hire, onboarding, HR program support, and wellness
coordination.
2. Operating Budget ($50,000)
Based on historical and anticipated recruitments including recommendations from the GFOA report, HR anticipates needing
an additional $50,000 in operating costs in 2016-17 to support centralized recruitment advertising, implementation of
onboarding recommendations resulting from Leadership Lab Project Team work, pre-employment testing, department head
assessment center costs, and a “placeholder” for an update to the City’s Recruitment and Hiring Incentive Program adopted
by Council in 2001.
Additional Resources for City Attorney’s Office ($150,000)
Similarly, the City Attorney’s Office has experienced increased demand to provide legal support with growing volume and
legal complexities of City operations, including: 1) Increased development applications, 2) Environmental review activity,
3) Large project review and negotiations, and project appeals; 4) Increased public works project contracting activity; 5)
Increased support for new program implementation and ordinance development (i.e. Rental Housing Inspection, medical
marijuana, polystyrene, e-cigarettes, sign regulations/zoning code analysis, 6) Anticipated subdivision regulations update,
etc.); 7) Increased code enforcement activity, 8) Municipal code prosecution and coordination with criminal justice and
social services partners; 9) Neighborhood wellness initiatives and evaluation and support of University partnerships; 10)
Public/private partnership negotiations; 11) Drought regulations and impacts analysis; 12) Legal support of
water/wastewater and storm water regulatory analysis and compliance; 13) Personnel actions; and 14) Public Records Act,
Brown Act and conflicts of interest compliance.
While the City Attorney’s Department assesses that additional ongoing regular staffing will be necessary to address
anticipated ongoing workloads (and so an estimated need is included under regular staffing), the current proposal is for
temporary/contract staff funding in the 2016-17 fiscal year to address current needs and to better assess what ongoing needs
will be in the next budget cycle, including the most effective allocation between attorney and support staff. Thus, the City
Attorney’s Department expects to present a more refined final proposal in the 2017-19 financial planning process that will
best address the needs in the context of the broader support function, process and technology realignments that will be
underway at that time.
Additional Resources for Administration ($139,000)
Effective external and internal communication will be critical to success in implementing the changes previously discussed.
In addition, the importance of delivering timely, clear and consistent information to the public from the City has increased
dramatically with the proliferation of digital information channels. This SOPC proposes to retain a local communications
consultant to produce regular communications to the community, coordinate media releases, proactively conduct public
outreach and respond to inquiries.
Today, information management and communication with the community is ad hoc and decentralized, often resulting in
duplication of effort and inefficient use of high level staff time. The addition of this resource will improve the City’s ability
to streamline communication to get important information out to its residents and community members more quickly and,
internally, to ensure effective and efficient exchange of information between City departments and employees. The
consultant will contribute significantly to the City’s efforts to enhance transparency and access to information through
increased use of social media, news features on the City’s website and Channel 20. An important focus of the consultant
team will be to develop the organization’s capacity for effective communications through the development of a
communications plan, protocols, templates, staff training and other foundational projects.
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The addition of a communications consultant will consolidate many of those functions into a single role, creating
efficiencies in the organization and improving our ability to communicate effectively with the public.
Additionally, this SOPC requests funding for the on-going license costs for OpenGov (the software provider for the City’s
online financial tracking tool) and Socrata (the software tool to be used for the City’s performance dashboard). The one-
time costs are to be used as exploratory funding for new open government initiatives as new technology and ideas are
frequently introduced and can be tested as a pilot for future investment.
Original funding for this work came from a one-time carryover from the 2013-14 fiscal year and has since been exhausted
through pilot programs of each application. Ongoing funding is needed to support access to these applications going forward
and ensure the completion of current City Council adopted work plan.
GOAL AND POLICY LINKS
These operating program changes align with the Fiscal Responsibility Philosophy, Fiscal Sustainability and Responsibility
Other Important Objective (OIO) and with the Council Policy “Addressing the Long Term Costs” adopted on February 17,
2015 and incorporated into the 2015-2017 Financial Plan. Specifically, the OIO includes “Continue to implement and track
operational efficiencies including alternative service delivery, best management practices, and cost containment measures
that preserve the effectiveness of City services and operations.”
In addition, as a part of the 2015-17 Financial Plan the City Council adopted Fiscal Sustainability and Responsibility as an
Other Important Objective. Components of the work plan for that object include:
1.Establish a performance management and reporting team to identify a set of performance criteria for public reporting
based on information the public wants to know and available information already being maintained and reported
internally.
2.Gather public opinion to establish a baseline for City performance and to determine what information the public is
interested in seeing in a new set of online dashboards.
Implement a system for ongoing tracking, management, and reporting of performance and service metrics.
PROGRAM WORK COMPLETED
Financial responsibility has been a focus for the City for several years now and Council adopted a Financial Responsibility
Philosophy in 2014. However, turnover at the executive level of the Finance and Information Technology Department has
made progress slow. In 2015 the City contracted with the GFOA to conduct an assessment of the Finance Department. In
each of the key recommendations, GFOA identifies “ripple effects” often negative impacts on other parts of the organization.
In other words, issues in Finance “ripple” throughout the organization and impact others by requiring redundant process,
additional work, etc.
As GFOA conducted their assessment and spoke with internal stakeholders throughout the organization, it became clear
that other foundational support departments, primarily IT, HR, Administration and the City Attorney’s office were suffering
from many of the same issues as the Finance department – inadequate systems driving an over-reliance on manual or “side”
systems, complicated business processes, and confusion around assignment of duties as responsibilities and expectations
expanded without additional staff (e.g. new or additional work is given to a person because of availability not skill set or
work flow) and a lack of processes and tools to effectively communicate with the public.
As GFOA recommendations were fleshed out, it became clear that all support departments need to be involved in
implementing recommendations and in expanding them to IT, HR, Administration and the City Attorney’s office. Each
department was asked to assess short-term resources needed to transition to a new “stronger foundational” state as well as
estimate possible ongoing needs.
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SIGNIFICANT OPERATING PROGRAM CHANGE – GENERAL GOVERNMENT
ORGANIZATIONAL EFFICIENCY, EFFECTIVENESS & TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE
The City’s current open government applications include:
- Open City Hall (funded by the Community Development Department)
- NuCivic Open Data Portal (uses open source code and does not require on-going funding)
- OpenGov Financial Dashboard (requesting on-going funding)
- Socrata Performance Dashboard (requesting on-going funding)
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
No environmental review or regulatory permits are required.
PROGRAM CONSTRAINTS AND LIMITATIONS
1.Defining and communicating the “why” behind the need. The immediate benefits of overhauling business
practices and implementing an ERP system that include, planning, customization, configuration, testing,
and implementation is significant, and improved efficiency and effectiveness may not be tangible. It will
be important to establish performance measures and metrics so that the purpose, need, functionality, scope
of this project is understood and appreciated even if savings/payback is delayed.
2.Change management. Maintaining high morale and a healthy working environment with the significant
amount of change that the organization will undergo while still providing excellent service to the
community will be challenging. In addition to staying focused on the why and establishing measures of
success it will be important to celebrate successes and note progress.
3.Managing project scope, costs, and expectations. Overhauling business practices and systems is highly
time-consuming –the project is anticipated to take 3-4 years to complete and become fully operational.
Some may push for expanded scope as the project moves forward while others may push to revert back to
old ways. Appropriate planning and reliance on subject matter experts will help avoid pitfalls.
STAKEHOLDERS
All City employees who receive internal services from the support departments and all community members who rely on
City financial data and City services.
IMPLEMENTATION
See Exhibit A.
KEY PROGRAM ASSUMPTIONS
These changes assume continued support and engagement from every level in the organization including the City Council.
PROGRAM MANAGER AND TEAM SUPPORT
Program Manager:
The Executive Sponsor for this project is the Assistant City Manager who will be supported by the Director of
Finance and a project manager who will be solely dedicated to business process improvements and launching the
ERP finance system.
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SIGNIFICANT OPERATING PROGRAM CHANGE – GENERAL GOVERNMENT
ORGANIZATIONAL EFFICIENCY, EFFECTIVENESS & TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE
Project Team:
The project team is shown in Exhibit B.
Alternatives:
What are the reasonable alternatives to your request? These could include:
1.Continue the Status Quo. Continuing the status quo is not recommended as it will result in continued inefficiency,
unnecessary redundancies, high potential for inaccurate or incomplete information (financial and otherwise) that could
be the basis for significant decisions, and reduced level of service to the community.
2.Defer or Re-Phase the Request. Should this SOPC be deferred, the consequences as outlined in the section
directly above would continue until adequate staffing resources are available and new business processes and
technologies are implemented. The request is appropriately phased with full implementation of systems and
on-going staffing not complete until the 2019-2021 financial plan.
3.Change the Scope of Request. The request has been considered from a holistic approach on the basis that investing in
one support department but not all of them, will not result in a stronger organizational foundation and improved service
delivery, but instead will drive further inefficiencies as not all participants will have the resources required to fully
embrace and implement the required change.
4.Implementation in a Different Way. The request is for temporary staffing with the exception of requests directly
resulting from GFOA recommendations that can be implemented in 2016-17. Estimates of potential ongoing staffing
needs are foreshadowed, but would go through required approvals in subsequent financial plan processes.
5.Existing Program Evaluation. Due to the scope and scale of this effort, redeploying existing resources in
Administration, Human Resources, Finance, and IT is not an option without significantly impacting current
support service levels and risking increased employee turnover and burnout.
OPERATING PROGRAM
The proposed SOPC would provide funding to the following programs 1) Financial Administration, 2)
Accounting, 3) Information Technology, 4) City Attorney, 4) Human Resources, and 5) Administration.
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SIGNIFICANT OPERATING PROGRAM CHANGE – GENERAL GOVERNMENT
ORGANIZATIONAL EFFICIENCY, EFFECTIVENESS & TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE
COST SUMMARY
Uses 2016‐17 2017‐18 2018‐19 2019‐20 Totals 4 Fys.
Consultant Support
Organizational Consultant 15,000$ 15,000$ 15,000$
Finance System Specifications 65,000$
subtotal:80,000$ 15,000$ 15,000$ ‐$ 110,000$
Temporary Staffing
Finance
Business Process/System Integrator 100,000$ 135,000$ 145,000$
Transition Support 40,000$
Accountant 70,000$ 75,000$ 75,000$
City Attorney Department
Contract Legal Support 130,000$ 130,000$ 130,000$
Legal Admin Support 20,000$ 20,500$ 21,000$
Human Resources Department
HR Analyst II 91,000$ 123,000$ 125,000$
HR Analyst I (.75)63,000$ 85,000$ 87,000$
HR Specialist (.75)52,000$ 71,000$ 72,000$
IT
Help Desk & GIS Support 72,000$
subtotal:638,000$ 639,500$ 655,000$ ‐$ 1,932,500$
ERP System
ERP Acquisition 1,900,000$ 350,000$ ‐$
System Integrator 70,000$
Interim Budget System 89,000$ 35,000$ 35,000$
subtotal:1,989,000$ 105,000$ 385,000$ ‐$ 2,479,000$
Recruitment
Human Resources Recruitment Cost 50,000$ ‐$
subtotal:50,000$ ‐$ ‐$ ‐$ 50,000$
Work Space
Minor Improvements and IT Hardware 75,000$ ‐$
subtotal:75,000$ ‐$ ‐$ ‐$ 75,000$
ONE‐TIME TOTAL 2,832,000$ 759,500$ 1,055,000$ ‐$ 4,646,500$
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SIGNIFICANT OPERATING PROGRAM CHANGE – GENERAL GOVERNMENT
ORGANIZATIONAL EFFICIENCY, EFFECTIVENESS & TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE
Regular Staffing
Finance Department
Purchasing Supervisor 54,422$ 113,464$ 118,330$ 123,412$
Purchasing Accountant 100,227$ 104,417$ 108,814$ 113,428$
Admin Assistant (.5)34,598$ 35,978$ 37,426$ 38,959$
Information Technology Department
IT Director 35,000$ 45,000$ 50,000$
Customer Service Supervisor 109,701$ 114,607$ 119,751$ 125,168$
Admin Assistant (.5)34,598$ 35,978$ 37,426$ 38,959$
subtotal:333,545$ 439,443$ 466,746$ 489,925$ 1,239,734$
Services
Transparency and Accountability Software 19,500$ 19,500$ 19,500$ 19,500$
ERP Licensing and Support 200,000$
Administrative Support 350,000$
Communications Consultant 119,500$ 119,500$ 119,500$ 119,500$
subtotal:139,000$ 139,000$ 139,000$ 689,000$ 417,000$
ONGOING TOTAL 472,545$ 578,443$ 605,746$ 1,178,925$ 1,656,734$
TOTAL 3,304,545$ 1,337,943$ 1,660,746$ 3,536,775$ 6,303,234$
Sources 2016‐17 2017‐18 2018‐19 2019‐20 Totals 4 Fys.
One Time Sources
Transit 58,081$ 58,081$ 116,163$
Parking 151,011$ 151,011$ 302,023$
Wastewater 336,871$ 336,871$ 673,743$
Water 336,871$ 336,871$ 673,743$
General Fund 2,832,000$ 48,830$ 2,880,830$
subtotal:2,832,000$ 882,835$ 931,665$ ‐$ 4,646,500$
Ongoing Sources
General Fund 472,545$ 578,443$ 353,509$ 895,983$ 2,300,480$
Parking 42,040$ 47,157$ 89,197$
Transit 21,020$ 23,579$ 44,598$
Wastewater 94,589$ 106,103$ 200,692$
Water 94,589$ 106,103$ 200,692$
subtotal:472,545$ 578,443$ 605,746$ 1,178,925$ 2,835,659$
One Time Total:2,832,000$ 882,835$ 931,665$ ‐$ 4,646,500$
Ongoing Total:472,545$ 578,443$ 605,746$ 1,178,925$ 1,656,734$
Total:3,304,545$ 1,461,278$ 1,537,411$ 1,178,925$ 6,303,234$
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SIGNIFICANT OPERATING PROGRAM CHANGE – FUNCTION UPDATE FOUNDATIONAL POLICIES, PROCESSES, AND SYSTEMS TO INCREASE ORGANIZATIONAL EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS Exhibit A D-43Packet Pg 23914
SIGNIFICANT OPERATING PROGRAM CHANGE – FUNCTION UPDATE FOUNDATIONAL POLICIES, PROCESSES, AND SYSTEMS TO INCREASE ORGANIZATIONAL EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS Exhibit B D-44Packet Pg 24014