Agenda - Council - 09/09/1997 - Laserfiche WebLink

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I I I I I i i I I I I I I I I ! I I I The first year of directing the Public Works Department will be the most difficult and time consuming. As employees become accustomed to working together across divisions over time, the time commitment of the Director should decrease. At the same time, demands from the Fire Department, including overseeing construction of the second Fire station, will gradually increase. Negating the Need for Additional Maintenance Workers in Parks and Streets: As mentioned above, both divisions of Public Works have requested additional maintenance staff. Currently, the two divisions spend an estimated 4,000 hours annually on administrative activities. If a Public Works Director assumes responsibility for preparing and monitoring the budget, recruiting and hiring temporary seasonal help, and arranging training and purchasing, the two supervisors should have a significant number of hours per week freed up to spend as on-site working supervisors assisting with maintenance activities and overseeing special projects such as cleaning catch basins. This effectively eliminates the need for two additional maintenance workers, as well as some of the contract and part-time seasonal help. The latest staff budget recommendation to add 1.5 FTEs in 1998 for part-time seasonal employees in Public Works would cost $27,558 annually and would be eliminated if this alternative is adopted. Flexibility Gained by Having Two Supervisors in Public Works: If employees of the two Public Works divisions are combined and there are two supervisors available, the department has more flexibility in structuring the work day. During busy periods, employees could be deployed in two shifts with a supervisor on duty during each one. Fire DepartmeBt Inspections: The Fire Department budget proposal for 1998-1999. contained a request for a half-time Fire Marshall/Inspector. This position would provide services that the City currently does not provide. The allocation of time would be 30% spent doing Daycare inspections, 40% doing business inspections, and 30% doing Preplan inspections. There would be some revenue generated by the inspections activity but prices have not been established. If the Fire Chief position is made full-time, he would still be responsible for ail of the activities he currently supervises. In addition, he could do the inspections that a part-time Fire Marshall would do for day care facilities, businesses and preplans. Inspections activities would increase over time as the City continues to grow and the responsibilities of the Public Works Director assignment decrease. The Cost of Expanding the Fire Chief Position to Full-time As a department head position, the full-time Fire Chief position would be an exempt position and there would be some one-time start-up costs associated creating it: Office space in the Public Works facility A computer for the Director's office A City car for the Director's use