Agenda - Council - 05/29/2012 - Special

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CC Special Session Meeting Date: 05/29/2012 By: Colleen Lasher, Administrative Services Title: Future Staffing /Organizational Structure of the Public Works Department Background: At the May 22, 2012 meeting, the City Council motioned to do the following: 1) Accept Mr. Brian Olson's resignation as Public Works Director. 2) Appoint Fire Chief Kapler to an interim assignment for up to a 3 -month period to oversee the Public Works Building Maintenance, Parks, Streets, and Utilities divisions. 3) Appoint City Engineer Himmer to an interim assignment for up to a 3 -month period to oversee the Engineering Division. Due to a need for additional information, Councilmembers were not in a position to direct staff to act on the remaining items. Therefore, further discussion related to the organizational structure of the Public Works Department is necessary and the following issues need to be addressed: 4. 3. A) Does the Council want to fill, modify, or eliminate the recently vacated Public Works Director position. If the direction is to fill the vacant position, a restructure is not needed and staff should be directed to conduct a recruitment. B) If it is not the desire of the Council to fill the Public Works Director position as is, staff recommends splitting the Engineering Division from the operations side of Public Works, thereby creating two separate functional divisions; Engineering and Public Works Operations (Building Maintenance, Parks, Streets, and the Utilities). C1) If the split is desired, does Council support appointing City Engineer Himmer to oversee the Engineering Division on an ongoing basis. If so, does the Council support the City Engineer position to be a department head position, including a salary increase. C2) If the split is desired, staff suggests a recruitment for a PW Superintendent position to oversee the Public Works Operatios Division that includes the functions of Building Maintenance, Parks, Streets, and Utilities; this position is proposed to report to the City Administrator as a division manager / non - department head. D) Depending on the outcome of the above considerations, some back - filling or position adjustments may be necessary. Notification: Observations: Staff will compile a more thorough review of the pros and cons of the different organizational structures for review on Tuesday. Recommendation: Based on discussion. Funding Source: