Agenda - Council Work Session - 05/24/2022

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CC Work Session 2.2. Meeting Date: 05/24/2022 Information Title: Discussion Regarding the Pending Public Works Superintendent Vacancy and the Process to Fill the Role Purpose/Background: As the City Council is aware,Public Works Superintendent Grant Riemer submitted a letter of resignation.In the letter,Mr.Riemer stated that his last day with the City of Ramsey will be July 8,2022. This is a key staff position that has a significant impact on the City.Staff is committed to filling this role in a manner that meets the City's mission,core values,and guiding principles. Staff met and developed a possible restructuring option within Public Works.This restructure proposal is to eliminate the Public Works Superintendent position,returning to the model that was in place prior to Mr.Riemer becoming the Superintendent. Staff proposes adding back the Public Works Director and creating an Assistant Public Works Director position,eliminating the title of Parks and Assistant Public Works Superintendent(Mark Riverblood),along with some changes in the Engineering Department,explained below. For the sake of immediate clarity,this proposal includes promoting current staff and hiring one Engineering Technician II. 2022/2023 Proposal: 1.Promote City Engineer Bruce Westby to Public Works Director-retain City Engineer status 2.Promote Parks and Assistant Public Works Superintendent to Assistant Public Works Director-retain current duties-add backup to the Public Works Director 3.Promote Civil Engineer II Joe Feriancek to Assistant City Engineer(other detail will be provided at the meeting) 4.Promote Engineering Technician II Logan Czech(currently an Engineer in Training)to Engineering Technician III(other detail will be provided at the meeting) 5.Hire a replacement Engineering Technician II to inspect construction in 2023 Engineering Department Benefits The Engineering Department will benefit from better understanding the City's maintenance operations relative to streets,sidewalks,trails and utilities.This increased understanding will allow the Engineering Department to update City design standards to better allow for maintenance of the City's infrastructure based on existing equipment and staff,and to incorporate more maintenance friendly features and materials. The Engineering Department will also benefit by being better able to prioritize Pavement Management Program(PMP)projects within the Capital Improvement Program(CIP)due to having a better understanding of pavement conditions throughout the City.Engineering Staff update PMP projects within the CIP each fall,which includes reprioritizing project schedules.This is done primarily by reviewing updated PASER values obtained from the Public Works Superintendent each fall.While this has generally worked well,there have been several occasions when Engineering Staff rescheduled PMP projects based on updated PASER values only to have neighborhood residents review the updated CIP after it is adopted and then contact Staff to voice their frustrations that repairs to their streets were moved out a year or more. Additionally,the Engineering Department will benefit from having a well-defined staffing succession plan in place,allowing Staff to know they have the ability to grow their knowledge and advance within the department if they choose to do so. Public Works Operations Benefits The benefit of having a PW director type of department structure,is that it gives a clearer line of responsibility to people,both inside and outside of the organization.The current system of separate engineering and PW departments has worked well,but with the current rate of development in the city now and into the future,having one person acting as the final decision maker will likely be more efficient. Parks Division(Long Term Planning.Etc.)Benefits Mr.Riverblood's expertise and passion have long been evident in our park system when it comes to working with the residents in the community and developers.Mark has consistently,throughout his career,taken the lead role when it comes to planning/designing our park spaces and following that vision through construction.Mark is also very familiar with the day-to-day operations and processes used in PW and will be a great asset to Mr.Westby in that capacity as well. Alternatives Staff feels this is the best approach to filling the void following Mr.Riemer's departure;however,alternative options will certainly be discussed as per the City Council's thoughts. It may be interesting for the City Council to be aware of other similarly sized cities that have Public Works Directors who are either Professional Engineers or oversee the engineering departments.They are as follows: Columbia 10 A0AN&-trn Pid-%1ic-AXTnr1rc TlirP�tnr/('it lir��sir�PPr