To: Honorable Mayor and Members of City Council
From: Steve Potter, City Manager
Prepared By: Liz Habkirk, Deputy City Manager
TITLE:
Title
Budget Staffing Plan for Building Division of the Community Development Department
LABEL
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommendation
Adopt a resolution amending the City-Wide Position Staffing Plan to add one Permit Technician position, and approving a budget transfer of $94,680 from the Community Development Department Building Division professional services budget to salaries and benefits, as documented in Budget Adjustment Form No. BE2109501.
Body
DISCUSSION:
On June 16, 2020, the City Council adopted a resolution approving and adopting budget updates for Fiscal Year 2020/21 as well as a City-Wide Position Staffing plan. Based on the limitation of available resources and the anticipated reduction in overall revenues due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the budget included significant reductions in expenditures and the defunding of 32 positions throughout the City.
Additionally, the City Manager has worked with the Executive Team to provide an extensive review of vacancies created by retirement or resignation during the fiscal year, prior to those vacancies being filled, as well as to establish a process to fill positions that are currently unfunded by Council action. As a part of this review process, the Community Development Director has seen a critical need to fill the position identified in the current Staffing Plan as a Permit Technician vacancy freeze. The Department currently has one filled Permit Technician position, with the other Permit Technician position vacant.
The Permit Technicians are responsible for processing building permit applications and providing information to the public about the building permit process, requirements, codes, and inspection procedures. This position is the first point of contact for any Building Permit application; handles the initial completeness check for all needed information to process the permit; provides information on the permit process; and prepares completed Plan-checked plans for issuance. The position requires understanding of the City’s permit review process, coordination of multiple departmental reviews of applications, working knowledge of our permit tracking software to manage the application and ultimately calculate the needed fees for each permit. Current permit application volumes are similar to 2018 and 2019. Building permit application fees create revenue that supports the Department and offsets the amount of General Fund dollars required.
Based on the importance of timely processing of building permit applications, the Community Development Director is recommending a deletion of the 1.00 Permit Technician - FY21 Vacancy Freeze position and the addition of a 1.00 Permit Technician position to the City-Wide Position Staffing Plan. The Building Division has been supported with assistance from consultants in processing building permit applications. The Department is proposing to transfer existing budget from amounts set aside for consultants to fund the position, with no additional impact on the General fund.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS:
There is no net impact to the General Fund. The professional services budget in the Building Division will be reduced by $94,680, and that amount will be spread amongst the relevant salary and benefit budgets to fund the position for the remainder of FY 2020/21. If City finances do not improve over this fiscal year, CDD will need to continue with a lower professional services budget to fund the position.
CEQA:
The City Manager has determined that the Recommended Action described in this Agenda Report is not subject to CEQA, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15060(c).
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
ATCH 1 - Resolution
EX A - Budget Adjustment BE2109501
NOTIFICATION:
None