To: Honorable Mayor and Members of City Council
From: Heather Ruiz, Human Resources Director
Prepared By: Gabrielle Petersen, Management Analyst II
TITLE:
Title
Staffing Plan for Assistant to the City Manager in the City Manager’s Office
LABEL
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommendation
1. Approve the first reading and introduction of an Ordinance amending Napa Municipal Code Section 2.08.090 regarding the Designation of Appointive Officers in the City Manager’s Office.
2. Adopt a resolution approving the Classification Specification and salary range for Assistant to the City Manager; and amending the Budget Staffing Plan by deleting one Secretary to the City Manager and adding one Assistant to the City Manager to the City Manager’s Office.
Body
DISCUSSION:
At the March 16 and March 23, 2021 Council meetings, the City Council discussed the outcomes of their Council Workshop held in February. Staff led the Council through updates on the current and planned projects on items throughout the City, as well as discussions on future priorities.
The Council focused their discussion on topics within the following categories:
1. Efficient and Stable Organization
2. Street, Sidewalks, and Infrastructure
3. Where We Live - Housing and Neighborhoods
4. Economic Development
5. Community Focused Services
6. Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity
As a part of the discussion, Council members focused on several critical areas, two of them being homeless services coordination and legislative advocacy.
For over ten years, initiatives related to addressing homelessness issues have been identified and implemented by City staff, and since FY 2013/14, homeless response has been a priority of the City Council. Currently, various City departments have a role in providing homeless services, in conjunction with the services provided by Napa County. These include outreach services by the Police Department, encampment cleanup services provided by Parks and Recreation and Public Works, housing assistance provided by the Housing Division of the Community Development Department, general emergency response provided by the Police and Fire Department, as well as other various interactions with homeless populations throughout Napa.
The dispersed responsibilities lack efficient use of City resources and result in a piecemeal City response. With the complicated and increasing issues associated with homeless services, Council members commented that coordination would be beneficial and directed staff to add homeless services coordination as a high priority over the next year.
Additionally, the Council discussed legislative advocacy as a critical priority over the next several years. Although the City is a member of the League of California Cities (“League”), the Council acknowledged that certain discussions taking place at the State level, including the recent discussion by the State to possibly delay Vehicle License Fee funding distribution, are more localized and would not be issues that the League would advocate for on the City’s behalf. The City has also begun to seek federal funding opportunities more diligently, but without dedicated staff to manage the City’s approach it is unlikely to successfully achieve larger goals in this area. In addition, Federal funding in response to COVID-19 and potential infrastructure funding opportunities require consistent review and action.
In response to these directives, the City Manager reviewed available staff to lead these Council priority efforts. As was explained by staff during the Council priority discussions there is no available staff capacity to take on these additional duties. The necessary level of program management for these areas requires a full-time person in order to be done effectively. Further, because both homeless services and legislative advocacy reach across departments, there was a clear need to have coordination provided at a high level.
Based on the Council direction to prioritize these specific areas, the City Manager is recommending that the Executive Secretary to the City Manager position, currently vacant, be deleted, and the professional position of Assistant to the City Manager be added to facilitate the homeless services coordination and legislative advocacy, along with other special project support in the City Manager’s Office.
The City Manager worked with the Human Resources Department, to determine the appropriate classification to provide these services through an analysis of the Department’s needs and comparison of the existing classification plan.
The Human Resources Department interviewed staff in the City Manager’s Office to determine a recommendation that would align with the programmatic support needs of the office. The discussions indicated that they require a variety of professional, technical, and analytical work including: initiating and conducting analytical studies and research of City policies and procedures, program services, organizational structure and community issues and problems that require analysis; assisting in monitoring developments related to City management matters; reviewing and interpreting new and proposed legislation; assisting in determining the impacts on operations and programs of the organization; conducting research and building programmatic recommendations on Council priorities currently including homeless program coordination and legislative advocacy work. Given the complexity and importance of this role to the City’s overall operation, as indicated in the discussions with the City Manager’s Office and confirmed in reviewing external survey data, the Human Resources department recommends that the City utilize the specification of Assistant to the City Manager, as the appropriate classification to perform this work.
The recommended classification of Assistant to the City Manager is a professional level class, providing expert support to the City Manager’s Office as well as overall City staff. The Assistant to the City Manager classification is one that has been previously used by the City. It was originally created in 2004, and subsequently abolished from the classification plan in 2017 as a result of a reorganization in the City Manager’s Office. However, it was determined to be the best fit classification for the duties of this newly created position. The Assistant to the City Manager will deliver high quality, customer-focused, program support services.
In order to align the Assistant to the City Manager with internal salary equity based on the scope of the role and duties, it is recommended to place the classification within Salary Range 6150 (Top Step $130,573). The selected range is appropriate, as it is where the position was previously compensated before being removed from the classification plan, and it is between the classifications of Management Analyst II and Deputy City Manager.
As authorized by City Charter Section 75, Council is authorized to designate all department heads, and employees in the offices of the City Manager and the City Attorney as “appointive officers.” All appointive officers hold their position at-will, and they are not subject to the civil service protections of classified employees under City Charter Section 76.1. Staff recommends that Council approve the attached ordinance that will establish the Assistant to the City Manager position as an “appointive officer.”
FINANCIAL IMPACTS:
No additional funding is required beyond that already allocated and approved in the
City Manager’s Office budget. The difference in annual top-step salary between the Secretary to the City Manager position to be deleted ($88,757) and the Assistant to the City Manager position ($130,573) will be covered through salary savings for Fiscal Year 2020/2021.
CEQA:
The Human Resources Director 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 - Ordinance amending Napa Municipal Code Section 2.08.090 regarding the Designation of Appointive Officers in the City Manager’s Office
ATCH 2 - Resolution Amending the Budget Staffing and City Classification Plan by deleting one Secretary to the City Manager and adding one Assistant to the City Manager to the City Manager’s Office.
EX A - Classification Specification - Assistant to the City Manager
NOTIFICATION:
Legal notice of the public hearing was published in the Napa Valley Register at least 10 days prior to the hearing date.