10.2. SR 09-03-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City of Ells Memorandum Ri*I=::-mi TO: Mayor and City Council From: Jeremy Barnhart,Deputy Director, CODD Date: September 3, 2013 Subject: Environmental Division The 2013 budget for the environmental division includes an administrator and a technician. The technician position has been vacant since April of 2012. Since then,the division has been operating above capacity, resulting in longer response times for phone calls and questions, fewer proactive inspections, and significantly reduced education activities and programs, all falling below acceptable standards. With the expected increased responsibilities related to the storm water MS 4 permit,it is appropriate to evaluate the needs of the department prior to filling the vacant position. This discussion is the first of a two-step process to identify the responsibilities of the division, and to identify which skills need to be incorporated. The recommended level of service will require additional staffing. The second step will occur at the completion of the Storm Water Plan, expected in November. The current environmental technician and environmental administrator position descriptions include a number of tasks that overlap,including Wedand Conservation Act (WCA) activities, recycling and solid waste programs, and`other environmental'programs. The division workload has been evaluated by the new department director and deputy director to reduce redundancies,prioritize efforts, and identify tasks that can be eliminated or scaled back. Environmental responsibilities are easily classified as mandatory (i.e. city ordinance, state or federal mandates) and discretionary (local initiatives or past practices). There are a number of initiatives that can be included in discretionary that are difficult to measure and even more difficult to schedule or account for, such as relationship-building and education with Waste Management (landfill), Great River Energy, gravel mine operators, developers and residents (wet land management). Before updating the environmental administrator job description, staff seeks Council direction regarding the discretionary tasks expected of the environmental division as without additional staffing it is impossible for one person to maintain the current service levels previously outlined in the job description. Responsibilities of the city by state or federal rule: (2) Wetland conservation act (4A) Admin of Shore land, Floodplain,Wild and Scenic... (4H) NPDES program P0WIeI1 9 N:\Public Bodies\Agenda Packets\09-03-2013\x10.2 at 4 Environmental.docx INAWREI