5.2. SR 06-14-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Organizational Structure June 14, 2004 Page 5 We do not want to wait too long to move forward with a public works director and an Engineering Department as we need to keep in mind our current state of development and growth and the need to reduce the number of direct reports to me. If we wait for "enough" employees to be added to the Street Department, Park Department, Police Department, etc. before adding this position and department, it may never happen. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR This position is the one that is needed the most and in order to provide better customer service by wa), of coordinating the Economic Development, Planning/Code Enforcement, and Building/Environmental services and in order to free up some of my time. I hope that everyone agrees with the need for establishing this position in the very near future. The concerns with this position have mainly been cost and whether or not an internal promotion takes place. The cost should not be an issue if this is a high enough priority for the City Council. It is very acceptable to open up this position to all applicants. In this manner, we may very well have excellent applicants from private industry or other cities that would compete with our best internal applicants. On the other hand, an internal applicant may rise to the top and be the best pick. In filling this position, the Council could use a professional consulting f~rm that specializes in the recruitment, evaluation, and selection of top candidates for key municipal positions. As you could tell by the recent Brirneyer worksessions, a significant amount of the discussion centered around growth activities. In general, a lot of our city growth and development issues need to be better coordinated and communicated internally. There are also some customer service issues that need to be dealt with daily and weekly. A director in this area would result in significant hnprovements over our past practice. PUBLIC SAFETY DIRECTOR As before, I am not recommending that the city establish and hire a public safe~' director. At this time the cost in wages exceed the benefits that would be received by establishing this position. Establishing this position would reduce the direct reports to me by only one person. It is also questionable if this position would improve services being offered to the public. The current coordination of activities and communication between the two department heads (f~re chief and chief of police) is excellent-especially now that they are in the same building. As noted in April, a number of communities have established this position and over time gone away from it as not being cost effective or necessary. GENERAL GOVERNMENT At the April 12 meeting, this general government area was the "bubble" section of the organizational chart. This general government area included the city clerk (and cable), finance (and human resources and information technolo~'), prosecuting attorney, and the liquor store. The proposed organizational change in this "bubble" section moves information technology and human resources out from under the Finance Department and put these positions on a parallel level as to the finance director, liquor store manager, and city clerk. We currently do S: \Council\Pat \ 20(~4\ Organizational06 1404.doc