10.0. SR 07-12-1993 - Laserfiche WebLink

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.. e e e PREVIOUS COUNCIL DISCUSSION ON STAFFING NEEDS One of the very few City Council discussions on long term staffing needs took place in the fall of 1990. At this Council meeting, discussion took place regarding the need for directors or super department heads. The essence of this Council discussion was reviewed with the current City Council in early 1993 when the debate took place regarding the City Planner. One of the premises to the City Council discussion on directors was the need to have less people reporting directly to me as the City Administrator. While in the private industry many firms are trying to eliminate the middle management positions (due to financial constraints), it is a valid concern in Elk River that some municipal functions need to be consolidated under a director in order to be more efficient in managing the City departments. I currently have ten (10) division or department heads reporting directly to me and we have approximately 50 City employees. If the police and street/park employees were excluded from the total, I would have eight (8) people reporting to me which supervise about 16 employees. Overall, having ten people report directly to me with their departmental needs makes it difficult to efficiently manage the overall operation of the City. In the last, Star News, School Superintendent, Dr. Flannery, said the same thing regarding the School District reorganization plan. An appropriate quote from this article from Dr. Flannery is that "there are too many issues that are left on my lap." I sometimes feel the same way. During the 1990 City Council discussion on directors, one of the most valid positions discussed was the community development director. This position would oversee Economic Development, Planning, and Building/Zoning (including environmental). This position would allow for the more efficient management of the development issues that face the City. Of all the director positions discussed, this one is the most valid and most workable. The other positions reviewed by the City Council in 1990 were a public safety director, a public works director, and an assistant city administrator. The public safety director is not programmed at this time and it may be more appropriate to look at this position during the time the City is looking for its next Fire Chief. The public works director may never happen if the City does not take over the water utility operation. The Street/Park Superintendent is currently working with one lead worker and may very well add another at some time in the future. This would allow one lead worker to be in charge of streets and another to be in charge of parks underneath the Superintendent's direction. The assistant city administrator position is the next most likely position after the community development director, but this position appears to be a number of years away. The discussion by the City Council was that the assistant city administrator position was more of a management position and our actual need at this time relates more to a worker position that can accomplish special projects and tasks as assigned.