Title
Add Positions in Planning and Development Department to Meet Increased Construction Activity and for Business Application Replacement Positions (Ordinance S-44227)
Description
Request to authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to add 14 new positions to the base staff level in the Planning and Development Department. No General Fund dollars are requested to support this request; Development Services funds are available.
Report
Summary
Development activity has steadily increased over the past several years and staffing has not maintained equivalent levels. The Planning and Development Department (PDD) has used innovation, efficiency improvements, technology and contract staff to meet the increasing demands, but there remains a need to increase the base level of staff. The requested positions are in areas of the department that have been most impacted by the increase in construction activity (specifically in Plan Review, Inspections and Director's Office), and this targeted increase in staff will help ensure that development activity is not negatively impacted. In addition to the request to support increased construction activity, new positions are requested for the replacement of PDD's primary business applications to ensure that the city does not experience constraints once the business application replacement project is underway. The City's consultant for this project (Gartner) has provided consulting support to many municipalities and government planning and development agencies on replacing their primary business applications. Gartner identified one of the major risks and areas of potential failure is not having the appropriate number of operational staff dedicated full time to the business application replacement project.
Financial Impact
The estimated cost for the Business Application Replacement positions for the remainder of the FY 2017/18 (January-June 2018) is estimated to be $304,000, with full year costs for FY 2018/19 is estimated to be $616,000. The estimated cost for the additional development division staff and the Planner III for Office of Customer Advocacy (OCA) for the remainder of FY 2017/18 is $379,805 with costs for FY 2018/19 estimated at $713,103. No General Funds are requested to support this request; Development Services funds are available.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Mario Paniagua and the Planning and Development Department.