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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1979-02-06; City Council; 5747; Engineering Department ReorganizationCITY OF CARLSBAD initial = AGENDA BILL N0: yT %V 7 Dept. lid. DATE: February 6, 1979 .r Cty. Atty Cty. Mgr. DEPARTMENT: Public Works SUBJECT: ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT REORGANIZATION Statement of the Matter With the resignation of the City Engineer, we now have six vacancies out of 17 positions in the Engineering Department. Most of these vacancies are in key supervisor positions. The only remaining employee classified higher Chan a Civil Engineering Assistant is the Transportation Engineer. This situation, while critical, does afford the opportunity to analyze and modify the organization to meet the demands of a growing city in this dynamic and.complicated era. Growth, that we have had in recent years, and will face in the future, created a set of circumstances that caused our current problem; a problem that is not unique to Carlsbad but which is being experienced throughout the stare. We face the need of implementing a Capital Improvement Program to meet the needs of our residents. At the same time, the growing demand of the private sector with its more attractive system of rewards, has created a shortage of qualified municipal engineers. The attached memoranda discuss the problems we face and recommend changes to resolve the situation. The recommendations include classification changes (deletion of three engineering positions, creation of three construction classifications and upgrading of Principal Civil. Engineer's position) and the addition of two personnel. The additional personnel ate proposed for, the Traffic Engineering Section (half Senior Aide) and the proposed Capital Programs Section (one Capital Programs Engineer and half Senior Aide). Also recommended are pay range adjustments for the, positions of City Engineer, the ungraded Principal Civil Engineer and the newly created classifications. Exhibits 1. Public Works Administrator's memo of 12/20/78 2. Public Works Administrator's memo of 1/24/79 Recommendation If City Council approves the Public Works Administrator's recommendations, to instruct staff to prepare the necessary resolutions establishing the new classifications and adjusting salary schedules. A ' Y Agenda Bill No. 5747 Page 2 February 6, 1979 Council Action: 2-6-79 Council approved the Public Works' Administrator's recommendations, and instructed staff to prepare the necessary resolutions ; establishing the new classifications and adjusting salary schedules. 1 rr i r 4 . t t }} F, i }t � ft 3� a, I; F ii r ' s1 3 r MEMORANDUM TO: City Manager FROM: Public Works Administrator DATE: December 20, 1978 SUBJECT: ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT REORGANIZATION The Engineering Department of Public Works is again facing a severe personnel shortage problem. What makes the present problem unique is that the vacancies are focused in key profes- sional level positions. This is particularly apparent in those sections that are required to meet our approved Capital Improve- ment Program schedule. Whi-le the present situation is not de- sirable, it does present us with the opportunity of exploring organizational modifications which can be made to improve our ability in those sections which, in the past, have shown weak- ness. DIsc'uss'ion The Engineering Department has an approved staffing level bf 17. (See Chart #1 for existing Public Works organization.) Over the past I years, the actuu) number of "on -board" staff has varied from 10 to 13. By shifting personnel around we have been able to meet the day-to-day demands of the department but have fallen short in the completion of studies, improvement of administrative procedures and ordinance updating. During 1978, the demands on our staff because of litigation involving the City have left us barely able to meet our day-to-day needs. This has been particularly apparent in the design and contract management sections. We have met the demands of unscheduled programs such as the Public Works Employment Act, Rounds 1 and 2, and the recent emergency contracts to repair last winter's storm damage. We have handled some minor design projects and have kept, active inherited capital projects going. We have not made significant progress towards eliminating the backlog of approved Capital Improvement Projects. At present, the Engi- neering Department has 6 vacant positions. Four of these vacan- cies are in the graduate engineer category. Of the 8 graduate engineer positions authorized, we are missing a Principal Civii Engineer, two Civil Engineering Associates and a Civil Engineer- ing Assistant. While steps are being taken to meet the needs of most of the department until personnel procedures can fill the vacant positions, contract management is presenting a problem. The section head has resigned and the Engineering Aides have not reached the level of training required to be productive in con- tract management. They better serve the City's needs by aug- menting the design section. To maintain any sort of progress -2- in the contracts area, I have found it necessary to divert some of the efforts of my Administrative Assistant and Secretary. In addition to the staff shortages described above, we are also plagued by a counter -productive work experience situation. Our people are extremely crowded and it is doubtful that we have enough space to serve our presently budgeted personnel needs. The SUA report presented to the City in January, 1978, outlines a number of City needs with regards to space. In Engineering and Public Works we presently occupy one=third of the space recom- mended by that report. Action is,needed immediately in this area If we are to be able to maintain any kind of an efficient level of productivity. As discussed, we have a need to improve our ability to handle the City's Capital Improvement Program. Present authorized staff- ing provides for separate design and contract management sections (refer to City Engineer's organizational memo of May 11, 1977). Because of chronic vacancies we have been unable to actually separate the two sections. Our analysis of the functioning of these sections shows that the design section benefits by its close relationship with contract management but that it has suffered from insufficient supervision and direction. Analysis of construc- tion management shows that while the authorized staffing may have been adequate to handle engineering projects, they had insufficient training and experience in the broader range of projects ,Included in the overall City CIP. This need for additional training and the Constant vacancies in these two sections have obviously caused de- lays in the implementation of our GIP. These delays most dramati- cally translate into diminished purchasing power for the City's dollars. The cost cr construction has escalated on the average of 1% per month. Backk round Over the last several years the capital -programs management policy of the City has evolved from a point where each operational department managed its own construction projects to a point where the Public Works Department now provides contract management ser- vices in both the architect/engineering (A/E) contract area and in the construction and inspection of those projects. There is cur- rently a memo on the City Manager's desk formalizing this procedure which provides for operational department coordination and input with the Public Works Department in achieving the design and con- struction of capital programs. Because of these changes, we have inherited a backlog of projects which were established without consideration of the on -board construction management capao...,y of the Engineering Department and with minimal input regarding project cost estimates. Many projects have been delayed because of staffing problems or budgetary problems with the resultant es- calation of the cost of constructing the program. The obvious re- sult is that we have not met our capital facilities needs with -3- regards to either timeliness or completeness of originally in- tended function. The present organization requires•training of contract management personnel to handle problems not normally encountered by engineering personnel. A capital project that requires out- side design services must go through the following steps: 1. Preparation of request for proposal for design services. 2. Selection procedure which includes proposal review, recom- mendation and contract negotiation; Council action on recom- mendation often required. 3. Contract award including Council action and contract prepara- tion. 4. Supervision of design process in conjunction with project's operating department. 5 5. Specification formating to facilitate construction control. 6. Securing all non -Carlsbad permits necessary (Coas-t Commission, Corps of Engineers, CalTrans, State Health, State Fish and Game, etc.). %. Obtain City Conditional Use Permit, et al. 8. Review, with Planners, for Master Plan conformance. 9: Complete actions through Council, commissions or committees for preliminary and/or final design approval. This includes Agenda Bill preparation. 10. Review and update construction estimates. This may neces- sitate adjusting budget. It. Review for inclusion of appropriate guidelines when grant 1 funds involved. 1 # )2. Prepare 'construction bid documents. 13. Advertise, open bids, contract preparation and award; includes preparation of Agenda Bills. 14. Provide construction coordination, inspection, progress pay- ment;., grant fund 'payment requests, final inspection and ac- ceptance, lien resolution and closure. tTo function efficiently in the above areas, we must also s prepare administrative programs to standardize required or useful terminology, continually review Federal, State and County regula- tions regarding use of grant funds and coordinate to maximize L -4- eligibility for specific grant programs as they occur. We also must maintain effective communications with the operational de- partments and provide staff assistance when involved in litiga- tion. Staffing Adoption of the 1977-78 budget authorized 17 personnel in the Engineering Department. The City Engineer's report of May 11, 1977 was used to support the budget request. That report outlined an anticipated demand and recommended the resources needed to meet that demand. Experience has shown that while most of the recom- mendptions were sufficient others were not. The particular area of shortcoming was in the staffing to meet the design and eonstruc- tion management needs of an adopted Capital Improvements Program. As previously stated,, the.need to train available personnel has resulted in a delay in their achieving a state of productivity. This alone has cost the City approximately 1% of the approved capi- tal program for each month of delay. It becomes obvious that changing the job classification of the construction management sec- tion from the -traditional engineering ones to one,, •vhich are di- rected to the specific needs of a construction management program would result in•signifi•cant savings to the City; if for no other reason than• the elimination of the necessary training period. Work Load Before exploring staffing alternatives, some discussion should be given to the potential work load to be faced. 1'n addition to the effort required by the CIP, the design/construction management people are also responsible for underground utility districts; joint sewer system projects; engineering elements of grant projects; inter -agency coordination; maintenance of maps and records; pro- cessing of annexations, easements, vacation, quitclaims, etc.; preparation of special reports to Council, commissions and commits tees; short-term field surveying and administrative assistance to the City Engineer. Beyond the regular City work, as described above, we face the challenge of the Capital Improvement Program. There are 36 capital projects approved in this year's budget or carried over from previ- ous years. Funds approved for architectural or engineering (A/E) services and for construction services exceed $41 million. At the present time I propose that 9 of these projects would be designed by City forces. The remaining 27 would require some sort of con- tract for design services. All 36 projects would require a con- tract for construction. All available time of the design section and all of the time of the contract management section for the next year would be required to complete the presently funded program. This time; projection is based on the unlikely probability that no unusual staff demands will occur and,that we will be fully staffed at all times. u -5- To get some idea of what we're facing, l looked at the next four years of,our last CIP. The program lists $28.9 million worth of projects. When the developer -funded projects are removed, the balance is $21.6 million. These figures are based on 1977 cost estimates. The General Fund finances 44% of the proposed projects. If we were to assume that the impact of Proposition 13 deleted all available General Fund money and even had some impact on other funds, the projected four-year CIP could easily be cut by 50%. This leaves $10.6 million over four years or an average of $2.7 million a year. The reorganized section I will recommend should be able to handle this program. An accelerated program or the im- pact of certain grant programs may necessitate reappra-isal at a later date. Future'Staff Alternatives Several alternates are available to meet anticipated needs of our CIP. We could contract with construction management firms to provide necessary se' ices. We could leave the situation as it is using engineering staft meet our construction management needs. We could create a revi_.d permanent construction management staff and hire capital -programs inspectors to meet our varying needs. With regards to construction of capital programs, the advan- tages of having a permanent construction management staff,_even should we have slack periods in the future, would be that,"during those slack periods, they could work in conjunction with our design personnel to -prepare plans, specifications, estimates and contract 'packages to put "on the shelf" ir• anticipation of Federal grant programs such as the Public Works Employment Act. While a "project on the shelf" program looks attractive, it is unlikely that it will occur. Because of employee turnover, I doubt if we will have any "slack time". This is due, for the most part; to our compensation package. We are losing trained employees to private industry and to other cities with more attractive sala- ries. This situation is also due, in some part, to the working conditions our employees face. Recommendation It is my recommendation that the fbllowing changes be made in the organization and job classifications of the Engineering De- partment. (See Charts 2 and 3 for existing and proposed organiza- tion of Engineering Department.) These changes are to meet depart- mental needs with regards to obtaining and vetaining qualified per- sonnel and to meet unique program demands vie are facing at the present time and in the immediate future. The current development section will remain as it Is with the exception that the position of Principal Civil Engineer will be upgraded to the position of Public Facilities Engineer. The trans- portation engineering division will remain as it is with the -6- exception that the half-time Senior Engineering Aide be made a full-time Senior Aide position. The design and contract adminis- tration divisions will be joined under the direction of a newly created position of Capital Programs Engineer. The half-time Senior Engineering Aide in +:he design section of this division will be be made a full-time Senior Engineering Aide posit"ion. The positions of Civil Engineering Associate and two Senior Engineer- ing Aide positions in contract administration will be abolished and replaced with the positions of Contract Manager with the subor= dinate positions of Process Coordinator and Construction Coordi- nator. The Contract Manager should be a position es-tablished in the general salary range of $25,000 a year. The Process and Con- struction Coordinator would be positions established in the general salary range of $20,000.a year. The Capital Programs Engineer and Public Facilities Engineer would be established in the general sal- ary range of $29,000 per year. Construction inspection needs would be met by hiring inspectors on an "as -needed" basis. Their sala- ries would be paid from funds allocated for each capital project. It is recommended that 2% of the project budget be set aside for this purpose. We wouid probably always have one or two inspectors with more added z.s required to inspect projects under construction. (If .Council policy so determines, one permanent inspection posi- tion could be added to my recommendation.) A beneficial by-product of this organizational change is that the proposed capital programs section could operate effectively in relocated office space. This would provide some help in alle- viating our present work space problem. As a ;cast thought, I would recommend upgrading the City En- gineer's salary range. This would provide us with the ability of recruiting the type of highly qualified personnel we,need.to fill the position. The only hesitancy 1 have is that this position is only 5% lower than the Public Works Adminis.trator's range and no— where i*n my program of problem solving have I intended that the solution includes an adjustment of my salary range. g,R Ronald A. Beckman, P.E. Public Works Administrator RAB:VEB I I -CITY MANAGER PucuCW0Re\sADrr IMSTRATOP. •(!) f - .� •; �P.CY�0.b�' t'js Ad!»i». Ass2`'. (1� Dev. acre,•• Coo cd:•i, (I) ENGfNEE'RIi�1G EpT. I UTIt_lTMAINTENANCE DEPT,. • • � r• .g ( litir.,/111o.infienonceUir�ctor (t) -- • 5r; Steno Clerk CJ) I I ��crc�'arr:y (r) ' Carcen't'D2v¢Io Tas ec'Y. Desi (I Utrlit'ia5 ' 'Principle C.E.' ' (I)VAu+ur RC.E. C,:E A55oc, (1) VACANr I Water (17) Styee'rhlmi•n'r. �7) ' , Rsst• �2?�v°'.k,'w" C.ir.•�CS���. (I� 1 Sohiicucoti� (5) ' P.W.I1n5pe0er , ':(3) Sr. A+de (112) I Cus�odic l (3) s Sr. Atde (1)VACAu•r -Aide (!} VACANT j B txi ldi •ngg Machdoll Cc! ' 'i'rA115 ot% En r. Cor`Cract Adm i n C.E.Assoc (I) . CSA, soc 0 \14mr ! Sr. Aide. jva)• Ercira W, P. C. F. �• a � • • General Il'1cLna���',�) { a f � � • • • tit f t , '1 ublic. WOO" Alt The Otfif i' Admtnist\r .��ent, , �JEG\"�lL�t / ��lYl1il,AsS , , J eve f oprn e ),-I" Y a .a.C`` �nieilf Gtec!� tip' t�rCO��rcLct (aclrnin Pcirc� \e C%►si E;� Z:'. C,ivcl ErC.,T. CtviT- �.1'1U1• Gi\1i t Can < Assoc. -AsSoc, ASSOC.-I ;,Cvit Pvbl.ic Civil S�,E C,V. Etn�zr. t Wog^l:5 �hGY'. Aide !aide < PW I'c- »��. A�c�e •. ws 5r. L»Gr PvbI'tC En6y. (�►de —' WOVI's Aid(z Ills)• Y2tlMC t f • City ' ire y ear - 5r.5t¢no . k Pubtic Fa�i�t` i¢5 FEY� proorarn5 R" —n ITioz 'E:r rn aa r• .,....,_ .. Ca-ntract _Des..�In Sr. Er9r. YY1a`ncz er C.E. AsSoC. ire, 1 Sr. En r Aida Procas Sr. i✓n r, = 3 �'.bV•ns�. Coordir�'vr Aid& C oY1 atmc-t10r Coovdtnator At ' ry, C,H /q'RT 3 MEMORANDUM TO: City Manager FROM: Public Works Administrator DATE: January 24, 1979 SUBJECT: ENGINEERING -DEPARTMENT REORGANIZATION This memorandum is in response to dur discussion and questions which arose regarding my December 20, 1978 memo on the same topic. Father than restating the issues in that memorandum, 1 will emphasize some of the points that need clarification. •I. The proposed organizational change would merge the contract and design sections of the Engineering Department. The new section proposed would add one position to that new combined section, that of the Capital Programs Engineer. it is my opinion that this combined section, while maintaining specific responsibilities of contract management to that sub- section and design to that subsection, would be flexible, more effective and better coordinated under the guidance of the Capital Programs Engineer. 2. 1 would like to emphasize that while the Engineering Department has never had its full complement of personnel (17), we have for a period En of time had an Associate Civil Engineer and two Senior gineering hides In the contract management section. This is not the proper personnel ar- rangement for the management of the City's capital program. 3. While several problems are alluded'to, the primary intent of this organization change is to respond to the responsibility of'contract management and to handle the backlog of capital projects. This organiza- tion should be able to respond to the program and keep it on track. In the -past we have failed to relate available manpower to the reasonable needs of approved capital programs. An oversimplified example of i`his can be shown if we take the value of presently approved capital projects (approximately $4.7 million) and assume that 5% of that is devoted to contract administration. The resultant figure of $235,000 is equal to 85% of the total personnel costs of the entire Engineering Department for fiscal year 1978-79. 4. If, in the 1979-80 fiscal year budget, all capital improvement programs were deleted there is enough work in presently approved programs to keep the contract management section, if reorganized, busy for more than a year. Total deletion of capital programs is highly unlikely in that only approximately 45% of the most recent five-year capital improve- ment program was funded by General Funds. The remainder would be financed by sewer funds, water funds, gas tax funds, assessment district or private funds. 5. The need for a design section and the ability to coordinate de- sign and contract management is made evident by`analyzing the impact of such privately financed projects as the Plaza Camino Real expansion. r City Manager -2- January 24, 1979 This project, which includes considerable need for staff analyses, coor- dination of privately or jointly financed road work, signal work, water lines and storm drains, as well as the possibility of expediting the ex- tension of Monroe Avenue, requires considerable staff effort. This ef- fort is in the form of plan checking, detail coordination and project coordination. Future projects, such as downtown redevelopment, Lake Calavera hills master planning, City-wide satellite reclamation program and other similar programs, will continue to create a high level of staff Input. This level is hard to project and program for although it is nec- essary for proper coordination and development of -these privately funded programs. 6. Our present moratorium has created a situation totally the op- posite from that which would initially occur to an observer. Instead of removing or delaying demands for staff involvement which would nor- mally be associated with development projects, a larger demand has been placed on staff to deal with specific proposals to circumvent the restric- tions of the moratorium ordinance. Examples of these are an increase in use of septic tanks, requests to develop satellite plants, pressures to evolve alternative treatment processes,•requests for analyses of impact oti the sewer, agreements with other sewer agencies, etc. This covers those issues- which have arisen in our discussion of the December 20th memorandum. If there are any more that come to mind, please Aet me know at your earliest convenience. 0 -�_ L�2L� Ronald A. Beckman, P.E. Public Works Administrator RAB:VEB I 1­1