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Home My WebLink About2019-01-24; Management Job Classifications|Job Reclassifications; Clark, JulieTo the members of the: CITY COUNCIL ACM CA ✓ cc_✓ Date I h.~M CM V coo_ Council Memorandum January 24, 2019 To: From: Via : Re: Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council Julie Clark, Human Resources Di ~_t o~ ¥ Scott Chadwick, City Manager ~ Management Job Classifications/Job Reclassifications {city of Carlsbad This memo provides a general overview of the city manager's authority related to management positions within the city organization, addresses recent questions about the creation of an assistant police chief classification and outlines steps taken to avoid future concerns about transparency in workforce planning. Background The city's approach to workforce planning is intended to balance policy level oversight with day to day operational needs. The annual city budget process begins in earnest each January, with an assessment of the resources required to meet the city's current and projected operational needs and City Council policy priorities. The level of staffing requested by the city manager represents his best professional recommendation based on those needs at that time. In approving the annual budget, the City Council has the ultimate authority to reduce or expand the size of the workforce and the amount of money available for employee compensation. Once the budget is adopted, the city manager's ability to manage the workforce within these parameters provides the flexibility needed for the city to deliver on its mission in the most effective manner possible. City Council Authority City Council is responsible for approving personnel rules and regulations and memoranda of understanding for represented employees, which include: • Carlsbad City Employees' Association • Carlsbad Police Officers Association • Carlsbad Police Managers Association • Carlsbad Firefighters Association Managers and part time employees are not represented, although the City Council approves compensation plans for these employees. Human Resources Department Faraday Center 1635 Faraday Avenue I Carlsbad, CA 92008 I 760-602-2440 t ~ i. I I i 1 j! I ! Memo ID #2019004 Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council Jan.24,2019 Page 2 In approving the annual city budget, the City Council also authorizes the total number of full- time-equivalent positions citywide. City Manager Authority The Carlsbad Municipal Code section 2.44 describes the duties and responsibilities of the city's personnel officer and designates the city manager to this role. On June 26, 2018, the City Council approved Resolution No. 2018-105, which updated this section to give the city manager authority over management job titles and descriptions. The Carlsbad Municipal Code section 2.44.040 gives the city manager the authority to create the city's Personnel Rules and Regulations, which apply to classified employees and must be approved by resolution of the City Council. The Personnel Rules and Regulations provide the following authority to the city manager: • Make budgeted reclassifications or reclassifications with no fiscal impact (reclassifications refer to changing the allocation of a position, either to a higher position, a lower position or a comparable position with different duties). • Make any amendments or revisions to the classification plan that are budgeted or will not result in a fiscal impact. (Section 3.3) The following chart summarizes the authorities discussed in this memo. City City Meet& Authority Manager Council Confer Change titles and descriptions of X CMC section 2.44.020(c) and management classifications Management Compensation and Benefits Plan section 2 Change titles and descriptions of X X CMC section 2.44.020(c) and classified job classifications Personnel Rules and Regulations section 3.3 Create new management X CMC section 2.44.020(c) and classifications Management Compensation and Benefits Plan section 2 Create new classified X X CMC section 2.44.020(c) and classifications Personnel Rules and Regulations section 3.3 Reclassify existing positions X Personnel Rules and Regulations section 3.3 Approve salary schedules for X X Personnel Rules and classified employees Regulations section 4.2 Choose where management X Management Compensation classifications go on the and Benefits Plan section 2 management salary schedule Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council Jan.24,2019 Page 3 City City Manager Council Approve the total number of X FTE allocated in a fiscal year Approve the total city budget X for a fiscal year New Classifications Meet& Authority Confer Annual City Council Resolution Annual City Council Resolution In the 2018-19 fiscal year, the city manager has created three new management job classifications. Chief Innovation Officer The chief innovation officer classification was created in June 2018 as part of the city budget adoption process. This position identifies and facilitates business practices and partnerships that enable the City of Carlsbad to deliver services in the most effective manner possible while providing exceptional customer service. Housed in the City Manager's Office, this position supports the entire city organization in seeking opportunities for greater collaboration, often, but not always, through technology. This position also plays a critical role in enhancing the city's community engagement efforts through new online platforms. A key aspect of this new highly specialized position is creating an opportunity for the City of Carlsbad to lead the entire region in smart and connected city initiatives and serve as a model for public private partnerships to meet community needs and priorities. Assistant Fire Chief /Assistant Police Chief At the request of the police chief and fire chief, the city manager created an assistant fire chief classification in September and assistant police chief position in December. These positions were created to establish an updated command structure to better meet the city's public safety needs at it approaches build out, the time when most major new residential development in Carlsbad has been completed. The previous command structures featured two co-equal management positions under the chiefs. This structure had served the city well for decades, however the population has more than doubled in size since this was first established and the provision of public safety services has become much more complex. The city has hired additional public safety staff in response to these needs. The assistant chief positions help ensure the growing departments have sufficient senior level oversight to ensure proper training, systems and other support needed to operate efficiently in the changing environment. The assistant chief positions also provide more opportunities for succession planning at all levels of the chain of command. This is critical given the extremely Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council Jan.24,2019 Page 4 competitive job market for public safety personnel. l<eeping and growing public safety staff from within is a strategic priority for the City of Carlsbad. Creating the assistant chief positions had been contemplated in recent years. With both chiefs eligible for retirement, and one, in fact, having retired on July 31, 2018, the city manager felt a renewed urgency to proceed with the new structure prior to the FY 2019-20 budget process. Reclassifications In fiscal year 2018-19, the city manager has authorized three public safety reclassifications: • A fire division chief was reclassified to the new assistant fire chief position. • A vacant police officer position was reclassified to a police lieutenant. • A vacant police officer position was reclassified to the new assistant chief position. The rationale for the two chief positions has been addressed in the previous section. The creation of a new police lieutenant position, which had also been contemplated in recent years, was triggered by two needs: A senior level manager to oversee traffic operations and strengthen interdepartmental coordination on traffic issues; and the need for senior level manager to oversee public safety at large city events, such as the Village Street Faire and Carlsbad Marathon. Because this reclassification could be accomplished without reducing the total number of police officers on patrol, the police chief recommended making the change prior to the fiscal year 2019-20 budget adoption. "Over Staffing" Practice City departments have for years used an approach called "overstaffing" to help manage fluctuations in the workforce due to retirements and other attrition. Under this practice, the city manager gives a department permission to temporarily exceed its allotment of FTE. Due to fluctuations in vacancies throughout the year citywide, the city remains within its approved FTE allocation, even though a particular department may be over its allotment. Because of this flexibility to "overstaff" in a particular department on a temporary basis, the Police Department's two recent reclassifications did not prevent the department from filling the four new police officer positions authorized in the fiscal year 2018-19 budget. The Police Department has been actively recruiting for additional officers, but a highly competitive law enforcement job market plus natural attrition of the workforce has made achieving zero vacancies a challenge. Had the department identified qualified candidates to fill all open positions, it could have done so even with the recent reclassifications. The chart below shows the police officer staffing levels over the past 12 months. Police Officer Positions Month 1/18 2/18 3/18 4/18 5/18 6/18 7/18 8/18 9/18 10/18 FTE Allotment 68 68 68 68 68 68 72 72 72 72 Vacancies 2 2 2 5 5 3 7 1 0 3 11/18 72 3 12/18 72 4 Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council Jan . 24,2019 Page 5 Future Practices To help avoid future concerns about transparency in workforce planning, the city manager has directed all departments to do the following: • As part of the annual budget process, conduct a more rigorous staffing analysis, including data analytics, trend analysis, industry best practices and professional standards. • Request the staffing required, based on this ana lysis. • Unless responding to an immediate, unforeseen need, request city manager approval of classification changes concurrent with the budget planning process. The city manager has also directed the Human Resources Department to prepare an annual memo to the City Council describing any city manager-approved changes to management job classifications and the rationale. If there are additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. cc: Celia Brewer, City Attorney Elaine Lu key, Chief Operations Officer Julie Clark, Human Resources Director