Exh 8CAGENDA ITEM #8C
MAY 14, 20001
CITY OF ATLANTIC BEACH
CITY COMMISSION MEETING
STAFF REPORT
AGENDA ITEM: Public Works Positions
SUBMITTED BY: Jim Hanson, Cif
DATE: May 7, 2001
BACKGROUND: A report was provided to the Mayor and Commission at the
last regulaz Meeting in April outlining the decisions made to
prioritize various projects for the upcoming year and to
recommend some changes in staffing in the Public Works
Department which would increase the City's capacity to
accomplish those projects. The transmittal memo (copy attached)
recommended several changes in the Public Works Department as
follows;
1) Authorize the hiring of a Technical Designer with an
estimated annual salary and benefits cost of $50,000
2) Authorize part-time clerical help with an estimated
annual cost of $11,000
3) Approve in concept the use of ongoing contracts for
engineering services and set a cap amount for projects
to be accomplished through those contracts
After additional discussion with the Public Works staff, it is
recommended that the Commission set a maximum amount for
both the size of projects and engineering amounts that can be
covered under the ongoing contracts. We recommend that the
total amount of the job not exceed $300,000 and that the
engineering cost for each project not exceed $30,000. Because the
maximum amount that is approved for City Manager's
authorization is $10,000, all engineering projects above that
amount will be brought to the Commission for approval.
If approved by the Commission, this change in procedure will
save top staff a considerable amount of time by not preparing
sepazate scopes and obtaining. proposals for multiple consultants
for jobs costing less than $30,000. If the Commission approves
this recommendation in concept, then a request for services would
AGENDA ITEM #8C
MAY 14, 20001
be sent out with consultants submitting proposals as they have
done in the past. Once the generic contracts are approved by the
Commission, the smaller jobs would be handled under those
contracts in the future.
RECOMMENDATION: 1) Approve the immediate hiring of a Technical Designer at an
annual estimated cost of $50,000
2) Approve the immediate hiring of a part-time Secretary to
provide clerical support in Public Works for an estimated
annual cost of $11,000
3) Authorize the preparation of a request for proposals for general
engineering services for projects not to exceed $300,000 in
total or $30,000 in engineering costs
BUDGET: Annual cost for salary and benefits are expected to increase by
$61,000. The proposal for generic engineering contracts is not
expected to increase the City's annual cost. Funds for the
engineering services are akeady budgeted with each project.
ATTACHMENT: Transmittal Memo dated AprIl 23, 2001 entitled Strategic Action
Plan Report
AGENDA ITEM #8C
MAY 14, 20001
Apri123, 2001
MEMORANDUM
To: Mayor and Commission
From: Jim
Subject: Strategic Action Plan
Attached for your review and comment is a copy of the City's Strategic Action Plan Report for
the upcoming yeaz. This report results from the priorities and objectives set by the Mayor and
Commission at the second Strategic Planning Meeting on March 31, 2001. Also attached is a
copy of the items submitted by our Facilitator, Marilyn Crotty.
The Strategic Action Plan Report includes the top 14 objectives selected by the City Commission
with action steps for the accomplishment of most. Some of the objectives do not have action
steps yet, but they will be spelled out in future reports.
There aze more top priorities than in the past yeaz. The top 14 objectives received either 3 or 4
votes during the Commission's prioritization. Additionally, at least a couple of the objectives
that only received 2 votes (such as the Wastewater Reuse Study and the Pic-n-Save Community
Center) ate ongoing projects which will undoubtedly take staff time incoming months. It is
clear that the City does not have enough top staff in place to make all the progress that we would
like in each of these during the coming year. The City will either have to reprioritize to
eliminate some of the objectives, reorganize the responsibilities of existing staff members, add
some key staff or some combination of all three alternatives.
It is also cleaz that the lion's shaze of the responsibility for completion of the action steps resides
in the Public Works Department. Bob Kosoy and Donna Kaluzniak are listed as "owners" of all
or portions of 7 of the 14 objectives listed herein. This memo is also to recommend some
changes to the organizational structure of the Public Works Department. First, an in-house
Technical. Designer should be hired to provide additional capacity for project design and
management. This position would be particulazly useful in expediting the prepazation of "
documents for smaller jobs where the bidding and negotiation with consultants in the past has
taken a lazge amount of time and energy. It is expected that this new position would save the
City money from having to pay outside consultants to do many of the jobs. The estimated salary
and benefits for a technical designer would total to $50,000/year.
Modifications aze also recommended to the role of the Utility and Public Works Directors. I
intend to restructure the Utility Director's job to be a full Department Head reporting to the City
Manager. That Director will hereafter be responsible for not only the daily operations of the
water and sewer systems, but also all construction projects and any other duties related to those
systems. Heretofore, the responsibility for construction project management has remained with
AGENDA ITEM #8C
MAY 14, 20001
the Public Works Director. Similarly, the Public Works Director will have his job refocused to
include the responsibilities for streets, storm water, sanitation and fleet maintenance.
A third recommendation for streamlining and increasing the ability of the Public Works and
Utility Departments wIll be to change the current method of procurement for engineering
services. The solicitation ofproposals, evaluation, selection and negotiation with consultants for
every job takes up an inordinate amount of administration time. While warranted for the larger
projects, such an elaborate process is considered by many other cities to be unnecessazy for
smaller jobs. We propose to go through a selection process to pick between one and three
consultants for which we can use ongoing contracts for small jobs based upon apre-agreed
compensation schedule. We will need to set a maximum limit on the size of those jobs. All
larger engineering tasks will require the more formal RFP process.
Last, some additional part-time clerical assistance will be needed in the Public Works
Department. Presently, there is one administrative assistant whose services are split between the
Public Works and Utilities Directors and one Dispatcher. Both Department Heads can be more
productive with the addition of someone to cover for lunch hours and some other times with an
estimate of three hours per day or 15 hours per week of part-time clerical support. This is
expected to cost the City $11,000 per year.
Recommendations:
L Approve the hiring of a Technical Designer and part-time clerical help at an estimated
annual cost of $61,000/year.
2. Approve in concept the use of ongoing contracts for engineering services and set a cap
amount for projects to be accomplished through these ongoing contracts.
3. Review the action steps in the attached report to see if they aze "on target" with your
expectations and call me with your comments or suggestions within the neat two weeks.