SANGER – As the city prepares its next annual budget, staff have thought ahead to identify valuable employment opportunities.
On May 7, the Sanger City Council approved a resolution to add three new positions to the city’s roster, and reclassify three others, to enhance local operations. According to the staff report, these position adjustments will have minimal fiscal impact thanks to projected savings in the current fiscal year, but will help streamline day-to-day tasks and expand employee capabilities.
“We usually have enough movement that we can keep our headcounts where they need to be, but right now we need the help,” said City Manager Nathan Olson to the council.
Pulled from the meeting’s consent agenda, new positions include a full-time account clerk, a human resources technician and a parks and recreation supervisor. Reclassified positions include making an administrative assistant into an executive assistant in the police department; making a streets, parks and facility supervisor into a public works manager; and making an environmental compliance inspector into an environmental compliance manager.
During the meeting, Olson gave a brief look into the need for each position, as well as their fiscal impact.
He began with the account clerk position, saying that human resources already budgets for two part-time positions, and this move would simply convert one of those positions to full-time. The staff report explains that the need for this position stems from the city’s new enterprise resource planning software, which will require more consistent involvement to test, configure and validate data for.
Including all possible benefits and medical stipends, the fiscal impact for this position would be $63,500 annually. Olson clarified that although the city will still have one part-time clerk, the city would not seek a second after this transition.
Olson then touched on the police department executive assistant position, saying that the reclassification would fall more in line with the work that is currently being done, and will also expand the employee’s ability to work on certain tasks.
“It allows her to be able to do things she currently can’t do because of the chief, due to confidential items and things like that, so this helps get her back and in the role she needs to be,” Olson said to the council.
The fiscal impact for this reclassification would be around an additional $11,500 annually to what was previously budgeted for.
With regard to the HR technician, this added position will help cover the absence of other HR employees during training sessions. Olson told the council that training can take up to five eight-hour days split across two weeks, and during that time, HR tasks can pile up or create the need for compromise.
“This gives us flexibility and more bodies to help with that training without letting things fall behind,” Olson said.
The fiscal impact for this position is estimated to be $96,500 annually.
The Parks and Facilities Supervisor will also be a new position, and is being added to meet some significant expansion coming to the parks and recreation department. Olson said that if things go according to plan, nine employees will be transferred to the department to maintain and strengthen local parks.
The new supervisor will accompany employees and help out with calls about local parks, while the current supervisor will continue to work on programming and seasonal employment logistics, Olson said.
The fiscal impact for this position and its accompanying benefits will be around $135,500 annually.
The reclassification of the streets, parks and facility supervisor to a public works manager is being done to better align the role and its responsibilities, and this move will cost an additional $16,500 annually.
The staff report states that this adjustment also formally includes duties relating to wastewater collection and stormwater systems to ensure that these networks are maintained to the same level as treatment facilities.
In a similar fashion to the public works manager position, the reclassification of environmental compliance inspector position to an environmental compliance manager is being done to better align the role with duties that are already being carried out.
The change will formally expand the job’s responsibilities to include regulatory reporting, and serving as the primary liaison with contractors in the event of wastewater treatment plant outsourcing.
After a question from Mayor Pro Tem Daniel Martinez, Olson later clarified that the responsibilities of the position will grow to reach compliance in other areas, but the immediate focus will be on water compliance since the city is “under a microscope” for its ongoing wastewater plant project.
Before the council voted to approve the item, Councilmember Michael Montelongo expressed his approval of these personnel changes.
“We’re finally getting the city where it belongs, and I appreciate that,” said Montelongo.
