Title
Environmental Management Department recommending the Board adopt and authorize the Chair to sign Resolution 136-2020 to amend the Authorized Personnel Allocation, adding one Development Technician I/II position to the Environmental Management Department.
FUNDING: Non-General Fund / Environmental Health Permit Fees and County Service Area No. 10 Assessments.
Body
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
During the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020-21 Budget preparation, the Environmental Management Department (Environmental Management) submitted a request to perform a classification study of a filled 1.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) Development Aide I/ll. The intent was to reclassify the position to a Development Technician I/II.
Upon review of the request the Human Resources Department (Human Resources) confirmed that a reclassification was not appropriate because the point-in-time analysis did not support a reclassification to the higher Development Technician position. While studying this position, it was discovered there is a growing workload for the Development Technicians and their supervisors, resulting in an increasing volume of work, increased overtime usage, and supervisors assuming a portion of duties from the group in an attempt to meet performance goals. Even with these measures in place, there are assigned tasks that are delayed because staff is not available to meet deadlines. Due to the increased workload and a reclassification not being appropriate, Human Resources recommended that Environmental Management request the Board’s approval to add 1.0 FTE Development Technician I/II to meet workload demands that are expected to continue for the foreseeable future.
During the review of Environmental Management’s proposed FY 2020-21 Budget, the Chief Administrative Office confirmed that sufficient funding is available to accommodate this request; however, notified Environmental Management that this would need to be a request to the Board outside of the FY 2020-21 Budget process.
As such, Environmental Management is seeking the Board’s approval to add 1.0 FTE Development Technician I/II allocation to have 4.0 FTE Development Technicians in the Department (1.0 FTE Development Technician is assigned to the South Lake Tahoe office). This will allow Environmental Management to assign additional, more complex and technical duties to the staff member assigned to the Hazardous Materials and Solid Waste programs and will also provide for coverage and cross training of the full complement of duties between all three positions, thereby expanding Environmental Management’s service levels to the public and increasing overall efficiency.
Environmental Management currently has 2.0 FTE Development Technicians I/II and 1.0 Development Aide I/II allocated to its Placerville office, with the Development Technicians assigned to the Environmental Health program and the Development Aide assigned to the Hazardous Materials and Solid Waste programs. A primary function of the Development Technicians is to review and process a variety of Land Used Permits for the Environmental Health Program. The Development Aide is not able to process the full array of duties in the assigned programs and those tasks often fall on either the other Development Technicians or the respective program supervisors and/or managers. Additionally, when either of the Development Technicians are out of the office, these duties again fall on the program supervisors and/or managers as the technical duties are outside the scope of the Development Aide classification. This results in inefficiencies throughout Environmental Management.
Further, over the last several years, it has been difficult to retain employees in the Development Aide position as they have continually sought and have accepted employment with other County departments that utilize the Development Technician classification. The result is a revolving door for this position and requires Environmental Management to devote significant time and resources to continually train these new employees.
Upon the Board’s approval of this item, Environmental Management will work with Human Resources to conduct a competitive recruitment to fill the newly added Development Technician I/II position.
ALTERNATIVES
The Board may choose not to approve the additional allocation and direct Environmental Management to continue business as usual.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION
N/A
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
Chief Administrative Office
Human Resources Department
CAO RECOMMENDATION / COMMENTS
Approve as recommended.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
If the Development Technician I/II position is filled by a current Environmental Management employee, there will be slight increase in costs, directly attributable to an increase in hourly rate, associated with the Development Technician I/II classification due to not backfilling the position of the current employee. If an external candidate is selected to fill this position, and upon the Board’s approval of this item, Environmental Management will have 1.0 FTE allocation estimated at approximately $65,000 and staff will evaluate the feasibility of the potential increase and return to the Board with an amendment to the FY 2020-21 Budget. Subsequent years’ budgets will also include funding for the increase in costs associated with either change.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
Upon Board adoption and approval, please provide a fully-executed Resolution to Katie Lee in Human Resources.
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
Good Governance
CONTACT
Greg Stanton, REHS, Director
Environmental Management Department