Mayor Pizzillo called the Work Session to order at 5:00 p.m.

Lisa Faison, Chief Information Officer, presented an update on the strategic plan item to evaluate current technology usage and needs across all departments, as well as identify emerging trends. She noted that the IT Department completed a citywide staff survey and identified three primary focus areas: software assessment, hardware analysis, and planning for the future of the city's data center.

Mike Saldan, Deputy Chief Information Officer, provided an overview of the software assessment, which focused on four evaluation categories: organizational fit, technical health, and overall insights gained from the assessment process.

Ms. Faison then addressed the current state of staff hardware and shared ongoing efforts to enhance deployment practices and IT support services.

Mr. Saldan followed with a summary of the IT data center assessment, highlighting a hybrid infrastructure, network and storage management strategies, and citywide technology consolidation.

Ms. Faison concluded with IT recommendations, including updating software, consolidating and replacing devices, and eliminating redundant applications. She also recommended a 3-year hardware replacement cycle, consolidating devices for multi-device users, and ensuring timely equipment updates. For the data center, she proposed maintaining a hybrid model, implementing system redundancy, standardizing hardware, and plan for a future disaster recovery site.

Council discussed future readiness, cloud storage costs, laptop assessments, future disaster discovery sites and secure protocols in place for remote access. 

In response to Council inquiry, Ms. Faison discussed the purchasing and hardware request process, confirmed that annual assessments will be conducted and that any new purchases must meet current security standards. She also noted that equipment collection and license reassignment are part of the offboarding process. 

Lyman Locket, Human Resources Director, introduced the presentation on remote work and turned it over to Vicki Lackey, Deputy Human Resources Director.

Ms. Lackey provided an overview of the city’s telework history, including the development of a formal policy, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and best practices moving forward. She noted that approximately one-third of employees currently have an active telework agreement. She explained that the telework model supports recruitment and retention efforts, ensures continuity of essential functions, and promotes employee well-being and engagement.

She reviewed the current state of telework in the city, which includes maintaining customer service expectations, offering a flexible work environment, managing a hybrid workforce, and leveraging technology. She stated that next steps include updating the telework guidelines to reflect best practices, publishing customer service expectations, providing citywide education, and emphasizing shared responsibility for program success.

Council emphasized the importance of accountability, maintaining strong communication, and ensuring telework does not disrupt service delivery. Council also expressed support for telework as a tool to attract and retain talent, while acknowledging that some roles may not be suitable for remote work.

In response to Council inquiries, Mr. Locket explained that the policy allows up to two days of remote work. He highlighted the importance of uninterrupted focus for project-based work, adherence to standard work hours, and the use of supervisory tools and training programs, such as Gallup’s Boss2Coach, to effectively manage remote employees.

Lyman Locket, Human Resource Director, introduced the update on efforts to streamline the city’s recruitment process and turned it over to Sabrina Dezso, Senior Human Resources Business Partner. 

Ms. Dezso reviewed the process evaluation, best practices, and process implementations. She highlighted findings from rapid improvement events, which identified delays in the process, redundant steps, and a lack of automation and communication. She presented time-to-fill data for sworn and non-sworn positions, noting a baseline of 69 days for non-sworn positions with a new target of 46 days. Ms. Dezso reported, for public safety sworn positions, a baseline average of 125 days, with new time-to-fill metrics of 61 days for Fire and 51 days for Police. She concluded with an overview of process improvements aimed at enhancing efficiency and the candidate experience, including increased communication, automation opportunities, leveraging technology, and proactive candidate sourcing.

Council expressed support for recruitment goals, the integration of technology and continued partnerships with schools.

In response to a Council inquiry regarding public safety retirements, Mr. Locket explained that Council previously approved a policy allowing public safety positions to be double-filled up to twelve months.