Review Community Development - Planning Division Staffing Plan: Phased Retirement Plan and Code Enforcement Management

PURPOSE

The purpose of this case is to aide the Community Development Department frame its 2020 Budget Requests as it relates to two primary topics. Staff is seeking broad policy direction to help focus alternatives leading up to a draft budget.

1. Replace hours lost due to requested phased retirement of Community Development Assistance
2. Provide sufficient resources to address the demands of the City's Code Enforcement Program - Zoning Code Enforcement and Case Management

BACKGROUND

The Community Development Department is made up of three primary divisions.

1. Planning (and Zoning)
   1. Long Range Planning
   2. Development Review
   3. Code Enforcement/Neighborhood Liaison
2. Economic Development
   1. Business Retention and Expansion
   2. Business Subsidy Requests
   3. Business Licensing
3. Building Inspections
   1. Building Permits
   2. Property Maintenance Code Enforcement
   3. Septic Administration

This case is specific to the Planning Division, although has implications to the other divisions and other departments as well. The Planning Division consists of the following Staff, with the assistance of the Community Development Director.

• City Planner (Senior Planner in 2020) - Division Manager
  • Planning Commission Staff Liaison in 2020
• City Planner - Environmental Focus
  • EPB Liaison
• Community Development Assistant - Phased Retirement Request
• Consulting Planner (WSB) - 20 hours per week
• Planning Intern - Seasonal

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT PHASED RETIREMENT REQUEST

The Community Development Assistant has been with the organization for over 20 years. This position plays an integral role in land use application management, insuring site plans and plats are routed through the appropriate review process. In addition, this role has provided significant backup to the Building Inspection Division when staffing levels were much lower in that division and prior to recent technology upgrades. As a side note, the Building Division will already be losing 20 hours per week in Staff Support due to the reassignment of the Engineering Administrative Assistant exclusively to the Engineering Department. This Staff Member had previously been assigned 20 hours per week in the Building Division on a temporary basis. 

The Community Development Assistant has a wealth of institutional knowledge, and a phased retirement would be an appropriate tool to support a seamless transition of this role's primary functions. The Community Development Assistant has requested phased retirement for 2020 and 2021 working two days a week at 16 hours per week.

Approval of the Phased Retirement Option (PRO) was recently extended by the Minnesota Legislature. The City Council is not obligated to approve the phased retirement option, but it is a tool that can be used in overall budget discussions. Retirement of this individual is inevitable at some point in the near future, and Staff would desire to capitalize on the institutional knowledge to its fullest extent.

CODE ENFORCEMENT MANAGEMENT

Staff is falling increasingly behind in code enforcement cases for zoning code enforcement as the number of complaints and intensity of cases increases. Community Development handles code complaints for home-based businesses, issues with buildings and structures, and enforcement in commercial and industrial districts. The Police Department handles long-grass complaints and junk vehicle complaints. The Police Chief also manages all appeals to Notices of Violations.

Community Development Staff has several dozen open cases at the moment, with several dozen other open cases likely needing administrative closure (violation corrected or unfounded, lacking data entry). With several prominent cases escalating recently, Staff has found it difficult to maintain the current workload. The published 14 Day Correction Period is closer to 30 Days or more. Additionally, a large majority of Staff Time is consumed by development review of land use applications. Staff has had to tap all resources of all team members to ensure development projects walk through the Planning Commission, EDA, and City Council process in the time prescribed by State Statute and expected of our Applicants. Staff has had to postpone work on projects such as the Comprehensive Plan Update, Highway 47 Plan, and Zoning Code Update due to development review and code enforcement obligations.

ALTERNATIVES

The proposed phased retirement gives Staff and City Council an opportunity to think differently about the positions within the division.

Planning Technician - Current Staff Proposal
Staff is currently evaluating replacing the Community Development Assistant with a Planning Technician. This new position would split its time between Reviews Coordinator - coordinating land use applications and Code Enforcement Management - Key Contact.

Talking Points

• Entry Level Position/Low Cost/High Benefit
• Likelihood of high turnover (advancing career, lower salary, type of activity)
• Large help for routine type code enforcement cases
• Need for other Staff to handle larger, more complex code enforcement cases

Senior Level Staff and/or Separate Positions
This alternative would replace the Community Development Assistant with an Administrative Assistant doing more routine administrative assistance. In addition to that, the City would hire a separate code enforcement staff member dedicated to that activity.

Talking Points

• Robust administration and timely resolution to code enforcement cases
• Ability to handle more complex code enforcement cases, reducing burden on other team members
• Stability in Land Use Application process
• Less likely for high level of turnover
• Could combine both into a single position and have many of the same benefits above

In order to keep this discussion at the strategic level, Staff has left many of the mechanics out of this case report. Staff will be able to dive into more detail during discussion.

30 minutes

2020 Budget Discussion

Community Development Director

Staff is seeking broad policy discussion and prioritization as it relates to Community Development Staff.