TO: Mayor and Members of City Council
THRU: Kristoff Bauer, Deputy City Manager
FROM: Giselle Rodriguez, PE, CFM, City Engineer
Sheila Thomas-Ambat, PE, CFM, CCM, Interim Public Services Director
DATE: October 30, 2018
RE:
Title
Implementation Plan for Enhancement of the Regulatory Review Process for Development
end
COUNCIL DISTRICT(S):
Council District(s)
All
b
Relationship To Strategic Plan:
Goal II: Diverse and Viable Economy
Goal III: High Quality Built Environment
Goal V: Sustainable Organizational Capacity
Executive Summary:
An independent research study was conducted to compare the City’s regulatory review process as related to the Infrastructure Permit issued by the Engineering Division. The research revealed that the City has an opportunity to enhance the regulatory review process by enforcing several process adjustments and increasing the staffing level. An implementation plan will be presented.
Council is asked to allocate funding for 3 positions starting in April 2019.
Background:
Last August Raftelis presented to Council the results of their Stormwater Program Review with a particular focus on the requirements for new developments and re-development, and the review process for infrastructure permit issuance.
The level of service provided by our reviewers is greater than the one provided by our peer communities. In addition to that their staffing levels are higher than ours. In order to enhance the plan review process additional positions are needed. The additional positions will allow for faster reviews, better documentation and reduction on the inspection gap.
Staff is requesting that as part of the implementation plan, 3 positions be funded starting in April 2019. Positions will be advertised in January 2019. These positions are 1 Engineering Technician, 1 Development Reviewer and 1 Engineering Inspector.
An implementation plan that addresses the immediate actions needed to enhance the plan review process is attached.
Issues/Analysis:
The City’s process attempts to be customer friendly to the detriment of efficiency and timeliness. The result is a set of processes that slow the review and burden the already short-staffed department with unnecessary and redundant tasks. The fact that the City struggles to get plans reviewed in 30 days, while peer communities are generally
completing reviews in about 10 days, is a testament both to the need for additional plans review staff as well as the difficulty introduced through flexible or unevenly enforced submittal requirements.
Raftelis report indicates that they were struck by the limited growth in staffing levels amidst the enormous growth of the City these staff serve. The Stormwater Program only added one position in 10 years, while City growth has been occurring at over 6.5% a year and the large annexations added a lot of poorly-functioning drainage infrastructure to the City. This is critically relevant to the plans review staff, who have an ever-increasing number of plan submittals to manage. While in the past it may have seemed like development would slow down any moment, this simply hasn’t occurred, and there’s no evidence that it is about to.
Budget Impact:
The additional positions requested will require $56,262 in FY19 and $223,016 from FY20 and beyond.
Options:
• Direct staff to allocate funding as requested for additional positions to enhance the regulatory review for the Infrastructure Permit.
• Accept report as information only.
Recommended Action:
Direct staff to allocate funding as requested for additional positions to enhance the regulatory review for the Infrastructure Permit.
Attachments:
Stormwater Implementation Plan
Regulatory Review Peer Comparison
Regulatory Review - Staff Request PPT