This is the fourth installment in an ongoing series exploring the 2006-07 city budget
CITY HALL — Officials here are looking to create roughly 25 new positions to help city departments that are overworked and understaffed provide better services to the public.
The Department of Community and Cultural Services is requesting the largest number of employees, with 8.9 full-time positions expected to be added when the City Council approves a $448 million spending plan later this month.
In all, the total cost of the 24.9 full-time positions to be added is just under $1.7 million. This includes salary and all associated fringe benefits, including health care and pensions.
Many of the positions have been created by the completion of capital improvements projects, such as the new Main Library and Virginia Avenue Park, while others are the result of requests by department heads who feel their employees are stretched to the limit, and therefore, have had to put off other tasks important to the community.
Either way, City Manager Lamont Ewell said he feels it is crucial to hire the right number of employees, because “you can create all of the programs that you want to, but without employees to run them, you’re not serving the public at the highest level.”
“The new positions are all in areas of critical need to meet the public’s expectations for service and to address major community concerns,” Ewell said.
For Community and Cultural Services, director Barbara Stinchfield said she is looking to add nearly 9 full-time positions to extend hours at the Cove Skatepark and the Teen Center. A groundskeeper, irrigation technician and a custodian will also be added to support two new parks that will come on-line this fiscal year — the Airport and Euclid Street parks.
If the positions are not approved by the council, Stinchfield said, “we would have to spread the staffing we have, which would mean we wouldn’t be able to keep park maintenance up to our standards.”
“This is a good deal for the community,” Stinchfield said of the positions requested.
The department of Environmental and Public Works Management is requesting the second largest number of new employees with 6 full time positions. These positions include an architect, administrative staff assistant, facilities maintenance supervisor and an electrician, among others. Those positions are expected to enhance customer services and increase the level of maintenance of city facilities.
The Finance department, which advises the City Council on the financial health of the city, is requesting two new positions be created, one intended to provide better customer service to other departments in the area of purchasing, while the other position, a revenue collection specialist, will provide necessary coverage for new parking meters and allow for the use of the audit capability of the meters.
Officials with Human Resources, which provides recruitment and the selection of employees as well as performance evaluations and training, are looking to add two positions as well. They include a senior human resource analyst and an administrative assistant for labor relations.
Karen Bancroft, director of Human Resources, said the positions are sorely needed because her department is “significantly understaffed.”
The human resources analyst would be responsible for supervisor employee training and organizational development, Bancroft said. The assistant would support those working in the field of employee/employer relations, contract negotiations and disputes, among other duties.
“Internal services such as ours tend to get overlooked, but if we aren’t able to train employees to get the work done, then that’s problematic,” Bancroft said.
The City Clerk is hoping to add an administrative analyst for the records and elections division. This person would be in charge of following up on all public records requests and posting public information on the city’s Web site, said Beth Sanchez, assistant City Clerk.
“With this position, and if we can fill two others that are currently vacant, we will actually be able to keep up with the duties we are supposed to be handling now,” Sanchez said. “We’ve had to put some things on hold like the bi-annual agenda and minutes report to make sure we are able to get things posted on the Web site within 24 hours. That needs to be there.”
Because of staff vacancies, Sanchez said the City Clerk’s office has not been able to be as proactive as officials would like.
“We want to participate in more community meetings, be more of a presence and a resource to the public, but we have been limited in our ability to do that,” Sanchez said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 2, 2006. Read the original PDF.