10.1. SR 10-07-2013 City of
Elk Request for Action
River
To Item Number
Mayor and City Council 10.1
Agenda Section Meeting Date Prepared by
Work Session October 7, 2013 Jeremy Barnhart,Deputy Director, CODD
Item Description Reviewed by
Environmental-Planning Division Staffing Cal Portner, City Administrator
Reviewed by
Action Requested
Provide direction through consensus for staffing changes to maintain environmental and management
service levels with the addition of a Planner I and Environmental Technician.
Background/Discussion
At the September 3, 2013, Council Work Session, staff presented an overview of the environmental
division which included services that were moved, downsized, and proposed to change for the upcoming
budget year following increased requirements for our MS4 Storm Water Permit.
To address the recent departure of the Environmental Administrator and administrative needs of other
divisions under the deputy director, staff proposes filling the vacancy in three parts,the first two to occur
immediately:
1. Delegate all planning activities from the deputy director to park planner/planner and the
planning intern. This achieves several benefits:
• Frees up deputy director time to more proactively provide leadership and strategic
management of Economic Development,Planning,and Environmental Divisions.
• Allows the deputy director to assist in economic development,while the needs of that
division are evaluated,prior to filling the assistant director position.
• Establishes a permanent position to complete more complex land use cases,which are
now limited due to the timing of the internship,not work capacity.
2. Hire an environmental technician. The previous environmental technician job description
would be modified to remove the storm water responsibilities. This individual would oversee
the non-storm water aspects of the division,including garbage and recycling,landfill,gravel
mining and licensing,heritage preservation, floodplain, shore land, and wild and scenic water
resources.
3. Hire a storm water administrator. It is anticipated that the storm water plan will identify the
need for several positions. This position would be filled upon the conclusion of the report, due
later this month. Expenses of the storm water program,including administration,would be paid
for via a mechanism developed out of the recommendations of the plan. This position would
likely be an engineering technician I.
Based on the above,the proposed job descriptions will be reviewed on the October 21, 2013.
P a w E R E U 6 Y
NaA f RE]
Financial Impact
This proposal is expected to be general fund neutral. Each position,per policy,would be reviewed for
pay grade placement per our Compensation and Classification Policy.
Attachments
• September 3, 2013, Staff Report
• Task Distribution CODD Division
N:\Public Bodies\Agenda Packets\10-07-2013\x10.1 sr Env-Plan div staf£docx
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City of
Ells MEMORANDUM
RiV6" r
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Jeremy Barnhart, Deputy Director, CODD
DATE: September 3, 2013
SUBJECT: Environmental Division
The 2013 budget, the environmental division includes an administrator and a technician. The technician
position has been vacant since April of 2012. Since then, the division has been operating above capacity,
resulting in longer response times for phone calls and questions, fewer proactive inspections, and
significantly reduced education activities and programs, all falling below acceptable standards. With the
expected increased responsibilities related to the storm water MS 4 permit,it is appropriate to evaluate the
needs of the department prior to filling the vacant position.
This discussion is the first of a two-step process to identify the responsibilities of the division, and to
identify which skills need to be incorporated. The recommended level of service will require additional
staffing. The second step will occur at the completion of the Storm water plan, expected iii November.
The current environmental technician and environmental administrator position descriptions include a
number of tasks that overlap,including Wetland Conservation Act (WCA) activities,recycling and solid
waste programs, and`other environmental'programs. The division workload has been evaluated by the
new department ditector and deputy director to reduce redundancies, prioritize efforts and identify tasks
that can be eliminated or scaled back.
Environmental responsibilities are easily classified as mandatory (i.e. city ordinance, state or federal
mandates) and discretionary (local initiatives or past practices). There are a number of initiatives that can
be included in discretionary that are difficult to measure and even more difficult to schedule or account
for, such as relationship-building and education with Waste Management (landfill), Great River Energy,
I
gravel thine operators, developers and residents (wet land management).
Before updating the environmental administrator job description, staff seeks Council direction regarding
the discretionary tasks expected of the envirommental division as without additional staffing it is
impossible for one person to maintain the current service levels previously outlined in the job description.
i
Responsibilities of the city,by state or federal rule:
(2) Wetland conservation act
(4A) Admin of Shore land, Floodphun,Wild and Scenic...
(4H) NPDES program
P 0 W E H f 9 S Y
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Locally imposed requirements (discretionary
(3A)Recycling program/solid waste collection/Organics program
(3B) Landfill abatement
(3D) General recycling
(4B) gravel mining licenses, environmental permits for landfill,RDF plant, and GRE power station
(4E) Environmental education
(5A) Heritage Preservation Commission and Energy City
(5B) Lake Orono Improvelment Association
Diseased tree programs
Relationship-building tasks:
Technical Evaluation Panel (TEP) representative, collaboration with DNR,BWSR.
Landfill (gas to electric plant), training, tours
Recycling Association of Minnesota board member (recycling initiatives,trial programs)
Great River Energy(district heating,wastewater reuse research and opportunities)
Energy City, (especially city tours)
Membership in Source Reduction and Recycling (CISSR),results in Elk River outreach
Gravel mining
Heritage Preservation,including maintenance of Certified Local Government
Erosion control outreach/education to developers
Wetland education
Reductions
To reduce the division workload, some tasks have already been redirected or reduced including:
- Transition commission work to HPC commissioners (5A)
- Moved some Energy City Commission activities to Ells River Municipal Utilities staff(5A)
- Administration of right-of-way permits moved to building department staff(4D)
- Decrease in erosion control education
- Decreased recycling marketing and education
- Participation in fewer workshops for recycling,wetlands and general environmental
Staff does not recommend discretionary item cuts as they add identifiable and unique benefits to the city.
However, Staff seeks Council confirmation on these discretionary programs, and whether they should still
be offered.
Further consideration
The director has looked into delegating a number of regulatory tasks to different agencies including:
- Landfill oversight to the state,but found that it would be difficult maintain the city's interests
without significant opposition.
- The county could administer gravel 1nining operations at a reduced service level possibly impacting
established relationships/partnerships and a loss of gravel mining income.
- Heritage Preservation was considered for delegation to the county,but they don't perform the
same type of service.
- Shifting administration of certain agreements and licenses for GRE and the landfill to a consultant.
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Proposed workload distribution
DD-CODD Parks Planning Environmental Storm water
Jeremy Chris(50%) Chris(50%) Technician New position
Administer activities Master plan Complex cases Garbage and recycling Storm water
Planning special parks projects Subdivisions gravel mining Wetlands
Economic Development Special projects Energy City(with ERMU) Program administration
Environmental Licensing
Planner I Inspections
50%cases Complaints
Signs Historic Preservation
Counter Floodplain
special projects Shore land
Wild and scenic