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SR 02-28-2023 5G City Council Report City Council Meeting: February 28, 2023 Agenda Item: 5.G 1 of 6 To: Mayor and City Council From: Douglas Sloan, City Attorney, City Attorney's Office, Administration Subject: Adoption of Salary Resolution for New and Existing Job Classifications and Approval of Position Changes Recommended Action Staff recommends that the City Council: 1. Adopt a finding of no project and/or categorical exemption pursuant to Section 15324 (Class 24 Regulations of Working Conditions) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines; and 2. Adopt a resolution establishing a new classification and salary rate for the new classification of Executive Administrative Assistant-CAO (Attachment A); and 3. Approve the cost neutral budget and position changes described in the Financial Impacts and Budget Action section of this report. Summary This report presents proposed staffing adjustments within the City Attorney’s Office (CAO) that do not impact the General Fund. The proposed staffing adjustments address ongoing operational changes and align existing duties with appropriate classifications. The report also includes a salary resolution establishing a new classification for Executive Administrative Assistant-CAO and its applicable salary rate. Discussion The priorities reflected in this proposal are to save the City money and to retain valuable employees in the CAO, especially staff who provide support for the attorneys. This report also proposes adding one attorney who will be dedicated to Big Blue Bus (BBB) liability claims, funded by the BBB Fund. This is being brought at this time for several reasons. The City, as well as many other jurisdictions and industries, are experiencing unprecedented employee movement - the 5.G Packet Pg. 216 2 of 6 “Great Resignation.” Employees in the CAO have been pushing themselves hard to maintain services at pre-COVID levels, but with reduced resources and numbers of employees. There are morale issues that are long overdue in being addressed, and additional delay can only make it worse. Employees have been working beyond their current job duties, and the proposed changes are designed to at least allow them to be compensated appropriately, and lessen the chances that they will leave the City for alternate employment. Employee retention is essential to allow the office to fulfill its Charter obligations and serve the community. The proposed staffing changes involve only reassigning employees to other existing classifications, not creating new classifications. This streamlines, simplifies, and shortens the process. The proposed add/deletes do not impact the General Fund; rather, they are funded by utilizing the Consumer Rights Fund and refocusing some employees to Consumer Rights matters. At the projected draw down rate, there are adequate resources in the Consumer Rights Fund to fund the proposed staffing changes for at least seven years, even assuming no additional funds are collected, which would be highly unusual. The lawyer funded by the BBB Fund would generate savings estimated at well over $200,000 per year, versus sending the work to outside counsel. BBB will no doubt incur at a minimum the equivalent of one FTE of a litigation attorney for the defense of their liability claims. At $300 per hour, sending out 1,800 hours of work would cost $540,000; salary and benefits of an in-house lawyer will total less than half of that. In 2020, the City restructured its workforce to support essential City services and programs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2020, the CAO, like other City departments, has navigated the challenges of an increased workload with reduced resources. The CAO has bridged this gap in large part through the hard work and dedication of CAO staff, many of whom are performing higher-level duties beyond their current classification. In addition, although many CAO staff members routinely work overtime to keep up with the CAO’s increased workload, the volume of work exceeds existing capacity. Consequently, the CAO has had to rely more on outside law firms on 5.G Packet Pg. 217 3 of 6 projects and matters that could have been handled in-house in a far more cost-effective manner. The CAO’s operations have responded to ongoing challenges. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the sudden need to establish a remote work environment, the CAO’s Criminal Unit transitioned to fully electronic operations in five days. To further the Council’s priority for a Clean and Safe Santa Monica, the CAO’s Criminal Unit filed nearly double the number of criminal cases compared to the prior year, 2,033 cases in 2022, compared to 1,080 cases in 2021, and that level of service is expected to continue. The CAO has leveraged cloud-based solutions to manage the higher volume in criminal filings. Supporting these technologies and the significant increase in criminal filings has resulted in CAO staff working overtime and performing higher-level tasks outside of their current classifications. Accordingly, the CAO proposes adding (converting) two Legal Assistant positions to better classify employees based on currently assigned legal duties, in other words, moving the affected employees to higher existing appropriate classifications. Mindful of budgetary constraints, the CAO has used creative approaches to support its operations with existing resources. For example, the CAO provides legal advice and administrative support to every City department in facilitating the responses to all Public Records Act (PRA) requests within statutory deadlines. The current volume of PRA- related work is not sustainable with current resources. To help address the increasing number of PRA requests, the CAO has closed its reception desk from walk-in requests to the public so that additional CAO staff resources can be used to support PRA-related work for the entire City. In addition, the CAO proposes adding another full-time Administrative Analyst-CAO position, which would support PRA-related work, contract management, billing, and other administrative functions. The CAO also has continued to experience an increase in the legal work needed to support the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) operations, including responding to pre-suit claims and defending the Big Blue Bus (BBB) in active litigation, which has required the retention of outside legal counsel to keep pace with the volume of legal work in this area. To meet this increased need for legal services in a more cost-efficient manner, the CAO proposes to hire an additional Deputy City Attorney that would be 5.G Packet Pg. 218 4 of 6 funded entirely by the BBB enterprise fund. Hiring an additional Deputy City Attorney would enable the City to decrease outside counsel fees by over $200,000 per year. Attachment A is a salary resolution presenting for approval the new classification for Executive Administrative Assistant-CAO. Staffing adjustments to reflect ongoing operational changes are found in the Financial Impacts section, below. The actions presented in Attachment A are described below. The fiscal impact associated with these changes are cost neutral and will have no fiscal impact on the General Fund. Below are details about specific position changes and additional positions. • The proposed deletion of an open Staff Assistant-CAO position and the addition of an Administrative Analyst-CAO position reflects the department’s intent to appropriately classify the position based on the currently assigned duties. The employee would continue to support the City’s efforts to respond to PRA requests while also supporting contract management, billing, and other administrative functions across the CAO. Adding this position will bring the existing position to an appropriate compensation level to reflect the employee’s current duties. Additionally, performing these functions in-house and retaining an employee with institutional knowledge is more cost-effective than using an outside law firm or exposing the City to potential PRA liability. • The CAO is adding an additional Deputy City Attorney position to support the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) increased legal work. Hiring an additional Deputy City Attorney is more cost-effective than using outside counsel and will result in a net cost-savings to BBB’s enterprise fund. • The CAO is reclassifying a long-term, dedicated employee working in a Receptionist position to a newly established Executive Administrative Assistant- CAO position. This employee will continue to support CAO reception functions, including responding to in-person requests by appointment, and responding to telephonic and email inquiries from the public. In addition, this position will help support the City’s PRA-related work. Performing these functions in-house and retaining a long-term employee with institutional knowledge is more cost-effective than using an outside law firm. 5.G Packet Pg. 219 5 of 6 • The CAO is reclassifying a long-term, dedicated Staff Assistant-CAO to a newly established Executive Administrative Assistant-CAO position to better reflect the increased, higher-level legal duties this employee is performing, including supporting litigation-related work. • The proposed deletion of two Legal Secretary II positions and the addition of two Legal Assistant positions reflect the CAO’s intent to appropriately classify the position based on the currently assigned duties. The CAO is promoting two long- term dedicated employees into these positions to reflect increased, higher-level legal duties. Performing these functions in-house and retaining employees with decades of experience and institutional knowledge is more cost-effective than having an outside law firm perform these functions. Environmental Review The staffing changes in this report are either not a project or categorically exempt pursuant to Section 15324 (Class 24 Regulations of Working Conditions) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines. Class 24 consists of actions taken by regulatory agencies to regulate employee wages, hours of work, or working conditions where there will be no demonstrable physical changes outside the place of work. Financial Impacts and Budget Actions The prorated cost of the recommended changes for this fiscal year is approximately $105,724 or less, depending upon when the new BBB attorney could be recruited and onboarded. The changes would not have an impact on the General Fund, as they would be funded by the Big Blue Bus Fund ($69,427 – or less) and reserves from the Consumer Protection funds ($36,297). The annual ongoing cost is approximately $360,000, funded by the Big Blue Bus Fund ($230,000) and reserves from the Consumer Protection funds ($130,000). The ongoing changes would be included in the FY 2023-25 Proposed Biennial Budget. Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval. The changes, other than the BBB attorney, do not require a transfer from a fund outside the CAO. The BBB attorney funding would entail a transfer from the BBB Fund to the General Fund for the expenditure in the CAO. Again, there is no additional cost to the 5.G Packet Pg. 220 6 of 6 General Fund. If approved, the following budget and position changes are required for the remainder of the current fiscal year: FY 2022-23 Budget Changes Fund Dept Account Amount Source General Fund City Attorney Various Salaries & Wages $36,297 Consumer Protection General Fund City Attorney Various Salaries & Wages $69,427 Transfer from BBB Fund to GF for CAO General Fund Non-Departmental Transfer in ($69,427) Big Blue Bus Fund Non-Departmental Transfer out $69,427 FY 2022-23 Position Changes Fund Dept Delete Add Net Change Reason FTE Title FTE Title General Fund CAO 1.0 Staff Assistant -CAO 1.0 Admin Analyst-CAO - Add/Delete 2.0 Legal Secretary II 2.0 Legal Assistant - Add/Delete 1.0 Receptionist 1.0 Executive Admin Assistant-CAO - Add/Delete 1.0 Staff Assistant -CAO 1.0 Executive Admin Assistant-CAO - Add/Delete 1.0 Deputy City Attorney II 1.0 Add Prepared By: Bradley Michaud, Principal Legal Analyst Approved Forwarded to Council Attachments: A. A-RESO-reso-CAO Staffing Changes 5.G Packet Pg. 221 City Council Meeting: February 28, 2023 Santa Monica, California RESOLUTION NUMBER ________(CCS) (City Council Series) A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA ESTABLISHING A NEW CLASSIFICATION FOR EXECUTIVE ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT-CAO AND ADOPTING SALARY RATE FOR SUCH CLASSIFICATION NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The following salary level is hereby established, effective March 12, 2023, for the indicated permanent classification: Classification Salary Reason Executive Administrative Assistant-CAO $85,932/annual; Step 5 New Classification SECTION 2. The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this Resolution, and thenceforth and thereafter the same shall be in full force and effect. APPROVED AS TO FORM: ________________________ Douglas Sloan, City Attorney 5.G.a Packet Pg. 222 Attachment: A-RESO-reso-CAO Staffing Changes (5604 : CAO Salary Reso)