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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09343 ORDINANCE NO. 9343 AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO AND AMENDING THE FISCAL YEAR 2018 STAFFING ORDINANCE BY REVISING A POSITION WITHIN THE LAW DEPARTMENT WHEREAS, it is necessary to revise the positions for the ultimate efficiency and functionality for the Law Department; NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF PUEBLO, that: (brackets indicate matter being deleted, underscore indicates matter being added) SECTION 1. The following section captioned “Law Department” of Ordinance No. 9213, being the 2018 Staffing Ordinance, is amended as follows: Law Department City Attorney 1 Senior Assistant City Attorney 1 Assistant City Attorney I 2 Assistant City Attorney II 2 Legal Assistant 1 \[Clerk Typist/Law Department Technician\] \[1\] Legal Support Assistant 1 Total 8 SECTION 2. The officers and staff of the City are directed and authorized to perform any and all acts consistent with the intent of this Ordinance to effectuate the transactions described therein. SECTION 3. This Ordinance shall become effective immediately upon final passage and approval. INTRODUCED: September 10, 2018 BY: Ed Brown MEMBER OF CITY COUNCIL APPROVED: PRESIDENT OF CITY COUNCIL ATTESTED BY: ACTING CITY CLERK PASSED AND APPROVED: September 24, 2018 City Clerk’s Office Item # T-1 BACKGROUND PAPER FOR PROPOSED ORDINANCE COUNCIL MEETING DATE: September 10, 2018 TO: President Christopher A. Nicoll and Members of City Council CC: Sam Azad, City Manager VIA: Brenda Armijo, Acting City Clerk FROM: Marisa Pacheco – Human Resources Director Daniel Kogovsek – City Attorney SUBJECT: AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO AND AMENDING THE FISCAL YEAR 2018 STAFFING ORDINANCE BY REVISING A POSITION WITHIN THE LAW DEPARTMENT SUMMARY: The Law Department requests to adjust their authorized staffing by reclassifying the Clerk Typist / Law Department Technician position to a Legal Support Assistant. PREVIOUS COUNCIL ACTION: On December 26, 2017, City Council Approved Ordinance No. 9213. This Ordinance provided authorized staffing for Fiscal Year 2018. BACKGROUND: The Law Department requests to adjust its staffing by reclassifying the Clerk Typist / Law Department Technician position to a newly created classification, Legal Support Assistant. The Human Resources Department conducted a reclassification review of the Clerk Typist / Law Department Technician position in the Law Department and found that the incumbent in the Clerk Typist / Law Department Technician position is performing job duties that are a higher level than those described in the corresponding job description. Specifically, the incumbent has taken on higher level administrative support for the department to include management of the Lien Abatement Assessments process, Municipal Court case file creation, and pleading/document preparation. The lien abatement process requires assisting Attorneys with setting the date for calculation of interest, hearing dates and last date of submission of protests related to abatement, working with Finance staff to identify unpaid liens, extensive research of property owners through the Colorado Secretary of State to locate registered agent’s information, generation of assessment notices for each property, generation of settlement letters, research and preparation of exhibit notebooks for hearings, and review and response to inquiries from the County Treasurer’s Office regarding problems and requests for additional information regarding lien certifications. The position is also responsible for management of discovery requests, creation of case files for use by Municipal Court Prosecutor, preparation of pleadings or other documents for court as well as assisting to create forms used by Municipal Court related to discovery, waivers of service and other topics. The higher-level work being performed requires research, investigation, analysis and the application of independent judgement in the performance of the duties on a regular basis. By the incumbent performing paralegal work in-house, the City has realized financial savings from avoiding subcontract of the work and has realized quicker response times in filing critical court documents. The current classification is the lowest administrative support classification within the City and does not adequately address the much higher duties now necessitated by the position. Therefore, it was recommended that the scope and level of responsibility are in line with and are more adequately represented by a new job classification. The result of this action will be no net increase in staffing. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: Funding for the reclassified position of Legal Support Assistant will come from the General Fund. The difference in salary for the remainder of 2018 is approximately $1,092. BOARD/COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION: None. STAKEHOLDER PROCESS: City Administration and members of the executive board of the Pueblo Association of Government Employees (PAGE) met on August 13, 2018 to discuss the proposal. ALTERNATIVES: The no action alternative would be to retain the current classification assignment, necessitating reassignment of higher level duties to other staff members within the Department. Such an alternative would be less efficient in maximizing staff resources to accomplish the mission of the department. RECOMMENDATION: Approval of the Ordinance.