City looks at changes in jobs
By Joey Berlin
Originally published 01:01 p.m., April 10, 2008
Updated 01:01 p.m., April 10, 2008
With a wage scale adopted a few weeks ago, the city turned its attention to job classification on Wednesday as City Manager Matt Zimmerman laid out a proposed new organizational chart for city employees.
Zimmerman’s proposal includes seven new full-time positions — including the long-awaited hiring of a parks director — and also includes a major reorganization of the police department and a remodeling of the Civic Auditorium so that it becomes a “one-stop shop” for city development needs.
“I wanted to make sure we’re not only as efficient as possible, but have as much cross-training and cross-coverage as we can,” Zimmerman said.
The plan includes the elimination of two part-time positions, but no full-time positions. The police department would go from two deputy police chiefs to one, as one deputy chief is planning on retiring this year, and from four lieutenants to three. Those jobs would be moved elsewhere in the department.
The new structure, Zimmerman said, would create less personnel at the lieutenant and deputy chief levels and more personnel at the sergeant levels. He said Police Chief Gary Smith agreed with him that the department was too top-heavy and could better spend its money getting more policemen on the street.
“We’re not looking at any more total positions in the police department,” Zimmerman said, “just how we categorize them.”
City Commissioner Jim Kessler said he thought citizens would appreciate the philosophy of getting more cops on the street than in the office.
Smith told the commission that one of the concerns he had heard was that the department had tenured officers and very young officers with no one in between, because younger officers don’t see any opportunity for advancement and leave after a few years.
“By adding the sergeant’s positions ... it gives us better supervisory coverage, better street coverage,” Smith said, “but it also gives some vision for these folks, an opportunity to stay and be involved. So we give them more opportunities for advancement and professional development.”
Zimmerman’s plan to revamp the building into a city development one-stop shop included moving the accounting staff and building department personnel into a new city manager’s office area.
“And we would take the city manager’s office, split that into two, and you’d either turn that into two offices or turn that into a meeting room,” he said. “Because one of the comments that we’re hearing is, not only do you not have a one-stop shop, but there’s no place to sit down and talk about your plans.”
The engineering department would be moved where the building inspectors are now.
The hiring of the new park director would take responsibility off the hands of Assistant City Manager Mark McAnarney, who has been acting as a de facto park director. Under the new model, McAnarney would be the direct superior of the facilities manager and the new park director.
“We already know that Mark has too many responsibilities,” Zimmerman said. “We need to make them less, not more.”
Zimmerman proposed hiring a city planner who would share secretarial duties with the city engineer secretary for cross-training purposes. Also, his proposal includes the creation of a new housing department, which would include several housing inspectors. He said that would be a more proactive, out-in-the-field procedure for dealing with housing issues than what the city has now.
“One of the big goals we’ve heard is improving the housing stock in the community — actually implementing not only an inspection program, but enforcing both the rental codes and the property maintenance codes. Right now, we know that it is done somewhat haphazardly based on a complaint basis.”
Commissioner Jeff Longbine expressed concern about the addition of jobs diminishing the money in the wage pool for existing city employees, who were shown to be compensated below market value in the city’s recent wage and classification study.
“The other concern that I would have is using wage pool money for remodeling, even though it is tied to the organizational chart,” he said. “I understand the reasoning in there — I guess I just have a philosophical problem with that.”
Zimmerman responded that the city paid for the classification portion of the study as well as the wage part, and city staff needed direction from the commission on classification, too.
“And while that was maybe only 35 or 40 percent of the importance of the wage and classification (study),” he said, “it definitely was always there, and something I knew we needed to do.”
Zimmerman recommended that the city meet again on April 30 to discuss the classifications further, and the commission agreed.
Also at Wednesday’s work session, commissioners decided to have Zimmerman create a final version of the goal list the commission established at its two goal-setting sessions. The commission decided there was no need for formal adoption of the goals.
dhcc66 (anonymous) says...
kudos to all who have been working on this. it sounds very proactive and with the city working it's way out of the gutter, this sounds like a great direction to start in.
thanks to the city management for being proactive in eliminating jobs that weren't necessary and putting more of the "worker" jobs out there to get the job done. we can alway used more cops and firefighters out there, as well as the ones who truely get things done in blue collar fashion.
i guess it's true that it starts at the top. i hope the city manager and his comission keep up the good work!!
April 10, 2008 at 4:52 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
scrutinizer (anonymous) says...
Nice, Mr. Zimmerman - a juicy wage increase of $5,000 and a remodeled office. Life is good at the top! As for the workers wage pool being diminished by your remodel - I say, let them eat cake!
As for dhcc66 comments about getting more workers - just how is the City going to pay for them? Already many departments are understaffed from previous vacancies unfilled because we haven't been able to afford to replace the workers who left! And why have they left? For better wages and the chance to maybe get a raise once in awhile. In the meantime, the responsibilities increase for those remaining, the equipment ages, and the infrastructure crumbles.
Time to requisition a fiddle, Nero Zimmerman!
April 10, 2008 at 11:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Cliffy (anonymous) says...
scrutinizer hit the nail on the head. No money for the workers but a nice $5000 raise for the top guy. Now, lets reorganize because what we have been doing for the past 40 years hasn't been working well. Making more Sgt's will put more cops on the street. That sounds good but I thought we just said we have too many supervisors. Sgts don't do anything but sit in a car and watch other people work. Hello! We need more cops and firemen not more watchers. AND we use money from the wage pool to remodel the city managers office. And of course, we need a parks director, a planning director and a director of this and a director of that. The City Manager doesn't have to pay for health insurance, the city pays for it. He gets a car allowance monthly. No doubt to pay for the oil change on the Jag. The WORKERS need more money and less health insurance costs. WE don't need a housing department that goes around telling people to remove the couch from the front porch. We need people to fill potholes, replace water lines and pick up the garbage.
April 11, 2008 at 7:39 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dhcc66 (anonymous) says...
hey scrutinizer and cliffy,
if you paid attention, which it didn't look like you did, it says they are "restructuring" without hiring anybody. In fact, some jobs may be gone due to people leaving or retirement in the police department.
from what i understand from friends within the city departments, the entire city is doing somewhat like the police department is....that is restructuring without hiring. what you guys saw in this article barely scratches the surface as far as what is going on.
and....the comissioners didn't feel comfortable spending money from the wage pool... they have the final say on things if i remember correctly, and if money is classified to go only for one thing...then i agree, it should stay that way.
lets not all go jumping the gun before this whole thing plays out. i doubt we'll see the entire thing in it's final form for a short while, so let it play out and see what happens in the end. that is what matters isn't it?? what the city and it's employees get when it's in it's final form?
April 11, 2008 at 9:16 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
american (anonymous) says...
"if you paid attention, which it didn't look like you did, it says they are "restructuring" without hiring anybody." dhcc66
"Zimmerman’s proposal includes seven new full-time positions — including the long-awaited hiring of a parks director "
Uhm OK!! So who is not paying what now?
April 11, 2008 at 11:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dhcc66 (anonymous) says...
did anybody bother to ask how many positions are being eliminated during this thing? or are you too busy whining?
April 11, 2008 at 11:55 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dhcc66 (anonymous) says...
ok, for those who haven't bothered to ask, i did. from what i understand, there are dozens of jobs within the city that are being re-classified or eliminated. as in the police department, there were too many "chiefs" and not enough indians, as the old saying goes....so they are trying to change that.
if i hear correctly, most departments are being re-structured and although nobody is getting fired, a lot of the old titles are being re-named or eliminated.
i was also told to keep in mind that this is still totally up in the air, so those 7 "new jobs" that zimmerman is including in his "PROPOSAL", is just that, a proposal, and it still has to be approved.
same with the remodel money from the budget. it's only a proposal.
April 11, 2008 at 2:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
american (anonymous) says...
Posted by dhcc66 (anonymous) on April 11, 2008 at 11:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
did anybody bother to ask how many positions are being eliminated during this thing? or are you too busy whining?
and the answer is...
"The plan includes the elimination of two part-time positions, but no full-time positions. The police department would go from two deputy police chiefs to one, as one deputy chief is planning on retiring this year, and from four lieutenants to three. Those jobs would be moved elsewhere in the department."
April 11, 2008 at 3:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
midnight_rider (anonymous) says...
The best thing that could happen to emporia would be for zimmerman to go back where he came from. what a joke for a city manager, all he cares about is lining his own pockets at the expense of all the other city employees. if he would shut up long enough to listen to what decient, intelligent residents of emporia say, he might actually learn something, Emporia should really hope and pray that the city commissioners (agler, longbine, johnson, kessler, nelson) can keep a handle on this one better then the commissions kept on good ol' Steve. If you all remember, Steve had a few problems with the budget and the fool we have now is going to continue to lead us down that same path. Wake up and get zimmie out of office before he ruins this town any more. If zimmie gave a #$#$ about anybody but him self he would have not accepted that $5,000,
April 11, 2008 at 8:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
admireed (anonymous) says...
do you relect the feelings of other city employees?
April 11, 2008 at 10:24 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
emporian (anonymous) says...
Most city employees are a little miffed that the CM got a raise while many of us are still in limbo after being told we are underpaid by a larger amount than $5k. However, I believe Mr. Zimmerman is headed in the right direction with this city. He is trying to unravel a mess that took Steve Commons years to make. Rome wasn't built in a day. I think he is making good progress towards getting this city to where it needs to be. He has been dealt some crappy cards since his arrival, but I think he is playing the hand he was dealt very well.
April 11, 2008 at 11:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
scrutinizer (anonymous) says...
Hey, dhcc66 - ask any City worker out on the job how many employees his department is down. Those employees are not being included in the reclassification. Most of those are not in the management side of the equation - that tends to make things look weighted on the side of management when we may not have too many chiefs after all, just short on Indians from positions vacated that have not been refilled.
We have deficiencies in our streets, response to emergency utility repair, the parks are deteriorated, curent laws and ordinances go unenforced, fire and ambulance service may prove to be inadequate - we need to put some bodies out there for the management to manage! But as the taxpayer cries for fewer taxes, he remains unwilling to sacrifice services or bring in revenues from increased fees outside of taxes. Being a service organization, the easiest place to make budget cuts is by reducing personnel. It's catching up to us, Emporia. This crisis caused by Tyson's layoff may hurt us pretty bad in the end. Just as we are realizing our shortfalls in City budget, our income potential has been slashed.
I agree some restructuring is needed, dhcc66. But how about Mr. Zimmerman leading by example and refusing his wage raise UNTIL the rank and file get theirs? Or, how about leaving the wage pool for those raises and forgoing the remodel? Thanks to the current commission for the call to accountability over the last year. It was a long needed step in the right direction. Be careful, please, that you don't falter now.
April 11, 2008 at 11:49 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dhcc66 (anonymous) says...
well, since i can't seem to get american past the fact that there are other departments in the city besides the police department, i give up...you win american.
as to what scrutinizer posted, i'm not sure about any of that. i know the entire city has been short of employees and from what some previous articles state, it's partially because emporia doesn't offer competetive wages and benefits to local companies or other surrounding cities.
and as for who is re-organizing what...who knows. go to a city commission meeting and ask...that is what i was trying to get across to american. i asked a few people and found out that they are "PROPOSING" things for now, and that the process is not done.
i guess if you oppose the way things are going, and you dont' like what you read on here about how things are being proposed, get off of here and go to a commission meeting..they are the ones you need to complain to, in person.
April 12, 2008 at 6:48 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
spectator (anonymous) says...
Sure glad the CM got that nice chunk of change - at least HE will be able to afford Longbine's proposal of the $700.00/month family insurance coverage out of each employee's pocket. And while we're at it, the Commission MIGHT actually hand out a pittance of a raise but at the expense of sick time/vacation time etc benefits. Pity the City employee. Again / still. Your choice.
April 13, 2008 at 11:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )