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Committee approves adding an Attorney II position to city solicitor's office
Summary
The Manchester Board Mayor & Aldermen Committee on Human Resource Insurance approved changing the solicitor's office complement to remove one Attorney I (grade 23) and add one Attorney II (grade 25); discussion cited staffing vacancies and the recent compensation study.
At a meeting of the Manchester Board Mayor & Aldermen Committee on Human Resource Insurance, members approved a change to the city solicitor's staffing complement to remove one Attorney I position (grade 23) and add one Attorney II position (grade 25).
The change was requested by City Solicitor Emily Rice and approved on a motion by Alderman Burke, seconded by Alderman Sapienza, and adopted by voice vote. The item appeared on the committee agenda as a communication from Rice outlining the requested reclassification.
Rice told the committee the new Attorney II position would allow the solicitor's office to assign attorneys to a broader mix of civil and criminal matters and to create a supervisory role; she described the request as intended to expand the office’s capacity beyond purely prosecutorial duties. HR Director Lisa Drabek explained that the city's recent compensation study standardized titling and market-based wages across departments but did not automatically eliminate legacy job levels; she said the study was intended to align similar jobs to the same titles and bring wages to market.
Committee members discussed staffing levels and the impact on case processing. Rice said the solicitor's office has 10 authorized attorney positions with three vacancies, meaning the office is operating at roughly 70% of its authorized attorney staffing. Rice said the civil side of the office presently has three attorneys and that shifting some civil litigation to other attorneys should “free up some time” for the office’s civil work. A meeting participant said a complaint filed in August 2023 was not fully cleared until January 2024; Rice said she could not promise future complaints would be resolved faster given current vacancies and workload, but that the reclassification should help the civil side absorb some work.
The committee's approval does not include details about implementation timing or budgetary adjustments; no specific effective date was announced in the meeting record. Committee members characterized the item as necessary given workload and retention concerns for legal staff.
Votes at the meeting were taken by voice. The committee moved the item, received a second, and the chair called for the ayes; no recorded opposition was announced.
The committee also received related HR reports and other informational items during the same session.
