Committee forwards ADA coordinator reclassification to full council pending HR and DPW review

Richard Rodriguez, the city’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) coordinator, presented a request to reclassify his position to reflect duties he says are substantially broader than the current ordinance and job posting. Rodriguez described an expanded portfolio — compliance investigations, transition-plan oversight, accessibility reviews, training and outreach, grant-writing, budget tracking, and coordination with Human Resources and the mayor’s communications staff — and said the current ordinance and job posting do not reflect the full responsibilities.

Rodriguez asked the committee to reclassify the position to a higher grade (the draft labels it Grade D). Discussion at the table focused on the ordinance and job-description differences, documentation and comparable positions in other municipalities, supervisory lines (Rodriguez reports to the Department of Public Works), and whether the reclassification had been vetted by the personnel director as required by the city code.

Key clarifications from the meeting: - Rodriguez and committee members documented many duties he performs now that are not spelled out in the current ordinance/job posting, including grant pursuit, community outreach, and managing ADA program finances; he also said the position lacks an administrative aide long assigned to similar roles. - Rodriguez provided comparables and argued that pay should be “comparable” to similar ADA coordinator positions in other cities; during the discussion, different salary figures were mentioned in the room (a Grade D “max” figure was discussed in committee comments, and a later salary-range figure of approximately $68,700 also appeared in the packet discussion). The committee did not finalize a salary level. - Committee members said the city’s personnel director must weigh in and that a formal reclassification process (including a job description and personnel director weighting) is required under city ordinance (personnel code 2.1506 as cited during the meeting).

Action taken: the committee voted to forward the item to the full council as a committee report, explicitly pending documentation from the personnel director and a supporting recommendation from the DPW director, who is Rodriguez’s department head. The vote advanced the request but did not reclassify the position.

Why it matters: Rodriguez said his portfolio has expanded substantially in recent years, including work responding to accessibility complaints, coordinating with state agencies on compliance, pursuing grants, and supporting multiple commissions. Reclassification would change his pay grade and affect how the city funds and supervises the ADA coordinator function.

Next steps: personnel director and DPW director to provide documentation as prescribed under the city’s ordinance; full-council consideration will follow once the committee receives those materials.

Ending: the committee emphasized procedural steps required under the city’s reclassification rules and directed staff to return with the required personnel and departmental documentation.