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City manager outlines plan to rebuild planning department, proposes senior planner and grant‑writing contract
Summary
With the planning director having left, city management presented a plan to rebuild planning operations, including hiring a senior "Planner 3," contracting grant-writing services, and reallocating the 2025 planning budget to cover the proposal, which the manager said would cost about $219,000 vs. current appropriations of about $237,000.
City management presented a proposal to reorganize and rebuild the planning department after the departure of the previous planning director, seeking to hire a senior-level planner ("Planner 3"), contract professional grant-writing services, and redeploy existing 2025 budget appropriations to cover the plan.
The city manager (identified in the transcript only as the city manager) said the departure of the previous director, Andrea, left a large gap in institutional knowledge and day-to-day planning work. "It is time for us to review planning part," the manager said, adding that planning functions have fallen to administrative staff and to consultants while the city recruits permanent staff.
The manager told the council the administration ran a wide search and received five or six applications but that only two candidates were approved by civil service for various planner openings. The administration has interviewed candidates and recommended a two-pronged approach: recruit a senior Planner 3 for development-focused planning and maintain access to outside technical firms for mentoring, training and specialized work.
The manager said the administration also proposes contracting a professional grant-writing firm to centralize and sustain grant activity. "It's going to be my recommendation that the city contract a professional grant writing firm to keep that all over the land," the manager said. The manager added the firm has been selected and that a contract will be brought to the council at the next meeting.
Fiscal details in the presentation show total 2025 planning and grant-writing appropriations of about $237,000. The manager said the proposed staffing and contract plan would be about $219,000 for 2025, leaving roughly an $18,000 cushion. A 2026 estimate presented in the packet showed about $32,000 more cost in 2026, but the manager said potential reimbursement from a local hospital could increase the net cushion.
When a councilor asked for clarification about the reimbursement, the manager said early conversations with the hospital CEO and COO had included an offer to pay 50% of a salary during a prior period, but the manager cautioned that the hospital's position on future reimbursement is not finalized. "Maybe it's not available anymore," the manager said, adding that any hospital contribution would be negotiated but could help make the staffing plan more sustainable.
Next steps the manager outlined were to present a contract for grant-writing services at the next council meeting, develop a grant strategy from March through May, and onboard the planner and a non-development position by July if approved.
