Council hears staffing pressures: wage compression, hiring challenges and plan to reorganize emergency management and communications

City Manager Dave Huggins and department directors described personnel pressures across the organization, including wage compression between union and non‑bargaining staff, recruitment difficulties in planning and inspections, and short‑term use of consultants to maintain permit and inspection workflows.

Huggins warned that newly negotiated union contracts and step increases are narrowing the gap between bargaining and supervisory pay, and that over time this “pincer effect” will make retention and promotion of managers more difficult. “We've only funded a 4% increase this year for non bargaining... but we are starting to run into a crunch point,” he said. The proposal includes a 4% general increase for nonbargaining staff as part of the FY2026 budget.

Sharon Duca and department directors explained recruitment challenges: the Building Inspections Division used a consultant to perform plan reviews and inspection services while vacancies are filled, and the Planning and Inspections department has been short-staffed. Mark Nowak (public works) explained the new sanitation enterprise fund was modeled to be revenue neutral and that the move shifts some cost away from property taxes. Interim customer service staff and managers said current walk-in and system‑conversion work (tax bill transition and potential stormwater billing) justify an additional part‑time customer-service clerk request in the budget; the city manager deferred that hire for council policy consideration.

Huggins proposed a structural change to create an Emergency Management and Communications department by consolidating existing functions including the fire marshal’s office and the emergency management coordinator to build redundancy and clarify roles during disasters. He said the change is personnel-neutral in total FTE — the reorganization reallocates existing positions — but that a reclassification of one position into assistant‑director status would raise salary costs modestly while reducing overtime. “There's a small cost... the director position is kind of a swap,” Huggins said. The plan intends to improve succession planning and emergency-response capacity.

Council members asked about HR recruiting practices, application-tracking and follow-up. Staff said the city posts openings on job boards, attends job fairs and uses recruiting firms for hard-to-fill jobs; responses to applicants vary by department and a centralized acknowledgement process was not fully automated. Councilmembers urged improved application tracking and a consistent candidate‑response protocol.

No permanent new non‑bargaining salary steps beyond the budgeted 4% were adopted at the hearing; council asked staff for more information about promotion ladders, step scales and the costs and timing of reclassifications and regrades in specific departments.