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Council advances staffing and pay ordinance proposals for city inspector, communications director and pay grades
Summary
City administration presented ordinances to create or update the city inspector position, a communications director, re-evaluate several exempt pay grades and create flexible pay ranges for temporary and seasonal staff; these ordinances received committee discussion and second readings as appropriate.
City staff briefed council on a package of personnel changes and pay-grade adjustments that the administration said are intended to professionalize code enforcement, consolidate some administrative duties and modernize temporary/seasonal pay ranges.
The City Inspector proposal would convert and expand existing property‑maintenance enforcement responsibilities into a more formal city inspector role that reports to the Safety‑Service Office and coordinates with engineering, utilities and public works. Administration said the role is a step toward an eventual building-and‑zoning framework (but that the current administration is not proposing full building-code adoption now). The existing part‑time property maintenance enforcement employee would be reclassified as assistant city inspector under the proposal. Staff said the inspector salary will be split across the general fund and utility funds where appropriate.
An ordinance to establish a communications director position would transition duties from the mayor’s assistant position into a newly defined exempt communications director role, according to staff. The administration said the change would be immediate on adoption and the intent is to consolidate mayoral and safety-service administrative tasks while preserving support for council and other functions; salary is set within an exempt pay grade. Council discussed whether the city should at some point consider a council clerk position to formally clerk meetings and support boards beyond the current arrangement.
A separate ordinance package (2025‑06) would re-evaluate and align pay grades for supervisory and professional positions, including newly recognized jobs such as a first deputy auditor and the fire marshal, and create a better process for third‑party job‑description evaluation. Staff asked council to hold 2025‑06 for another reading on the fire marshal and deputy auditor to allow final job‑description adjustments.
Administration also proposed a new ordinance to create flexible hourly ranges for temporary, seasonal and internship employees. Officials said recruiting and retaining seasonal workers (trash/leaf crews, parks seasonal staff) requires a market‑competitive pay scale and that departments will stay within council‑approved position counts and budgets while setting hourly rates within a published range.
Council heard questions on reporting lines, whether building‑code adoption would follow, and timing of implementation. Staff repeatedly said the measures were budgeted during the recent budget cycle and that no additional unbudgeted appropriations were being requested at this moment. Most personnel ordinances received second readings and will return for final votes after the normal legislative cycle; the communications director and inspector ordinances were on a second reading during the meeting.
