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Livingston council splits on whether to hire in-house engineers and planners; motion to continue discussion fails
Summary
Council debated bringing engineering and planning work in-house after staff presented contract spending and staffing-cost options. A motion to continue the item for further analysis failed 2-3; councilmembers remain divided on recruiting full-time staff versus retaining contractors.
City staff presented a compensation and staffing analysis Oct. 21 showing the city's recent spending on contract engineering and planning services and three illustrative in-house staffing models. The council debated whether to hire full-time engineering and planning staff or continue a contract-based model.
City staff said contract payments to support engineering, planning and building services have varied year to year and noted that some contract principal-engineer billing rates, when annualized, exceed the salary that the city would likely pay for a single in-house principal engineer.
Councilmember RuPaul urged the council to consider hiring at least one in-house position (a principal engineer or a full-time planner) and provided arithmetic examples from the record. "Right now, what we're getting billed from engineering... is an average of about $170 an hour for the principal engineering services," RuPaul said, and added that the planner billing rate averages about "$185 an hour"; he argued those hourly bills, annualized, exceed market salaries and that bringing a position in-house could be more cost-efficient while still contracting for niche specialties.
Councilmember Wallace and others cautioned that a small city cannot always recruit or retain senior staff, that certain niche services would still need to be contracted, and that bringing full departments in-house can carry additional fixed costs (office space, benefits and potential layoffs if work falls off). Wallace noted administrative and retention complexities and urged more analysis before a staffing change.
Resident and business owner Dio Castillo urged caution and recommended the council consider the city's development capacity and seasonal project cycles before creating permanent payroll obligations.
Mayor Moran moved to continue the item to a later meeting to allow additional analysis and clarifications; Councilmember O'Paugh seconded. On a roll call the motion failed 2-3 (Councilmember Roth: No; Councilmember O'Paugh: Yes; Councilmember Wallace: No; Mayor Pro Tem Semmer: No; Mayor Moran: Yes). With the motion defeated, no formal direction to implement any of the staffing options was adopted. Councilmembers said the discussion will continue in future meetings and that staff will provide additional cost detail and recruitment analysis if requested.
