Committee recommends transfer of vacant administrative assistant position from city manager to Central Services

The Finance Standing Committee voted to give FD 126 a favorable recommendation, a fund transfer and personnel reallocation that moves an approved administrative assistant position from the City Manager’s Office to Central Services.

City staff told the committee the position was approved in prior budgets but has remained unfilled “because we don’t actually have a place to put that person,” and Central Services reports an immediate operational need and the capacity to hire now. Acting City Manager Ms. Buckland said central services would fill the position immediately to support invoice processing, payroll, timesheets and related administrative functions.

Committee members pressed for clarity about whether the move is permanent and how the city would manage the role if the City Manager’s Office later needed that administrative support. Ms. Buckland said she did not plan to start a hiring process for the City Manager’s Office until space issues were resolved and that she does not currently anticipate asking for the position back in the next budget cycle, though she declined to make a firm promise.

Several council members emphasized the original intent of the position: to build out the City Manager’s Office and provide dedicated administrative capacity. One member said the position “belongs in the City Manager’s Office,” while voting in favor to allow Central Services to use the vacant position now. Committee members and staff discussed sharing arrangements used elsewhere in the city as a model if competing needs arose.

The committee’s vote carried with one recorded nay and resulted in a favorable recommendation for FD 126 to the council. The record indicates Central Services expects to fill the role promptly and that funding for the position will remain under Central Services in the next budget cycle unless deliberately moved back