City staff propose moving housing into city manager’s office and renaming community development

At the April 24 Flagstaff City Council budget retreat, Joanne Key, deputy city manager, outlined a proposed organizational change prompted by the departure of the community development director.

Key said the administration proposes renaming Community Development to Planning and Development Services, having building safety, code enforcement, real estate and planning report to a newly recruited director for that department, and moving housing to report directly to the city manager’s office. Key described the change as a strategic opportunity tied to housing being a top city priority: “So with the departure of Dan Folk as our community development director… the idea is to change community development to planning and development services, have building safety and code and real estate and planning report to that new director, recruit for that new director, and then move housing, as a report into the city manager's office,” she said.

Key said the city planned to create a housing division within six months after the move, and that the budget team had already discussed allocating midyear funding for the transition. City staff noted that the council previously approved a full-time housing navigator and that housing implementation capacity was a known constraint when the bond and other housing programs were adopted. The administration said moving housing closer to the manager’s office would reduce internal process layers for procurement and legal workflows and allow more direct oversight of housing priorities.

Council members signaled support for further discussion and noted that the planned reorganization and any required staffing or pay changes would be discussed at later sessions of the retreat and in subsequent budget deliberations. Staff said recruitment for a new planning and development services director would proceed and that staffing needs for the housing division would be assessed after the move.