Cathedral City reviews Public Works staffing, reclassifications; officials say no new full‑time hires

Cathedral City officials reviewed proposed staffing and classification changes for the Public Works Department at the City Council meeting on 2025-10-27.

City staff said the budget would reclassify some existing positions — including promoting a long‑time street maintenance worker from Maintenance Worker I to Maintenance Worker II — and convert an unfilled Land Development Engineer and an Engineering Technician I into roles the department can staff more efficiently. City staff emphasized that the changes would not add a net new full‑time employee and that consultants will continue to be used to fill gaps where recruitment has been difficult.

The changes are presented as operational adjustments tied to workload and efficiency. John Carolla (staff member) told council members, “We're not creating a new position,” and said the maintenance reclassification would let supervisors send a single worker to handle tasks that do not require a two‑person crew. He also said development fees that help fund some positions “go basically into the general fund,” and that fee studies are updated periodically so costs tied to staffing adjustments would be captured in future fee reviews.

Council members pressed staff on process and precedent. One council member asked whether the reclassifications were being requested because operational need exists or because an incumbent had met promotional criteria; the questioner warned that automatic reclassifications tied to a single employee can create expectations. Carolla and staff said promotions and reclassifications fall under existing human resources policies: some moves are automatic after meeting certification criteria and others are discretionary based on departmental need. Carolla said human resources maintains separate policies for progressive classes and promotional processes and that any promotion into the newly classified positions would follow the promotional policy.

Staff also proposed promoting two assistant engineers to associate engineers once they receive their California professional engineer (PE) licenses so they may sign plans; the city engineer, Armando Baldizzone, said the license process typically takes one to two years. Baldizzone described recruiting challenges for the Land Development Engineer and for the Engineering Technician I positions and said the department will re‑evaluate the roles and salary levels in the next budget cycle if needed. He said consultants are being used as an interim solution.

Staff provided a high‑level staffing snapshot: “from February we had 23.3 F.T.Es,” Carolla said, noting a dip during the COVID period and subsequent adjustments. Staff told council there is no plan to recruit externally for the Maintenance Worker II conversion in the immediate term and that, where appropriate, promotional hiring may be internal only.

The council asked staff to ensure the promotional and classification changes are clearly communicated to employees and to document whether adjustments affect fee studies. Carolla said development‑fee adjustments are picked up during the five‑year fee study updates and through interim CPI adjustments.

City staff said they will return with any necessary budget amendments in future cycles and reiterated that reclassifications are driven by operational need and constrained by existing policy.