Conservancy proposes shared exec-director and analyst positions with county Natural Resources; board asks staff to continue coordination

The interim executive director presented staffing options to the Yolo Habitat Conservancy on March 17, proposing a multi-year plan that would share a manager with the county Natural Resources Division and create an analyst position to support program operations.

"My proposed approach is to partner with the Natural Resources Division with Yolo County and staff share amongst them," the interim executive director said, outlining a preferred scenario that would split a manager's time roughly fifty-fifty between the Conservancy and oversight of the Cache Creek Area Plan. Staff said the split is intended to be cost-efficient, take advantage of overlapping programmatic expertise, and help maintain institutional knowledge while the Conservancy expands land-acquisition and restoration work.

Under the preferred scenario, year 1 would fund a half-time executive-director-level position and a half-time administrative analyst; year 2 would transition the contract conservation manager role to an in-house midlevel staff person. Staff described the analyst position as a single full-time role whose duties would be split across administrative finance, contract support, permit processing assistance and grant-writing support.

Staff called out programmatic reasons for added capacity: an increased pipeline of reserve lands that require annual compliance monitoring, larger-scale restoration projects that require contract oversight and procurement, and more active grant-seeking to meet an assumed ~21% reliance on grant funding within the overall plan. The interim executive director said county staffing and budget processes will also shape the outcome and noted the Conservancy will coordinate with the county's incoming chief administrative officer.

Board members asked questions about feasibility and timing. One board member observed the split role could be challenging because it requires finding someone willing to carry two program responsibilities; others said an analyst is important to free higher-level staff for executive work. Supervisor Vixie Sandy said she appreciated the clarity of the budget presentation and staff's thoughtfulness about options.

As a next step, staff were directed to continue coordinating details of the staffing proposal with the executive management committee (chair, vice chair and most recent past chair) and key county staff, including county counsel and the incoming CAO, and to return to the board at its May meeting with a proposed budget that incorporates staffing recommendations. The transcript records no formal vote on staffing; the board signaled broad support for staff to continue developing the approach and to present a budget in May for consideration.