Board committee advances ASO amendment deleting three Planner 5 positions

The Government Audit & Oversight Committee on Wednesday sent an Administrative Services Ordinance (ASO) amendment to the full Board of Supervisors after hearing planning staff explain the change. Alicia Jean Baptiste of the Planning Department said the amendment, sponsored by the mayor and Supervisor Peskin, would delete three Planner 5 positions — one at the airport and two at the planning department — because "the Planner 5 classification is no longer the appropriate classification for the management structure we are attempting to put into place."

Baptiste told the committee the department plans to create new positions in the FY2008 budget under a different classification and that the deletions would yield a partial-year savings because the new positions would not be budgeted for a full year. She warned the deletions "may trigger offers under the early retirement program," adding that the authorization for those retirement offers expires on June 30.

The budget office said incumbents "may or may not be eligible for Prop F early retirement," depending on service time, and that the office did not have an immediate estimate for retirement-fund costs. Committee members asked whether deleted roles would effectively be re-created later in the budget process; Baptiste said the department expects to replace the functions under a different classification, with some net savings in the budget year.

With no public speakers on the item, the committee chair asked that the item be sent forward as a committee report to the full board on the next day’s agenda with a recommendation.