City manager proposes three-division reorganization; commission tables personnel changes for executive review

The city manager presented a broad reorganization plan that would consolidate functions into three divisions — public service, public works and public safety — move human resources out of finance into a standalone director role, create supervisory positions in place of some department heads, and reclassify exempt and nonexempt positions.

The manager explained the rationale: to reduce strain on the city manager's office, create clearer supervisory chains, and reallocate budgeted dollars rather than add net payroll cost. "I would change the structure and create 3 distinct veins of service," the manager said, describing plans to reclassify positions, remove an interim tag from a wastewater supervisor role, and create administrative-assistant positions to support senior staff.

Multiple commissioners asked procedural and fairness questions: whether current employees would need to apply for reclassified roles, how job qualifications and minimum requirements would be defined (particularly for a public-works director), and whether the pay recalculations would change the overall budget. Commissioners suggested drafting job descriptions and minimum qualification standards and raised the possibility of conducting an executive session because many changes affect personnel. One commissioner urged that any recruitment or reclassification be handled with transparent job descriptions and minimum qualifications.

After deliberation the commission voted to table further action on the reorganization and directed staff to bring the item back for an executive-session personnel review at a later meeting so the commission could consider personnel details outside the public portion of the meeting.

Next steps: staff will prepare job descriptions, qualification criteria, and pay-calculator outputs and return with an executive-session item for commissioner review.