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Council debates adding emergency management coordinator; some members favor temporary hire over permanent headcount
Summary
Council members and staff disagreed over prioritizing a new emergency management program coordinator versus an aquatics supervisor; staff recommended a project‑based, term‑limited coordinator to modernize plans and run exercises, while some council members preferred reallocating duties or prioritizing parks staffing.
Council members and staff spent a sustained portion of the work session debating four requested FY27 positions, focusing on whether to add an emergency management program coordinator or to prioritize an aquatics supervisor.
Staff argued the emergency management role requires a discrete professional skill set and significant up‑front work to modernize the city’s emergency plan, conduct exercises and arrange critical debris‑removal and mutual‑aid contracts. “It is a discrete skill set. It is not something [that can be] another duty as assigned,” a staff speaker said, describing planned activities including a multi‑hour table‑top exercise and use of the CRG regional emergency‑operations catalog.
Several council members said the city can use in‑house staff in the short term and preferred a project‑based hire. One council member suggested hiring the coordinator as a term‑limited, three‑year position to complete the initial work and hand off maintenance afterward; others argued the aquatics supervisor would produce more direct daily benefit for heavy park and pool usage.
No final vote was taken. Council members asked staff to refine the proposal with clearer scope, a three‑year term option and cost comparisons to alternative staffing arrangements so the governing body can vote during the upcoming budget adoption process.
