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DEO seeks chief program officer and monitoring staff as ARPA portfolio grows
Summary
Director Gonzales told court the Department of Economic Equity & Opportunity now manages more than $150M in ARPA projects and needs a chief program officer and additional monitors to reduce turnover, speed projects and run a forthcoming disparity study.
Director Gonzales told commissioners the Department of Economic Equity & Opportunity has expanded rapidly and is now responsible for a portfolio of ARPA projects and county programs exceeding $150 million. She said the department nearly doubled in size since 2021 and still needs additional positions to manage existing workload rather than only new initiatives.
Gonzales called a chief program officer (CPO) her top FY25 enhancement request: the CPO would coordinate programs that report to the director, lead communications and handle public-record requests, and free executive time for strategic planning. She also said DEO hired additional project monitors last year and converted a contract data analyst to permanent staff to manage MWBE reporting and the Snowflake data project.
Gonzales described active interlocal agreements (ILAs) with departments including HECTRA, HCD and Flood Control to fund compliance-monitoring PCNs, and she said one ILA is expected to bring an additional PCN in FY25. She said the department is moving forward on a county disparity study (scope drafted), and that a strategic-operations manager requested in enhancements would lead that work and coordinate data and outreach.
Court members pressed about prioritization and tradeoffs among hires; Gonzales said the CPO would be prioritized in part because the executive office lacks capacity for strategic projects and communications. She also described using contract temps if the position is not approved, while noting limits to that approach.
Gonzales emphasized that insufficient staffing and monitoring capacity risks staff turnover, project delays and potential loss of revenue tied to federal and state grants. She urged commissioners to consider ILAs and strategic sequencing of hires tied to major ARPA and grant work.
