City manager proposes deputy role to oversee built-environment projects as capital workload grows

City Manager Sarah told council the scale and timing of public capital projects will require a higher level of dedicated oversight. She proposed adding a Deputy City Manager for the built environment to be responsible for utilities, engineering, planning, building and environmental health, arguing that placing those functions under one executive would improve coordination for complex capital programs such as Lift 1, the Armory and the Lumberyard.

Sarah said she also wants to restore a second position in the manager’s office—a project manager for special projects—to recover capacity lost when two staff left earlier in the year. Those two FTEs would return staffing levels to where they were before the departures, with the deputy role intended to provide cross-departmental coordination and risk management for the capital portfolio. Sarah signaled preference for internal promotion where appropriate but said she will evaluate internal skill sets against the demands of the role.