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City staff warn understaffing will delay projects and services
Summary
Multiple department employees told council that hiring lists are empty, consultants are filling gaps, and projects such as traffic calming and capital works risk delay without better recruitment and retention.
City employees from parks capital projects and transportation told the council they face chronic understaffing that threatens delivery of planned projects.
"When I first joined, my team was fully staffed. That only lasted a couple of months...it's been difficult to hire and retain staff," said Stacy Rutherford, an associate civil engineer in Parks, Recreation and Waterfront's capital projects division. Nicole Adams in the transportation division said the department has relied on four consultants to keep traffic-calming work moving and that hiring failures are common.
Multiple staff speakers said vacant eligible hire lists and better pay in neighboring cities are drawing applicants away. "We should have enough engineers to keep these projects going...we want people to look at us and see the improvements," Nicole Adams said. Engineering staff also warned that planned bond-funded work will increase workloads two- to threefold without commensurate staffing.
Council acknowledged the staffing concerns but did not adopt immediate budget changes at the meeting; staff said they had submitted equity studies and other materials that were under review.
