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PSPP041222PUBLIC SAFETY, PERSONNEL & PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING April 12, 2022 Elected Officials Participating Virtually Staff Participating Virtually Councilmember Laura Johnson (Chair) Rob English, Acting Public Works Director Councilmember Susan Paine Jessica Neill Hoyson, HR Director Shannon Burley, Deputy Rec. & Cultural & Human Serv. Dir. Angie Feser, Parks, Rec. & Cultural & Human Serv. Dir. Pamela Randolph, WWTP Manager Thom Sullivan, Facilities Manager Jeff Taraday, City Attorney Scott Passey, City Clerk 1. CALL TO ORDER The Edmonds City Council virtual online PSPP Committee meeting was called to order at 4:59 p.m. by Councilmember L. Johnson. 2. COMMITTEE BUSINESS 1. WWTP Program Administrator Ms. Randolph relayed the WWTP is proposing to convert the program administrator from a contracted position to a term limited employee. Once a public works director is hired, they can evaluate whether the position should be long term. The contracted position needs to continue for at least 2-3 years due to the needs of the WWTP related to the carbon recovery project, regulatory requirements, etc. Ms. Neill Hoyson provided background on the City's past utilization of employee contracts, a vague relationship where employment is established through an employment contract (different than independent contractors). HR looked at the individuals who were on employment contracts to determine if that was appropriate or, if their employment was tied to a specific project with an end date, whether they should be a limited term employee. Employees on an employment contract do not receive benefits such as step increases, vacation accrual, employment longevity, eligibility for MEBT, etc. For this position, she advised Ms. Randolph to request at least two years of limited term with the ability to extend for one year based on the carbon recovery project. Questions and discussion followed regarding the ongoing need for this position, modifications made to the job description, anticipation that some of the administrator's responsibilities can be assigned to leads and the supervisor in the future, unknowns related to whether an administrator will be needed long term, administrative functions of this position, evaluating the position in 1-2 years, and staff's email that addressed council questions. Action: Consent Agenda 2. Resolution Extending Temporary Emergency Sick Leave Policy Ms. Neill Hoyson explained per the federal government in 2020, the City was required to offer emergency sick leave as well as public health emergency leave. The federal government did not extend that requirement, but the city council supported the City continuing to provide emergency sick leave to employees. The policy is narrowly tailored to incidents that require employees to be away from work for COVID-related reasons (employee or family member has COVID or has to isolate, child's school or 04/12/22 PSPP Committee Minutes, Page 2 daycare is closed and employee must care for child, etc.). Council has extended the policy twice in the past. The resolution would extend the emergency sick leave provision to February 2023 (to avoid expiration at the end of the year when council is busy with the budget). The request includes providing an additional 80 hours of emergency sick leave to eligible employees as some employees have already had to use the original 80 hours and have no emergency sick leave left. The approval would be retroactive to April 1, 2022 because the previous policy expired March 31, 2022 and there have been employees out with COVID this month. Employees are required to provide documentation that their absence is related to COVID. Questions and discussion followed regarding whether emergency sick leave will be a permanent policy at some point, and ensuring the requirement to provide proof does not create a barrier. Action: Consent Agenda 3. Human Services Program Manager Position Revision Ms. Burley advised this is a proposal to increase the hours allocated to the human services program manager position. The human services division began in 2020 and was moved to parks in April 2021. She thanked council for approving the human services budget in February. She requested using a portion of the already allocated funding to increase the allowable hours for the program manager from 20 to 40. She described what the position does including developing community collaborations and partnerships with numerous program providers and professional organizations; participating in local, countywide and regionwide conversations around human services; serving as the City's representative on numerous boards, commissions and task forces; as well as, in the absence of a social worker, assuming the role of care coordinator. Ms. Burley provided an update on the social worker position, advising there is a significant shortage of mental health and healthcare workers in Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom County. For example, Compass Health has 120 behavioral health and mental health positions posted. Once the social worker is in place, it is assumed they will be out in the field. Questions and discussion followed regarding support for increasing the hours, number of residents the position has assisted, recognition that the need exceeds 20 hours, concern the position may be working more than 20 hours now, and the position often helping people in crisis. Action: Consent Agenda 4. Park Planner and Capital Project Manager Job Description Approval Ms. Feser advised this position and funding was approved during the budget process. This item is to formalize the job description. The position will focus on park planning and development, help manage the backlog of smaller capital projects that are done in-house or using contracted services, support land acquisition efforts, support grant applications and management, and develop a capital replacement program. Qualifications include knowledge in project management, construction management, park design and design, a landscape architecture background and license preferred, urban planning and engineering principles and permitting processes. Questions and discussion followed regarding support for filling this position as soon as possible and support for utilizing job order contracting (JOC) for this work. Action: Consent Agenda 5. Lead Building Maintenance Operator Job Description 04/12/22 PSPP Committee Minutes, Page 3 Mr. Sullivan explained efforts related to this position began at the same time consideration of JOC began in 2020. Facilities is a small division of Public Works that includes both building maintenance and custodial. Funding for this position was originally approved in 2020 but it has not been filled due to efforts related to JOC and updating the facilities study to allow a lot of work to be completed in a short amount of time. Questions and discussion followed regarding why a job description was not proposed previously, time it took to develop the JOC program, support for filling positions as soon as they are approved by council, and support for the maintenance team. Action: Consent Agenda 6. Recruitment Update - Community Services/Economic Development and Public Works Ms. Neill Hoyson advised interview dates were pushed out to look at the next group of applicants to ensure there was a large enough pool as policy requires at least three candidates are provided for council interview. Interviews of five candidates for the community services/economic development director position are scheduled for next Friday and interviews of five candidates for the public works director position are scheduled the last week of April/first week of May. Action: Committee update 3. ADJOURN The meeting was adjourned at 5:39 p.m.