Having been without a city manager for more than half of the past 41 months, including at least two unsuccessful searches, the Fernley City Council has decided to reorganize the city’s leadership structure without one.
The Council voted during a May 6 budget meeting to approve two new positions, a chief operations officer and a chief development officer, to replace the positions of city manager and deputy city manager.
The council also voted to approve new public information officer and parks and recreation superintendent positions and a new organizational chart that includes those positions.
The council decided to hold off on considering a proposed new human resources technician position until the May 20 meeting, after council members said they wanted more information.
Finance Director Robert Carson told the council the chief development officer (CDO) would oversee the planning, building, safety and engineering departments. He said the CDO would serve as the primary contact for developers and new businesses, reducing confusion about which department to approach.
“It will make the city more organized and more streamlined for businesses coming in and projects someone in so we can get these approved and moving forward on a more regular basis to help the city grow,” he said.
Carson said the chief operations officer (COO) would oversee the public works, parks and recreation and utilities departments.
“This one will tie the three departments together and make sure they're working in tandem and just give a better, more focused operation than we have going on,” he said. “I think would just be beneficial to the city as a whole in our operation and lead to more productive services to be provided.”
The proposed starting salary for both the CDO and COO positions is $141,000 per year, and Carson estimated the net savings to the city would be about $100,000 per year.
The reorganization also includes a parks and recreation superintendent, who would supervise and support the operation, maintenance, repair and improvement of the city’s parks, landscaped areas and recreational facilities and provide support for community events and programs.
“Ultimately this should result in cleaner parks, better organized programs and more opportunities to enjoy what we have as a city to offer the residents,” Carson said.
Carson said the public information officer will be responsible for developing a communication plan to get information to residents. He said they would be involved in community engagement by going to chamber meetings, other nonprofit organizations and community groups and be the spokesperson for the city.
“Instead of one message coming from our utilities department, one coming from public works, one coming from the mayor, it's all one consistent message,” Carson said. “This position would allow us to add transparency to the city for our residents so they know what's going on and we can communicate the information that we feel we need to get out there.”
The tentative budget also included a proposed human resources technician position. Carson said that person would handle day-to-day tasks like paperwork, recordkeeping and help coordinate the hiring process, so the HR director could focus on higher level duties.
Councilwoman Felicity Zoberski asked whether the CDO and COO could handle some of the HR tasks, but Carson said HR compliance is a specialized skill.
“You want to keep the HR function separate from the day-to-day operations of the city,” he said.
Councilman Albert Torres also said he had questions about the proposed HR position.
Councilman Joe Mendoza asked whether the HR position could be added to the organizational chart later if the chart was approved without it. When City Attorney Aaron Mouritsen said it could, he made the motion to approve the proposed organization chart except for the HR position and bring that proposal back to be considered when the final budget is presented at the council’s May 20 meeting.
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