The details
Anthony Solomon, police chief and interim city administrator, said the role is needed after realizing there are missing employee records, delayed invoice processing and only one person on staff who has experience with payroll.
“We've got at least eight or nine files that are missing. ... Escrow management accounts, the [Chapter] 380 agreement and the tracking management, those systems were lost at a point to where now they're going to have to be reprocessed [and] be redone,” Solomon said. “We looked at some of the invoices, the coding of the capital instruction and projects, and the engineering invoices, along with legal invoices, those things have been behind; [they've] been way behind for a very, very long time.”
Solomon also said the city’s growing demand for permits, which has more than doubled from the previous year with increased development, has expanded the workload for city staff. He said this position is needed to provide additional support amidst rapid growth.
Diving in deeper
A reallocation of funds from a previously eliminated assistant city administrator position will cover the salary range of $52,000-$62,000. Solomon said this position is to be filled internally and the city has not had a standard human resources position at any point.
According to the Feb. 11 agenda packet, responsibilities of the position include:
- Entering and removing employees from human resources and payroll systems, as well as any other approved status changes in a timely manner.
- Maintaining complete confidentiality of all employee records and information.
- Maintaining human resources information system records, compiling data and preparing detailed reports.
- Responding to questions from and advising applicants and the public regarding the city's employment policies and processes.
“I see how hard everybody here is working, especially since the changes, and it was a mess and you [Solomon] just straightened out a lot,” Mayor Sara Countryman said. “Basically your recommendation, I value it. ... HR was an area that we were lacking here and for what it’s worth I’m in support of this.”
