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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03.e. Authorize General Manager special positionsCentral Contra Costa Sanitary District 3e ' BOARD OF DIRECTORS • POSITION PAPER Board Meeting Date: October 4, 2012 subject: AUTHORIZE THE GENERAL MANAGER TO FILL, ON AN ONGOING BASIS, UP TO FIVE POSITIONS NOT VACANT ON THE ORGANIZATION CHART IN ORDER TO PROVIDE FOR SUCCESSION PLANNING OR ACCOMMODATE LONG TERM EMPLOYEE ABSENCES Submitted By: Ann Farrell, General Manager Initiating Dept/Div.: Administration REVIEWED AND RECOMMENDED FOR BOARD ACTION: T) !f 1) *X- T. O'Malley Ann E. Farrell General Manager ISSUE: Board of Directors' approval is required for overfilling positions that are occupied by an incumbent. RECOMMENDATION: Authorize the General Manager to fill, on an ongoing basis, up to five positions not vacant on the organization chart in order to provide for succession planning or to accommodate long -term employee absences. FINANCIAL IMPACTS: The intent of this authorization is for the General Manager to work within the limitations of the approved Operations and Maintenance budget. If any such action is expected to cause an exceedance of the O &M budget, it will be discussed with the Human Resources Committee before proceeding. ALTERNATIVES /CONSIDERATIONS: Do not provide this authority to the General Manager and in so doing limit the flexibility to respond at the staff level to issues related to succession planning and long -term absences. BACKGROUND: This authorization would be granted to the General Manager in order to provide "extra" positions to departments to provide the flexibility to mitigate loss of operational knowledge /expertise due to near -term retirements as well as to mitigate work coverage issues related to unexpected long -term illnesses and absences for which positions must be held open. Below are two examples where this delegated authority would be exercised: The incumbent of the Plant Operations Division Manager position notifies the District of his intent to retire with a three month advance notice. The General Manager would be able to hire an additional Plant Operations Division Manager so that there would be a seamless and much more effective transfer of knowledge between the soon -to -be retired incumbent and the "extra" incumbent. POSITION PAPER Board Meeting Date: October 4, 2012 subject. AUTHORIZE THE GENERAL MANAGER TO FILL, ON AN ONGOING BASIS, UP TO FIVE POSITIONS NOT VACANT ON THE ORGANIZATION CHART IN ORDER TO PROVIDE FOR SUCCESSION PLANNING OR ACCOMMODATE LONG -TERM EMPLOYEE ABSENCES 2. A Maintenance Crew Member II is out on a lengthy medical leave of absence and there is little possibility that he would be able to return to his position due to deteriorating health and work restrictions but the employee cannot be lawfully terminated. The General Manager would be able to hire an additional Maintenance Crew Worker II so that the affected work unit is effectively staffed. CRITERIA FOR SUCCESSION PLANNING POSITION AUTHORIZATION Suggested criteria for filling succession planning positions are as follows: • Vacancy(s) anticipated in near future (e.g., 2 years) resulting in significant knowledge loss. Little or no position redundancy exists to enable smooth knowledge transfer after the vacancy occurs. • Vacancy has occurred due to long -term illness for which prognosis is poor and return unlikely but position is being kept open for legal or insurance purposes. • Other existing processes or venues to address workforce planning needs are not appropriate (flexing an available regular full -time vacancy under General Manager Authority, requesting a new position at the next budget cycle, reassigning another position to the work group on a temporary basis). PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION The program shall be administered through Human Resources with a status update, detailing each action related to this delegated authority, to the Human Resources Committee at each scheduled meeting and an update to the full Board during each annual budget cycle. All positions subject to this program shall be filled through the District's regular open and promotional recruitment process or applicable sections of the MOU's. The new hire /promotee will occupy the actual box on the organization chart and the previous incumbent will be moved into one of the five additional discretionary General Manager positions which will be termed "General Manager Special Positions ". For every position requested within the guidelines of this program, the department will EITHER (a) identify a comparable (close in compensation, classification, and same POSITION PAPER Board Meeting Date: October 4, 2012 subject AUTHORIZE THE GENERAL MANAGER TO FILL, ON AN ONGOING BASIS, UP TO FIVE POSITIONS NOT VACANT ON THE ORGANIZATION CHART IN ORDER TO PROVIDE FOR SUCCESSION PLANNING OR ACCOMMODATE LONG -TERM EMPLOYEE ABSENCES bargaining unit) regular, full -time position to be "flagged" for deletion after 24 months (or sooner), OR (b) fill a budgeted vacant position with the "extra" incumbent within 24 months. In all cases, the overall District budget must be sufficient to cover the cost of succession planning position(s). If this is not the case, the matter must be brought to the Human Resources Committee for discussion. RECOMMENDED BOARD ACTION: Authorize the General Manager to fill, on an ongoing basis, up to five positions not vacant on the organization chart in order to provide for succession planning or to accommodate long term employee absences.