|
CITY COMMISSION AGENDA ITEM |
|
|
Department: |
City Manager’s Office |
Commission Meeting Date: June 19, 2018 |
||
|
Staff Contact: |
Brandon McGuire, Assistant to the City Manager |
|||
|
Recommendations/Options/Action Requested: |
|
|||
|
Adopt on first reading, ordinances repealing City Code references to the departments of Public Works and Utilities and respective department director positions and replacing with Municipal Services and Operations Department and Municipal Services and Operations Department Director, thereby authorizing and establishing the Municipal Services and Operations Department. |
|
|||
|
Executive Summary: |
The Public Works and Utilities departments encompass a breadth of different programs, services and functions. As a result, the City Code includes dozens of references to the Public Works and Utilities departments and the respective department director positions. The Code provisions pertain to the processes, procedures, practices, regulations, rules and permitting functions of the departments as well as the administrative authority of the departments and respective directors.
At its April 10, 2018 Work Session, the City Commission received a report on the feasibility of a merger of the Public Works and Utilities departments (Work Session Agenda Item #3). The April 10th agenda report provides background information about the work to-date and outlines expected outcomes and improvements from the merger, as well as merger implementation priorities and next steps. The Commission expressed support for the City Manager to move forward with next steps.
The City Commission is authorized to create departments of the City as the public business may demand and as provided by state statutes (City Code Ch. 1, Art. 2, Sec. 1-212). Several ordinances are needed to support the merger of Public Works and Utilities, the first of which are presented with this agenda report. The attached ordinances (Ord. Numbers 9484 and 9486 through 9509) repeal all City Code references to the present Public Works and Utilities departments and those department directors and replace those references with the terms “Municipal Services and Operations Department” and “Municipal Services and Operations Department Director.” The ordinances also include limited revisions to existing minor typographical errors and obsolete references (e.g. a reference to positions that no longer exist). The attached matrix provides a brief explanation of the City Code sections addressed in each ordinance.
Upon adoption of these ordinances, the MSO will encompass all responsibilities and resources of the existing Public Works and Utilities departments. The code revisions provide for the legal framework for the merger efforts to proceed. The proposed ordinances do not address any policy changes beyond the establishment of the department and the change in the name of the department and the director position. Residents and customers will experience no immediate alterations to service delivery as a direct result of these Code revisions. Initial merger efforts will be internally focused to support the work groups within the MSO department as they begin to function as a unified department. Efficiencies and service level enhancements are expected from the creation of the MSO. Additional ordinance revisions will likely be needed in the future to support further merger efforts and service delivery improvements. That work will be forthcoming and communication with the City Commission, City employees and Lawrence residents, customers and business partners will be prioritized.
|
|||
|
Strategic Plan Critical Success Factor |
Effective Governance/Professional Administration Innovative Infrastructure and Asset Management Core Services Sound Fiscal Stewardship |
|||
|
Fiscal Impact (Amount/Source): |
Adoption of the ordinances will have no direct fiscal impact aside from publication costs of the ordinance summaries in the newspaper of record (estimated to cost $2,000). |
|||
|
Attachments: |
||||
|
(for CMO use only) |
☐TM ☐DS ☐CT ☒BM |