To: Board of Supervisors of the County of Sonoma, Board of Directors of the Sonoma County Water Agency, Board of Commissioners of the Community Development Commission, and Board of Directors of the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District
Department or Agency Name(s): Human Resources Department
Staff Name and Phone Number: Lisa Conner, 707-565-3207
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Miscellaneous Classification, Compensation, and Allocation Changes, and Layoff Authorization
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
A) Approve a motion to adopt the revision of the Water Agency Senior Electrician-Instrumentation Technician classification, effective September 24, 2024.
B) Authorize the County Administrator’s Office, in coordination with and oversight by the Human Resources Department, to administer layoff proceedings, due to the upcoming expiration of time-limited allocations, and to mitigate layoff, to the extent possible, in accordance with the Salary Resolution and Civil Service Rule 11: Layoffs.
C) Adopt a Concurrent Resolution amending premium pay provided under the Salary Resolution No. 95‐0926, adding a premium for Assistant or Deputy County Administrator when temporarily overseeing daily operations of a department, at County Executive discretion, effective August 26, 2024.
end
Executive Summary:
The County’s Human Resources Department is responsible for managing the County-wide classification and compensation structure. Components of this responsibility include ensuring employees are appropriately classified, administering the County’s Compensation Plan, and assisting departments with organizational changes when they involve classification reviews. Regularly, the department conducts classification and compensation analyses, develops reports, and presents recommendations to incumbents, unions, departments, and in many situations the Civil Service Commission. However, four agencies (Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, Community Development Commission, Sonoma County Fair, and Sonoma County Water Agency) are not governed by the County’s Civil Service System and the Board has sole authority to approve revisions to their classifications.
In this item before your Board today, Human Resources requests the adoption of revisions for Water Agency Senior Electrician-Instrumentation Technician classification, approval to administer layoff proceedings for County Administrator’s Office time-limited positions that are scheduled to end on January 31, 2025, and the adoption of an amendment to Salary Resolution No. 95‐0926 to add a premium for specified work.
Discussion:
Sonoma County Water Agency
The existing classification, Water Agency Senior Electrician/Instrumentation Technician requires employees obtain California Water Treatment Plant Operator T2 and California Water Distribution Operator Grade D1 certificates within two years of employment in the classification and maintain them throughout their time in the class. At the request of Water Agency management, Human Resources agreed to revise the Water Agency Senior Electrician/Instrumentation Technician classification to remove the certification requirements after determining that there are no legal requirements for employees to obtain or maintain these certifications. Following the release of these findings, Human Resources, Water Agency management, and Local 39 met and conferred over the recommendation and reached an agreement on the revisions to the classification specifications. Therefore, Human Resources seeks approval to revise the Water Agency Senior Electrician/Instrumentation Technician classification.
County Administrator’s Office
The Climate Action & Resiliency Division (CARD) was established in the County Administrator’s Office (CAO) as part of the Board’s commitment to support climate resiliency after declaring a climate emergency in September 2019. As part of the FY 21-22 budget, the Department Allocation List for the CAO was amended to include 3.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) time-limited positions to perform the operations of the Division along with an existing permanent Administrative Analyst III. The time-limited positions are as follows:
|
Board date(s) |
Positions Approved |
Funding |
|
5/11/21 12/13/22 |
Three, time-limited (3 years) positions: § Deputy County Administrator (Director) (through 1/31/25) § Principal Administrative Analyst (through 12/31/25) § Administrative Aide (through 1/31/25) |
PG&E settlement |
These positions were funded utilizing 2017 PG&E Settlement funds in the amount of $1,952,615 for three years and were initially scheduled to end October 4, 2024. The recruitment process was initiated in July 2021 and all positions were posted as time-limited. The Deputy County Administrator position was filled October 2021, and the Administrative Aide was hired in July 2022. Due to the extended time necessary to recruit the Principal Administrative Analyst position, the Board approved the Department’s request to extend this position’s end of assignment date to December 31, 2025.
Utilizing unexpended funds from these positions, the CAO extended the Deputy County Administrator and Administrative Aide end of assignment dates to January 31, 2025, to allow the Division time to complete its Climate Resilience Comprehensive Action Plan that was presented to the Board on August 13, 2024. Extension of the assignment for these positions has exhausted the funding for the two FTEs with no other available funding sources.
The County Administrator’s Office seeks authority, in coordination with and oversight by the Human Resources Department, to administer layoff proceedings for the encumbered time-limited Deputy County Administrator and Administrative Aide positions in advance of the January 31, 2025, end date, and to mitigate layoff, to the extent possible, in accordance with the Salary Resolution and Civil Service Rule 11: Layoffs.
Human Resources
The County of Sonoma is organized into 25 departments, special districts, and agencies, responsible for providing a full range of services and resources to the community in a number of areas including health and human services, public safety, infrastructure, and natural resources, to name a few. Each department is overseen by a department head who provides leadership, administrative policy, and operational direction for programs and services and exercises a maximum amount of independent judgement and initiative within broad policy objectives established by the Board of Supervisors and/or County Executive.
Due to a variety of circumstances, such as a department head resignation, retirement, or leave of absence, instances can occur in which it is necessary for the County Executive to assign an Assistant or Deputy County Administrator temporary oversight of a department’s daily operations to ensure a continuity of services with minimal impact to county residents, community stakeholders, and County business partners. At present, there is not a mechanism in place to provide additional compensation to an Assistant or Deputy County Administrator when these instances occur.
After conferring with the County Executive, the Human Resources Department seeks authority to add language to the Salary Resolution that will allow, at the discretion and upon the approval of the County Executive, the ability to provide an Assistant or Deputy County Administrator a premium of 5% above their base hourly rate during any timeframe in which the Assistant or Deputy County Administrator is tasked with providing temporary oversight of a department’s daily operations as compensation in recognition of the additional responsibility.
Strategic Plan:
N/A
Racial Equity:
Was this item identified as an opportunity to apply the Racial Equity Toolkit?
No
Prior Board Actions:
Throughout the year, Human Resources submits several Miscellaneous Classification, Compensation, and Allocation Change Board Items that require Board approval to be fully adopted and implemented.
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY24-25 Adopted |
FY25-26 Projected |
FY26-27 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
Blank |
Blank |
Blank |
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
Blank |
Blank |
Blank |
|
Total Expenditures |
Blank |
Blank |
Blank |
|
Funding Sources |
Blank |
Blank |
Blank |
|
General Fund/WA GF |
Blank |
Blank |
Blank |
|
State/Federal |
Blank |
Blank |
Blank |
|
Fees/Other |
Blank |
Blank |
Blank |
|
Use of Fund Balance |
Blank |
Blank |
Blank |
|
General Fund Contingencies |
Blank |
Blank |
Blank |
|
Total Sources |
Blank |
Blank |
Blank |
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
Sonoma County Water Agency
There are no fiscal impacts associated with this change.
County Administrator’s Office
There are no fiscal impacts associated with the authorization to administer layoff proceedings.
Human Resources
There are no ongoing fiscal impacts associated with amending Salary Resolution No. 95‐0926. It is anticipated that potential associated costs will be absorbed by departments/agencies temporarily supported by County Administrator’s Office leadership team members.
|
Staffing Impacts: |
|
|
|
|
Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A-I Step) |
Additions (Number) |
Deletions (Number) |
|
N/A |
Blank |
Blank |
Blank |
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
Sonoma County Water Agency
There are no staffing impacts associated with the revision of the classification.
County Administrator’s Office
Approval of this item will authorize the County Administrator’s Office, in coordination with and oversight by the Human Resources Department, to administer layoff procedures in accordance with the Salary Resolution and to mitigate layoffs to the extent possible.
Human Resources
There are no staffing impacts associated with amending Salary Resolution No. 95-0926.
Attachments:
1. Water Agency Senior Electrician-Instrumentation Technician specification
2. Memo to Update Water Agency Senior Electrician-Instrumentation Technician
3. Resolution 1: Concurrent Resolution amending premium pay provided under the Salary Resolution No. 95‐0926, adding a premium for Assistant or Deputy County Administrator, when temporarily overseeing daily operations of a department, at County Executive discretion
4. Resolution 1: Attachment A - Red-Lined version of proposed changes to Salary Resolution
5. Resolution 1: Attachment B - Version of Salary Resolution with accepted changes
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None.