To: Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Sheriff’s Office
Staff Name and Phone Number: Connie Newton, 565-8884
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Amend the Sheriff’s Office Department Allocation List
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Adopt a Resolution to amend the Sheriff’s Office Adopted Department Allocation List to delete one Department Analyst allocation and add one Human Services Systems and Programming Analyst allocation effective February 28, 2023. No additional funding is required.
end
Executive Summary:
The Sheriff is requesting approval of a Resolution to amend the Sheriff’s Office Adopted Department Allocation List to add a new job class with the required skills needed to address essential workload in the Sheriff’s Information Technology Unit. The change is needed to provide complex data reporting and systems programming, a common function that does not meet the job specifications of any other existing job class in the Sheriff’s Office. The requested position’s ongoing costs will be funded within existing resources in the Sheriff’s Office budget with savings created by deleting a vacant Department Analyst allocation and redirecting $27,549 in existing, ongoing General Fund appropriations originally budgeted for morgue operational costs that will be less than anticipated.
Discussion:
Program Change Request (PCR) Summary
If approved, this request deletes a vacant 1.0 FTE Department Analyst and adds 1.0 FTE Human Services Systems and Programming Analyst. This position conversion will provide essential complex data reporting, systems programming, and critical crime analysis information for law enforcement personnel. The Sheriff’s Office has had a long-standing need for solutions to provide our smaller operational units with data tracking solutions as well as data analytics to improve operations for the benefit of the Sheriff’s Office and the County of Sonoma. This need includes creating statistical or data driven reports for the Board of Supervisors and the general public. The specific knowledge, training, and skills needed to perform these functions require the addition of a new job class to the Sheriff’s Office. To facilitate economically making this addition, the Sheriff is recommending the deletion of a related position that is now vacant as described below.
Deletion of the Department Analyst (Crime Analyst)
In 2004, the Sheriff’s Office made organizational staffing changes during the process of moving from manual reports to application software. At that time, a community services officer (CSO) was reclassified to a department analyst to perform crime analysis functions within the Sheriff’s Law Enforcement Administration Unit. This department analyst position was charged with using new electronic databases to create reporting functionality for the Sheriff’s Office.
The crime analyst position evolved over the years as more modern systems came online. The individual filling this position for many years possessed skills above and beyond those outlined in the department analyst job specifications. Currently, the technical skills required to create complex reports and data extracts from law enforcement databases have increased significantly, and no longer fit within the department analyst job classification, or any other job classification in the Sheriff’s Office. Building databases using Microsoft SQL Server and complex web programming to link up separate data sources is an essential job requirement needed to produce statistical reports requested by the Sheriff’s management, criminal justice agencies, Board of Supervisors, and the general public. This position conversion will allow the Sheriff’s Office to continue to enhance the existing electronic data reporting previously created and add additional reporting abilities and data tracking in the years to come.
The Department Analyst became vacant in October of 2022. The current vacancy of the single Department Analyst position in the Law Enforcement Administration Unit has left the existing complex data reporting systems unsupported. In anticipation of this vacancy, Sheriff’s Office staff prepared a Program Change Request (PCR) outlining the issues and developing a business case to support the recommended position conversion solution. Both Human Resources and the County Administrators Office have reviewed the PCR (On-File with the Clerk) and are in support of the recommended change.
The specific, complex technical and programing skills required to support these systems falls outside of the department analyst job class and the existing Sheriff’s Office Information Technology (IT) Unit job classes. As a result, the Sheriff’s Office is unable to recruit for a replacement employee until an appropriate job class is added. The deletion of the 1.0 FTE Department Analyst and addition of 1.0 FTE Systems and Programming Analyst will ensure that these critical programming tasks can be completed, while also ensuring that staff are working within the appropriate job class. County Human Resources has identified the tasks listed in the PCR as appropriate work for the County’s Human Services Systems and Programming Analyst job class. As indicated above, the existing Department Analyst position is vacant making it an optimal time to proceed with a position conversion. If approved, given the Sheriff’s Office hiring and background process, the Sheriff anticipates filling the position by July 2023.
Funding
The Sheriff’s Office can absorb the marginal increased cost of the new position allocation without needing to request additional General Fund or contingencies. The Sheriff’s Office FY 22-23 Adopted Budget assumed $200,000 of its ongoing General Fund contribution capacity would be needed to cover property tax payments for the morgue facility now being leased from the Chanate property owner. When the FY 22-23 budget was being finalized, the details of the morgue facility payments were unavailable. As a result, estimates were used to anticipate the new property tax liability. Based on updated information, only $10,000 of the budgeted $200,000 will be needed for property tax payments, allowing $190,000 of appropriations to be redirected. Of the available$190,000, $134,160 was previously redirected to the Senior Account Clerk Program Change, approved by the Board on December 6, 2022, leaving approximately $55,000 remaining which can be used to funding this request. The position conversion has been estimated to cost $27,549, well within the remaining balance. The redirected funds are part of the Sheriff’s ongoing General Fund contribution within the FY 22-23 Adopted Budget and separate from one-time funds for the Public Health Lab and Morgue capital project.
Strategic Plan:
N/A
Prior Board Actions:
N/A
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY 22-23 Adopted |
FY23-24 Projected |
FY 24-25 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
|
$27,549 |
$28,650 |
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
|
|
|
|
Total Expenditures |
|
$27,549 |
$28,650 |
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
|
|
General Fund/WA GF |
|
$27,549 |
$28,650 |
|
State/Federal |
|
|
|
|
Fees/Other |
|
|
|
|
Use of Fund Balance |
|
|
|
|
Contingencies |
|
|
|
|
Total Sources |
|
$27,549 |
$28,650 |
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
The Sheriff’s Office can absorb the marginal increased cost of the new position allocation without needing to request additional General Fund or contingencies. The Sheriff’s Office FY 22-23 Adopted Budget assumed $200,000 of its ongoing General Fund contribution capacity would be needed to cover property tax payments for the morgue facility now being leased from the Chanate property owner. Based on updated information, only $10,000 of the budgeted $200,000 will be needed for property tax payments, allowing $190,000 of appropriations to be redirected. Of the available $190,000, $134,160 was previously redirected to the Senior Account Clerk Program Change, approved by the Board on December 6, 2022, leaving approximately $55,000 remaining which can be used to funding this request. The position conversion has been estimated to cost $27,549, well within the remaining balance.
|
Staffing Impacts: |
|
|
|
|
Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A-I Step) |
Additions (Number) |
Deletions (Number) |
|
Human Services Systems and Programming Analyst |
$7,607.55 - $9,247.68 |
1.0 |
|
|
Department Analyst |
$6,250.92 - $7,598.86 |
|
(1.0) |
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
This allocation will be reassigned from the Sheriff’s Law Enforcement Administration Section to Sheriff’s Administration Section, IT Unit. This allocation will report directly to the IT Unit Manager (Senior Department Information Systems Manager - 0170). The position will have no direct reports. The 1.0 FTE Department Analyst position being deleted is vacant. The workload will shift to the new position where the job duties are better aligned to the job class.
Attachments:
Resolution to Amend Sheriff’s FY 22-23 Department Allocation List
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
FY 22-23 Program Change Request - Systems and Programming Analyst