The Human Resources and Information Technology Committee met 03/09/2022. One of the information items they received was a report about the plan to retitle the Facilities Project Manager position to the Project And Resilience Manager.
Director of Parks, Recreation, and Facilities Dean Gazza told the committee that Steve Schrage was the city’s project manager. He started working for the city six years ago and came to Appleton as a certified energy manager with a passion for a lot of energy efficiency upgrades as well as sustainability and resiliency. He had worked with the DNR for several years doing high level work with energy audits and helping them build plans. He had always been eager to do some of that work in Appleton and had always incorporated that into his projects.
As an example of that, Director Gazza pointed to how Steve had handled an air handler project at the wastewater treatment plant. Director Gazza had been looking at replacing it, but Steve had investigated it and determined they could make it more efficient by doing it with a single unit and then placing the condenser not on the roof but in a better position.
Director Gazza said Steve did that with every project and even city Directors had reached out to him for help.
Steve had recently obtained a certification as a renewable energy professional and notified Director Gazza that he was going to get certified as a sustainable development professional, which deals with a lot of policy and plan writing. Director Gazza had been working with the mayor and the Human Resources Director on how to utilize Steve’s skills. Human Resources Director Jay Ratchman decided that changing his title and incorporating the responsibilities he had been demonstrating into his position would be good because those skills were much needed right now.
Coincidentally, the Taskforce On Resiliency, Climate Mitigation, and Adaptation had just wrapped up their recommendations, so they discussed how Steve could play an integral part in helping in that area.
A question that had been discussed was would Steve have oversight over some of the departments? He had already been a technical advisor for the departments, and the departments already reach out to him quite frequently with questions, but, with the change in title, his role in that area will increase. He will be Appleton’s point person for the Green Tier Program and he’ll be formalized as the person in charge of sustainability and listed as such when the city applies for grants that require that.
Director Gazza said that when they mentioned the title change and incorporation of these skills into his job responsibilities to Steve, he was very excited because he had been working toward this. He had been pursuing these various certifications without the city encouraging or asking him to do so, and Director Gazza had been worried that he might leave the city to find a job where he could incorporate more of those skills. He loves project management, and he loves sustainability, so combining the two seemed to be the right thing to do. Both Steve and the City of Appleton would benefit from that.
Alderperson Kristine Alfheim (District 11) thanked Director Gazza for that overview. She had been part of the Climate Taskforce and believed there was a lot of passion for sustainability within the community. She thought this change in Steve’s title and responsibilities was a great opportunity to have a centralized figure lead the charge in sustainability.
She also gave huge credit to Mayor Woodford for being creative and figuring out how to do this, because many people had given up on the idea of a sustainability manager, but it was eventually figured out.
Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) wanted to know what the plan was to prevent Steve from burning out. She saw seven or so new job functions and three or four new requirements of work. Steve was clearly a talented and driven individual. Was he still going to perform all of his existing job duties and then take on all of these new things as well? Given that he was such an outstanding individual, she didn’t want to work him to death.
Director Gazza responded that they had definitely talked about creating a balance. They had gone through the task force report. There were some things in the report that would take up a considerable amount of time, particularly some of the outward facing responsibilities, and that would have to be managed. Steve could be a point person and coordinate a lot of the internal work with the directors, with the Green Tier program, and with other initiatives, but they would also plan on using the consultants they have been working with on an ongoing basis because they had created the report and the different areas of structure.
They would really like to take that report and tie it to the budget. For example, the report indicated symbols for each of the benefit categories. Director Gaza would like to tie those symbols to the budge or the capital improvement plan so that people could see the benefits of specific project and how they tied back to the climate taskforce’s report.
Between the consultants, Steve, and Director Gazza, they would be creating a balance for some of those responsibilities. Steve had a lot of capacity and wouldn’t get burned out because Director Gazza watched all his employees closely on that.
Director Gazza added that he himself would continue to do his work with the Green Tier program and serve on their committees. He had spoken on sustainability a couple of times when applicable and he would continue to do those things.
Alderperson Fenton had also served on the climate task force and was also very excited about this change. She said that the recommendations that per proposed in the climate action plan had included an expectation of outside funding being available. She asked if there was some capacity for grant writing.
Director Gazza responded that a lot of times when they do grants, they don’t have a specific grant writer per se, but they would seek the help of an expert in whatever area they were trying to get a grant, be it geothermal, or trails, or transportation. That gives them the most chance for success. He always looks at that because one person can’t be an expert in everything. So, they would often work with consultants on grants. However, Steve has written various grants, and he’s got quite a bit of money back from Focus on Energy. It will be a combination; Steve will do some, and if they need expertise they will go out and get that.
Alderperson Fenton was very excited about this and was glad to see it was no longer all on Director Gazza and that he was getting some help on the sustainability initiative.
Director Gazza added that one of the things he and Steve had discussed as the possibility that the taskforce might want Steve to go out and speak on behalf of the city, but he wouldn’t necessarily have the capacity to be doing that. However, Steve did want to work with Communication’s Coordinator Sheng Riechers to bring more light to city projects. So, when they finish a project, they want to work to put out information about the project, the scope, the savings, and the carbon footprint offset of the project.
Some of the things the taskforce had been hopeful might happen might have to be limited because they were using an existing employee who will be doing a lot of internal work.
Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) said it sounded like they had an excellent employee in Steve. She wondered if he were to leave would the city fill that position with one person or look to split the responsibilities between two people.
Director Ratchman answered that they had talked about that when they were redesigning the position. He didn’t know if filling the position would be difficult because it was new territory for them.
Director Gazza thought that any position in his department was unique as were a lot of positions in the city. Over time people take on more responsibilities and the positions become somewhat unique. He pointed to his own position of having been in charge of facilities and construction and then also having been placed in charge of parks. Were he to leave, would parks and facilities be separated? In the case of Steve, they were working on a succession plan so that there would be staff that are trained and have been with Appleton a long time so there would be a couple good candidates to potentially take over.
A lot of people in his department have cross trained in different areas, whether it be project management or sustainability and things like that. If they put that job out, they might not get a person with those certifications, but they would be able to they would be able to find someone with experience and then likely ask them to get the desired certifications within a year.
Alderperson Alfheim said she was a big believer in forward motion, and she thought the overall lesson was that they’ve done that forward motion with this position. She thought it was a great step that met in the middle without going over the top. She didn’t know if it was a long-term solution and thought perhaps a couple years down the line, they may end up having a separate position. But, at a minimum, they had taken forward steps in a wonderful direction.
Director Gazza thought that was a really good point. The position didn’t have to be forever. The sustainability portion could grow so large that it had to be two positions, and they could have that conversation at that time. Right now, this was a way to get the position started with an excellent person.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=922442&GUID=4BCD06EF-B59F-4AAC-BDF4-CF7D8644C62A
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