Human Resources And Information Technology Committee Approves Reorganization Of Legal Services Department – Will Be Called “Legal And Administrative Services Department”, City Clerk Will Be Made Deputy Director Position

The Human Resources and Information Technology Committee met 02/08/2023. They took up and approved several Table of Organization changes to a few different departments, but I am going to focus on the request to update the Table of Organization for Legal Services because that item was discussed at both the Human Resource and Information Technology Committee meeting and at the Finance Committee meeting.

I’ve prepared transcripts of the discussions from each of the committee meetings.

City Attorney Christopher Behrens explained to the HRIT Committee that this organizational change was prompted by having worked with the Clerk’s office and really seeing and understanding what they do. There were a number of changes that he was proposing.

• To rename the “Legal Services Department” as the “Legal and Administrative Services Department” to more accurately reflect what the department does and acknowledge that it provided more than just legal services.
• Reestablish an Election Clerk position. The work associated with that position takes up a significant amount of time throughout the year, not only leading up to elections but following elections as well. That position would provide other administrative support as they could, but he thought it better to recognize that position “for what it does most of the time throughout the year.” That position would report directly to the City Clerk who is ultimately in charge of administering elections.
• Change the “Deputy Clerk” title to “Administrative Services Lead”. That would acknowledge that the person in that position takes a leadership/management role in guiding some of the day-to-day functions in the office.
• Change the City Clerk to a Deputy Director position and increase the grade level from Level 11 to Level 13. Attorney Behrens thought this change was long overdue given the responsibilities of the City Clerk. Historically, until 12 years ago, the City Clerk’s Office had been a standalone department, up until the point that the City Clerk had been moved from an elected position to a hired position. He thought a strong case could be made for recognizing the position as a deputy director-level position.

Although it was not discussed in either of the meetings, it was noted in the memo that the “fiscal impact of these changes is anticipated to be nominal. The Administrative Services Lead would be compensated an additional one dollar per hour which is consistent with compensation paid to others acting in lead positions in the City. The current Elections Clerk’s compensation would increase by $1.32 per hour to meet the minimum pay range in the new pay grade. The current City Clerk-Deputy Director of Administrative Services would be elevated from Grade 11 to Grade 13 but since her current compensation falls within Grade 13 parameters, an immediate adjustment is not required; however, the grade change allows for greater future earning opportunity.”

Director of Human Resources Jay Ratchman also supported the reorganization and said they had worked hard to roll out the reorganization correctly and make sure they understood what he impacts would be, particularly in terms of compensation.

During the Finance Committee meeting at which this was discussed, Alderperson Brad Firkus (District 3) asked about the elected nature of the City Attorney position and wondered if it would be beneficial to hire for that position instead. “It might be a little bit on the edge of this topic. But I noticed in the memo, it mentioned that the city clerk used to be an elected position, but now is a hired position. The city attorney is an elected position, but I know one of our neighboring communities has recently made the change. Has there been any discussion? And my wondering behind this is that I don’t remember us ever really having a competitive race for things like this. And it just—it feels more like as a job that you want to hire a person, not necessarily, you know—I mean, because really, it’s the only department where the head is elected. Every other department we hired the heads.”

Attorney Behrens responded that there are benefits to the independence that comes with having the City Attorney be an elected position. “There are times where it’s not very comfortable, that you have to deliver news to the Council that they don’t particularly want to hear or like. But legally, it’s the opinion you have to give and having a bit of insulation that way is helpful if it’s needed. The other benefit it provides is some insulation from the mayor. And again, in a difficult situation the city attorney has that insulation from any action of the mayor, also.”

[I remember standing in line for early in-person voting and overhearing a conversation involving a resident who had been trying to get ahold of the City Clerk in order to get an absentee ballot issue dealt with. It sounded like the resident had been trying for hours to get ahold of the clerk and get this question answered, but the clerk was overwhelmed with election-related work and unavailable to come down and answer a question. They didn’t discuss this during either of the meetings, but I would hope that having a dedicated Election Clerk would help reduce the work load and result in residents being able to have their election-related issues dealt with more promptly.]

View full Finance Committee meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1077210&GUID=09E708F1-D326-4039-8C37-09C33F0E4D22

View full Human Resources and Information Technology Committee meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1079551&GUID=2C435609-980C-4D9D-80BF-FF631772F093