Human Resources And Information Technology Committee Approves Reorganization Of Public Works And Community And Economic Development Departments – Will Move Inspections Division Away From Public Works And Into Community And Economic Development Department

The Human Resources and Information Technology Committee met 04/12/2023. The one action item on the agenda was a request to approve a reorganization of the Community and Economic Development and Public Works Departments. Essentially, city staff was requesting that they be able to do two things:

• Move the Inspections Division and staff over to the Community and Economic Development Department instead of them being part of the Public Works Department.
• Have the Principal Planners report to Community and Economic Development Deputy Director David Kress instead of directly to Director Kara Homan.

The committee voted unanimously to approve the requested changes.

I’ve prepared a complete transcript of the discussion for your downloading pleasure.

Director Homan explained to the committee that these changes were prompted by the recent leadership changes that have been happening in both the Public Works Department and the Community and Economic Development Department.

The Inspections Division had previously reported to Ross Buetow who, at the time, was the Deputy Director of Public Works. He did a really good job managing that, but he recently retired which prompted a look at the division. Inspections oversees building inspection, zoning code enforcement, erosion control, and a variety of things that overlap to a degree with the Public Works Department but overlap far more with the Community and Economic Development Department. The Inspections Division already provides some support work for the Community and Economic Development Department in terms of helping with assessments and providing some customer care. As a result, staff wanted to move the Inspections Division out from under the supervision of the Deputy Director of Public Works and have them report to Director Homan of Community and Economic Development.

In terms of the other requested change, the principal planning team had previously reported directly to the Community and Economic Development Director. David Kress had previously been a principal planner but had recently been promoted to the Community and Economic Development Deputy Director position. Give his expertise in planning and the desire to better integrate planning with other aspects of Community and Economic Development, they wanted to create a Planning and Development Division that would report up through Deputy Director Kress.

Human Resources Director Jay Ratchman emphasized that this was not a forced change but rather came about because both of the department directors talked through these various issues and thought it made sense. He also noted that the Public Works Department was a very large department, so shifting 9 employees to another department made sense from a workload standpoint.

Public Works Director Danielle Block noted that the two departments would still be working closely together on inspections matters.

The change would be budget neutral and would just entail moving the budget for the Inspections Division away from the Public Works Department and over to the Community and Economic Development Department.

The committee members seemed to view the changes positively, and Alderperson Kris Alfheim (District 11) felt it would maximize talent and promote more efficient communication if nothing else. They voted 5-0 to approve the requested changes.

View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1091886&GUID=84DAEC97-9BD1-466F-9A27-D589FF4D56DA