Human Resources And Information Technology Committee Approves Creation Of Police Community Engagement Specialist Position – New Employee Will Take Over Most Public Information Officer Duties

The Human Resources and Information Technology Committee met 04/26/2023.

One of the items they took up was a request to approve a Police Table of Organization change. They had a full-time opening available in the clerical department, but they wanted to leave the Administrative Support Specialist position unfilled and use those dollars to create the new full-time position of Police Community Engagement Specialist.

The committee voted unanimously to approve the change.

I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download.

Police Chief Polly Olson explained that upon the departure of one of their clerical staff members, they evaluated the clerical unit and decided they didn’t need to fill that position because the move to a new Records Management System a few years ago had created efficiencies. They believed that the Police Department would be better served by creating a Police Community
Engagement Specialist position.

This person would be responsible for all of the duties associated with a Public Information Officer outside of critical crisis communications. They would be responsible for the department’s social media, the neighborhood watch programs, and the administrative roles associated with those programs. They would also hopefully grow the department’s programing and look at additional ways to conduct community outreach.

Human Resources Director Jay Ratchman stressed that this reorganization moved the work to a pay level that was more appropriate for the job. Lieutenant Cash currently served as the department’s Public Information Officer, but a lieutenant’s salary was over $49 an hour. This change would take these tasks away from Lieutenant Cash and allow her to focus on higher-level issues. This position would, however, be a higher paygrade (grade 7) than the Administrative Support Specialists position it was replacing (grade 5).

Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) asked about how the difference in paygrades would affect the budget. Director Ratchman estimated that, in the worst-case scenario, the position would result in $13,000 more per year to the city than the clerical position had cost. However, he expected that number to be far less because they planned to hire someone at the lower end of the pay range for a grade 7 position, not the higher end. Additionally, the clerk who recently left had been a long-time employee and so had been at the pay range for grade 5 positions.

The committee voted 4-0 to approve the requested change.

View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1099692&GUID=01B33D0D-42D0-41BA-8A2F-5B5D7EC04290