County approves department reorganization plans
EL CENTRO — A series of Board of Supervisors approvals means five county departments will be retooled for the 20182019 fiscal year.
The changes, which were approved Tuesday, are intended to emphasize local priorities and provide improved service.
Three of the proposed changes will be done without incurring any additional costs for the county, while changes at the County Employees Retirement System and Air Pollution Control District will incur additional expenses that will be funded internally without affecting the county’s general fund.
“These reorganizations have been reviewed with the mindset and goal to increase efficiency, service level, sharing of resources and, in some occasions, facilitating succession within the departments, all while being fiscally prudent,” said Director of Human Resources and Risk Management, Rodolfo Aguayo.
A significant change within the Air Pollution Control District will be the addition of two project manager positions to handle an anticipated increase in activity surrounding Salton Sea restoration projects. Persons placed in these new positions will focus on critical air-quality problems associated with the Salton Sea and will be involved in discussions with state officials.
Air Pollution Control Officer Matt Dessert told the board the first of those positions is expected to be filled internally, and the subsequent vacant position will be eliminated once the second project manager position is filled. Also, the district wants to open a position for an air pollution control monitoring specialist who would be in charge of the use and maintenance of air quality monitoring equipment.
In total, the Air Pollution Control District reorganization will increase its expenditures by $211,000, which will be funded through monies shifted from other departments.
The Imperial County Employees Retirement System will also be adding a position in 2018-2019. In this case, it will be a retirement administrative assistant, whose position will be offset by reducing extra-help positions. The reorganization overall will increase the system’s expenditures nearly $14,000, all of which will be funded through ICERS investment funds and contributions and will not have an impact on the county’s general fund.
In March, ICERS had proposed a plan which would have increased its expenditures by nearly $50,000, That plan was nixed by the board, which instructed ICERS Administrator Scot Jarvis to work with Human Resources to further minimize the impact of the proposed reorganization.
The remaining proposed changes brought to the board included a request by the Treasurer-Tax Collector office. The department had a division manager for each of its divisions, and with the impending retirement of one of those employees, the department requested permission to consolidate those two positions into a single assistant treasurer-tax collector and, in turn, add two accounting supervisors to take over the daily supervisory duties of each division.
Also, the board considered a request made by the Public Works Department to house the Parks and Recreation division, which was previously under Planning and Development Services. According to Aguayo, the transfer is intended to consolidate resources available through Public Works’ Facilities Management Division with an eye toward becoming more efficient when serving county parks.
Finally, the board approved a request by the County Executive Office to adjust the compensation for the three deputy CEOs and to expand those positions to work with all 26 county departments. The office also wants to add a temporary deputy CEO to assist with short-term needs within the department. In order to make the changes cost-neutral, an administrative analyst position would be eliminated.
The board approved all of the requests unanimously.