Menlo Park vacancies abound at City Hall

Menlo Park’s city government is struggling to fill vacancies.

Of 278 full-time equivalent positions, 29 currently are vacant, or slightly more than 10 percent, according to City Manager Alex McIntyre. And that’s an improvement from 15 percent a month earlier.

In upper management, the picture is even more dramatic. Of 22 such positions, 24 percent are vacant and two department heads will be retiring later this spring.

Mayor Peter Ohtaki said in an interview this week vacancies make it more difficult for staff to complete all the tasks assigned to it by the City Council.

“It affects our ability to get the business of our residents done,” Ohtaki said, adding that the vacancy rate ideally should be no greater than 5 percent.

“We went through goalsetting in January and we had to prioritize the top six projects in light of the staffing constraints that we have. … We have the financial resources to get most of these projects done, but now we need the staff to execute and implement them.”

The top six projects facing staff involve preparing for a switch to a district-based council election in November, completing a citywide transportation master plan, finalizing a strategy for redeveloping the Guild Theatre into a live entertainment venue, updating downtown’s development blueprint, planning for a downtown parking structure and implementing safe routes for schoolchildren initiatives.

Members of Belle Haven Action, a group formed by Belle Haven resident and 2016 council candidate Cecilia Taylor last spring, blame the staff shortage for deferred maintenance and reduced operating hours at the Onetta Harris Community Center and the Neighborhood Service Center.

Belle Haven Action also said a newsletter the city had been publishing quarterly to keep neighborhood residents informed about city government has ceased.

“It’s most noticeable in public works where repairs are not completed,” Belle Haven Action representatives said by email. “When you do call to have a repair done it can take months and sometimes years in the Belle Haven neighborhood.”

The city announced March 15 that Community Development Director Arlinda Heineck is retiring in June. Community Services Director Cherise Brandell is also retiring, at the end of April, Former Assistant City Manager Chip Taylor left for Sunnyvale in February and former police Chief Bob Jonsen left for Palo Alto last November.

McIntyre has promoted Assistant Community Development Director Mark Muenzer to take Heineck’s role, effective April 2, and Assistant Community Services Director Derek Schweigart to take Brandell’s role March 4. McIntyre stated in the announcement that Judi Herren, former Atherton deputy city clerk, has been hired as the new city clerk, effective April 2, filling a position that had been vacant for nine months.

The city on Monday also hired a new office assistant for Public Works, a maintenance worker in the trees division and a senior sustainability specialist. The city still needs to hire replacements for the assistant director positions.