Politics & Government

Monrovia Hires Firm to Do Organizational Study of its Staffing

The city of Monrovia will conduct a study to determine whether the way its staff is organized is efficient and effective for providing service to residents.

The consulting firm Management Partners will conduct the organizational study, which is expected to cost up to $71,500 and take around a year to complete.

The Monrovia City Council Tuesday night voted 4-1 to approve the agreement with Management Partners. Councilman Larry Spicer voted no.

Spicer said that he had concerns about the compensation aspect of the study, specifically that if the overview found that the city wasn't paying its employees correctly, Monrovia would not have the funds at this time to correct that.

He also said he felt the study was something that could be done in house and that the city should be focusing on boosting revenues.

"It's nothing against trying to people where they should be or in what position they should be working in," Spicer said.  "I am looking at money that we need to spend that we need for infrastructure."

City Manager Laurie Lile said the study is important to determine whether city staff might be duplicating an effort or doing something in a way that is less efficient than the manner in which other cities handle that same task.

"Our departments are struggling to continue to provide the services that they have traditionally provided," Lile said.

The city has had a good amount of change in its personnel structure across all departments since the economic downturn started in 2008, according to staff. About 15 percent of full-time positions have been eliminated through attrition, layoffs, and keeping vacant posts unfilled.

The city also recently drafted a citywide strategic plan that set new priorities, which will require this organization study to make sure staff will provide services in an efficient and effective manner, according to the staff report to council.

The organizational study will look at staffing needs, review salary and benefit levels, consider job classifications to make sure they are appropriate and competitive, according to staff.  The last time the city did such a study was 2005, but that was less in depth, staff said.  A benchmarking analysis, comparing Monrovia staffing and service levels to other cities, is also part of the overview.

Mayor Pro Tem Becky Shevlin said she had some concerns about the timing of the study, with it getting underway on the eve of a new interim city manager coming on board.

Councilman Alexander Blackburn pointed out that the agreement with the firm could be terminated at any time if there are concerns about completing the study in the future.

A representative from Management Partners said that the study could be done in phases, with the compensation study coming last, and that the firm would be coming back with some preliminary results in three and a half months.

Mayor Mary Ann Lutz said that she likes the idea that the city will receive updates as the study goes along instead of having to wait a year for it to be completely done so that some things can be implemented immediately.

"I do think this is the right time to start this program and to start evaluating where we are," Lutz said. "While we know we have to look at out long-term planning and our long term financial strength of this community, we need to have an idea of what kind of costs will be before us personnel wise. And this will help us do that."


 





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