Agenda

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C. 29

To:	Board of Supervisors
From:	John Kopchik, Director, Conservation & Development Department
Date:	December 17, 2019

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

Add Six (6) Principal Planner - Level A positions in the Department of Conservation and Development

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 12/17/2019

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Diane Burgis, District III Supervisor
Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

Contact:	Kelli Zenn, 925-674-7726
cc:	sylvia Wong

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: December 17, 2019
David Twa,

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

ADOPT Position Resolution No. 22556 to add six (6) Principal Planner Level A (5AHD) positions (represented) at salary plan and grade ZA2 1871 ($8,389 - $10,222) in the Department of Conservation and Development.

FISCAL IMPACT:

The total cost of adding these positions is approximately $1,094,630 to the Land Development Fund. However, Principal Planner positions are typically filled internally. As such, assuming internal promotions and no backfill of the resulting vacancies, the net cost would be $209,743, which includes approximately $32,052 in pension costs.

BACKGROUND:

The Department of Conservation and Development (DCD) has an immediate need to add six Principal Planner Level A positions. Principal Planners are management level Planners responsible for major elements of land use, infrastructure planning, and or specialized community-related programs. These positions provide program management support and oversight to the work performed by junior Planners. The added positions will be assigned to various areas within the department, including, Planning, Transportation Planning, Water and Resource Conservation, Solid Waste, Housing and Community Improvement, Sustainability, and Conservation and Economic Development.

The increase in volume, and complexity of high-level projects and programs in the Department has created an environment in which additional experienced senior staff is required to manage the workload.

Some examples of the tasks requiring high level staff support include: Envision Contra Costa 2040 (the comprehensive update to the County’s General Plan, Zoning Code, and Climate Action Plan); implementing the County’s new commercial cannabis regulations following approval of the County’s cannabis tax measure; state-required transition from level service to vehicle miles traveled as the basis for analysis pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act; complex transportation planning work related to new and proposed funding measures (SB1 (2017) gas tax, Regional Measure 3 (2018), and the proposed new Contra Costa Transportation Authority’s proposed 2020 Measure); increased need for development, modification and enforcement of specialized new ordinances for a range of issues such as renewable energy, tree protection, etc.; the increased need for community planning programs such as those being performed for the Saranap Community, and for agricultural policy reform; increased demand for housing policy analysis, housing law compliance and high level management of community assistance projects; increased complexity in solid waste and recycling regulatory compliance, program administration franchise and facility oversight; new complexities in water policy activities (Delta Water Policy in addition to launching new ground water planning and ship channel programs); and an increased scale and complexity of administering regional conservation planning efforts.

CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:

Failure to add these positions will limit the ability of DCD and the County to efficiently manage land-use projects and specialized community-related programs moving forward.