12-14-2022 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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2) 20 hours/week Customer Service Specialist to provide front counter coverage and perform additional clerical assistance to City Hall staff The City has some challenges staffing the front counter with the full-time Customer Service Specialist. This staff person answers the phone and provide customer service to residents visiting City Hall with a question or concern. Between phone calls and random resident visits, the front counter at City Hall can be busy. The City Administrator or City Clerk is responsible for finding staff available to provide coverage to the front counter which is typically the part-time Accountant or Utility Billing staff members from the Finance Department. All Leadership Team members recognize that there is a need for additional help at the front counter. Based on that I am recommending an additional part- time 20 hours per week Customer Specialist. This staff person would cover at the front counter when the other Customer Service Specialist is on vacation or sick. Any additional available time would be spent assisting other departments at City Hall including Administration, Finance and Planning & Community Development by working on various small projects, assisting with permits and performing clerical duties as needed. 3) Cross training and backup Adding the two positions outlined above helps to move the staffing level to where it can better manage the existing workload and with the introduction of technology, which will happen over time, City staff will realize efficiencies that will lead to allowing staff to find time to assist and back up other positions. This will not occur immediately but will happen over time if there are no other changes to service which is very unlikely. The Community Visioning event will lead to changes I suspect in services offered to residents in 2024. I recommend that the City Council carefully consider the additional staffing needs that might be associated with these changes and consider dropping some services that are no longer valued by residents. These changes will impact staffing levels and the City may or may not be able to accommodate changes depending on the efficiencies that have been achieved to date. 4) Waste collection The City of Little Canada has an open collection system for resident collection of waste through December of 2024. This system allows any Little Canada licensed waste hauler to provide their collection services to residents at a single rate that is negotiated and agreed upon by each of the haulers. This past summer one of the three waste collectors working in Little Canada was not able to fulfill the Agreement to provide these services. As a result, there was considerable City staff time and effort to respond to complaints and notify residents about the situation, taking time away from staff’s other duties. Because of this incident, the City is discussing transitioning to an organized collection system for 2025 which would allow the City to select one waste hauler, committed to serving all the residents of Little Canada. I support this decision and would recommend that the City evaluate the cost of having the waste hauler responsible for coordination and communication with residents, which will come at an additional cost to residents. However, if the City determines that additional cost is too