Antioch City Council to Authorize Hiring Three Code Enforcement Officers

The Antioch City Council will likely authorize a resolution which will adjust the fiscal 2014/15 budget which will approve the hiring of three code enforcement officers.

According to the staff report for Tuesdays City Council Meeting, the total cost of funding three code enforcement officers is $361,020. Of this amount, $170,882 is General Fund, including Measure C. The remaining amount is charge to CBDG, Solid Waste, and Abandoned Vehicle funds.

Currently, the contract services expenses are budgeted at $387,576 annually, also split between the funding sources. Part of the requested Council action is to move the expense allocation from Contract Professional Services to Salaries/Benefits for the project six-month cost remaining in the 2014/15 fiscal year of $180,510.

Back in 2011, the City Council authorized reinstating one full-time code enforcement officer position in the budget, at that time three people were offered the position which each declined to accept. At that time, the council decided to “contract” the position.

In 2013, the City of Antioch had two contract Code Enforcement Officers working, and the Deputy Community Development Director was splitting time between Code Enforcement duties and managerial oversight of the Recreation and Building functions. With the passage of Measure C, for fiscal year 2014/15 the Council Authorized a third Code Enforcement Officer contract position and reallocated an additional twenty percent of the Deputy Directors time to Code Enforcement. Currently, there are three contract Code Enforcement Officers working.

Staff is suggesting to the Council that recruitment is warranted to transition the funded positions from contract services back to City employees.

According to the Staff Report, the contract services worked well during the economic downturn, and in response to the unsuccessful recruitment efforts. However, given the Councils stated priority of Code Enforcement activities, it seems appropriate to reinstate the funding to staff positions rather than contract services.

Staff is recommending phasing in the three requested positions in 2-3 month increments. They expect to hire all three positions within a year’s time.