The goal, the city said, is to identify opportunities for “improved efficiency and effectiveness” of operations related to the staffing and structure of City Manager Larry Lester’s office.
Vice Mayor Christina McElfresh said she never likes to spend money that doesn’t need to be spent, but she called the consultation services “a worthy expense” due to Lester’s recent hiring. Lester was hired in December 2023 to replace longtime City Manager William “Bill” Brock, who resigned for another position.
McElfresh believes the study will “set the tone and lay the template” for the future of city leadership. “This will directly benefit the city,” she said. Centers, though, said without knowing the “specific details” regarding the study, he felt uncomfortable spending taxpayers’ money. He’s concerned the study may result in a plan the city can’t implement.
The Raftelis team will provide the city with a request for documents such as organization charts, budgets, previous studies, staffing history, job descriptions, performance measures, and other similar data to inform their work, according to the contract.
Raftelis will individually and confidentially interview key staff, including each city manager’s office member, department directors, and other positions identified together during the project kick-off, according to city documents. During these interviews, Raftelis will discuss their responsibilities, staffing, resources, and perceptions of the strengths and challenges of the city’s current organizational structure and document issue areas impacted by the existing structure.
Based on gathered information, Raftelis will identify best practices and determine where gaps or inefficiencies may exist in the city’s current structure. Raftelis will meet with Lester to review its preliminary observations and recommendations for organizational structure options for the city’s consideration, according to the contract.
Eventually, once the city provides a one list of comments within 30 days of the draft memo, Raftelis will prepare the final project summary memo within two weeks
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