Agenda - 08-24-2009 - E1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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DRAFT 28 Attachment 6 296 non - public hearing items deal with the work plan for both Board of County Commissioners priorities that they adopted for the 297 2009- 2010 fiscal year, items that were noted within the Comprehensive Plan update during that process and how we intend to 298 do it. So tonight I am going to let Tom Altieri, the comprehensive planning supervisor, go through what was anticipated post 299 Comprehensive Plan adoption and a little about the priorities set by the Board of County Commissioners that the Planning Board 300 has a significant role in. There is one other sheet handed out which is a draft that, after discussions with the Chair, about what is 301 on the plate of the Planning Board and staff over the next year and can we get it done. This is an attempt to line out what needs 302 to be done and the proper sequence of events. A special note, the Board of County Commissioners did, through the budget 303 process, offer some incentive packages for retirement. We will have three planners in the department avail themselves of that 304 package and we have a part time employee that is moving to another jurisdiction to have a full time position. We are likely to be 305 losing 3.53 people in the next few weeks. Robert Davis is leaving tomorrow, that is a supervisory position. We are trying to 306 come up with something reasonable and feasible to accomplish with partial rehiring. I will meet with the interim County Manager 307 on what rehiring may be necessary and how we can compensate for these positions. 308 309 Tommy McNeill: How will affect the citizens of Orange County? 310 311 Craig Benedict: Tom Altieri, Perdita Holtz and Michael Harvey are key staff, there has to be some shifting of duties. We want to 312 preserve the ability to respond our citizens whether it is in economic development proposal or subdivision. We will have to have 313 people multi- tasking more in the future so that they can address what ever ebb and flow of activity there may be with a new 314 project that is presented to us. 315 316 Brian Crawford: If you remember at the beginning of the year, there was the whole list of things to do and we had to prioritize. 317 We did that and the next step is to cut staff. Now you have a situation as to which priorities are they going to work on for the 318 Board of County Commissioners and whatever items that comes from this Board. I am concerned whether this can get done. 319 Does that mean more work for the Planning Board or staff? We may need to help the Board of County Commissioners adjust 320 their priorities in terms of some of the things we want to do. For me, the UDO is not as much a priority as the Small Area Plans 321 because we have done all this work on the Small Area Plans and there are people in the Small Area Plans waiting for them to be 322 implemented. The Board of County Commissioners may see the UDO as a priority. We have to have a continuing dialogue with 323 the staff. 324 325 Jeffrey Schmitt: How much of a percentage of your staffs time is taken up by normal, in the door, everyday duties, contractors, 326 permits being issued, etc? 327 328 Craig Benedict: In the planning area, we are focused more on a long term planning related function and not a subdivisions, 329 rezoning and special use permits driven function. We are probably 30 to 40 percent responding to the development applications 330 and 60 or 70 percent doing Small Area Plans, changing regulations, and looking at the long term planning related coordination 331 between departments. 332 333 Brian Crawford: How many of those planners wear two hats? 334 335 Craig Benedict: Our intent was that subdivision activity has decreased and we will shift them over to implement these Small 336 Area Plans. It happens those retirees were the ones we were going to shift over to do this work. Someone mentioned that we 337 have to lobby for more people and I had said at the meeting that it is not my mode of operation to have advisory Boards take an 338 overly vocal role in this. I understand it is your work plan too. This isn't a case where we can just not do it. In the case of a lot of 339 our planning services we have to be able to respond to the citizens and task forces. 340 341 Mary Bobbin- Cooke: Is it your plan to post these positions and fill them as soon as possible? 342 343 Craig Benedict: They are actually frozen for twelve months, which is the policy, unless I can prove otherwise. 344 345 Mary Bobbitt- Cooke: To the County Manager? 346 347 Craig Benedict: Yes. When we get to the August 24 meeting, we will explain what we think we can do if I have a replacement of 348 three people for the 3.5 missing, we can do x amount. If only get two or three people, we can do only y or z amounts. 349 350 Mary Bobbitt- Cooke: To what degree does the Board of County Commissioners know about your situation? 351 352 Craig Benedict: They don't know specifically. They knew when they offered this package; they were hoping to save $375,000 353 from the retirement and even more money from people who leave and whose position is frozen. The Board of County 354 Commissioners' priorities for 2009 -2010 amounted to fourteen, ten of those have this department and Planning Board's