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HomeMy WebLinkAbout0171.092r - ~.' .. '~.'. 0-" "-, . Ka.rch 5, 19512 BO!lOitABLE' CITY COOSCIL P410 A2to l California ~tte~tion~ 7inance Committee STAPYIKS FOR 2UMAN SBRVICES _~LVISI0N H~ers of the Council: Report in Brief Tbis report responds to the Finance committee's request for further intermation ~egardinq the proposed staffinq cbanges in the Human services Division necessitat.ed by the transfer of the community Deve.lopment Blo.:k Grant {CDBG) program to the Plannitog Department. A separate staff repor~ discusses propose~ staffing changes in the Planning Department~ Staff reql.!ests tbat tbe Finance Committee app~ove the addition of a O~S Manaqement Assistant position to the Human Services Division. P.i.:!I'.CUSSiQD A key inqredient in the shift of the COEoa program from tbe Community Services Department's Human services Division to t.be Planning Department is the addition of a 0.5 Management ~ssistant position to the Human Services Divisioc., in order to continue providing the other existing functions of that Division. In or~er to assist you in understandinq why this addition is necessary, this report will attempt to briefly describe the in~reased vorkload that has ~een ad~e~ to Human Services over the years. When tbe Human Services Oivision was initially created., the staffing-included an ~dministrator and a full-time secretary as sUi"port~ The assiqnments for "tbe Jo.dmir,istrator were: ~. Manage the Human service contracts, which included recruiting proposals, making reccmmendations for funding, preparing contracts and monitoring the contract9~ 2. serve as staff liaison to the Human Relations Commission (HRC) , which included providing minutes and other clerical support an~ assisting with the development of tbe Human services Resource Allocation Process. (Support for any HRC Task Forces was provided by tbe Human Relations Commission and not by sta~f). CM.R:171~~2 , ' I ~ j i I , , I ............... . ~,.~,,; < o page TWo As tne Bum8n service issues 3volved and expanded, the ~dministr&tor began to absorb new assignments even thougb it took away from the oriqlnal d~ties. These new functions included: 1~ Supervise tbe Ycuth council Advisor an~ assist the Youth Council. 2. support 'the Disability A'W'arenass Ta.sk Fe'rca. 3. Support the Mediation Task Foroe . .. ~ Administer the Public Service Contracts for the community Development Block Grant program. 5. Staff the CDBG Citizens Advisory committee. It was at this point that the workload grew so that the Administrator was no lonqer able to provide the time required to complete all of the assignments. To alleviate this situation, 'tbe City Council authorized a temporary position (which was later converted to permanent) to help with the Divisionts workload. aut the workload continued to grow. The Human services st:os.ft received t,he following new assignments: 1. Staff the Child Care Task Force. 2. Devalop the Child Care Master Plan. 3. Staff the Sinqle Room occupancy Task Force. 4.. Work witb the Urban .Ministry to assist on homeless bousing issues. 5. Create a program to e~tablish child care centers at 11 school sites and manage that program once the centers are established. At that time, it beoame evident that the workload bad again out­ grown the capabilities of both of the Human service staff members to meet their Obligations. To ease this situation, tbe City Council authorized the creation of a full-time Child Care Coordinator position, to be supervise~ by the Human Service Administrator. That position took on the following child care assiqnments: 1. Develop, monitor and evaluate the 11 school site child care proqrams. 2. Sta~f the Child Care Task Force~ CMR:171:92 . .:. , ~{%.:''1 ~." ~'-';-:-:\~~'.)": > •• > ..... ,. - I ! I - page Three J. Further implement the child Care Master Plan. ... complete a. compreben.sive ehild care needs assessment. s~ Establish 4n employer-s~pported ehil~ care project E. Assist the Chil!1 Care Task. Force in developing three annual special events~ This sta~f addition relieved the remaining Euman services sta.ft of the child care responsibilities, but did nothing to provide assistance for any ot tbe other assignments. At about the sue time" the near elimination of staff support for the HtiD-fundec1 Housing Improvement proqram caused. the Human Services-statt to lose almost all help from. the Planning Department regarding the HUD­ Lunded COBG activities. The temporary Manaqement Assistant position vas converted to a full-time permanent position devoted exclusiyely to HUD activities~ 'fhe Division's assignments con­ tinued to qrow. 1~ Participate as a member of the Palo Alto Safe Committee, whieh deals with substance abuse issues. 2. Establish greater accountability from the Human Service contractor lllonitoring responsibilities, and time spent on this has been increased to meet the detailed audit recommendations. 3. In 1991, the city Co-ullcil apprcved a priority tor "People in Crisis tl and the HRC developed a workplan to respond to this priority, which the City Council approved. All of the assignments in that workplan fell b~ck to staff to implement an~ they included: CMR:17~:92 a. Expand assistance to nonprOfit groups to help them do their job utilizing shared resources. b~ Sponsor semi-annual meeting,'3 with nonprofit groups to plan strategies for improving gervice~ c. RevieW' the PAl IRS operation in depth" providing qui dance so they can maximize their service and monitor reqularly. d. Develop III Homeless Child Care project. with tbe exception of the review of PMIRS, which has bee.... co~pleted, all these assignments are ongoing. J.dc" _ionally, city council has propose" a continua.tion of the "People in Crisis" priority for 1992" with emphasis on 1) youth and families at risk, a'il~ 2} the needs of the homeless. I '- ~""',,-:­ ~. ' ....... ' ..... J;,., C': "., () pa.ge Four 4. Add the: Youth Council Advisory role to ttJe Chilc1 Care coordinator1s 4uties when the Advisor's func1in9 was cut trom last year's buc1qet. This elimina.tes the possibility that the Coorc1inatcr can assist on any otber assignments within the Human Services Division. 5. Searc:b out new fundil'lg sourc:es to support Human services and cc~~unity services. 6. SWIDIlary There are two additional aOdressed, even though they for the division. concerns wbicb need to :be are not offici&l assignments ... Investigate tbe nine suggestions for change that came out of the city Appropriate Levels of Service bearings. pO~dible Counoil's b~ !ncrea.se staff involvement with the Disability )'wareness Task roroe in light -of the recently enacted Americans with Disabilities Act. In summary, the work in the Human Services Division has grown substantially since its inception. The Child Care coor~inator has a full-time job with the Child Care and Youth council assignments, an4 the Management )'ssistant has a full-time job de&ling with t~e qreatly expanded BUD requirements for the CDBG program. That leaves everything else on the list in the hands o~ one individual, tbe Ad;ninistrator of Huma.n Services. Obviously this is a huge loa,4, and unless a~di tiollal staff support is provided: tasks will not qet Oone. Staff is presently asking for O~5 FY to help with this function. That probably will cot be enougb~ an~ things will not be dOl<.;::: as well as we would like; but we will be able to com­ plete more o~ our assignments. If the 0.5 position is not provided, the following i5 all that can be 40ne by the remaining staff: 1~ Manage the Human Servioe contracts. 2. Provide staff support to the HRC , Child Care Task Force, Mediation Task Force and the Youth Counoil~ 3. Manage the 11 school-site child care programs. !n essence, we will be back to an operation that is. slightly greater than the service provided vhen the Human services operation was originally created. without the staffing requested. tbe HRC will have to assume the staffinq responsibilities of the Task Forces. CKR:171:J2 'L paqe Fi"\~e Recop.enda.tion St .. ff recommends that the Finance Committee approva the aedilioc. .of & 0~5 Hanaqement Assistant position to the Human Services staff~ Respectfully submitte~1 David: Hartin Administrator of Human Services ~~---------,/---I-~~- Paul 'i"hiltqen Director of community Services ~~ Assistant city Manager Relat.~ CHRIs: 105;92 .170:92 CKR:1.71:92 -. ----_·· .. _' .. ''"'' .... 'III1Jlij' :-~: . ..... ....