HomeMy WebLinkAbout011022ca12 JEFFERSON COUNTY
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA REQUEST
TO: Board of County Commissioners
Mark McCauley, Interim County Administrator
FROM: Brent Alfred Butler, Director, Community Development
Jodi Adams, Manager, Permit and Administration Division
DATE: January 10, 2022
SUBJECT: DCD Staffing and Recruitment
STATEMENT OF ISSUE:
The Department of Community Development("DCD")continues to experience resignations and, similar to
other departments, difficulties in the recruitment of talented senior managers. On November 30,2021,DCD
advertised its current opening for a Planning Manager with a closing/first review scheduled December 23,
2021. Unfortunately, DCD received no applications for this position. More significantly, two planners
submitted resignations within the past five weeks. One of these resignations would have been avoided if
one or more of DCD's term-limited positions were permanent.
ANALYSIS
A combination of a plentiful supply of jobs,and a lack of affordability creates a perfect storm for employers,
such as Jefferson County. According to recent reports in peer-reviewed journals, such as the Oxford
Business Review, and statistics published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the United States had a
record number of job openings in 2021; in October 2021 the number of job openings increased by 431,000
nationally. Additionally, the retention of employees is further hindered by rising housing prices that reduce
the stock of affordable housing to rent or own. According to data readily available at the University of
Washington's Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies, Jefferson County's affordable housing shortage has
likely been exacerbated by a median home price increase of 19.2 percent as early as the first quarter of 2016
to the first quarter of 2017.
In order to stem the potential outflow of talent and to ensure that the county has other staff members readily
available to handle the workload in the event staff leave to other governments where more stepwise
advancement is possible, DCD proposes that the Board of County Commissioners ("BoCC") change the
two two-year term limited Assistant Planner positions to permanent positions.
FISCAL IMPACT/COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS:
DCD does not anticipate any fiscal impacts in 2022 due to the robust development activity and the
forecasted revenue from several large projects.
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RECOMMENDATION:
DCD recommends that the General Fund transfer continue at the increased amount in 2023 and beyond to
fund those two positions.
REVIEWED BY:
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Mar McCauley, I rim County Administrator Date
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