DATE: June 21, 2022
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: David Luchini, RN, PHN, Director, Department of Public Health
SUBJECT: Retroactive Waiver of Extra-Help Weekly Maximum Hour Limitation
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Retroactively authorize a waiver of the 28 hours per week and 960 hours per calendar year maximum hours limitation for the Extra-Help positions listed on Attachment A in the Department of Public Health, Org 5620, pursuant to the provisions set forth in Salary Resolution, section 1100 and Personnel Rules 2040 and 4240.
REPORT
There is no additional Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. Approval of the recommended action will ensure the Department’s Environmental Health Division has adequate staffing to continue to respond to the increased number of water-well permit applications and inspections of recreational health facilities. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
There is no viable alternative action due to the demand for well permit applications and recreational health facility inspections. Should your Board not approve this request, there will be delays in both well permits and recreational health facility inspections.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues are included in the Department’s Org 5620 FY 2021-2022 Adopted Budget and will be included in subsequent budget requests.
DISCUSSION:
On January 13, 2015 and June 7, 2016, your Board reiterated County policy that the use of Extra-Help employees should:
• be of limited duration;
• not be used as a first response to staffing requirements;
• not supplant work regularly performed by permanent employees; and
• only be used to meet the critical, seasonal, or temporary work needs of departments on a limited basis.
In July of 2021, the Department received approval from the County Administrative Officer (CAO) to hire up to four (4) Extra-Help Environmental Health Aide (EHA) positions to perform evaluations and inspections to determine compliance with local, state and federal environmental laws and regulations for the protection of public health. The Department hired three applicants and pulled in staff from other programs. Due to the demand, the Department requested a waiver of the 28-hours per week limitation of these Extra-Help staff to accommodate the increased number of well permit applications during this declared drought emergency and to assist staff with inspections of recreational health facilities.
Your Board approved the waiver on November 16, 2021. During that time, the Department did not anticipate needing approval to waive the 960-hour requirement. Based on demand, staff have been working above the 28-hour limitation and have passed the 960-hour limitation as well. The Department now requests your Board to retroactively extend the approval of the 28-hours per week and 960-hours per calendar year for another year due to continued demand.
The Department received 959 water-well permit requests from January 1, 2021, through December 31, 2021. From January through April of this year, 370 water-well permits have been requested. The Environmental Health Division is on track to process approximately 1,100 of these permits through the end of the calendar year, an increase of approximately 13% over the previous calendar year.
In addition, there are approximately 2,637 inspections planned for recreational health facilities based on the number of pools and the required inspection frequency. Staff also routinely perform another 450 follow-up inspections to verify compliance of previously identified violations.
The Department anticipates that the Extra-Help staff will be needed until approximately June 30, 2023. Should the drought emergency continue, the Department will come back to your Board at that time with additional data to support another request.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #46 - November 16, 2021
BAI #37 - June 7, 2016
BAI #19 - January 13, 2015
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - Attachment A
CAO ANALYST:
Ron Alexander