ITEM:		ACTION ITEMS
26.	CONSIDER APPROVAL OF SENIOR OFFICE SPECIALIST RECLASSIFICATION AND AMEND THE DISTRICT’S ORGANIZATION CHART
Meeting Date:			April 21, 2008	Budgeted:	No
From:			Darby Fuerst,	Program/	N/A
			General Manager	Line Item No.:
Prepared By:			Cynthia Schmidlin	Cost Estimate:	$3,048
General Counsel Approval: N/A
Committee Recommendation: The Administrative Committee reviewed this item on April 14, 2008, and recommended approval.
CEQA Compliance: N/A

SUMMARY: In February 2007, Tim McCormick of LIUNA Local 270 submitted a formal request for a reclassification analysis of Sara Reyes’ Senior Office Specialist position. An individual reclassification request procedure was developed in March 2007. This procedure was incorporated into the Memorandums of Understanding with the General and Management Staff Bargaining Units, effective July 1, 2007. In accordance with this procedure, the General Manager determined that reclassification analysis of the Senior Office Specialist was justified and assigned it to the Human Resources Analysis, to be accomplished in the order received. The following is that analysis. Analyses of the Conservation Representative I/II, Conservation Technician and GIS/Graphics Technician positions preceded it.

The reclassification analysis determined that there had been significant growth in the Senior Office Specialist duties and level of responsibility since the last District Classification and Compensation Study in 2001. General Manager Berger reviewed the analysis and agreed with its determinations and recommendations. Interim General Manager Fuerst concurs with that decision.

RECOMMENDATION: Authorize reclassification of the Senior Office Specialist classification (Exhibit 26-A), Range 16 of the District’s Salary Chart, to Office Services Supervisor (Exhibit 26-B), placed at Range 20 of the District’s Salary Chart. Authorize a change to the District’s current Organization Chart (Exhibit 26-C). The Senior Office Specialist position would be replaced with the new Office Services Supervisor position (Exhibit 26-D).

IMPACTS TO STAFF/RESOURCES: Reclassification of the Senior Office Specialist to Office Services Supervisor and placement of the incumbent in Range 20 would cost approximately $3,048 in FY 2007-2008. This would represent an increase of $4,480 over a 12 month period. While funds for this reclassification were not specifically included in the 2007-2008 budget, staff has determined that the budget contains sufficient funds to cover this minor additional cost.

BACKGROUND: The following details the analysis of the Senior Office Specialist reclassification request by the Human Resources Analyst, Cynthia Schmidlin.

Discussion: The current job description for the Senior Office Specialist (Exhibit 26-A) defines the position as the advanced journey level class in the Office Specialist series. Incumbents are distinguished from the other position in the series, Office Specialist I/II, by the performance of the most difficult and most responsible clerical, secretarial and administrative work assigned in support of District-wide programs and activities. The Senior Office Specialist is responsible for interfacing with managers and staff of each division, and planning, coordinating, and scheduling the flow of support services work. The Senior Office Specialist also supervises the Office Specialist I/II.

The Senior Office Specialist responsibilities described above remain constant. However, over the past few years, the duties of the position have evolved beyond the level of the current job description in order to meet District needs. These duties now include responsibility for providing para-professional and office administrative support to the Administrative Services Manager/Chief Financial Officer. The Senior Office Specialist has been given projects such as the evaluation of phone systems, office equipment, and janitorial services and tasked with the responsibility of making recommendations to the ASD Manager.

Other changes to the Senior Office Specialist’s duties have resulted from the evolution of the District’s website, including internet access to the public for District meeting materials and regulations. The Senior Office Specialist has been given responsibility for web content layout and management in the maintenance of District websites for Board Meetings, Board Committee Meetings, Ordinances, and Rules and Regulations. The Senior Office Specialist assigns staff members on the District’s Team Web various parts of the monthly Board packet for conversion from Microsoft office software formats to web pages. She is responsible for overseeing the team’s work, assisting members when they have technical questions and assuring that a quality finished product is on-line prior to each Board Meeting. Her duties in maintaining the District Meeting sites have required mastery of web editing software. Additionally, the Senior Office Specialist has completed formal training in the technically challenging web publishing software Adobe In-Design CS3 in order to maintain the website for District Rules and Regulations. This software has a very different format from the more commonly used Microsoft applications. Consultants were hired to convert the District’s paper product to a web format. The Senior Office Specialist’s mastery of Adobe In-Design has allowed her to update the Rules and Regulations, as needed, without having to rely upon the more expensive services of the consultants.

The Senior Office Specialist’s responsibilities as back-up to the Executive Assistant have also increased from filling in on occasion as recording secretary at Board Meetings. The incumbent is also asked to support the General Manager whenever the Executive Assistant is absent. This support includes coordinating the General Manager’s calendar and communicating with Board members, as needed.

All of these new duties highlight a change to the level of supervision described in the current job description, which states that the incumbent “receives direction from higher level management.” This implies a lack of autonomy and independent judgment. In fact, although the Senior Office Specialist receives requests from staff regarding office services and instruction on the details of complex work orders, the position operates on a day-to-day basis under general rather than direct supervision from the Administrative Services Manager.

Determination: There has been a significant accretion of The Senior Office Specialist’s duties that has increased the efficiency of the Administrative Services Division. The District’s has evolved technologically from office services based upon the production of hard-copy products to the additional distribution of a large amount of web-based information. This change has required increased technical skills on the part of staff. The Senior Office Specialist’s mastery of these skills allow maintenance of up-to-date web pages without utilization of the more expensive services of consultants, or the need to divert the attention of Chief Technology Officer from more complex responsibilities. The Senior Officer Specialist’s ability to analyze products and services and exercise of sound independent judgment regarding the District’s Support Services function releases the Administrative Services Manager to focus on his own higher-level responsibilities. If the Senior Office Specialist position were to leave the position, the District would need to recruit for an individual who had the new skill set, or could be trained to accomplish the same duties within a few months.

Analysis: A new Office Services Supervisor class should be created (Exhibit 26-B), adding new responsibilities, skills, and abilities, the most significant of which are described above. The description of Supervision received should be changed to “receives general supervision from the Administrative Services Manager.” The new Office Services Supervisor position would be placed in Range 20 of the District’s salary chart. The current classification of Senior Office Specialist is placed in Range 16, while the Office Specialist II it supervises is in Range 12.

Internal relationships: Placement in Range 20 would put the Office Services Supervisor at the same level as the District’s Conservation Representative I. This classification has a similar mix of responsible clerical duties, administrative functions that require knowledge of District practices and procedures and use of independent judgment.

Alameda County Water District (ACWD) is one of the listed comparison agencies in the District’s Personnel Compensation Policy. The MPWMD Office Specialist and Executive Assistant benchmark positions have been previously matched with ACWD’s Office Assistant and Executive Assistant in previous Classification and Compensation studies. The proposed Office Services Supervisor classification would be a close match to ACWD’s Office Supervisor classification. The pay differential between the Office Specialist II and the Office Services Supervisor would be 20%. The pay differential between the Office Services Supervisor and the Executive Assistant would be 14%. This almost exactly mirrors the internal relationships and salary differentials between the Office Assistant II, Office Supervisor (+20% salary), and Executive Assistant (+15% salary) classifications at Alameda County Water District.

EXHIBITS

26-A Existing Senior Office Specialist Job Description

26-B Proposed Office Services Supervisor Job Description

26-C Current District Organization Chart

26-D Proposed District Organization Chart

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