Both the city's planning and public works departments will be reorganized in the coming months to create a "one-stop" faster-processing spot for development applications.
The restructuring proposal, which received initial approval from the City Council Wednesday night, was put forward by City Manager Karen Brust. It calls for transferring the city's engineering division and storm water functions out of the city's Public Works Department and into what's now called the city's Planning & Building Department.
That department would be renamed the city's Development Services Department, a move that puts Encinitas in company with about a third of San Diego cities, Brust said. It should also help speed permit-processing times because all development-related services will be handled in one department, she said.
Monday, April 3, 2017
Brust restructures Planning and Public Works Departments
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Nothing will change. The permit process will still take a grotesque amount of time and cost tens of thousands of dollars. No one has lost their job. No one has been fired. Same tiger different stripes.
ReplyDeleteNo govt is better than bad govt. Encinitas is bad govt.
Two employees lost their jobs you idiot! Nothing will be good enough for you.
DeleteThe two who lost their jobs had more complaints lodged against them than anyone will ever know. This is not a boo-hoo moment,
Delete9:10- excuse me. 2 people lost their jobs, 2 people unqualified and over paid?? You seem to know more than me, so you answer the questions....
DeleteOh, what took the CM so long to toss them to the wind??
My point is 6:26 stated "No one has lost their job." Please start with facts and then we can argue its merit! It's easier to argue with the wall...
DeleteAnd calling someone an "idiot" is an argument with merit?
DeleteWord is those left at city staff are angry and freaked that the cuts were made. You, 11:13, sound oddly defensive and on edge. Are you by any chance a member of "staff?"
Who are you?
DeleteA pleased taxpayer.
DeleteCut staff by 50%. Cut salaries by 50%. Cut pensions by 90%. Now you are in line with the real world.
DeleteNo govt is. Enter than bad govt. Encinitas is bad govt.
Interesting numbers, 6:02.
DeletePlease explain the benchmarking against best practice city governments that produced them.
Who were the best practice cities you used for the analysis?
What are the headcount, salary, and benefits metrics for those cities, relative to population, tax revenues, or unit work?
How do the Encinitas metrics measure up to the best practice?
What is the gap analysis that shows 50-50-90 as the restructuring bogeys?
I'm really interested in seeing your thoughtful work that produced these numbers.
Two bad employees pushed gently to retireat a whooping 2.7 times their salary times the many years of bad judgement calls, harm to Encinitas and total incompetence. Wow. City Manager is really turning things around!?
ReplyDeleteOK two gone. How about the other 35 with similar problems and lack of competence?
Instead Muir whats to make sure the crappy employees are rewarded and cross-trained. What a fool. The cross-training they need is with another employer.
One thing for certain with Encinitas, nothing good ever get done by employees. They harbor an imperialistic attitude towards the public, they hate feedbad or communicating from the public, and they love to do nothing.
Encinitas is known in San Diego County as the City that gets nothing done except wasting taxpayers money.
Muir is the model for an over-compensated retired employee - and he's calling the shots?!
DeleteSorry but the use of Muir's pension numbers as an example are a mistake. He put in many years and may look like a slug but if his pension - which is, for certain, juicy is empirically based, he is entitled to the payments. That written, the calculation should be public and if there is fluffing at the end of the term - for example, adding unused sick-days, vacation days, or other ballooning techniques, then there is something to complain about. Two positive and appropriate actions would be to:
Delete- close the pension to new hires
- disallow the ballooning methods
Muir is entitled to his bloated pension by the flawed compensation structure under which he worked. The structure is in need of revision, as 6:06PM as pointed out. The ballooning methods include promotions and disability also; the CHP is famous for pre-retirement disability claims, which jacks up the retirement payments. The pubic sector needs a massive overhaul to bring it back into line with the private sector.
DeleteThe fire princess take turns working a crap load of overtime in one year to jack up their pension. They also suck at putting out fires. That's sleezy and is no different than a person claiming a BS disability or sueing because you can't find a house cheap enough to live in. They are leaches just like the welfare moms that keep having babies to get more welfare. Not the type of people everyone used to want to be when they grow up. Muir was the one approving overtime and sticking to the tax payers.
Delete10:05 - not wishing to pick a fight but, perhaps you're tough talk softens when considering PTSD disability and our many military neighbors. It has become routine for anyone that served in the Mideast during the past 20+ years to file for disability --- cases are considered and a payment percentage issued (or not). Are these people also leaches?
Delete8:01-
Deleteyour comments are not relevant to 10:05 comments. I feel bad for the vets..... Dumb ass politicians ordering unwinnable wars that just kill and create misery, with no benefits to anyone other then the defense/offense industry profits. Super sad.
Julie G sighting.... above a few.
DeleteComparing one city's finances and practices to others is of questionable value because few if any cities operate like well-oiled machines. There's a lot of bloat and waste. A better comparison would be to the private sector where competition forces companies to be efficient. Without efficiency, companies lose to their competitors. Cities don't have to be efficient because they have no competitors.
ReplyDeleteWait, what?
DeleteIs this a long way of saying you pulled numbers out of your ass?
Let me show you my shocked face:
=8^o
6:02 and 7:47 are obviously not the same person.
Delete7:47 makes a good point. Encinitas sold $3 million in bonds for the new lifeguard station at Moonlight. Ed Deane predicted it would cost $2.2 million, thereby saving the city $800K. The council awarded the contract for $3.7 million. Council members praised the staff for coming in under what nearby cities paid per square foot for their lifeguard stations.
DeleteEncinitas sold $6M in bonds to pay for the lifeguard tower,( which won't improve the survival rate of the swimmers), they sold bonds for the improvements at moonlight telling us that it included a new life guard tower. Then the tower wasn't built...so they sold more bonds to build the tower which won't improve survival rates for swimmers. $6M in the hole so that the survival rate won't improve. That's bad govt. Encinitas is bad govt.
DeleteThe bond issue for the lifeguard tower was $3 million. The total bond issue at that time was $13 million. The other $10 million was for Pacific View. By the time the bonds are paid, the figures will at least double.
Delete3:31-WRONG!! The first bond issue was$13M, that price included the park and Moonlight beach refurbishment, including a new lifeguard tower. The tower was never built. Then the city floated another $3M in bonds for Mr Giles and his lifeguard buddies. The life guard tower is now $6M in the hole and won't improve the safety at Moonlight beach one bit.
Delete6:01 You have your facts and figures wrong. 3:31 has them right.
DeleteThe $10 million PV bonds are taxable. The $3 million lifeguard tower bonds are tax exempt. They were issued at the same time. If the PV bonds had been tax exempt, use of the site would have been severely restricted.
Vina got the bond facts wrong the first time, then had to come back to correct his error. That costly mistake was a big part of why he was axed.
The garage and other new buildings at Moonlight were separate projects. The tower wasn't part of them.
6:01 PM But the 4 cameo-clad coppers in the all terrain vehicle can gape at the bikinis.
DeleteApparently another suicide by train in Carlsbad yesterday.
ReplyDeleteIt was a woman, on the tracks north of Tamarack Ave, around 1:45 PM.
DeleteSad that these troubled souls are so desperate.
Please don't bore us with these suicide announcements, the COE doesn't care how many die on the tracks, they are more concerned with climate change.
DeleteRight, 1:58, especially since the death was in Carlsbad.
DeleteAnd inviting Syrians and afghanistanis to come enjoy coastal living in section 8 housing in Encinitas.
DeletePS- Everything's for free. Why waste your time working. Thats the COE's staff motto.
There's at least a 10-year wait for Section 8 housing anywhere in SD County. Before you release your bile, find out what you're talking about.
DeleteCheck out ARJIS, the crime map for Encinitas for the last seven days. Weapon, drugs, and assault by the high school. Convicted person with a weapon at 2nd and J street at 2AM, assault at Encinitas and Quail Gardens at 2:40AM.
ReplyDeleteDistraction like a Trump tweet. This thread is about the "reorg" at city hall. Take it somewhere else.
DeleteLive like a pathetic and paranoid person. Stay inside. Close the blinds. Let fear consume you and raise your blood pressure. Worry constantly about things you can't change. Wait for death.
DeleteOr, remind yourself that we live in one of the most safe places on earth. While crime can happen anywhere, the probability here is pretty good, so go out and enjoy life.
Your call.
6:48 AM
DeleteSpoken like a Councilperson. More bars.
How many times can city engineering make terrible judgement calls that cost Encinitas millions and spiking City risk while keeping his job and having City Council praise what a good job staff is doing.
ReplyDeleteThere is a systemic imperialistic attitude problem at City Hall that needs to go and I'm not seeing a change in direction from the top. Lets see what the City Manager can do within the next three months.
Currently, Its the same- "I'll do as I please, shut the fuck up public we didn't ask for your lame input, and I don't feel like doing anything again all day so nothing will get done" attitude.
The City Council needs to direct the City Manager to change the attitude quickly.
They won't. When have they done anything but praise "staff" as the "experts?"
DeleteExperts at F)(*&G every project up Where a common six grader could do a much better job.
ReplyDeleteThe streetscape travesty has every making of a job with bad leadership. The City fucked up from day one and continues to fuck up.
the community is suffering for this crazy ineptitude.
Who has been on City Council for two terms and why has streetscape not done yet?
Do you have your priorities right or are you sending staff scrambling after welcoming commitees, marine station mcmansions, and regional art centers?
Streetscam is just that.
ReplyDeleteSome improvements in this disaster in the making plan are welcomed by the majority of businesses and residents, BUT, other parts are just plain dumb and only serve to provide profit for those few property owners who will directly benefit is these stupid roundabouts are allowed to come into being.
Take a damn poll now and the truth will set you free. The majority of businesses on the 101 and residents close by and most affected know better than to buy into this sham. This is profit driven for the few developers and real estate interests who stand to make a bundle.
Take a damn poll now and make sure streetscape and any of the mainstreet org's are kept out of this poll taking. This goes for the LTC too. All of these groups are packed with real estate interests and should not in any way have a say. They are compromised.
Not all are of course,, but these profiteers are certainly a major player and have been for years. They should not be considered stakeholders. The residents and the businesses are.
Take a damn poll and stop this madness.
You argument is that property values will increase with Streetscape????
DeleteDoes that mean that people will increase demand of property. Isn't that a good thing?
Come on. Do better than lazy arguments. Going through life in a bad mood is ok, but don't be lazy at it.
We don't need five one-lane chokepoint roundabouts, without throughway cross-streets as part of the streetscape on 101 in Leucadia. The City should take a lesson from the failures of the traffic lights/ two roundabouts and one stop sign on Leucadia Blvd, a part of our circulation element that DOES have throughway cross-streets. But cars are backed up daily, through the roundabouts. They don't provide traffic calming, but exacerbate traffic problems, add to green-house gases by creating delays, also more fender benders, and more people diverting to La Costa Avenue, when possible.
ReplyDeleteI like the roundabouts on L Blvd. The problem there is not the roundabouts, its the Vulcan Ave and 101 crossing. If you actually lived here as long as I have, you'd know that the controlled intersection was just as bad if not worse.
DeleteThey usually work ok and even better than a controlled intersection.
Not sure about 101, but don't draw L Blvd. into it. You'll lose that argument because it works better than what it was. If anything, it should be completed.
1:28pm is spot on here. I'll also add that the Hymettus/L Blvd roundabout fills up because of the poorly synchronized signals at Orpheus and I5. The roundabouts themselves have nothing to do with the backups. The roundabouts finally made safe crossings for pedestrians and bicyclists afters years of dodging 60mph speeders on L Blvd.
DeleteThe restructuring should be good for us citizens. Too often, the Planning and Engineering Departments would create delay, putting a burden on those wanting to do a simple remodel, etc. Our city's processing time for permits has been greater than that of nearby cities.
ReplyDeleteThen the City, periodically, hires expensive consultants/contractors to do studies in order to justify raising permitting fees even higher.
Permitting fees, according to State law, are to cover the processing costs of permits, including inspections, but are NOT to be used as taxes, through excessive "development fees." In the past, staff and private contractors, like Esgil, which is basically our Building Dept., had every incentive to drag out the process, taking more time, as that would later justify their charging higher and higher permitting fees.
The State, partly to help alleviate affordable housing challenges, has mandated that even discretionary permits must be processed in a timely fashion, as spelled out in new law. Development has become increasingly profitable for our City, through ever escalating fees, too often incorrectly used as hidden taxes.
eh..... restructuring won't help with all that.
ReplyDelete