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PERSONNEL / SOCIAL SERVICES - Interim Social Services Director Teresa Curiel
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Requested Action(s)
recommendation
a) RESOLUTION - Request adoption of a resolution to amend the FY 2023-24
Personnel Allocation List (PAL), (Reso #2023-88), by deleting four (4.00 FTE) Office Assistant I allocations, deleting four (4.00 FTE) Office Assistant I/II allocations, adding eight (8.00 FTE) Screener - Bilingual allocations, deleting one (1.00 FTE) Office Assistant Supervisor I - Bilingual allocation and adding one (1.00 FTE) Office Assistant Supervisor II - Bilingual allocation, effective 3/19/24
b) Request approval to reclassify three (3.00 FTE) Office Assistant Supervisor I incumbents to an Office Assistant Supervisor II and reclassify one (1.00 FTE) Office Assistant Supervisor I - Bilingual to an Office Assistant Supervisor II - Bilingual, effective 3/19/24
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Financial Impact:
The financial impact to convert four (4) Office Assistant I’s and four (4) Office Assistant I/II’s to eight (8) Screener-Bilingual allocations will have an approximate annual increase of $51,122.24. The annual increase to reclassify three (3) Office Assistant Supervisor I’s to Office Assistant Supervisor II’s is approximately $8,049.60. The annual increase to convert the existing Office Assistant Supervisor I-Bilingual to an Office Assistant Supervisor II-Bilingual is approximately $2,884.44. The total annual cost for all changes is approximately $73,129, including benefits. The increased costs will be funded with administrative allocations that include federal, state, and local realignment revenues. It is anticipated that the current adopted budget is sufficient to cover this increased cost.
Background Information:
The Department of Social Services is requesting to delete four (4.00 FTE) Office Assistant I allocations, delete four (4.00 FTE) Office Assistant I/II allocations, add eight (8.00 FTE) Screener - Bilingual allocations, delete one (1.00 FTE) Office Assistant Supervisor I - Bilingual allocation and add one (1.00 FTE) Office Assistant Supervisor II - Bilingual allocation, effective 3/19/2024.
The Clerical and Eligibility branches of the Department have been understaffed for several years. As a result, the Eligibility branch is at a critical stage and needing to look at reorganization of the work and positions. Currently, Eligibility Specialists perform duties such as application registration, assisting at the front desk, and returning eligibility-specific phone calls. The Department has struggled to hire both Eligibility Specialists and Office Assistants to help complete these critical tasks and are requesting to change some of the vacant Office Assistant positions to the existing classification of Screener. The Screener is a specialized clerical classification that can complete both clerical and these limited eligibility functions. This will not reduce the number of Eligibility Specialists as there is still a need for that level of staff. Instead, it converts unfilled office support positions to a position that can better assist the Eligibility branch with some of the functions that are currently out of the scope of duties for an Office Assistant (e.g., advanced application registration, gathering application information and returning eligibility-specific calls).
Since the primary responsibilities of the Screeners will be application registration, front desk, and returning eligibility-specific phone calls, more than ten percent of their time will be spent speaking Spanish, therefore they are requesting that these be Screener-Bilingual allocations. This will provide an added benefit for customers as their requests can be handled at the first interaction and the branch won't have to first secure a bilingual staff person in order to help. The number of Spanish speaking customers for the department necessitates the increase in Spanish speaking staff available to assist them.
The Screener classification specification states that this position requires higher-level supervision, so as result, the Department is requesting to change one (1) existing Office Assistant Supervisor I - Bilingual allocation to an Office Assistant Supervisor II - Bilingual allocation. In addition, they would like to reclassify three (3) current Office Assistant Supervisor I's to Office Assistant Supervisor II's. There would be no Position Allocation List (PAL) change for this action as these positions are currently allocated in the PAL as an Office Assistant Supervisor I or Office Assistant Supervisor II. All incumbents in the Office Assistant Supervisor I and Office Assistant Supervisor I - Bilingual classifications meet the minimum requirements to fill the Office Assistant Supervisor II and/or Office Assistant II - Bilingual classification. As mentioned above, these changes will not increase the overall position allocation.
In total, the estimated cost of these requested changes is approximately $73,129 annually, including benefits. As these positions are clerical support, they will be allocated to all programs, and funded with administrative allocations that include federal, state, and local realignment revenues. It is anticipated that the current adopted budget is sufficient to cover this increased cost.
The Joint Council Bargaining Union has been notified of the requested changes and an agreement has been reached.