The Grand Island City Council approved an amendment to the salary ordinance at the end of its meeting on Tuesday, June 13. The amendment revolved around three changes the administration proposed to the city’s organizational structure.
The first change proposed was to add an assistant city administrator position in Grand Island. The assistant city administrator is a non-union position, with a salary range around $69-$90 hourly.
The job will help assist the city administrator in coordinating and managing programs. The assistant will also be able to act as city administrator in their absence.
The position will also function as Grand Island’s chief financial officer, which involves supervising the daily management of operating and capital budgets, expanding and coordinating economic development efforts, and more.
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“I do think there is a need for at least one [assistant city administrator],” said Council Member Bethany Guzinski. “And as we continue to grow, that need will become more evident.”
Later in the meeting, Councilor Mitchell Nickerson asked how the assistant city administrator CFO role would be different from the financial director. Interim City Administrator Lauren McAloon explained that the financial director monitors internal controls of the organization, making sure they spend money according to budget and have the authority to do so.
“A CFO is a bigger vision,” said McAloon. “The CFO looks at how can we strategically use taxpayer funds in order to help the city achieve the goals that you as the City Council will set.”
The second change is the renaming of the planning director to the community development director.
According to McAloon, the recent retirement of the Building Director Craig Lewis allowed for a review of the planning department and building services department. The review looked at the organization for both departments, comparing it with Census data showing the growth of Grand Island and an analysis of the structure from other cities.
Following this review, the administration recommended that the two departments be combined into a community development department. That department will be responsible for all activity related to land use and growth of the City, including zoning regulations, building regulations, project permitting and more.
The renaming to community development director is meant to reflect the oversight of the role and the expanded department.
The third change is to create a chief building official position, which will replace the building director classification. The position eliminates the need for dual directors with the consolidation into the community development department.
Reporting to the community development director, the official would be in charge of supervising building staff. The salary range for the chief building official is around $39-$57 hourly.
Prior to the meeting, McAloon attended a recent Central Nebraska Home Builders Association meeting to discuss the changes, as their members heavily utilized the planning and building department. McAloon said she received positive feedback at the meeting.
CNHBA President Darwin Barnes also confirmed their support to the City Council. Barnes had been assured that the Building Code Advisory Board would still be meeting, which was CNHBA’s biggest concern with the changes.
“The Central Nebraska Home Builders has had a very great, long-standing working relationship with the building department,” said Barnes. “We want to continue that and we are in support of the changes proposed.”
Guzinski was happy to see representation from the CNHBA in support of the restructuring at the meeting, as she had some concerns based on discussions she had had with builders and developers.
“Analyzing the changes, it doesn’t look like things day to day are going to change too much,” said Guzinski. “So I hope that that continues to be a good working relationship for [the CNHBA].”
The council approved the amendment to the salary ordinance, 9-0. Councilor Chuck Haase was absent and did not vote.
“Grand Island is not the same city it was 10 years ago and will be a different city in 10 years. We’re changing, we’re growing,” said Councilor Doug Lanfear. “Change is good sometimes and I think this is one of them.”